My Two Bits

The planet's climate scientists, bureaucrats, activists, skeptics and journalists will descend on Copenhagen for a fortnight of meeting, marching, denying and most of all spinning.

Richard Dawkins is interviewed by Doug Fabrizio for Radio West 90.1 fm at The University of Utah. The show was broadcast on December 1st, 2009, and covers Richard's latest book The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution.

The Ugandan Parliament is considering a bill that would impose the death penalty on gays. One American must be cheering from the grave. Here's what the late R.J. Rushdoony, Reconstructionist theologian and founder of the modern movement of that name, wrote in a letter to gay rights activist Mel White: "God in His law requires the death penalty for homosexuals."

When I became convinced that the universe is natural %u2014 that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood, the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom.

The walls of my prison crumbled and fell, the dungeon was flooded with light and all the bolts and bars and manacles became dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf or a slave. There was for me no master in all the world %u2014 not even infinite space.

An Indian nun has stunned the Catholic Church with a confessional autobiography claiming widespread sexual abuse and bullying within its cloisters.

November 26, 2009 "t r u t h o u t" Nov. 24, 2009 -- In his talk at the National Archives in May, President Obama referred to five categories of prisoners currently held at Guantanamo Bay.

First, there are those who have violated American criminal laws and will be tried in federal courts. There may be as many as a dozen men in this category, five of whose trials were announced last week, including that of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Second, there are detainees who violated the laws of war and who will be tried by the "new and improved" military commissions. Five prisoners were also designated for such trials last week and there is speculation that there are perhaps 25 more who fall into this category.

The third group consists of 21 detainees who have already been released by the courts.

Fourth, there are believed to be some 90 prisoners who are cleared for release and who can be transferred safely to other countries if such countries can be found.

So what is this "fifth category" of detainees? It consists of prisoners who are thought too dangerous to release, but who cannot be brought to trial.

You can't please all of the people all of the time, but President Obama and his Attorney General, Eric Holder, have got nearer than most to pulling it off.

11/10/09: Rachel Maddow highlights the shocking resistance by business groups to legislative measures that ban slavery and child exploitation.

Let's back up and talk about what the goal is in Afghanistan. Your strategy and your tactics are going to come out of your goal. I'm a little bit afraid that, in regard to the goal, you see a lot of mission creep. [...] And if you put 100,000 or 150,000 Western troops in there, that's just more people to feud with.

With the U.S. House having passed its version of a health care insurance bill (H.R. 3962 [PDF]) last night by a vote of 220 to 215, it may be instructive to take a very quick look at a couple of the outlier votes from each party.

Last night, 23 Democrats voted against providing 36 million Americans with health insurance while reducing the deficit, but in favor of the Stupak amendment to restrict reproductive rights for low-income women. Those 23 Democrats are:

Jason Altmire (PA-4); Bobby Bright (AL-2); John Barrow (GA-12); John Boccieri (OH-16); Dan Boren (OK-2); Ben Chandler (KY-6); Travis Childers (MS-1); Artur Davis (AL-7); Lincoln Davis (TN-4); Bart Gordon; Parker Griffith (AL-5); Tim Holden (PA-17); Jim Marshall (GA-8); Jim Matheson (UT-2); Mike McIntyre (NC-7); Charlie Melancon (LA-3); Collin Peterson (MN-7); Mike Ross (AR-4); Heath Shuler (NC-11); Ike Skelton (MO-4); John Tanner (TN-8); Gene Taylor (MS-4); Harry Teague (NM-2)

If you open Karen Armstrong's new book, The Case for God, expecting to find a list of mysterious cures, scientific curiosities, or certified miracles all pointing toward the physical presence of a divine influence in the world, you will be sorely disappointed. Armstrong has no interest in, and is in fact completely antithetical to, trying to prove God's existence.

The 11/3 Project
There's a war going on in America, and the stakes are nothing less than Glenn Beck's internal organs.

Civility has its uses, but we should not be afraid of satire and mockery as weapons against religious power