Monthly Archives: December 2011

Islamic Herderianism is Coming to Egypt

Posted on December 31, 2011 by

As a result of recent Egyptian elections, the (so-called moderate) Islamic Brotherhood and (all agree fanatic) Salafists will represent two-thirds of the seats in the new parliament. Erik Trager of the New Republic interviewed seven of these election winners, all … Continue reading →

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Romney with Rice in 2012?

Posted on December 29, 2011 by

This is certainly hopeful. It appeared in the Washington Times recently: America’s first black female secretary of state [Condoleezza Rice] is quietly positioning herself to be the top choice of the eventual Republican presidential nominee, ready to deliver bona fide foreign-policy … Continue reading →

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H5N1: The Airborne Experiment Cannot Be Kept Secret

Posted on December 27, 2011 by

More bad news on the H5N1 airborne experiment front (from the Los Angeles Times yesterday): [Dutch virologist Ron] Fouchier [whose lab created airborne H5N1] said he was cooperating [with the US government], but he thought the [experiment sharing] strategy was impractical. When he … Continue reading →

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The Most Beautiful Sentiment I Encountered at Christmas 2011

Posted on December 27, 2011 by

I have to ignore the odious source (the pedophile enabling Pope Benedict XVI), but it’s quite insightful (if God exists). It comes from Benedict’s Christmas homily: Francis loved the child Jesus, because for him it was in this childish estate that … Continue reading →

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Catholic Church Christmas Bombing 2011: Boko Haram Means “Western Learning is Sinful”

Posted on December 26, 2011 by

The Islamist group that calls itself “Boko Haram”—northern Hausa language, meaning “Western learning is sinful”—and that blew up Catholics at a Christmas service yesterday, is described in the following manner by Reuters: The shadowy group from Nigeria’s Muslim north, blamed for … Continue reading →

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Why It’s Better to Say “Happy Holidays” Than “Merry Christmas” to Strangers

Posted on December 25, 2011 by

Because saying “Happy Holidays” to a stranger is not “taking Christ out of Christmas”; instead, it’s acknowledging the plurality of ways that late December is treated in a world in which not everyone is Christian. “Happy Holidays” is a catch-all that … Continue reading →

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The Secular-Christian Social Contract at Christmas

Posted on December 23, 2011 by
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Tim Minchin’s “Woody Allen Jesus” Christmas Song

Posted on December 23, 2011 by

The best new Christmas song of the year (by Tim Minchin): —- Unfortunately, though Tim Minchin’s segment was taped for the Jonathan Ross Show, it didn’t actually air. It was nixed as too controversial. But Minchin, given a copy of … Continue reading →

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Albert Mohler: Christopher Hitchens in Hell for Unbelief

Posted on December 22, 2011 by

Albert Mohler is President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and Darrel Falk, past President of BioLogos, calls Albert Mohler “among the most important evangelicals in the world” and a “giant” in evangelical and fundamentalist circles. In April of … Continue reading →

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H5N1: A Threat to Human Civilization in 2012?

Posted on December 21, 2011 by

It’s hard to imagine a nervier end-of-the-year story. H5N1 is a highly virulent strain of bird flu. If it ever went aerosol, transmitting itself between humans through coughing or sneezing, it would probably kill a billion people before a vaccine got … Continue reading →

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North Korea Mass Cult Watch: Weeping and Bowing Before the Golden Jackass

Posted on December 19, 2011 by

Below, North Koreans react to news of Kim Jong-il’s death. My first thought on seeing this was the Christian notion of Judgment Day (with Jesus, not Kim Jong-il, inhabiting the Big Brother space). Every knee shall bow and every tongue … Continue reading →

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Changing the Education Paradigm

Posted on December 18, 2011 by
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Bottom Line: Exercise 30 Minutes a Day

Posted on December 18, 2011 by

A must-see YouTube by Dr. Mike Evans of the University of Toronto:

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The Passion of the Christopher: Hitchens’s Death Eerily Enacts That of Jesus’s

Posted on December 18, 2011 by

When I read the following portion of an account in the New York Times, by Ian McEwan, of Christopher Hitchens’s last days, I find myself in jaw-dropping awe: [T]his was a man in constant pain. Denied drinking or eating, he sucked on … Continue reading →

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Christopher Hitchens’s Opiate: Not Religion, But Alcohol

Posted on December 17, 2011 by

Marx was right. Religion is an opiate. But Sophocles was right as well. In the furnace of this world, it’s understandable if, Oedipus-like, a person avoids too naked and persistent a confrontation with the world by plucking out her eyes. … Continue reading →

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Christopher Hitchens on Billy Graham: An Antisemite Who Made of Lying a Career

Posted on December 16, 2011 by

An example of Christopher Hitchens telling it like it is. In an age suffused with fakery and obfuscation, Hitchens was a breath of fresh air.

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In Memoriam of Christopher Hitchens

Posted on December 16, 2011 by

On hearing of Christopher Hitchens’s death this morning, my first thoughts went to something he had once said as a play on Socrates: The unlived life is not worth examining. Christopher Hitchens lived a life worth examining. May his future … Continue reading →

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Burger King in Russia, Circa 2011

Posted on December 14, 2011 by

Thought experiment. Imagine resurrecting the following figures from the Russian and Soviet past: Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Czar Nicholas, and Lenin. Show them the ad below. Tell them this is what is being promoted to Russian youth as desirable in the year … Continue reading →

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Are You the Crab Eye of God Turned Back to Gaze on Your Own Creation?

Posted on December 13, 2011 by

A striking quote from John Jeremiah Sullivan (paraphrasing botanist Constantine Samuel Rafinesque): If we are conscious, as our species seems to have become, then nature is conscious. Nature became conscious in us, perhaps in order to observe itself. It may … Continue reading →

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In the Beginning Wasn’t the Word?

Posted on December 12, 2011 by

If you’re inclined to believe that your dog or cat has thoughts, but lacks a sophisticated vocal language for communicating them, Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker agrees with you. He argues that language isn’t, strictly speaking, necessary for thought. Interesting. ___

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