Clipmarks | enbar's clips

The real threat to "traditional" marriage: heterosexual couples who don't think the way they're supposed to

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:54:54 GMT

clipped by: enbar
clipper's remarks: The money quote: "There is a greater expectation that women will work, men will be more involved with their children, and household duties will be more evenly shared... In essence, straight couples are 'queering' heterosexual marriage... If neither partner conforms to his or her 'unique role,' heterosexual marriage starts to look like its same-sex counterpart and illustrates that those 'unique' gendered roles aren't as unique as the bishops claim they are. If in a heterosexual marriage a man can provide nurturing and emotional sensitivity and a woman can provide leadership and effective decision-making skills, could they not bring these traits to a same-sex marriage?"

Clip Source: www.patheos.com

A Real Challenge to Marriage

The ongoing objection to same-sex marriage by the Catholic church seems to be predicated not only on the old procreation argument, but also on a stubborn attachment to specific gender roles, as evidenced by the reiteration of the validity of marriage of heterosexual couples who are unable to procreate. The trouble for the bishops is that while these gender roles are still prevalent, they are continuing to fall away.

In addition to biology, there is the "unique role" argument.

While the church in recent times, as well as in this document, has tried very hard to emphasize the equality of women in heterosexual marriages there is still a strong emphasis on a nebulous "difference" between wives and husbands.

To maintain the church's teaching on procreation as the basis for marriage, the burden falls disproportionately to women.

Tags: christianity, glbt, marriage, opinion, religion, roman_catholicism, same-sex, sex

News from Nepal: preparations underway for world's largest mass animal sacrifice

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:05:18 GMT

clipped by: enbar
clipper's remarks: From The Himalayan Times, some information about logistical preparation for Ghadimai fair (Nov. 24 and 25), which is the site of what is thought to be the world's largest mass slaughter of sacrificial animals (mostly goats, buffalo, and fowl). 250 butchers have been appointed as official slaughterers, a stadium-sized structure for the simultaneous killing of 10,000 buffalo has been erected, and a 3-km wide stretch of land has been set aside for the butchering.

Clip Source: www.thehimalayantimes.com

250 butchers appointed at Ghadimai fair

Unperturbed by animal rights campaigners and Buddhist monk Ram Bahadur Bamjan's call for a halt to mass animal sacrifice, the fare management committee has appointed at least 250 strong butchers to perform the world's supposedly biggest mass animal sacrifice due to take place on November 24 and 25 in Ghadimai fare

“The 250 strong butchers will use Khukuri, Khuda and sword for slaughtering the animals,” he added.

According to the management committee, the pilgrim should pay between Rs 20 to Rs 100 for slaughtering goats and buffalos on their own.

A stadium-like-structure has also been erected in two bighas of land, where more than 10,000 buffaloes will be slaughtered at a time.

Around 1,200 policemen will keep vigil round the clock and more are on call, he added.

Meanwhile, preparations are on for the mass slaughter of animals.

Tags: animals, hinduism, news, post:facebook(source), rels327, ritual, south_asia, violence

Fred Phelps's organization (the "God Hates Fags" pastor) has decided God hates Jews, too

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:55:50 GMT

clipped by: enbar
clipper's remarks: I find this choice of photo pretty curious. "Some Jews Will Repent" is a pretty tame slogan compared to the other ones quoted in the article, such as "Rabbis Rape Kids" and "God Hates Jews."

Clip Source: www.usatoday.com

Anti-gay church sets its sights on Jews

In Washington, Margie Phelps balanced several signs targeting Jews, Israel and the Obama administration. One read "Rabbis Rape Kids," another said "God Hates Jews." Margie Phelps' T-shirt read "Jews Killed Jesus." She argued with men and women passing by, warning them that God will soon send the Jews to hell.

"I don't care what you claim, chosen wise," she said. "Obedience is the standard."

Taking a break from yelling at passersby and singing homophobic lyrics to the tune of the Jewish celebratory song "Hava Nagila," Margie Phelps explained the change in tactic. "We've protested this nation's love of f**s for 20 years," she said. "And Jews have been carrying the water for the homosexual agenda."

Westboro members targeted several Jewish organizations last month on a statewide tour of New Jersey. Their visit to Washington included a protest in front of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Tags: christianity, disturbing, evangelicalism, extremism, judaism, news, pluralism, religion, rels327

An amicus brief for the validity of religious-law arguments in potential Eighth Amendment cases

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 02:04:59 GMT

clipped by: enbar
clipper's remarks: I don't know quite how i feel about this. I have a lot of sympathy for their position, but I don't get the argument for including religious arguments in an amicus brief like this. The argument is that it violates key religious provisions (ideas like mercy and compassion) to give a juvenile a life-without-parole sentence for a non-homicide offense. Part of the argument rests on the notion that the values of rehabilitation, mercy, and hope are universal across religious traditions -- those sorts of claims always make me a little skeptical.

Clip Source: divinity.uchicago.edu

Sightings

November 12, 2009

Religion-Based Arguments in Juvenile Life Without Parole Cases

— Joan Gottschall

The legal position advanced by the brief is also remarkable, for amici argue that their shared religious values require the Supreme Court to reverse the Florida judgments and to hold that it is a violation of the Eighth Amendment to sentence juveniles convicted of non-homicide offenses to life without the possibility of parole.

First, it reviews traditional religious recognition of the distinction between children and adults, both in religious teachings regarding crime and punishment and in other aspects of religious law.

Third, it argues that ignoring the special status of youth and condemning juveniles to die in prison contravenes the fundamental religious values of mercy, forgiveness, and compassion.

Tags: crime, ethics, justice, law, possible_blog_post, religion, via:sightings

Evangelical oil company drilling in Israel

Tue, 23 Jan 2007 03:23:09 GMT

clipped by: enbar
clipper's remarks: Zion Oil, owned by a wealthy American "Christian Zionist" evangelical, has gone public and is drilling for oil in Israel, guided by an idiosyncratic interpretation of prophecies from Deuteronomy, Ezekiel and elsewhere.

Clip Source: blogs.salon.com

Zion Oil Opens AMEX for 2007

President claims spiritual beliefs “have been confirmed by the science”

From dBusiness:

NEW YORK -- Eugene A. Soltero, Chief Executive Officer of Zion Oil & Gas, Inc., of Dallas, Texas and Caesarea, Israel, announced today that the company has issued 436,907 shares of common stock in the first round of its initial public offering. Mr. Soltero and Richard Rinberg, Zion’s President, rang the AMEX opening bell today to commence trading as the first new listing of 2007. Zion’s ticker symbol is “ZN.” Zion’s offering is being underwritten on a best efforts basis by Network 1 Financial Securities, Inc. of Red Bank, New Jersey. The shares were issued at $7 per share, and the amount raised in this initial round was $3,058,349.

Zion Oil & Gas, as readers of this blog may recall, was founded by an American businessman named John Brown, who believes that the Bible prophesises that he personally will be the man to discover huge oil reserves in Israel. Brown also claims that that Bible contains the information needed to find the oil; Christian Zionist supremo Hal Lindsey agreed, and

[Genesis 49] predicts [Jacob’s] great blessing [to Joseph] will come from "the deep that lies beneath" his land. And specifically on "crown of his head." The land that was allotted to Joseph's two sons forms the profile of a man's head.

Now listen to another prophecy about the blessing of another of Jacob's sons whose land adjoins Joseph's.

Moses proclaimed blessings on Jacob's sons just before he died. He predicted concerning Asher:

Asher is most blessed of sons; let him be favored by his brothers, and let him dip his foot in OIL.

What Lindsey didn’t mention when puffing the company (and which was revealed exclusively on this blog), was that his cousin Ralph DeVore was a major shareholder. However, a few months later DeVore left Zion in acrimonious circumstances, and Hal has been quiet about the subject since then.

Tags: energy, religion, weird, christianity, evangelicalism

Census worker hanged in rural Kentucky; found with "fed" written on his corpse

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:16:26 GMT

clipped by: enbar
clipper's remarks: Personally, I find it hard not to think of Michelle Bachmann (j.mp/98ZjP) here, but that may well be overblown. The guy was poking around some pretty nasty parts of the county apparently.

Clip Source: www.sfgate.com

Feds probe US Census worker hanging in Kentucky

Thursday, September 24, 2009

When Bill Sparkman told retired trooper Gilbert Acciardo that he was going door-to-door collecting census data in rural Kentucky, the former police officer drew on years of experience for a warning: "Be careful."

The 51-year-old Sparkman was found this month hanged from a tree near a cemetery with the word "fed" scrawled on his chest, a law enforcement official said Wednesday, and the FBI is investigating whether he was a victim of anti-government sentiment.

"Even though he was with the Census Bureau, sometimes people can view someone with any government agency as 'the government.' I just was afraid that he might meet the wrong character along the way up there," said Acciardo, who directs an after-school program at an elementary school where Sparkman was a frequent substitute teacher.

Tags: crime, news, politics, violence

The trouble with having to sleep -- a visual blog post

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:43:10 GMT

clipped by: enbar
clipper's remarks: This is too brilliant. Thanks to Danielle for posting this.

Clip Source: niemann.blogs.nytimes.com

Good Night and Tough Luck

Getting a good night’s sleep is actually a lot more complicated than one would think.

Usually the trouble starts with my having to use the bathroom. Even though I am 38 years old, I still find myself hoping the urge will just pass. Which it doesn’t.

Next up: a visitor from the kids’ room. They start all sweet and cuddly, but their little bodies become more brazen by the minute.

To make things worse, our kids always insist on sleeping ON TOP of our blanket, creating a whole new set of problems.

The one thing I haven’t really figured out is where the person in the back is supposed to put that bottom arm.

To summarize what we’ve learned so far:

Tags: blogclip, brilliant, funny, images, painting, sleep, via:facebook

Kent Couch, the amazing balloon-and-lawn-chair pilot (July 2008)

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 22:51:01 GMT

clipped by: enbar
clipper's remarks: I'm clipping this because until today I thought this was an urban legend. Apparently a guy pulled it off in 1982 too. Years on the Internet has made me doubt everything.

Clip Source: news.sky.com

US Man Flies By Party Balloons

An American has flown 235 miles on a garden chair using 150 helium-filled party balloons to lift him.

Kent Couch rose into the sky from his home in Oregon, clutching a mug of coffee,

He travelled around 20mph and nine hours later ended his journey in Idaho after shooting some of the balloons with a ball-bearing gun.

Mr Couch, who navigated with a GPS satellite-guided tracking device, said: "If I had the time and money and people, I'd do this every weekend."

"Things just look different from up there. You've moving so slowly. The best thing is the peace, the serenity.

"You can hear a dog bark at 15,000 feet.

Couch was inspired by a TV show about the 1982 garden chair flight over Los Angeles by truck driver Larry Walters, who gained folk hero fame but was fined £750 for violating air traffic rules.

Tags: aviation, cool, news, random_sh!t

Glenn Greenwald comments on Sue Myrick's calls for an investigation of CAIR

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 14:18:29 GMT

clipped by: enbar
clipper's remarks: I don't know the full context of this, but it's something I'd like to learn more about.

Clip Source: www.salon.com

Glenn Greenwald

GOP House members call for investigation of Muslim political activity

A group of House Republicans is calling for an investigation into whether a leading American Muslim advocacy group tried to "spy" on congressional offices by placing interns on key security committees.

Rep. Sue Myrick, North Carolina Republican, cited an internal January 2007 memo in which the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) discussed placing Muslim interns on Capitol Hill to "focus on influencing congressmen responsible for policy that directly impacts the American Muslim community."

That's consistent with what virtually every political advocacy group in the nation does; it's normally called activism and democracy. But because, in this case, it's a group of Muslims who are doing this, these House Republicans are depicting it as some sort of nefarious espionage plot against the U.S. that demands a criminal investigation.

Tags: activism, conservatives, gwot, islam, pluralism, politics, possible_blog_post, religion

Nena (yeah, 99 Luftballons) + secret cult + naked time travel = WTF news story of the day

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 06:01:40 GMT

clipped by: enbar
clipper's remarks: I couldn't not clip this, you know?

Clip Source: www.bild.de

German popstar Nena spent two days with sect Damanhur leader uses this machine for naked time travel!

Nena

The German singer and the Damanhur sect

Popstar Nena, the head of the sect – and his time machine.

Foto: dpa

1 von 22

German popstar Nena recently spent two days at the headquarters of a bizarre sect, which claims to have a working time machine that can only be used naked!

Spokeswoman Esperende Ananas said: “What you see here is a wonderful world which anyone can be in. We don’t hide anything”

But disciples guard the entrance to the temple where they keep their greatest secret – a time travel machine.

Developed by founder Airudi himself, the machine can send people through time. Unfortunately the machine cannot transport clothing as well, so time travellers have to climb in completely naked.

Tags: bizarre, europe, germany, news, religion, weird

Save Money Online: coupon codes from RetailMeNot.co

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 18:51:36 GMT

clipped by: enbar
clipper's remarks: From the guys behind BugMeNot.com, a coupon-code search service for online shopping. They even offer a bookmarklet. Via snurl.com/10t7g

Clip Source: www.retailmenot.com

RetailMeNot.com

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servage.com - 25000MB extra space

Tags: shopping, deals, via:quickonlinetips

Gulf oil to drop dollar-denominated pricing

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 02:42:29 GMT

clipped by: enbar
clipper's remarks: Starting in 2018, the Gulf states will no longer sell their oil for dollars. They will instead use a "basket" structure which will include Chinese, Japanese, and European currencies, gold, and a yet-to-be-created common Gulf currency. This could, to put it mildly, have very far-reaching effects.

Clip Source: www.independent.co.uk

The demise of the dollar

In the most profound financial change in recent Middle East history, Gulf Arabs are planning – along with China, Russia, Japan and France – to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies including the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council, including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar.

Against the background to these currency meetings, Sun Bigan, China's former special envoy to the Middle East, has warned there is a risk of deepening divisions between China and the US over influence and oil in the Middle East. "Bilateral quarrels and clashes are unavoidable," he told the Asia and Africa Review. "We cannot lower vigilance against hostility in the Middle East over energy interests and security."

"America and Britain must be very worried. You will know how worried by the thunder of denials this news will generate."

Tags: bad_news, economics, energy, financial_crisis, global, international, news, oil

David Grann, "Trial by Fire: Did Texas Execute an Innocent Man?" (on Todd Willingham's execution, Feb. 2005), The New Yorker (Sept. 7, 2009)

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:55:06 GMT

clipped by: enbar
clipper's remarks: A damning piece by The New Yorker on the story of Todd Willingham. Willingham was executed in 2005 for triple homicide after being convicted of killing his three children by setting their room on fire. Texas officials ignored reports by fire scientists, whose investigations showed that there had been no solid evidence that the fire was arson. The arson investigators who testified in Willingham's case relied on traditional methods whose scientific validity had long ago been disproven, and the parole board apparently did not even bother to read the exonerating information provided to them by Willingham's lawyer.

Clip Source: www.newyorker.com

Trial by Fire

Did Texas execute an innocent man?

by David Grann

In mid-August, the noted fire scientist Craig Beyler, who was hired by the commission, completed his investigation. In a scathing report, he concluded that investigators in the Willingham case had no scientific basis for claiming that the fire was arson, ignored evidence that contradicted their theory, had no comprehension of flashover and fire dynamics, relied on discredited folklore, and failed to eliminate potential accidental or alternative causes of the fire. He said that Vasquez’s approach seemed to deny “rational reasoning” and was more “characteristic of mystics or psychics.” What’s more, Beyler determined that the investigation violated, as he put it to me, “not only the standards of today but even of the time period.”

Texas could become the first state to acknowledge officially that, since the advent of the modern judicial system, it had carried out the “execution of a legally and factually innocent person.”

Tags: capital_punishment, crime, death_penalty, investigative_journalism, law

Right, so tell me again how the "free market" is the best way to manage health-care delivery

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 18:10:12 GMT

clipped by: enbar
clipper's remarks: An editorial from 2007 shows how research into three promising anticancer drugs has been abandoned. The reason is that the compounds on which the drugs are based cannot be patented (melatonin, for example), which means that pharma companies are unlikely to turn a profit. Understandable, from the perspective of the pharma companies, but unconscionable, from the perspective of cancer patients.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Patents Over Patients

By RALPH W. MOSS

WE could make faster progress against cancer by changing the way drugs are developed. In the current system, if a promising compound can’t be patented, it is highly unlikely ever to make it to market — no matter how well it performs in the laboratory. The development of new cancer drugs is crippled as a result.

Early this year, another readily available industrial chemical, dichloroacetate, was found by researchers at the University of Alberta to shrink tumors in laboratory animals by up to 75 percent. However, as a university news release explained, dichloroacetate is not patentable, and the lead researcher is concerned that it may be difficult to find funding from private investors to test the chemical. So the university is soliciting public donations to finance a clinical trial.

Potential anticancer drugs should be judged on their scientific merit, not on their patentability.

Tags: economics, healthcare, medicine, opinion, research, science

"Why I threw the shoe," by Muntazer al-Zaidi

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 22:06:32 GMT

clipped by: enbar
clipper's remarks: From the piece: "When I threw the shoe in the face of the criminal, George Bush, I wanted to express my rejection of his lies, his occupation of my country, my rejection of his killing my people. My rejection of his plundering the wealth of my country, and destroying its infrastructure. And casting out its sons into a diaspora."

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Why I threw the shoe

Muntazer al-Zaidi

We used to be a nation in which the Arab would share with the Turkman and the Kurd and the Assyrian and the Sabean and the Yazid his daily bread. And the Shia would pray with the Sunni in one line. And the Muslim would celebrate with the Christian the birthday of Christ. This despite the fact that we shared hunger under sanctions for more than a decade.

Our patience and our solidarity did not make us forget the oppression. But the invasion divided brother from brother, neighbour from neighbour. It turned our homes into funeral tents.

I am not a hero. But I have a point of view. I have a stance. It humiliated me to see my country humiliated; and to see my Baghdad burned, my people killed.

I travelled through my burning land and saw with my own eyes the pain of the victims, and heard with my own ears the screams of the orphans and the bereaved. And a feeling of shame haunted me like an ugly name because I was powerless.

Tags: bush, iraq, opinion, violence, war