Archive for December, 2007
The Sadomasochism of “Hard As Nails”
There's only one word for what unordained Catholic minister Justin Fatica does, and that's sadomasochism. Not in a sexual sense, of course, but in the sense ...
Hope Extinguished
Benazir Bhutto, 1953-2007. There are no words. The world has not known a braver woman.
The Karma Accountant
This story by J. Orlin Grabbe is too funny not to post. I wish I'd written it. I don't understand what motivates some people ...
Spirituality: Self-Awareness, not Self-Delusion
Man and God, From the UK Times Online
It has been a good year for atheists. Richard Dawkins’s book The God Delusion has sold more than ...
Blair’s Whimsical Irrelevancy
Blair's Whimsical Irrelevancy
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has switched his allegiance from Henry VIII's divorce-granting Anglican church back to the original Holy See. He had planned the conversion ...
Saudis Preparing For When the Oil Runs Out
Saudi Arabia plans to establish a sovereign wealth fund that is expected to dwarf Abu Dhabi’s $900bn and become the largest in the world.
The new fund will be a formidable ...
40-Year-Old Solar House Heats and Cools Without Electricity
Forty years ago, Hay invented a simple, inexpensive way to heat and cool a home using the sun's rays, but without the panels and wiring that come with conventional solar ...
John Haught’s Cliche-Ridden Caricature of Atheism
It's another groaner over at Salon. After their inexplicable dalliance with the confused ramblings of Camille Paglia, it's hard to pretend anymore that the webzine ...
New Comment Guidelines: Exhibit A
I hate having to ban commenters. It's a last resort. But the alternatives are:
Spending precious minutes addressing bad arguments that have been rebutted countless times.
Leaving unrebutted fallacies at the end ...
Gore’s Mansion Goes Green
Bush vs. Gore:
The Denialist-in-Chief wasted eight years. Meanwhile, Al Gore did something. Now he's done even more:
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Al Gore, who was criticized for high ...
Turns Out the Believer Was the Killer After All
Turns Out the Believer Was the Killer After All
In February of 2006, I wrote about the strange case of the murder in Australia of Scotsman Rudy Boa (previous ...
Islamic Social Services: Strangulation Not About Hijab
Selma Djukic, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations, called it a case of domestic abuse.
"This is a tragedy. This another woman that has succumbed to domestic violence ...
How Much Greenhouse Gases Do California’s Swine Produce?
A question we often find ourselves asking is just how much raising swine in the great state of California contributes to global warming. Now, with help from the data released ...
Children are Targets of Nigerian Witch Hunt
Mary Sudnad, 10, grimaces as her hair is pulled into corn rows by Agnes, 11, but the scalp just above her forehead is bald and blistered. Mary tells her story ...
The Golden Compass
[***Contains Spoilers***]
Let me just say how sick I am of the Monday morning quarterbacks who give bad reviews with smart-ass titles like "The Golden Compass ...
Father Strangles 16-Year-Old Daughter for not Wearing Hijab
H/T Irreligion.org
Father Strangles 16-Year-Old Daughter for not Wearing Hijab
A 16-year-old girl is in critical condition after being choked by a man believed to be her father, apparently after ...
“Christian-Hating” Gunman was Raised ‘Deeply Religious’
Yahoo top stories listed the headline: Colo. church gunman 'hated Christians' (AP) but here is the actual story, and nowhere does it say anything about ...
Canadian serial murderer wanted to rid world of ‘evil ways’
Canadian serial-killer Robert Pickton, convicted in the deaths of six drug-addicted prostitutes, said in letters published Monday he aimed to rid society of its "evil ways."
The two letters obtained by ...
Getting Rid of the Middleman
It's rare to find truly new arguments or perspectives. Most of the daily diet of writing concerning atheism covers events, issues, controversies, boycotts, and the like. ...
News Corp Wisely Realizes Religion is Entertainment
News Corp, the media conglomerate that brought the world topless Page 3 girls, has found religion on the internet.
The company, headed by Rupert Murdoch, yesterday announced that its Fox Entertainment ...
Review: Fall from Grace
This disturbing documentary from University of Kansas filmmaker K. Ryan Jones reveals the truth about homophobic "minister" Fred Phelps and his twisted Topeka congregation, as they move from gay-bashing to ...
Flipping Your Light Switch May Demolish Mountains
A new Web-based tool allows U.S. residents to learn how their local electricity consumption may be linked to the destruction of landscapes in the Appalachia region of the eastern United ...
You Can’t Check Out of the Club
Without going into any theological matters, it is important to understand that humanity doesn't like to see anyone check out of the club. Much like the social structure of any ...