Florida! Why Is It Always Florida?

Sociological Images: Seeing Is Believing: The Male Gaze Does Not Allow For Boy Nipples

The men in this Wrestlemania billboard, if you look closely, have no nipples. They were photoshopped out because of a law in Florida that prohibits the display of nipples.

Suppose that sort of silly mindset has anything to do with this:

Florida's population is increasing at the slowest pace in 30 years, which will put a damper on economic growth, University of Florida researchers said Thursday.

At Least It's Not a Picture of Mohamed

BlawgIT - Internet Patent, Trademark and Copyright Issues with Attorney Brett J. Trout, P.C.

Sometimes the jokes write themselves.

Patent Number 5456625
The doll is provided with electrically conductive nails which when inserted through apertures in the hands of the doll, mount the doll to a provided cross and close an electrical circuit which illuminates the cross.

An Easter Entry

Church youth director spots image of Jesus in a Cheeto 3/20/08

I don't get the folks who claim to see Jesus in foodstuffs, any more than I understand the Muslim reaction to cartoons of "Mohamed", who apparently died before the invention of photography, making me wonder how anyone knows what the Prophet looked like.

Anyhow, this Caloric Jesus sighting is more a cheesy fetus to my eye, but I guess I'm lacking some essential faith.

Killing Time

Internet Anagram Server

Great site for generating anagrams. I tried three Colorado governors.

• 
  Roy Romer "Err Roomy"

• Bill Owens "Lib Lens Ow", "Blew Loins"

• Bill Ritter "Lib Err Tilt", "Rib Littler"

When Your Only Tool Is a Hammer

Is Atheism Getting a Free Pass? - U.S. - CBN News

Pretty soon everything looks like a nail.

The Christian Broadcast Network just provided a free example. In a report on media coverage of religion versus atheism, CBN's web site contains this remarkably incorrect observation:

"By airing unchallenged interviews and reporting predominantly positive-toned features, the news organizations in this study effectively promoted atheism and held it in higher regard than other religions," the report said.

"Other" religions? Huh?

Question of the Day

THE NEW REPUBLIC | Blogs

. . . you just have to wonder, how is it possible that a ten-thousand-dollar Spitzer transfer to a prostitution ring tripped up authorities while the NRCC's treasurer stole one million dollars and nobody noticed anything?

The Perils of Friends with Imaginary Friends

Now that lots of buzz has been generated by Rev. Jeremiah Wright's positions ("Hillary is not a black man!") maybe it's a good time to recall my favorite debate, the Values Voter confab held last fall in Florida. A series of high profile Republicans stood up in public and claimed to have an invisible friend, one that qualified each candidate to run the most powerful country in the world.



From my point of view, once a person admits to imaginary friends, we shouldn't be surprised at any nonsense that follows. Fortunately, most people are middling faithful to their theology, if any, and therefore what happens in church stays in church. Religion is, I think, largely irrelevant, especially in public life.

A Matter of Perspective

Dan Phiffer

There's something of an assumption among the climate-change-scoffists that mankind is far too insignificant to effect climate change. I've long thought this position both underestimates our innate troublesomeness and overestimates the climate's robustness. See, our carbon contributions don't have to effect the entire planet, just the air and water. Considering how tiny a percentage each contributes to the mass of the entire globe might make the vulnerability of the climate system a little easier to visualize.



Left: All the water in the world (1.4087 billion cubic kilometres of it) including sea water, ice, lakes, rivers, ground water, clouds, etc. Right: All the air in the atmosphere (5140 trillion tonnes of it) gathered into a ball at sea-level density. Shown on the same scale as the Earth.

Tax Returns & Resumes

The Page - by Mark Halperin - TIME

As reported by Time, Sen. Clinton is being called to produce by the Obama campaign. She hasn't yet released her tax returns, and now a "put-up-or-shut-up" challenge on her claims of experience adds another arrow in the Obama quiver. From the Obama memo:

She did not sit in on National Security Council meetings. She did not have a security clearance. She did not attend meetings in the Situation Room. She did not manage any part of the national security bureaucracy, nor did she have her own national security staff. She did not do any heavy-lifting with foreign governments, whether they were friendly or not. She never managed a foreign policy crisis, and there is no evidence to suggest that she participated in the decision-making that occurred in connection with any such crisis. As far as the record shows, Senator Clinton never answered the phone either to make a decision on any pressing national security issue – not at 3 AM or at any other time of day.

It's probably time to retire the experience argument anyway. Assuming it helps Sen. Clinton win the nomination, it places her at a disadvantage during a general election contest with Sen. McCain, who is surely taking notes on the Dem tactics.

Evidence of Things Unseen

50 people looking for solar image of Mary lose sight

At least 50 people in Kottayam district have reportedly lost their vision after gazing at the sun looking for an image of Virgin Mary.

If St. Paul's definition of faith applies, these people sure have a whole lot more faith now.

A Completely Engrossing Waste of Time

How long does an Etch a Sketch last, anyway?

The Increasing Irrelevance of the Radical Right, Part 4

Townhall.com::Ann Coulter's Conservative Sell-Out::By Mike S. Adams

When the rad right begins to eat its own:

I never thought I would say this but I’m afraid my Ann Coulter Action Figure is going out with today’s garbage. She’s said a lot of stupid things in the last few years. But her recent statements about Hillary Clinton have shown that she isn’t a true conservative. In my opinion, she’s sold out.