RationalWiki:What is going on in the blogosphere?/March 2009

March 2009
Randroids are very funny. Before 2001, the Office of Legal Council was known as the "brains" of the Justice Department. Then Bush appointed John Yoo, and the OLC became the place to rationalize torture. Obama's choice to head the OLC -- a former ACLU and NARAL lawyer -- wants to release Bush era torture memos. Naturally, the fundies are out for her blood. Texas remains on the side of reality for one more day. Now Obama will have plenty of envelopes to send out his Christmas Holiday cards this year. A 19-year-old -- the secular son of liberal, non-fundy Christians -- transfers from Brown University to attend Jerry Falwell's Liberty Univeristy for one semester. Why? So he can write an expose that Publisher's Weekly has dubbed "religious gonzo journalism." Ames wishes PJR farewell. Hi Ames, nice to see you still read us. Religion-based analgesia. Liveblog of talk 4 in "God in the Lab", a day organized by CFI UK at Conway Hall, London on March 21, 2009 Born Believers: the naturalness of childhood theism. Liveblog of talk 3 in "God in the Lab", a day organized by CFI UK at Conway Hall, London on March 21, 2009 Divine Madness?. Liveblog of talk 2 in "God in the Lab", a day organized by CFI UK at Conway Hall, London on March 21, 2009 [http://impartialism.blogspot.com/2009/03/do-ghosts-get-itchy-mind-body-and.html Do ghosts get itchy? Mind, body and afterlife in cross-cultural perspective]. Liveblog of talk 1 in "God in the Lab", a day organized by CFI UK at Conway Hall, London on March 21, 2009 Absurdities in Genesis. Ted Haggard and his ironically named wife Gayle will appear on the TV series Divorce Court to discuss how divorce is not the answer to marital problems. (Problems like -- oh, I don't know -- your husband is a meth-smoking patron of gay prostitutes.) As if this couldn't get any funnier, the episode is scheduled to air on April Fool's Day. Godwin's Law is in effect in a piece about Wall street. Why Christianity? Anatomy of an Obama denialist lie.  [http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/3/17/709760/-No,-gay-soldiers-won#39;t-be-allowed-to-cross-dress-while-on-duty This is Dan. Dan likes the Army. Dan is gay.] Andy, Get over it. <vote poll=blog257 closed="yes">Another argument that supports survival of the fittest. During poor economic times, men prefer women who are more "full figured." <vote poll=blog256 closed="yes">Big shakeup at Fox. Could a leftward shift be in the works? <vote poll=blog255 closed="yes">Ray can take no comfort when Eternal Critic answers his questions. <vote poll=blog254 closed="yes">Chuck Norris want to secede from the Union and form his Chucktatorship. <vote poll=blog253 closed="yes">The fat off the Republicans' pork. <vote poll=blog252 closed="yes">The dividing line between Fundy Loon and Deep-Cover Atheist becomes even blurrier for Ray Comfort. <vote poll=blog251 closed="yes">Is God evil? <vote poll=blog250 closed="yes">So, why does President Obama seem to be glossing over Dubya's criminal enterprise? <vote poll=blog249 closed="yes">The creationism of Ann Coulter. <vote poll=blog248 closed="yes">Obama's been in office two months, and already some nuts are calling for armed secession. Chuck Norris there might have taken a few too many roundhouse kicks to the head, but what's Hannity's excuse? <vote poll=blog247 closed="yes">God Hates Figs! <vote poll=blog246 closed="yes">The Gentlemen At Another Website keep insisting that Wikipedia is full of Liberal Bias. That's as may be, but now a bright fellow has come up with a way to trace what OTHER sorts of bias it might have, by tracking anonymous edits. <vote poll=blog245 closed="yes">Are you an angry rich person who's thinking of "Going Galt"? DailyKos says to get out, and take your indexed collateralized debt obligation options with you. <vote poll=blog244 closed="yes">The Discovery Institute's Trojan horse is empty. <vote poll=blog243 closed="yes">Time for the always-relevant question: "Why aren't these people in jail?". Today's edition: Diebold Voting System Has 'Delete' Button for Erasing Audit Logs. Ballot-box stuffing, now at your fingertips! <vote poll=blog242 closed="yes">Irony meter alert: Marjorie Cohn, writing for AlterNet, waxes offended at recently-released memos speculating how Bush might have set himself up as a dictator. Then, in the same breath, she has the gall to call for the prosecution of the memos' authors for advocating violations of the U.S. Constitution. (It is, of course, perfectly constitutional to prosecute someone for writing a memo.) <vote poll=blog241 closed="yes">Rush is being pushed to the top of the GOP dungheap by... the Democrats? <vote poll=blog240 closed="yes">Three ways Christianity prolongs immaturity