Church At A Crossroads

Posted on by Mike 3 Comments

I was watching ABC News tonight, a rarity for me. They had an article about a tough decision that Pilgrim United Church of Christ in Carlsbad, California, is about to make. A registered sex offender has asked to be accepted for membership in the church.

In keeping with typical ABC viewpoint, in the linked video, except for the minister, Madison Shockley, ABC interviews those who have great reservations about accepting this man into the church. One man was a victim of sexual abuse as a child and a woman was expressing reservaitons about having her child in close proximity to a sex offender. Both viewpoints, from a modern human point of view, seem valid. And we can certainly empathize with these folks.

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PETA Asks News Organization to Refer to Animals as He and She

Posted on by Mike 1 Comment

An article on Fox News reports that PETA is asking AP to quit referring to animals as “it.”

Fido’s a “he,” not an “it.” 1UPDATE: According to the current Associated Press Stylebook, if an animal’s sex is known or the animal has a name, “it” is to be referred to as “he” or “she” as appropriate.

The organization, known worldwide for championing animal rights, is now taking its campaign to the written word, calling on Norm Goldstein, editor of The Associated Press Stylebook, to revise its guidelines, which currently characterize animals as inanimate objects.

In a letter written to Goldstein, the animal activists ask the AP to “take a progressive step and give animals the respect that they deserve by revising AP style guidelines to reflect the usage of personal pronouns for all animals.”

So, here’s my question: Which dogs and cats read the newspaper and can tell the difference if they’re being called he, she, or it?

Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 UPDATE: According to the current Associated Press Stylebook, if an animal’s sex is known or the animal has a name, “it” is to be referred to as “he” or “she” as appropriate.

In God We Trust Bruhaha

Posted on by Mike 3 Comments

plateIn case you missed it, the ACLU is suing the State of Indiana on behalf of Mark Studler because Indiana is not charging a $15.oo fee for the popular “In God We Trust” license plates. Rather than recap the entire “adventure” here, I’ll point you to two blogs that disagree on the reason for the lawsuit.

John at The Daily Detour says it’s about God.

Gary Varvel 1link no longer valid says it isn’t.

Both think it’s ridiculous; so do I.

Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 link no longer valid

House in Two

Posted on by Mike 1 Comment

Here’s a slug I got on my newsreader 1The actual article didn’t read like this from Fox news:

Smoke Break May Have Saved Woman’s Life

Brenda Comer had just finished washing dishes Monday and stepped outside to smoke a cigarette when an 80-foot oak tree crashed through her roof, landing across the sink where she had been standing, splitting her house in two.

Two observations: (1) What was she doing splitting her house in two? And (2) thank heavens for cigarettes.

Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 The actual article didn’t read like this

A Slight Hipocracy

Posted on by Mike

Who is it that wants to negotiate with Syria and Iran even though those countries have no intention of yielding their positions on terrorism or nuclear activity or anything? Is it the same folks who will not negotiate with the President on war funding because they think the President won’t yield his position on pork and withdrawal?