Archive for the ‘Splenetics’ Category
Conservative Queers Need Self Respect
What in the world, many of us wonder, is really the driving force behind all those Log Cabin Republicans? I know, I've listened for too many years to rationalizations that go along these lines: "Some of us [i.e., conservative queers] just feel that there are more important things than our private sexuality." There are (at […]
Scopes II in the Land of Dorothy
The not-very-clever farce dealing with what to teach in the biology classroom set to appear on stage in Kansas (my home state, recall), sometimes referred to as "Scopes II", seems almost universally recognized as a waste of taxpayer's money in aid of giving free press to the anti-evolutionary crowd currently crusading under the banner of […]
In: All, Speaking of Science, Splenetics
Gay Ed. for Teens
In a fascinatingly frank story, "Bashing Gays and Children" (by Amy Smith, 29 April 2005), the Austin [TX] Chronicle fills us in on the antics of "the gay-obsessed GOP rep from Pasadena [Texas], Robert Talton". It seems that he added an amendment to a Texas House bill that would "launch an $8 million inquisition into […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Splenetics
Microsoft's Tarnish
More about what one dispassionately hopes is a growing scandal for the Evil Giant (Microsoft): Microsoft Corp. is paying social conservative Ralph Reed $20,000 a month as a consultant, triggering complaints that the well-connected Republican with close ties to the White House and to evangelist Pat Robertson may have persuaded the company to oppose gay […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Splenetics
Christian Soldier Sexuality
It's about Jesus. But the fact that so much of the language used to discuss Christ is homoerotic is no coincidence. The first miracle of Jesus to believers is that his appeal crossed so many boundaries of the ancient world. Rich and poor, Jew and gentile, men and women — every kind of person loved […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Splenetics
Quantum Theory & GNP
I am reading Galileo's Finger: The Ten Great Ideas of Science, by Peter Atkins. It's refreshing reading. Anyway, as I continue to fret about the current faith-based insurgency attacking science in America, I was struck by this comment of Mr. Atkins' about the effect of science on society: …No exception to the predictions of quantum […]
In: All, Speaking of Science, Splenetics
Whose Pyramid?
For one thing — probably because I'm one of those radicals who tend to think that MicroSoft is the evil empire (recently confirmed) — I've always turned my nose up at anything quaintly called "My_____", since it always sounds to me like an unwarrented intrusion into already decaying standards of discourse by the evil empire's […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Speaking of Science, Splenetics, Such Language!
My Pointy Ears
I'm such a sucker these days for personal validation — I suspect it's a condition brought on by this over long period of being ungainfully unemployed. So, I could hardly resist the temptation to follow someone's pointer to the "How Logical Are You?" quiz. I took a few minutes and answered the 8 questions (which […]
No One Expected the German Inquisition
I have no more reason to talk about the new pope really than I did to talk about the previous one (they can always make more, no matter what happens), despite the fact that Isaac was convinced that this particular Bavarian homophobe would never be elected. (Sound familiar to any other elections we've been through […]
Friendly Links / Dirty Pix
Arthur Silber, with personal finances on his mind, says (in "Dirty Pix Means Cable!") …Anyway, that’s my pitch about this for today. Hit the tipjar, send a check via snail mail (write me for my address if you like), send positive thoughts my way, whatever works for you. … And when I can get cable […]
Wisdom of Old Jokes
Old jokes seem to embody enduring truths for me, and sometimes their punch lines become mental summaries for many of the categories (conceptual file folders) into which I slot this and that bit of ridiculous information. (I was just talking yesterday with someone about the gag that ended a McDonald's TV commercial once: "Feet! You […]
Black is White
Expanding on the tradition of death-bed conversions: WASHINGTON, April 8 – Arthur J. Finkelstein, a prominent Republican consultant who has directed a series of hard-edged political campaigns to elect conservatives in the United States and Israel over the last 25 years, said Friday that he had married his male partner in a civil ceremony at […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Splenetics
Gender Wars: The Shower
In the war over the question whether gender differences are nature or nurture, some of the more important skirmishes take place in domestic settings. For instance, the disagreement whether it is more "natural" so keep the toilet-seat lid up or down. This particular question is outside the scope of this meagre posting, although I note […]
In: All, Splenetics, The Art of Conversation
On-Topic Blogging
At TalkLeft I read There's cat-blogging (see here, here and here), basset blogging, orchid blogging and all sorts of off-topic blogging in the blogosphere on Fridays. I find that a curious thing to say: ".. all sorts of off-topic blogging…". And what, precisely, would be "on-topic blogging"? I told Isaac last night that I knew […]
In: All, Eureka!, Splenetics
How Astrology Works
For the last little bit, Richard Rockley at Skeptico has been posting answers he's received in response to his "Astrology Challenge", which asks the question "how did they make all this stuff up to begin with", surely a defining question. As he discusses this latest response to his query, he claims to find the explanation […]
In: All, It's Only Rocket Science, Splenetics
We're Single. Really.
Once again, the fabulous Deb Price in the Detroit News: But [Deb Price's partner] Joyce never gets frustrated until she turns her attention to our taxes — hers and mine, that is. To my mother, our mortgage company, our credit union, American Express, my minister and even our Spanish teacher, we're a unit –blended financially […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Splenetics
Was Jesus That Way?
In a story by Elizabeth Day at the Telegraph News [UK], the "Rt Rev Gene Robinson, the Bishop of New Hampshire in the Episcopal Church of the United States" is quoted saying interesting things: In answer to a question from the congregation [attending his recent address at the Christ Church of Hamilton and Wenham in […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Splenetics
Arm-Chair Ears
I think I've been spending far too much of my humankind face-time lately exclusively with our amateur theatre group — it makes me over sensitive to the whining of self-important diva wannabes. Let's consider the case of Mr. Dwight Vibbert (I won't even stoop to mocking his name), who writes, with some agitation, a letter […]
Design Notions
Two pieces from The Panda's Thumb converge on a single issue for me when it comes to "intelligent [so-called] design": In a posting on the Center (for the Renewal of) Science and Culture Media Complaints Division PR man Rob Crowther whines that a recent story in the Seattle Times disses Intelligent Design “theory” by saying […]
In: All, Eureka!, Splenetics
Gay Agenda Unifies
So frequently "gay rights issues", and most recently marriage equality issues, are portrayed as divisive — needlessly divisive, since we schismatic homos could so easily stay tucked away in the closet where nature intended us to stay. But wait! Here's validation of the gay agenda from, of all sources, the New York Times! ("Clerics Fighting […]