Scott Brown

Scott Brown disagrees with his party's line opposing abortion. Although he would vote against federal funding for abortions, he respects a woman's right to choose. Luckily for him, there is not going to be a formal litmus test for Republican candidates.

Oh, Ted

Ted Haggard has those pesky gay urges all under control, according to his wife. When the Ted Haggard scandal first broke, I felt like he'd received his comeuppance and deserved it for his hypocrisy. Since then, I've taken a more compassionate view on the subject. Even before I saw Alexandra Pelosi's The Trials of Ted Haggard documentary, I was contemplating the impossible position of having to choose between one's religion and one's sexuality. Men like Ted Haggard truly regard themselves--their core beings--as sinful, dirty, and perhaps irredeemable.

I have less compassion--although it is still there--for the closeted homosexuals who are the most vociferous supporters of anti-gay legislation and action. Rev. Haggard, however, was not a hateful type of preacher. He preached about seeing one of his flock going into a gay bar and of his attempts to bring the man back into the fold--not with hellfire and condemnation, but with love and forgiveness.

Pelosi's documentary humanizes Haggard, and I came to sympathize with his internal battle. He probably loves his wife very much and struggles to feel the kind of passion for her he knows he's supposed to feel. Despite his message of forgiveness, the church he built from the ground up cut him a check and kicked him out. They kicked him out not only of the church, but the entire state. Whose Christianity is that?

Supporters of gay rights are quick to point out such a lack of compassion on the part of the religious right, but also quick to vilify the Ted Haggards and Larry Craigs of the world. They, too, deserve compassion and, should they ever come seeking it: forgiveness.

Man caught with 44 geckos and skinks in his underwear

Need I say more?

Haiti's Children

The New York Times has a piece on Haiti's children that begins with a heartbreaking story of a little girl wandering Port-au-Prince, looking for her mother, only to see her body being loaded up onto a wheelbarrow. Within the article, though, are signs of resilience -- children playing soccer and singing songs. Stories of children in tragedy are always the most difficult to hear, but the stories of children's natural ability to adapt are also among the most hopeful.

A Good Fatwa

Reuters reports that Mauritanian imams have issued a fatwa against female genital mutilation. Cheikh Ould Zein, secretary general of the Forum of Islamic Thought in Mauritania said the following:

“Are there texts in the Koran that clearly require that thing? They do not exist. On the contrary, Islam is clearly against any action that has negative effects on health. Now that doctors in Mauritania unanimously say that this practice threatens health, it is therefore clear that Islam is against it.”

Lost Recap

An Italian family recaps Lost. Excellent.

Oh, the French

Nicolas Sarkozy knows what's best for you, ladies! Women will no longer be able to wear the veil on public property or public transportation, because Sarkozy is a tireless fighter for women's dignity.

Is this for real?

Do people listen to themselves when they speak? A group of parents in Menifee Union School District have requested that the Merriam Webster dictionary be removed from elementary classrooms. The dictionary! One of the kids looked up oral sex, and the description was too graphic. Twenty bucks the parent of that child has internet, where the child can look up things far worse. Seriously, banning the dictionary. Who does that?

South Carolina Dynasty of Stupidity

The Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina, Andre Bauer, forgot what decade / century he was in and espoused a eugenical view of charity and social support. The boiled down version is that we shouldn't give poor people things like, say, food, because they get horny and reproduce. Let's go to the actual words:

“My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed. You’re facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don’t think too much further than that. And so what you’ve got to do is you’ve got to curtail that type of behavior. They don’t know any better." Greenville News via Wonkette

Bauer goes on to say, "You show me the school that has the highest free and reduced lunch, and I'll show you the worst test scores, folks. It's there, period." That is several shades of special. He clearly missed the correlation / causation lecture in college. I recommend that SC make itself look better by lowering test scores around the country by giving kids free food. That will be a foolproof plan.

Dolphins are smart

A pod of dolphins has developed a new and unique hunting method. To wit:

Duh. Don't Text & Drive.

An 18-year-old Washington kid gets sentenced to 60 months in prison for vehicular homicide -- which was committed because he was texting while driving. (Totally unrelated, why does Firefox not recognize "texting" as a word? Get with it!) But then there's this:

Patterson was riding his bicycle home from school when Cellestine's car trailed into the bike lane and struck him from behind. Cellestine then sped away. He was arrested the next day.

Did he get 5 years because of the texting or because it was a hit and run? Either way, stop texting and driving. Five years in jail won't erase a lifetime of guilt.

Advocate for Care

More evidence that as a patient, you have to tirelessly advocate for your care. The Times has done an expose on radiation errors. A theme throughout the piece is that someone failed to test the equipment after programming it. As a result, a man's entire head (including his brain stem) was radiated repeatedly. A woman had a hole burned into her chest, and the hole would not heal. Radiation has obviously saved a lot of lives, so mistakes shouldn't scare people away. Just hold your health team accountable and make them convince you that they have the appropriate safety measures in place.