I’m home sick today, listening to the BBC News Hour on WBEZ. There’s been a lot about the Archbishop of Canterbury’s recent comments regarding sharia law in Britain. Here’s part of what he actually said, which was in a BBC News interview before a lecture before legal academics, where he went into more detail: In an BBC interview before the lecture, Dr Williams said: “Certain provisions of sharia are already recognised in our society and under our law; so it’s not as if we’re bringing in an alien and rival system. . . There is a place for finding what…
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Yes, I laughed out loud at a joke based on a very unfunny conceit. Is that wrong and bad? The more I read about how horrified the Repunditans – those most ultra-strident media voices screaming from the rightmost lunatic fringes on the far side of Genghis Khan – are with McCain’s success, the more I wonder at their blindness. Because it’s becoming evident that the folks who’ve been voting for McCain are the moderates who’ve been whipped and beaten into silent acquiesence by the social conservatives of the Religious Right, and the independents who aren’t going for the Democrats. McCain…
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Utah has its own Lost Boys, and needs to address the problem before it gets even worse than it is now. Fortunately, there’s some group homes that help them with life-skills, because some of these kids have never thought for themselves, never had a bank account, never owned a car, never worked at a job for anyone where they got paid a normal wage, never voted, never thought about going to collage or having a career. The programs need more funding, of course, something that Utah’s not very good at unless it’s shamed into it by one of its not-that-rare progressive…
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Teresa‘s recent comments got me thinking about a better choice of gas station. Based on what I can figure out for the area, Marathon Oil is less evil than most. Business & Human Rights : Marathon Oil
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Yes! This is what we hoped to see: Chicago’s new Episcopal bishop, national leader speak up for gay clergy — chicagotribune.com Chicago’s new Episcopal bishop and the church’s national leader sent a clear message Sunday about where they stand on gay clergy, a smoldering issue that threatens to tear apart the denomination.Wrapping up a five-day tour in honor of Jeffrey Lee, the new Chicago bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori declared that the American church will not stand alone in its support of gay clergy during an international meeting in July in Lambeth, England. “Many more [bishops] than you might expect are…
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I must have sent 3 press releases to Manya Brachear, the Trib religion editor. Maybe 4. I had hoped for a sidebar in the Trib on Holy Moly’s big visitation, but no joy in this article. She does an okay job of explaining the complicated background detail.  I’m planning to go to the shindig tomorrow at House of Hope, but we got a lot of snow last night and frankly I’d rather go x-c skiing rather than spending a lot of time cooped up in someone else’s car trying to get to the South Side. We’re not scheduled to leave…
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Blue-eyed humans have a single, common ancestor New research shows that people with blue eyes have a single, common ancestor. A team at the University of Copenhagen have tracked down a genetic mutation which took place 6-10,000 years ago and is the cause of the eye colour of all blue-eyed humans alive on the planet today. Watch for the cranky pranksters at Discovery Institute to come out with a debunk paper any time now.
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David and I have enjoyed some great audio science fiction over the years – usually by stumbling on it by accident. I think we should… I don’t know… seek out and find new broadcasts, new podcasts! StarShipSofa science fiction podcast – Boing Boing StarShipSofa is a weekly podcast that has started to put out Hugo Winning audio stories for free. Last week we put up David Brin’s 1985 Hugo winning story “The Crystal Spheres.” This week we put up Bruce Sterling’s 1989 story “We See Things Differently.” Other narrated stories include 2007 Hugo nominee Peter Watts and Michael Moorcock.A host…
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… because the Captiva (Audiencia) screen reported that Ralph Nader was thinking of running for President again. Don’t run, Ralph! Don’t screw this up for the rest of the country again! He’s baaaacccckkk….Nader forms presidential exploratory committee – Tales from the Trail: 2008
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They can’t raise as much money as the Dems, they sense that they’re going to have a tough election season, and they’re quitting or resigning in order to give the gloss of incumbency to some poor schmuck the party slated to run for their old seat. Gee, this gives me hope. G.O.P. Faces Challenge in Efforts to Reclaim House – New York Times