Daily Archives: January 5, 2012

Bullets Flying

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In relation to an ongoing conversation (here) about whether or not a bullet fired up into the air can kill or maim you, we have this editorial concerning an actual (possible) case:

Too many guns. How many is too much? Well, we might start with the nameless half-wit somewhere in Ruskin last weekend who thought it would be fun to shoot off some celebratory gunfire on New Year’s Eve.

A 12-year-old boy, Diego Duran, was on the bloody receiving end of all the revelry. Duran, a popular student at Beth Shields Middle School, was simply trying to enjoy the New Year’s fireworks with his family until the errant bullet struck the top of his head.

The devastating shot could have come from as far as several miles away. The goober shooter might not even know what he or she did. But the Duran family sure knows.

Continue reading Bullets Flying →

Important things elsewhere

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I would like to point out that Ana and I have produced yet another Japan Disaster Update. This is number 42 in the series. Please have a look: Japan Nuclear Disaster Update # 42: A River Runs Through It

We’ve actually had a visit by a Nuclear Power Apologist who wrote a post ten days after the meltdowns about it and has finally come by our place to express his concern that we did not read it.

And, there are two other items you may not want to miss: How to Speke Inglish and How to Eat a Taco. Just for fun.

And if you want some Science, here’s some: Russian Rivers and Arctic Salinity: Climate Variation Better Understood

Is Santorum Too Catholic for Evangelicals and Too Evangelical for Catholics?

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Yes to both, probably, and that will be his downfall.

Mean time, he has made it quite clear that he is no Jack Kennedy. You will remember (if you are, like, 100 years old) that Jack Kennedy was asked if he was going to be all Catholicy and stuff if he won the election to the presidency, and he said “I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish, where no public official either requests or accept instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source…” etc. etc.

Santorum has addressed the same issue. He says: “Ultimately Kennedy’s attempt to reassure Protestants that the Catholic Church would not control the government and suborn its independence advanced a philosophy of strict separation that would create a purely secular public square cleansed of all religious wisdom and the voice of religious people of all faiths. He laid the foundation for attacks on religious freedom and freedom of speech by the secular left and its political arms like the ACLU and the People for the American Way.”

So, Santorum is explicitly against the Constitution of the United States of America on this. I wonder if he also favors gun control?

How will this play out in the primary process? The Gallup organization has measured one important factor: Santorum’s Catholicness does not impress Republican Catholics. They hold him in no more favor than they hold any of the other candidates.

Truth Out continues and expands on this discussion.

Arrests in anti-church-state separation protest.

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There were several arrests in New York City, including one councilmember and several pastors, in connection with protest against the eviction of religious groups from public school buildings.

Seven demonstrators, including Councilman Fernando Cabrera, were charged with trespass Thursday. Police say they refused to move from the entrance to the city’s Law Department in Manhattan.

The city has told about 60 churches they must stop holding worship services in public schools after Feb. 12. It argues separation of church and state and cites a court decision.

The New York Housing Authority, which is a federally funded agency administered by the city, is also renewing it’s church-in-the-public-buildings policy.

source

Will Michele Bachmann Run for Re-Election to Congress?

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Now that Michele Bachmann, Minnesota 6th district Congresswoman, has pulled her hat out of the presidential ring, the question remains: Will she run for re-election to her seat in Congress? The filing deadline is June 5th, so no matter what we may speculate and no matter what Michele or her operatives may indicate, we will not know for sure until June 6th. Continue reading Will Michele Bachmann Run for Re-Election to Congress? →

How to Speke Inglish

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I had never heard of The Chaos before today. I suppose that makes me unkulterd, and I’m afraid that I can’t use the excuse that it came out in the 1980s when I was either in a trench underneath Boston or deep in the Jungles of Zaire, or doing double duty taking classes and teaching and writing a thesis. Chaos is a poem by Gerard Nolst Trenité that demonstrates the lockstep association between English words as we say them, and English words as we write (spel) them. In other words, Chaos, using the non-mathematical meaning of the word.

The poem exists in many forms. I found what is probably the best “original” version, but the copy I found italicizes the words that you are suppose to notice, and includes line numbers. The italics makes it too easy and the numbers are distracting. So, I’ve decided to give you a link to that authoritative version, but provide a transcript sans italics below the fold.

Continue reading How to Speke Inglish →