Daily Archives: November 3, 2011

Group seeks investigation of legislator’s preschool. And a story for you.

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A group that advocates for the separation of church and state wants Arkansas officials to investigate whether a preschool owned by a state legislator is using taxpayer dollars to promote religion.

A spokesman for Americans United for the Separation of Church and State said today the Washington-based organization sent a letter Tuesday to the Arkansas Department of Human Services and the Arkansas Department of Education asking for an investigation of Growing God’s Kingdom in West Fork, which is owned by state Rep. Justin Harris, R-West Fork.
Spokespeople for the Human Services and Education departments said today that officials at those agencies had not seen the letter.

That’s from here.

So now I have to tell you a story….
Continue reading Group seeks investigation of legislator’s preschool. And a story for you. →

Roadside Cross Fight To Continue

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Utah:

The fight over a dozen white crosses memorializing fallen Utah State Troopers along Utah roadsides isn’t over.

State Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, vowed as much Thursday at a press conference with Tom McClusky of the Family Research Council, a national conservative Christian group.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court said it would not review the case of the Utah Highway Patrol Association vs. American Atheists. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled in the contentious case that the 12-foot-high white crosses must be removed from public land and cannot bear the UHP insignia. In doing so, the court cited the First Amendment’s establishment clause and the separation between religion and government.

Details, more

NASA Study of Clays Suggests Watery Mars Underground

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PASADENA, Calif. — A new NASA study suggests if life ever existed on Mars, the longest lasting habitats were most likely below the Red Planet’s surface.

A new interpretation of years of mineral-mapping data, from more than 350 sites on Mars examined by European and NASA orbiters, suggests Martian environments with abundant liquid water on the surface existed only during short episodes. These episodes occurred toward the end of a period of hundreds of millions of years during which warm water interacted with subsurface rocks. This has implications about whether life existed on Mars and how the Martian atmosphere has changed.

Read more.

American Cancer Society

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You’ll recall that I wrote something about the American Cancer Society and fundraising a few weeks ago (here). That was a response to something Greta Christina wrote, and now, Greta has updated us on the situation and has this post that you must read: Has the American Cancer Society Been Caught Covering Up a Rejection of Atheist Money?

If it really is the case that the beliefs (or lack thereof) of donors for medical care and scientific research is affecting the flow of money, this is a concern. Please go have a look at Greta’s piece and the piece she links to and add your comments!

Franc Hoggle, I Know What You Did Last Summer …

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Well, not really, but …

The same cannot necessarily be said of Franc Hoggle, who runs the Grey Lining blog. He used to post somewhat sporadically about a variety of topics. Since July, his rate of posting has increased, and he’s been blogging (almost?) exclusively about Rebecca, PZ, Ophelia, Greg, and me. His blog has become a stream of anger aimed at us, sometimes combined with sex. He’s been whipping up the flames on the hate campaign, as well as producing months of his own hatred.

Now a meatspace acquaintance of his has found out what he’s been up and was not made any happier by the revelation. In fact, this person took Hoggle’s real name and gave it to Ophelia, one of the people Hoggle’s been particularly ugly in attacking. We’ve been discussing what to do with it. …..

Details here.