MUTANT VAMPIRE

A state lawmaker from San Francisco has introduced legislation to decriminalize marijuana and regulate it like alcohol. It has been endorsed by a retired Orange County judge who used to be a federal prosecutor. In his view, it's 'high time' -- so to speak -- for another approach to marijuana.

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WWJD? or What could have Jesus Done?

2009-04-18T23:33:00.000-04:00

Why do Muslims hate Women?

2009-04-18T23:05:00.000-04:00

Stupidity is alive and well in the U.K.

2009-04-18T22:52:00.002-04:00

London suffering from shocking rise in rare 'Victorian' diseases

London is suffering a startling rise in diseases associated with Victorian times, official figures reveal today.

Rare infectious illnesses including typhoid, whooping cough and scarlet fever have soared by 166 per cent in the past two years, with the number of cases of mumps - a disease easily prevented with vaccine - rising from 125 in 2007 to 393 last year - an increase of 214 per cent.

Justine Greening, the shadow minister for London, said infection rates in the capital are markedly higher than the national averages.

The rise could be a result of parents refusing the MMR jab after now-debunked claims in 2001 that it might be linked to autism.

Mumps can lead to hearing loss and damage the nervous system in adults.

The figures also showed cases of the highly-contagious whooping cough have quadrupled in the five years to 2007, from 63 to 252.

Symptoms include choking spells and vomiting and can cause death, especially in young infants.

Meanwhile cases of scarlet fever, which causes high fevers, rashes, and severe damage to internal organs, are up 153 per cent since 2005, with 501 infected in London last year.

Typhoid, which is associated with poor sanitation and hygiene, has risen steadily since 2004, from 45 to 127 cases per year.

The Conservatives claimed the Government was partly to blame for failing to invest enough in public health and to appoint school nurses.

Ms Greening, MP for Putney, said: 'The rise of these highly infectious and potentially fatal diseases in our city is truly alarming.

'The Government must do more to ensure the public health of Londoners.'

I wonder if the likes of Jenny McCarhthy know what kind of harm they're causing

Taliban Execute Eloping Young Lovers In Afghanistan

2009-04-15T23:03:00.001-04:00

A young couple who tried to elope in one of the most lawless and conservative parts of Afghanistan have been publicly executed by Taliban gunmen after their parents handed them over to be tried by insurgents.

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Will somebody please explain this video to me?

2009-04-14T20:29:00.002-04:00

I freely admit that I'm not the sharpest tool in the workshop, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what the hell they're trying to say with this thing.

Why We Evolved to Cry

2009-04-11T03:13:00.001-04:00

What’s the use of crying when you’re sad? Other animals shed tears, but humans may be unique in shedding tears of grief, and Robert Provine says that he knows why...

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The return of Big Butter Jesus

2009-04-09T23:58:00.001-04:00

"In 3 Weeks I Will Be Put to My Death"

2009-04-09T23:40:00.002-04:00

A Mississauga woman says she'll be the victim of an honour killing by her estranged husband, a Muslim extremist, when she's deported to Pakistan at the end of the month.

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Crazy?

2009-04-05T21:39:00.001-04:00

2 gay men killed in Iraq after Shiite cleric condemns gays

2009-04-04T22:21:00.001-04:00

BAGHDAD (AP) - The bodies of two gay men have been found in Baghdad's Shiite slum of Sadr City after a leading cleric repeatedly condemned homosexuality, an Iraqi police official said Saturday. The killings come after Shiite cleric Sattar al-Battat repeatedly condemned homosexuality during recent Friday prayers, saying Islam prohibits homosexuality

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What do Orthodox Jews have against women?

2009-04-04T01:05:00.002-04:00

Two ultra-Orthodox Jewish newspapers have altered a photo of Israel's new cabinet, removing two female ministers.

Limor Livnat and Sofa Landver were grouped with the rest of the 30-member cabinet for their inaugural photo.

But Yated Neeman newspaper digitally changed the picture by replacing them with two men. The Shaa Tova newspaper blacked the women out.

Publishing pictures of women is viewed by many ultra-orthodox Jews as a violation of female modesty.

Other Israeli papers reprinted the altered images next to the original photos, with one headlining it "Find the lady".

The ultra-Orthodox community separates itself from mainstream society through its traditional religious practices and distinctive attire of black hats, coats and sidelocks for the men and long skirts and sleeves for the women.

Restrictions include using only Kosher telephones, and not accessing websites with content deemed inappropriate.

(Kosher telephones! who knew?!)

THC, Active Ingredient in Marijuana, Kills Brain Cancer

2009-04-02T22:39:00.003-04:00

New research out of Spain suggests that THC -- the active ingredient in marijuana -- appears to prompt the death of brain cancer cells. Tell me, government, is it "medicine" yet?

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Marijuana Called Top U.S. Cash Crop - ABC News

2009-04-02T22:39:00.001-04:00

The report, "Marijuana Production in the United States," by marijuana policy researcher Jon Gettman, concludes that despite massive eradication efforts at the hands of the federal government, "marijuana has become a pervasive and ineradicable part of the national economy."

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More Evidence on Marijuana and Cancer

2009-04-02T22:38:00.001-04:00

The evidence continues to mount that cannabinoids — the unique, active components in marijuana — fight cancer. The latest such study , just published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, shows that THC can kill glioma cells through a process known as autophagy. Gioma is a particularly deadly form of brain cancer that afflicts, among others, Se

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How religion began

2009-03-30T00:41:00.002-04:00

Sounds about right!

Mexican Drug Lord Thanks American Lawmakers for War On Drugs

2009-03-29T23:28:00.001-04:00

"I couldn't have gotten so stinking rich without George Bush, George Bush Jr., Ronald Reagan, even El Presidente Obama, none of them have the cajones to stand up to all the big money that wants to keep this stuff illegal. From the bottom of my heart, I want to say, Gracias amigos, I owe my whole empire to you."

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Women told: 'You have dishonoured your family, please kill yourself'

2009-03-27T23:02:00.000-04:00

When Elif's father told her she had to kill herself in order to spare him from a prison sentence for her murder, she considered it long and hard. "I loved my father so much, I was ready to commit suicide for him even though I hadn't done anything wrong," the 18-year-old said. "But I just couldn't go through with it. I love life too much."

All Elif had done was simply decline the offer of an arranged marriage with an older man, telling her parents she wanted to continue her education. That act of disobedience was seen as bringing dishonour on her whole family – a crime punishable by death. "I managed to escape. When I was at school, a few girls I knew were killed by their families in the name of honour – one of them for simply receiving a text message from a boy," Elif said.

Creationism is Bad Religion

2009-03-27T22:37:00.001-04:00

It’s dead obvious that creationism isn’t science, or even bad science. It’s nonsense. But I’ve long stated it’s also bad religion, because it doesn’t just take faith, it also takes a phenomenal disregard of reality. Moderate Christians should distance themselves from such garbage, as it is a clear distortion of the Bible.

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Man and his 2 sons beat daughter/sister to death because...

2009-03-22T22:19:00.001-04:00

she wore make up and talked to a stranger!!!

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Israeli Soldier Says Rabbis Framed Gaza Mission as Religious

2009-03-22T01:33:00.001-04:00

JERUSALEM, March 20 -- A soldier involved in Israel's recent military offensive in the Gaza Strip said in published reports Friday that the military's rabbinical staff distributed material characterizing the operation as a religious mission to "get rid of the gentiles who disturb us from conquering the Holy Land".....

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Women talk three times as much as men, says study

2009-03-21T22:08:00.001-04:00

It is something one half of the population has long suspected - and the other half always vocally denied. Women really do talk more than men. In fact, women talk almost three times as much as men, with the average woman chalking up 20,000 words in a day - 13,000 more than the average man.

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Creationist (heh) Master of Science (haha) degree (HAHAHAHA)

2009-03-21T05:16:00.001-04:00

A Texas state Representative who — you might want to sit down, or maybe even lie on the floor as you read this — wants the Institute for Creation Research to be able to grant Master of Science degrees.

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Great Bus Sign

2009-03-21T05:07:00.003-04:00

Why are Atheists evil?

2009-03-15T04:49:00.002-04:00

Dubai Jails British Woman for Having Tea with Male Friend

2009-03-15T04:41:00.001-04:00

A BRITISH mother of two is being held in jail after being found guilty of adultery - for having a cup of tea with a male friend. Amnesty International says Ms Pearce, who has lived in Dubai for 15 years, is "a prisoner of conscience".

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The Drug War Kills Cops in Mexico and Kids in America

2009-03-15T04:35:00.001-04:00

Now here's a moral question: How many Mexican police officers have to die because American parents believe that U.S. drug laws will keep their teenagers from doing something their kids may or may not do whether it is or isn't legal? Follow-up question: Will parents feel safer if the drug cartel violence moves north?

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Lesbians subjected to "corrective rape" in South Africa

2009-03-13T23:02:00.001-04:00

Lesbians living in South Africa are being subjected to "corrective rape" and severe violence by men trying to "cure" them of their sexual orientation, human rights groups have said.

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That Jesus sure gets around!

2009-03-09T01:15:00.000-04:00

No missing links please

2009-03-08T00:42:00.000-05:00

Maryland man develops Christian salt

2009-03-04T20:20:00.001-05:00

Did you ever wish there were a Christian version of kosher salt? I thought not. But apparently a retired barber, Joe Godlewski, did.

Godlewski, who lives in western Maryland, has named his new product Blessed Christian Salt. It went on the market this week.

It's simply sea salt that's been blessed by an Episcopal priest, which is kind of an odd choice of denomination when you think about it. I would get a celebrity TV evangelist for more endorsement power. ...

You can buy Blessed Christian Salt on the Internet or in Christian bookstores. Apparently some portion of the proceeds will go to charity, according to an AP story, but no one is saying how much or which charities.

Also according to the AP story, Rabbi Sholem Fishbane, kosher administrator for the Chicago Rabbinical Council, said he doesn't blame Godlewski for seizing a business opportunity, even one that plays on public misconceptions about kosher products. (Certified kosher foods aren't blessed by rabbis.)

If the salt does well, Godlewski is planning to introduce a whole line of Christian-branded products, although so far there hasn't been a large market for the ones already around, like scripture candy and Christian fortune cookies.

Man Stabs Son for Wearing Hat in Church

2009-03-04T20:11:00.000-05:00

BALTIMORE — Police said a 58-year-old man stabbed his teenage son after he refused to take off his hat at church earlier in the day.

The father and his 19-year-old son got into an argument on Sunday afternoon.

That's when police said the father went to a car, got a knife and stabbed his son in the left buttock and fled.

The son was taken to University of Maryland Medical Center for treatment. The father's name was withheld pending his arrest.

What would happen if God dissapeared?

2009-03-04T12:18:00.001-05:00

US Journalist Arrested In Iran For Buying Bottle Of Wine

2009-03-02T00:34:00.001-05:00

Roxana Saberi a freelance journalist has been arrested in Iran, and her father said Sunday she told him in a brief phone call she was detained after buying a bottle of wine. Roxana Saberi, 31, has not been heard from since her last call on Feb. 10, her father, Reza, told The Associated Press on Sunday.

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Genital mutilation: Women fight Africa's taboo

2009-02-28T06:09:00.001-05:00

The female journalist was snatched by members of a secret society, forcibly stripped and made to parade naked through the streets. It might sound like an atrocity from the time when Sierra Leone was ripped apart by a bloody civil war, but in fact the public humiliation was exacted in the diamond-rich eastern town of Kenema just this month...

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Scifi great Philip Jose Farmer dead at 91

2009-02-27T00:01:00.002-05:00

I realize that I tend to glorify Science Fiction writers, but damn, we've lost another of the greats. Even if you've never read a Science Fiction story in your life, do yourself a favor and grab a hold of "To Your Scattered Bodies Go". It's the first novel in the "Riverworld" series. (Avoid the made for TV movie like the plague)

Sign me:

Depressed again in Dayton

Emoose out

Saudi women frustrated by male-staffed lingerie shops

2009-02-26T23:24:00.001-05:00

Call it a tempest in a D-cup. "Girls feel uncomfortable when males are selling them lingerie, telling them what size they need... he's totally checking the girls out!"

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Legalize Pot and Save the Economy!

2009-02-26T23:10:00.001-05:00

With the US economy crashing around us, new legislation introduced in California that would legalize pot could not only provide the government much needed tax revenue, but also save billions on enforcement.

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Galaxy may be full of Earths full of life

2009-02-26T22:29:00.001-05:00

As NASA prepares to hunt for Earth-like planets in our corner of the Milky Way galaxy, there's new buzz that "Star Trek's" vision of a universe full of life may not be that far-fetched.

An artist's impression shows a planet passing in front of its parent star. Such events are called transits.

Pointy-eared aliens traveling at light speed are staying firmly in science fiction, but scientists are offering fresh insights into the possible existence of inhabited worlds and intelligent civilizations in space.

There may be 100 billion Earth-like planets in the Milky Way, or one for every sun-type star in the galaxy, said Alan Boss, an astronomer with the Carnegie Institution and author of the new book "The Crowded Universe: The Search for Living Planets."

He made the prediction based on the number of "super-Earths" -- planets several times the mass of the Earth, but smaller than gas giants like Jupiter -- discovered so far circling stars outside the solar system.

Boss said that if any of the billions of Earth-like worlds he believes exist in the Milky Way have liquid water, they are likely to be home to some type of life.

"Now that's not saying that they're all going to be crawling with intelligent human beings or even dinosaurs," he said.

"But I would suspect that the great majority of them at least will have some sort of primitive life, like bacteria or some of the multicellular creatures that populated our Earth for the first 3 billion years of its existence."

What works

2009-02-24T21:33:00.003-05:00

Message from Africa:Stop sending aid

2009-02-24T21:23:00.002-05:00

People like Bono do more harm than good? "Bradgelina" and their ilk should mind their own business? Should Madonna stop kidnapping African children?

Republican Christian: What My Life Was Like Before Cannabis

2009-02-22T07:18:00.001-05:00

He said the issue is often seen as a Democrat versus Republican debate. However, he labels himself as a Republican Christian.“I’m frustrated to death with the way the Christian community sees the word ‘marijuana’ and immediately turns away,” he said.

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Zogby Poll: US Weed Legalization Support Grows

2009-02-22T07:12:00.001-05:00

Fifty-eight percent of respondents residing on the west coast agree that cannabis should be "taxed and legally regulated like alcohol and cigarettes."...Nationally, support for taxing and regulating cannabis stands at 44 percent. Among likely voters on the east coast, 48 percent endorse legalizing marijuana.

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Brave Active-Duty Cop Calls for Drug Legalization

2009-02-22T07:10:00.001-05:00

Looking a little nervous to be associating with a room full of believers in the healing properties of the herbal remedy, and taking pains to ensure that all present understood he was there on his own time and not representing the Victoria PD, the clean-cut cop offered up what his experience walking the beat has taught him about the war on drugs.

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These Cops Oppose the Drug Laws They Swore to Enforce

2009-02-22T07:06:00.001-05:00

When he's working, Police Officer Bradley Jardis is just like any other cop. He's patrolling the streets to catch people with drugs because that's what he's supposed to do. But when he's off the clock, this 28-year-old officer is speaking publicly about why he believes existing drug policies have failed and why it's time for lawmakers to legalize.

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Obama Could Take Bold Leadership to Stop the Drug War

2009-02-22T07:00:00.001-05:00

Our "prison-industrial complex" remains potent. And federal law prohibits the drug czar from recommending legalization of any banned drug, no matter the evidence. We have dug ourselves a deep hole. Only forthright and courageous leadership is likely to start us on a saner path. Can this be “the time?” Please, Mr. President.

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Religous Gestappo Alive and Well in Saudi Arabia

2009-02-21T22:58:00.002-05:00

In Saudi Arabia, religious police patrol the streets, looking for what they see as violations of Islamic law — the mingling of unrelated men and women, for example, or shops remaining open during prayer time. Formally known as the Commission to Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice, the religious police once enjoyed wide public support, but now are coming under harsh criticism — from Saudis themselves.

To see what Saudis are saying about the religious police, known around here as the Hey'a, all you have to do is load up a few videos on YouTube. In one video, a Hey'a member harasses a woman in a mall for leaving her face uncovered. The woman fights back.

Another one shows a group of women ululating at the Hey'a — and eventually running them out of a mall.

The videos are often narrated by angry citizens, saying things like "We'll show you by showing the world your bad deeds." The videos are just one part of the public outcry against the Hey'a these days. Newspapers routinely run critical news and opinion pieces. And it seems like every Saudi you talk to has a story.

"I was going out to Starbucks with one of my friends," tells a recent graduate who didn't want to give her name. "He's a doctor. And we were discussing something — it's a campaign that we wanted to do for the university. So it was very official."

Later that day she was confronted by the Hey'a for meeting with a member of the opposite sex.

"And then suddenly this guy — the Hey'a — he came and he knocked near the door," she says. "He said, 'How can you do this, this is not allowed,' and he started shouting." The officer took her to the Hey'a office.

At the office, she was interrogated about her meeting with the doctor and accused of lying.

They told her "He touched your breast. You showed him your body," the graduate says. "We were in public," she protested.

They asked if she was a virgin, then told her they were going to check.

"You know, I felt very humiliated," the student says. "I didn't do anything wrong, and now he's treating me like I'm a whore or something. I really felt very bad."

The woman was detained for several hours then forced to sign a document admitting her guilt. Her friend the doctor spent two days in jail.

A Growing Backlash

The Hey'a was formally established decades ago by the founder of the modern Saudi state, King Abdul Aziz al-Saud, who joined with conservative religious leaders to unite the tribes of the Arabian Peninsula. Now the government employs thousands of Hey'a members in offices around the country.

In many regions, they're supported by the public. Some Saudi citizens consider it their duty to call the Hey'a to report violations. Saudis first ventured to criticize the Hey'a in 2002, when several members refused to allow girls to leave a burning school because they weren't properly covered. Fourteen girls died. In 2005, Hey'a members beat to death an alleged drug dealer in his home.

Journalist Iman al Qahtani says criticism intensified after the incident. "For the first time in Saudi history, people started to sue al Hey'a in courts."

The problem, Qahtani says, is that the courts — another bastion of the religious establishment in Saudi Arabia — were on the side of the Hey'a. " They win all thecases," he says.

That might change. Saudi King Abdullah recently sacked both the head of the Hey'a and the head of the country's powerful judiciary. Analysts say that sends a clear message both institutions need to reform.

New Hey'a chief Abdul Aziz al-Humain recently told Al Arabiya network the new commission will be "close to the heart of every citizen." Still, a change in leadership doesn't necessarily mean a change in mentality. The most recent cases involve confiscating a woman's laptop and not giving it back, and halting the performance of a play because it contained music.

Newspaper editor Jamal Khashoggi says the Hey'a does have a place in Saudi society, but it should be reactive, not proactive.

"If a young boy is harassing a girl in a mall, they should go after him," Khashoggi says. "I don't mind what they do with prostitution rings, to alcohol distributors. Just like with the Moral Majority in America, or independent brigades who are active to clean the streets in New York and Chicago — Guardian Angels, and stuff like that."

Even before the recent firing of the Hey'a chief, the commission was working to improve its image with training sessions and outreach programs. Some Saudis say the recent wave of criticism has put the Hey'a on better behavior. Others say it's made them worse.

Ron Paul: America's War on Drugs must end

2009-02-21T22:45:00.001-05:00

Congressman Ron Paul is the most conservative, grandfatherly man to ever be admired by America's marijuana enthusiasts. On Friday night's episode of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, he reminded those who may have been suffering an impaired short-term memory at that late hour why, exactly, they should like him. -=W /VIDEO=-

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OMG! Did Google Earth find Atlantis?

2009-02-21T00:25:00.001-05:00

Google is officially denying widespread Internet rumors that its Google Earth software located the mythical sunken city of Atlantis off the coast of Africa. Either that, or Google is totally trying to hide something. Since I always appreciate a nice juicy conspiracy theory, I'm going to go with the latter.

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Court saves Jehovah's Witness girl's life

2009-02-20T03:36:00.001-05:00

A 12-year-old Jehovah's Witness girl has received a life-saving blood transfusion that she did not want after a Johannesburg High Court order gave doctors the go-ahead.

The girl, who suffers from leukaemia, was admitted to Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital on Tuesday. Despite being told that a blood transfusion was needed to save her life, the girl and her parents refused to consent to the procedure.

Jehovah's Witnesses believe that it's against God's will to take other people's blood, or one's own blood that has been stored, into one's body.

The official website of Watchtower, a Jehovah's Witness organisation to which The Star was referred by the Jehovah's Witnesses of South Africa, says: "True Christians will not accept a blood transfusion. They want to live, but they will not try to save their life by breaking God's laws."

Another victory for sanity.

Anti-gay American cleric banned from UK for inciting hatred

2009-02-19T23:23:00.002-05:00

A homophobic American cleric who runs a website called God Hates Fags and was allegedly planning to picket a play showing in the UK has been banned from Britain by the home secretary, Jacqui Smith

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About Time

2009-02-13T23:40:00.003-05:00

Marijuana vs. Anti-Depressants for PTSD: Marijuana Wins

2009-02-13T23:16:00.001-05:00

I was asked by a healthcare professional at the Portland VA Hospital if I would help PTSD Veteran Victims to get permits to use legalized medical marijuana. I already had some Veteran patients from WW II, Korea and Vietnam. I heard from Veterans all over the U.S. and the world that marijuana was better than both morphine drugs and anti-depressants.

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New soft drink to be made from cow Piss

2009-02-13T23:03:00.000-05:00

Moo juice, but not as wee know it

A hardline Hindu organisation, known for its opposition to "corrupting" Western food imports, is planning to launch a new soft drink made from cow's urine, often seen as sacred in parts of India.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), or National Volunteer Corps, said the bovine beverage is undergoing laboratory tests for the next 2 to 3 months but did not give a specific date for its commercial release.

Pair held for 'offending Islam'

2009-02-12T18:37:00.004-05:00

"I don't respect the idea that we should follow a 'Prophet' who at the age of 53 had sex with a nine-year old girl, and ordered the murder of whole villages of Jews because they wouldn't follow him."

Calcutta Muslims in a 2006 protest against Prophet Muhammad cartoons

The editor and publisher of a top English-language Indian daily have been arrested on charges of "hurting the religious feelings" of Muslims.

The Statesman's editor Ravindra Kumar and publisher Anand Sinha were detained in Calcutta after complaints.

Muslims said they were upset with the Statesman for reproducing an article from the UK's Independent daily in its 5 February edition.

The article was entitled: "Why should I respect these oppressive religions?"

It concerns the erosion of the right to criticise all religions.

Christians in Jerusalem want Jews to stop spitting on them

2009-02-12T18:28:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago, a senior Greek Orthodox clergyman in Israel attended a meeting at a government office in Jerusalem's Givat Shaul quarter. When he returned to his car, an elderly man wearing a skullcap came and knocked on the window. When the clergyman let the window down, the passerby spat in his face. <

The clergyman prefered not to lodge a complaint with the police and told an acquaintance that he was used to being spat at by Jews. Many Jerusalem clergy have been subjected to abuse of this kind. For the most part, they ignore it but sometimes they cannot.

On Sunday, a fracas developed when a yeshiva student spat at the cross being carried by the Armenian Archbishop during a procession near the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City. The archbishop's 17th-century cross was broken during the brawl and he slapped the yeshiva student.

Holocaust-denying Bishop refuses to recant his claims

2009-02-12T18:15:00.001-05:00

Among the comments the Bishop refused to repudiate were his claims that only 200,000 – 300,000 Jews were killed during World War II, and that none of them had been gassed.

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Abe Lincoln Pot Head?

2009-02-12T02:20:00.001-05:00

"Two of my favorite things are sitting on my front porch smoking a pipe of sweet hemp, and playing my Hohner harmonica." - Abraham Lincoln (from a letter written by Lincoln during his presidency to the head of the Hohner Harmonica Company in Germany)

Man appears free of HIV after stem cell transplant

2009-02-12T02:17:00.001-05:00

A 42-year-old HIV patient with leukemia appears to have no detectable HIV in his blood and no symptoms after a stem cell transplant from a donor carrying a gene mutation that confers natural resistance to the virus that causes AIDS, according to a report published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

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'I Will Not Travel to Auschwitz'

2009-02-12T02:16:00.001-05:00

Bishop Richard Williamson's denial of the Holocaust has done serious damage to the Catholic Church. In an e-mail and fax exchange with SPIEGEL, the ultra-conservative bishop says that he is willing to "review the historical evidence."

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Jury nullification at work in marijuana, gun cases

2009-02-12T02:13:00.001-05:00

In Washington, D.C., a jury ignored a military veteran's obvious violation of the city's draconian gun laws, setting him free with only a slap on the wrist. In LaSalle County, Illinois, a medical marijuana user found with 25 pounds of the plant didn't even get the slap; jurors chatted with him after finding him not guilty.

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Very Sad

2009-02-12T00:10:00.001-05:00

At least he stayed inside the lines.

Texas evangelicals funded effort to kill Palin trooper probe

2009-02-11T06:35:00.001-05:00

You can't see Russia from Texas. But that's where some of the money that helped an effort aiming to kill a probe investigating whether Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's acted inappropriately in firing the state's public safety chief came from. A whopping $25,000 came from a group affiliated with Focus on the Family's James Dobson.

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1,000,000 Strong to Strip Mormon Church of Tax Exempt Status

2009-02-11T06:32:00.001-05:00

During the election, the Mormon Church pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into the push to ban same-sex marriages in California -- a campaign that deprived people in a different state of a fundamental civil right.

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Saudis give Gang Rape Victim 100 Lashes + 1 Year in Jail

2009-02-10T22:48:00.001-05:00

The District Court in Jeddah pronounced the verdict on Saturday after the girl confessed that she had a forced sexual intercourse with a man who had offered her a ride. The man, the girl confessed, took her to a rest house, east of Jeddah, where he and four of friends assaulted her all night long.

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Marijuana Cuts Lung Cancer Tumor Growth In Half, Study Shows

2009-02-09T03:02:00.001-05:00

The active ingredient in marijuana cuts tumor growth in common lung cancer in half and significantly reduces the ability of the cancer to spread, say researchers at Harvard University. Researchers do not know why THC inhibits tumor growth, they say the substance could be activating molecules that arrest the cell cycle.

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Kiddie Gang Caught Roating Puppies Over Bonfire

2009-02-04T23:10:00.001-05:00

A gang of children aged as young as 10 were caught trying to roast a pair puppies over a bonfire. Passerby Melanie Johnson spotted them kicking the pups and holding them over the fire on a canal bank. The youngsters fled, abandoning the dogs, when she challenged them.

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The Face of Evil

2009-02-04T22:28:00.003-05:00

A WOMAN suspected of recruiting more than 80 female suicide bombers has confessed to organizing their rapes so she could later convince them that martyrdom was the only way to escape the shame.

Samira Jassam, 51, was arrested by Iraqi police and confessed to recruiting the women and orchestrating dozens of attacks.

In a video confession, she explained how she had mentally prepared the women for martyrdom operations, passed them on to terrorists who provided explosives, and then took the bombers to their targets.

I dare you to look into those eyes and not get shiver down your spine. If there is evil in this world, this is it! Makes me wish that there was a hell.

Is the Bible to blame for trashing earth?

2009-01-31T23:20:00.001-05:00

Yes.

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Olympic gold medal winner Michael Phelps caught with bong

2009-01-31T23:18:00.001-05:00

THIS is the astonishing picture which could destroy the career of the greatest competitor in Olympic history. In our exclusive photo Michael Phelps, who won a record EIGHT gold medals for swimming at the Beijing games last summer, draws from a bong.

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Maybe This Is How The War On Marijuana Ends

2009-01-31T23:16:00.001-05:00

A rural Illinois jury has found one of their peers innocent in a marijuana case that would have sent him to prison. People are coming to realize that not only have they been sold a lie when it comes to marijuana -- they've been sold a particularly cruel lie, a self-perpetuating falsehood of epic proportions that has controlled U.S. public policy.

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Christians don't tip on Sunday?

2009-01-31T02:17:00.002-05:00

From Prayer Pilgrimage:

"My daughter, taking a break from her pursuit of a graduate degree, is a server at the Chili's a few miles down from our house. Like many others her age she is already pretty critical of the church and its obvious hypocrisies. Her cynicism, that to say, is neither atypcial nor incomprehensible. Nor does this kind of thing help--her or others.

A group of six church-goers came in last night after their evening services and sat down, not in her area but in another server's. When the girl came to greet them and take their drink order, one of them said, "We want to tell you up front that we will not be tipping you tonight because..."

Are you ready?

"...we do not believe in people working on Sunday."

The girl was taken full-aback, stammered out something that sounded like "I wouldn't have to work on Sunday if so many church people didn't come in," or some such. She was furious. So was the manager of the restaurant whom she summoned to deal with them. I think he should have tossed the people out on their...uh...Bibles. To his credit, and demonstrating something like agape all around, he did say to them, "Well, we don't believe in making our people work for nothing, so I will be serving you tonight." And he did. God bless him.

No one is consistent. I am clear on that. But better to confess your own sin in such a situation than presume to see it in another who is just doing the best they can. No wonder Jesus had such animosity toward Pharisees who "lay (heavy burdens) on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them" (Matthew 23:4). No wonder an entire generation of would-be believers has such animosity toward the church.

As George MacDonald wrote long ago, "Had you given yourself to understanding his word that you might do it, and not the quarrying from it of material wherewith to buttress your systems, in many a heart by this time would the name of the Lord be loved where now it remains unknown..."

For my part--and I am a Pharisee myself, even saying this, but I cite my practice not with pride but with confession--I pray for the forgiveness of God and verbally ask the forgiveness of the Hardee's drive-through lady each Sunday as I buy coffee on my way to church. I know I am complicit: on the one hand I do wish, with my head and heart, that all people had Sunday free; that said, I do nothing, nothing to lift a finger to make that happen by even so little a fast or act of self-sacrifice as making my own coffee on a busy Sunday morning--much less by not eating a Sunday lunch or dinner at one of the sit-down places in"

School can expel lesbian students, court rules

2009-01-29T06:07:00.000-05:00

An appeals panel finds California Lutheran High School in Riverside County is not a business and therefore doesn't have to comply with a state law barring discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Reporting from San Francisco -- After a Lutheran school expelled two 16-year-old girls for having "a bond of intimacy" that was "characteristic of a lesbian relationship," the girls sued, contending the school had violated a state anti-discrimination law.

In response to that suit, an appeals court decided this week that the private religious school was not a business and therefore did not have to comply with a state law that prohibits businesses from discriminating. A lawyer for the girls said Tuesday that he would ask the California Supreme Court to overturn the unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal.

Pakistani newlyweds live in fear of honour killing

2009-01-24T04:41:00.000-05:00

According to United Nations an estimated 5,000 people are being killed every year in the name of honor. A large majority of the victims are women. Most of these killings are reported to be in South Asia and the Middle East regions.

Pakistan High Court Rules That Honor Killing Is Not Murder

2009-01-24T03:40:00.000-05:00

More indication of the widespread acceptance of honor killing in Muslim countries -- while the world continues to look the other way, and no one calls upon Islamic communities in the West to do anything about this, despite the fact that we have already seen honor killings in the U.S.

Atheist Hell, Buahaha!

2009-01-24T01:57:00.000-05:00

Oooooh Atheists! Scary!

2009-01-24T01:05:00.002-05:00

The Seven Deadly Sins of Religion

2009-01-24T01:03:00.001-05:00

More Spaceflight Needed To Drive Evolution

2009-01-24T00:19:00.001-05:00

There is fierce debate over the direction humanity should take when exploring the solar system. Plans for human exploration of the solar system and beyond often polarize opinions among the public and scientific communities.

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no explanation necessary

2009-01-22T06:55:00.001-05:00

God is an Atheist

2009-01-21T23:57:00.001-05:00

Trials for Parents Who Chose Faith Over Medicine

2009-01-21T21:58:00.001-05:00

Kara Neumann, 11, had grown so weak that she could not walk or speak. Her parents, who believe that God alone has the ability to heal the sick, prayed for her recovery but did not take her to a doctor.

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Is Space Travel the Next Step in Human Evolution?

2009-01-21T05:49:00.001-05:00

Increasingly, advocates of space exploration believe leaving the planet is the natural next step of human evolution. They hope this will lead to a shift in human consciousness from an earth-centered frame of reference to one centered on the solar system and, eventually, the entire galaxy.

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Disabled Man Sues Businesses for a Living

2009-01-21T05:46:00.001-05:00

Wheelchair-bound Tom Mundy has been unemployed for the past two years. Yet he's still making six figures by what some call "legal extortion," but what he says is advocacy.

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8 Racist Words You Use Every Day

2009-01-19T12:07:00.001-05:00

Have you ever worried that, no matter how hard you try, you'll just never be racist enough? Well, you're in luck. As it turns out, you've been unconsciously using racial slurs your entire life! Slurs like...

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19 yr old assaults mom with a taco after she uplugs his xbox

2009-01-18T04:47:00.002-05:00

How did this make the news? Very pathetic!

“He went ahead and hit me with the taco and I got taco all over my shirt and kitchen. I’ve threatened to call police before. But anyway this time, I thought he went too far so I called police and he's in jail now.”

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Debt collector hires witch

2009-01-17T23:08:00.002-05:00

I think they probably misspelled it.

A Lithuanian debt collector has hired a witch to hunt down companies and individuals who are failing to pay their debts amid the credit crunch.

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Militant Druids Fight Museum Over A 4,000-Year-Old Skeleton

2009-01-17T23:01:00.002-05:00

Militant Druids! Who knew?

A group of militant Druids has forced an expensive official inquiry after demanding that a museum release an ancient skeleton and seven other sets of prehistoric remains excavated near the ancient stone circle in Avebury, Wiltshire, are their 'tribal ancestors'. If their claim is rejected, they have threatened to take a test case to the High Court.

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Churches on their knees! In need of money.

2009-01-17T22:59:00.001-05:00

How to persuade budget-pinched members to open their wallets to charity?

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KKK Asshats Call for Boycott of Hallmark

2009-01-17T22:55:00.001-05:00

In a move that's sure to cost Hallmark tens of dollars, members of the Ku Klux Klan are asking white Americans to boycott all purchases from the greeting card company for "trying to corrupt the morality of Americans by offering gay/lesbian wedding and greeting cards."

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Top Saudi cleric: OK for 10 year old girls to be wed [WTF?]

2009-01-17T22:53:00.001-05:00

The debate over the controversial practice of child marriage in Saudi Arabia was pushed back into the spotlight this week, with the kingdom's top cleric saying that it's OK for girls as young as 10 to wed. "A girl aged 10 or 12 can be married. Those who think she's too young are wrong and they are being unfair to her."

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