The Shia Sunni Frission...

....in Bahrain reignites.

Bahrain has been hit by rioting in majority Shia areas for a fifth consecutive day, according to local press reports.

Where The War Against Christmas Gets Serious

Curfews have been imposed in four districts in the Indian state of Orissa after rioters attacked churches, police stations and homes. The violence started with a fight over Christmas decorations.

Officials in Orissa say hundreds of armed security personnel have been sent to the tribal-dominated Kandhamal district, following a rampage that saw the torching of about 12 churches, attacks on police and offices of charitable organizations. At least one person was killed in the violence.

Authorities say a prominent conservative Hindu figure, 80-year-old Swami Laxmananda Saraswati, was attacked on his way to a town where gunfire had broken out over the installation of public Christmas decorations. Hindu mobs took to the streets to protest the assault on the official of the VHP, the acronym for the World Hindu Council. The VHP is active in the area trying to convert Christians to Hinduism.

Convert ?!

So that's the word for it now.

Special Sci-fi Christmas Eve Post

It might not be a miraculous star but the conjunction of the full moon and Mars last night as clouds raced by at high speed was a sight to see, and I tried to immortalize the event as best I could.

And now to test your geek powers the Sci Fi Sounds Quiz.

I'm proud to say I scored a 92.


At least I guess I'm proud...

Has Anyone Else Noticed....

.......how the Corner over at National Review Online has become the "all anti-Huckabee all the time" blog?

Apparently he's both a divisive force in the Republican party and not a real conservative.

Not a real conservative like those stalwarts Romney and Giuliani that is.

A Dead Tree Tradition Continues...

Time magazine continues our media's fascination with strong men(as long as they don't have a capital R tacked on to the end of their names) by making Vladimer "Just be happy I don't cut off your beard" Putin their Man Of The Year.

But who can be surprised.....they gave it to Stalin.....twice.

Light Bulb Update....

The strange world of the light bulb to the south....

CARACAS, Venezuela: President Hugo Chavez said Friday that his Cuba-inspired light bulb giveaway program, which aims to improve energy efficiency, will mean big energy savings for his oil-rich nation.

"They'll say Chavez has gone crazy — that he's going around giving out light bulbs," Chavez said in a televised speech.

...and then there is spreading the Revolucion through light bulbs...see Guyana...

THE countrywide programme to replace high energy consumption bulbs with others that utilise less current has reached Region Six (East Berbice/Corentyne).
...The project, which has already covered Linden, Bartica, Kwakwani and Aroaima, follows acceptance, last January, of an offer by Cuban President Fidel Castro to President Bharrat Jagdeo, for Cuba to help Guyana reduce its electricity needs for lighting.
Cuba is providing the Chinese made bulbs

...which sometimes gets complicated...see Jamaica

The Auditor General and Contractor General have been called in to investigate the expenditure of $114 million and the commitment to pay another $162 million in connection with the light bulb distribution project carried out with the help of the Cuban Government.
The Minister in charge of the Telecommunications sector Clive Mullings made the announcement in the House of Representatives Tuesday as he raised issues about the conduct of the programme and one of the ministers associated with it.
Under the programme some four million florescent bulbs were to be distributed as part of an effort to encourage energy saving habits among Jamaicans.

Congress Follows The Path of The EU....And Cuba

President Bush is expect to sign the law passed today that would effectively ban the incandescent light bulb over the next few years.
I gave my two cents on this issue back when the Australians did the same thing in February.......but my favorite part of the article bears repeating....

Cuba's Fidel Castro launched a similar program two years ago, sending youth brigades into homes and switching out regular bulbs for energy-saving ones to help battle electrical blackouts around the island.

And for those of you who need the help,....Parliament to the rescue!

MPs have been issued with a 10-point guide on what to do if they find a broken light bulb in Parliament.

When Is A Former Evangelical Minister Not Very Evangelical

Apparently whenever he starts talking about the "universe."
Michael Dowd, author of Thank God for Evolution! How the Marriage of Science and Religion Will Transform Your Life and Our World, does a Q and A with Wired and gets a reasonably warm reception from the technology magazine with his view that "a holy understanding of evolution will usher the world's religions into their greatness in the 21st century."

Though how actual Evangelicals will feel about comments like...

creativity didn't exist at the beginning of time, making everything like a potter makes a pot, but exists through the universe in a nested sense. God, Goddess, Allah -- they're just proper names for that ultimate reality. God is a sacred proper name for 'largest nesting doll.' You may choose to call it by another name. Many people just call it the universe.

or

Evolution helps us understand the challenges of life. Why do we struggle with what we struggle with? Traditional religion says it's the Fall, it's original sin. But from an evolutionary theology perspective, original sin is a way of talking about what we call animal instincts.

Take testosterone: The more a person has, the more a person tends to take risks and think about sex. If people think they have sex on the brain because their great-great-grandmother ate an apple, or because they're fundamentally flawed, then they won't be able to live with integrity. Evolutionary psychology gives us a way of understanding our true nature. It makes it easier for us to live.

Making it "easier for us to live."
I wasn't aware that was the point behind Christianity.
Any type of Christianity.

As for "Rev" Dowd being a "former Evangelical minister" I think his bio at Wikipedia sheds a little light on that...

During the 1980s and 90s, Michael pastored three United Church of Christ congregations, worked with Unitarian Universalist, Jewish, Roman Catholic, Protestant, New Thought (???) and Evangelical leaders across America on environmental, peace, and justice issues, and he managed government-funded Sustainable Lifestyle Campaigns on both coasts.

Ahhh, the fierce Evangelicals of....the United Church of Christ.

Lest We Forget...

No Sin For Us.... We're Evolved

Richard Dawkins, Britain's modern day prophet of militant atheism (or is that militant prophet of modern day atheism) informs all us little, provincial people how adultery is as proper as opposable thumbs...

Only a person infected by the sort of sanctimonious self-righteousness that religion uniquely inspires would apply the meaningless word 'sin' to private sexual behavior.

What is even more shocking is that the fully evolved Prof. is married to none other than Lalla Ward aka Romana the Gallifrean companion of the Fourth Doctor.

Which leads us to two interesting points...
1) There are only about 83 people in the entire British Isles and they are all connected by about 3 degrees of separation.
2) Oh what a fall....from Tom Baker to Richard Dawkins.

The LA Times Goes After CNN...

Not just goes after the network but calls it corrupt......not for stacking the deck with dubious questioners during the recent Republican debate, but for asking too many questions about immigration.
You see for the Times the immigration question is a non issue and so for CNN to take it so seriously must mean that the network has some dark hidden motive; in this case the answer is........Lou Dobbs.

The answer is that CNN's most popular news-oriented personality, Lou Dobbs, has made opposition to illegal immigration and free trade the centerpiece of his neonativist/neopopulist platform. In fact, Dobbs led into Wednesday's debate with a good solid dose of immigrant bashing. His network is in a desperate ratings battle with Fox News and, in a critical prime-time slot, with MSNBC's Keith Olbermann. So, what's good for Dobbs is good for CNN.

Not that the vetting issue wasn't brought up...

Beside considerations like these, CNN's incompetent failure to weed out Democratically connected questioners pales.

See, there you go....one sentence in a piece of over 1200 words.

The "Clueless European Of The Year" Race Just Got Tighter...

From Spiegel Online of November 30 we have the curious case of the dog that barked in the night, but which no one would believe was a dog.

With the number of homophobic attacks rising in the Dutch metropolis, Amsterdam officials are commissioning a study to determine why Moroccan men are targeting the city's gays.
......
This month, Mayor Job Cohen commissioned the University of Amsterdam to conduct a study on the motives behind the hate crimes. Half of the crimes were committed by men of Moroccan origin and researchers believe they felt stigmatized by society and responded by attacking people they felt were lower on the social ladder. Another working theory is that the attackers may be struggling with their own sexual identity(?!?!?).

Hmmmm. The mystery of it all.

H/Tip Five Feet Of Fury