stcynic
Posts by this author
December 21, 2004
Julian Sanchez has a new column that is so devestatingly on the mark concerning the myth of Christian persecution that it makes me want to create an award to balance off the Robert O'Brien Trophy. In particular, he beautifully nails this bit of pure demagoguery:
Even when genuine cases of…
December 21, 2004
Dean Esmay, a blogger I respect, has a post about ID that might surprise some folks. Dean is an atheist, you see, but he doesn't think it's a bad idea to teach ID in schools, or at least to bring it up in biology classes and mention that there are some smart people who advocate it. The question he…
December 20, 2004
Thanks to Walter Olson of the great weblog Overlawyered for his mention of my blog yesterday. I cringe a bit when I see myself listed as a "legal analyst", since I don't have a law degree; at minimum, the word "amateur" should be attached to it. But I appreciate the recognition from someone who…
December 20, 2004
Kevin Drum has a post up at the Washington Monthly about the new meme going around to the effect that saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" is some sort of anti-Christian conspiracy. I wrote about it a few days ago with Pat Buchanan's inane blustering about it. He quotes a religious…
December 19, 2004
Just when you think Joseph Farah can't get any more absurd, he does. Exhibit A: this column about evolution and creationism. I especially like this tidbit at the beginning:
I was stunned the other day when I asked evolution-believing listeners to my nationally syndicated radio show to call in and…
December 18, 2004
The New York Times reports that the ACLU has a huge internal battle going on over their use of a data mining company to gather information on those who contribute money to the organization, as well as potential legal trouble:
The American Civil Liberties Union is using sophisticated technology to…
December 18, 2004
The judge who has begun wearing a judicial robe with the Ten Commandments stitched into it is finding support in his own home town of Andalusia, where his district court is found. I doubt anyone could be surprised. But here's what I find amusing about it. Look at this quote:
Elizabeth Shine, also…
December 17, 2004
I've been busy today so I haven't had time to write anything, so you all should be out exploring this little corner of the blog neighborhood. Specifically, you should be stopping in at Jason Kuznicki's place to see this post where he fisks the latest ridiculous idea from the religious wrong. And…
December 16, 2004
Click here to read the first chapter of Joe Queenan's hysterically funny book Red Lobster, White Trash and the Blue Lagoon.
December 16, 2004
As I said before, I don't have a stake in this one either way, since I'm not an atheist and don't much care what Flew believes. But I do think it's important not to misrepresent the views of others, and in light of the long and storied tradition of fundamentalist Christians distorting the views of…
December 16, 2004
Here are links to some of the briefs in the McCreary County v ACLU of Kentucky case that will be heard by the Supreme Court in March. The brief I mentioned in the post below, written by Herb Titus and William Olson on behalf of a bevy of religious right groups, can be found here. That brief takes…
December 16, 2004
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case involving a display of the Ten Commandments on government property. The case is McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky. This morning I received a PDF of a brief filed in that case on behalf of several religious right organizations. I do not know if the brief…
December 15, 2004
For months I've been blasting Donald Rumsfeld and his astonishing incompetence as Secretary of Defense, and Bush for putting him in a position of total control over the occupation of Iraq and then letting him screw it up so monumentally. It's nice to see at least a few Bush supporters coming around…
December 15, 2004
Two articles that might be of interest for my fellow con law wonks. The first is from the new issue of Legal Affairs, a fairly glowing article about him from Stephen Presser. He writes quite a bit about Thomas' notions of originalism and his disbelief in stare decisis. The second is from Doug…
December 15, 2004
The new edition of Carnival of the Vanities is up, which is something I usually wouldn't bother mentioning but it's hosted this week by Ace Pryhill and Ace rocks.
December 15, 2004
Following in the footsteps of the endlessly self-aggrandizing Judge Moore, yet another Alabama judge, Ashley McKathan, has jumped into the Ten Commandments fray. McKathan took Moore's nonsense even further, actually embroidering the ten commandments onto his judicial robe. My first reaction was…
December 15, 2004
Remember this month's winner of the Robert O'Brien Trophy (formerly the Idiot of the Month Award), Gerald Allen? He's the drooling halfwit state rep from Alabama who wants to ban all books and plays that have a gay character in them. Well guess what? He was at the White House this week. At the…
December 14, 2004
As much as I rail against the astonishing stupidity of many of the Worldnutdaily's writers, I've discovered a group even more dull: their readers. Wow, have you read some of the letters that WND publishes from their readers? Like this gem from one Bob Atkinson:
A more descriptive name for the ACLU…
December 14, 2004
At 1 pm today, there is a press conference at the state capital in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to announce the filing of a federal lawsuit against the Dover School District over its new policy to mandate the teaching of Intelligent Design Creationism in public school science classrooms in that…
December 13, 2004
Of all the prominent religious right figures, you'd think the last one to scream persecution and claim victimhood would be Pat Buchanan. But here he is in - where else? - the Worldnutdaily proclaiming himself and his fellow Christians the victims of a silent and unnamed conspiracy deep within the…
December 13, 2004
NPR did a story yesterday on the Steven Williams lawsuit. That story said that there were in fact multiple complaints to the principal by multiple parents. The story interviewed several parents who said that Mr. Williams talked about Jesus constantly, during math lessons or science lessons or, as…
December 13, 2004
I noted in my last post on the Steve Williams lawsuit that I had contacted a Washington scholar to confirm that the "George Washington Prayer Journal" was indeed known to be fraudulent. That scholar is Frank Grizzard of the University Virginia, a senior associate editor of the George Washington…
December 12, 2004
David Bass, in another of those famous Worldnutdaily "exclusives" - which means an article so mind-numbingly moronic that only WND would even consider publishing it - has written an absolutely hilarious column about the decision by the Canadian Supreme Court that the legislature could legalize gay…
December 12, 2004
Kevin Drum (formerly CalPundit) of the Washington Monthly, is usually a pretty reliable source, but in this post I think he misses the point almost entirely. He is arguing that the "Social Security Trust Fund" is not an IOU even though Congress steals it to make the deficit appear smaller, and the…
December 12, 2004
My pet troll is "chortling with glee" over "yet another example of how Ed Brayton is full of excrement" - with a link to a story on CNN that says that some gay couples in Massachusetts are getting divorced. Is there anything more pathetic that watching someone struggle so mightily to put together a…
December 11, 2004
I'm headed to Lansing today for two things: a board meeting for Michigan Citizens for Science and a reunion dinner with some of my old friends from debate. A few of the people who are going to be there I haven't seen in 14 years, so this is going to be a great little nostalgia trip. Hope everyone…
December 9, 2004
It turns out that our suspicions were entirely correct and Steven Williams, the teacher in Cupertino, California who is suing the school district because the principal requires him to get her approval before handing out any supplemental material to his class, is one hell of a proselytizer. Here is…
December 9, 2004
Bloomberg reports:
Canada's Supreme Court ruled that the federal government can proceed with a plan to legalize same-sex marriage, saying the rights of gays and lesbians to formalize their bonds is protected by the constitution.
``Canada is a pluralistic society,'' the Supreme Court said in the…
December 9, 2004
Publius, of Legal Fiction, has written an entry about the uproar over Sen. Reid's statement that Clarence Thomas has been an "embarrassment to the court". It's worth reading. While he's harsher on Thomas than I would be, he does hit on an important distinction in how one can judge a judicial…
December 9, 2004
Yet more evidence that "family values" is nothing more than a catchphrase for "get the fags": the case of Tina Burch and Christine Smarr, a lesbian couple. In 1999, Smarr gave birth to a son, presumably through artificial insemination. In 2002, Smarr was killed in a car accident. Since that time,…