Indisputable Science

This is a bold statement from the Evening Sun:

it is a scientific fact that no person, regardless of size or tolerance, can stay sober after consuming two 40-ounce malt beverages

I can think of many immediate problems with this statement (e.g., what timeframe are we talking about), but I am certain that my friends and I disproved this scientific fact many, many times back in college. If only we would have focused on gravity instead of King Cobra, we could have had some real fun.

Then again, this scientific fact is as acurate as anything else we call indisputable science today. Pick another topic instead of intoxication--global warming comes to immediately to mind--and think of how many times we read and accept such statements.

gay divorce

Its not like we breeders should be pointing the fingers of our unclean hands, but is one of the rights inherent in marraige really the right to get out of the marraige?

falsereligions.com

In technology/religion news -- ordination is only a mouse-click away. The Universal Life Church has apparently ordained more than 20 million since 1959. They must have quite a school to train that many ministers. Actually, it is as easy as registering with any website.

“We make no religious hurdles, no hoops to jump through, no tests of loyalty, no rings to kiss and no fees to pay,” the church says on its Web site.

Being ordained is free and does not require a social security number, which is a big deal when taking an important step like becoming a minister:

“As long as I didn’t have to give my social security number, I was going to do it,” Burke said.

But what about its theology?:

“The ULC Monastery represents freedom, and to have freedom you cannot make demands upon individuals,” the church says. “In the ULC Monastery everyone is equal — the same level of greatness is enjoyed by all.”

But the Universal Life Church is really helping people. The article cites one couple that "had been together for 15 years, but hadn’t tied the knot because they didn’t belong to a church and didn’t know anybody to officiate at a ceremony." Apparently they had not heard of a Justice of the Peace.

The way I see it, if a state thinks this is legitimate, it should either (i) simply acknowledge that they don't care about the institution of marriage (thereby allowing the unawares to be properly outraged at the state of the world), or (ii) quit hiding behind some politically correct interpretation of the First Amendment and make a determination that this is a bogus religion. We as a society could easily define certain baselines that would not run afoul of guarantees of religious freedom, but we may have to hurt somebody's feelings.* I'm not sure what the standards would be, but the point is simply that we can constitutionally have standards.
_____________________________
* Wasn't there a fairly recent case involving alleged religious discrimination by Costco against a member of the Church of Body Modification, where the court found for Costco, but refused to decide if they were dealing with a legitimate religion.

Abortions and Reasoning Skills Declining

In a not-so-shocking news article, the total number of yearly abortions is dropping.*

In a more shocking blow to journalism, the Washington post reported the following:

The number of abortions fell at least in part because the proportion of women ending their pregnancies with an abortion dropped 9 percent between 2000 and 2005

There can certainly be no argument with that statement -- the number of abortions have dropped because less women are getting abortions. Of course, the WaPo is not even that bold; it hedges a little, saying that this is at least part of the reason abortions are down.

___________________________________________
* Not-so-shocking because of the rise of other means to the same end like RU-486. There were some recent statistics compiled by Guttmacher (too lazy to find link) saying that the number of abortions in Nebraska had recently been decreasing 5% every year, but the use of RU-486 had been increasing 20% yearly during the same period. To be fair, the WaPo does mention this as another potential factor in the reduced number of abortions in addition to the fact that women are getting less abortions.

He's No Mr. Rogers

Just remember kids, its wrong to look at a guy like this and think that he is going to hurt or abduct you. Shame on you. When you see guys like this you should immediately approach him, greet him with a hug and say: "You look like a swell guy. Maybe we can go get some hot cocoa together." How dare you be scared of him, OBVIOUSLY he's not a bad guy.

Six Feet Under/Over

Well, you may not have known it, but for most of my adult life I've appeared to be a rather avid sports fan. The truth is that I've been operating undercover... pretending to love sport... in order to capture the gravity of the risk that modern popular sports poses to our culture. Why am I finally coming out of my cover? Because of this. It can't possibly get any more absurd. Just when you thought that you "can't take it with you"... well, actually, you can... sort of. If you read the really fine print on that website, I'm betting that you will find that each casket comes with a sturdy set of shackles custom fit to the departed's soul.