With “cultural Catholic” and wonderful human being, Julia Sweeney. After the jump, for those with feeds:
You want fun? Comments about Sweeney’s video here, on newsbusters.
The signal came—we don’t know how—
But come it did, and we said… “Wow!”
A signal came—how? We don’t know
But maybe… it’s a UFO… [Read more…]
Though I feel like a bit of a leech
With true honor just out of my reach
Screw my own pallid pallor
I’ll snatch stolen valor…
Which the SCOTUS now says is free speech!
Headline: Supreme Court rejects ‘Stolen Valor’ law, says lying about military honors isn’t a crime
The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a federal law that makes it a crime to lie about being a military hero. In fact, the justices ruled that many lies are protected by the First Amendment.
The 6-3 ruling came in a case involving Xavier Alvarez, a former local elected official who at a 2007 water board meeting in Southern California falsely claimed that he had served as a Marine and received a Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military decoration. As Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for the majority, “Lying was his habit.”
I’ll have to polish my medals.
My conscious mind just boggles
When confronted with their view
It’s as if they’re wearing goggles
Only letting in one hue—
They can see the world around them
And they think that all is fine
Where a rainbow might astound them,
They just see a curving line.
You can talk about the beauty
Of a multi-colored sight
And as if it is their duty
They say “what about the white?” [Read more…]
A jury in Texas has found
That a shooter is now prison-bound
Forty years, said the judge,
Cos the man wouldn’t budge—
You can’t always, it seems, stand your ground.
Headline: US man given 40 years in ‘stand your ground’ murder case [Read more…]
A conservative t-shirt, I’d always been told
Would be simple, and muted in color–not bold.
It wouldn’t have pictures, or writing or such,
Or at most just a bit on the pocket–not much.
Conservative dress meant a suit and a tie,
In the cold of December or heat of July;
Your shoes were well-shined and your trousers were pressed,
And that was the way that conservatives dressed.
At least, that’s the tale I’d been told all along–
Till today, when I find out I’m totally wrong… [Read more…]
From commenter Embertine, the story of a cock-up of Olympic proportions. Perspective is everything; from across the pond, I have not been privy to what has been happening in London for the games. Embertine has, and expresses it beautifully: [Read more…]
Part of the Olympic Games festivities in London began today, with the first day of a week-long “Poetry Parnassus”–a gathering of some 204 poets, one from each country entering the games. Take a look here, at an interactive map of poems. I have sampled a dozen or so, and have come to a very familiar conclusion: [Read more…]
A long one today, but it had to be said.
Over at WWJTD, JT fields one of the classic apologetic arguments from incredulity:
there are things that are undeniably real (like love, ambition, sympathy) but do not stand up to scientific rigor. We live in a world appointed with these things (love, ambition, sympathy) and they would be real even if science did not exist to explain them.
Anyone who has not seen that argument thrown around, welcome to the internet, and how have you enjoyed your first few hours here? [Read more…]
They put up a cross
Nearly nine meters tall
And they said it was there
For the sake of us all
But the courts say the cross
Is now destined to fall
Cos it’s on the wrong side
Of the wall… [Read more…]