LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY nebris)

In the September 19, 2007 episode of his weekly broadcast, Dr. Jack Van Impe explains the technological history of the automobile: the basic engineering design, he reveals, was published in the Bible.

In 2001, Dr. Van Impe and his wife, Rexella, were awarded the Ig Nobel Astrophysics prize, for their discovery that black holes fulfill all the technical requirements to be the location of Hell.

All this and more at Improbable Research

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY catvincent)

SF writer and pundit Dr. David Brin has been saying for some time that one of the less noticed but vital pieces of damage Bush and his cronies have done to the US is to damage the operations, morale and reputation of the US military officer class.

And he's not missed the role of the Dominionists in this. (Admittedly, I did drop a comment post about us to his previous post...)

Here's the latest in his series on the subject:
"Alas, our military’s professionalism and dedicated tradition of Constitutionalism are under assault from many directions, not just the ongoing effort to bully or dumb-down commanders at the top. There is also a deeply worrisome campaign to suborn and infiltrate dogmatism into the ranks, from the side and from below.

Bruce Wilson a lead researcher for the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, wrote to me about ongoing neocon efforts to transform the United States Military, turning it into an active force for the fundamentalist Christianization of America. (Moderate churches have always played a very different and positive role.)

Read more about scandalous efforts to turn our apolitical and Constitutional military into an instrument of religious orthodoxy, on our way toward a theocratic state like the one forecast - in fiction - by a worried Robert A. Heinlein. (In prophetic novels he portrayed theocracy beginning, chillingly, in the year 2012.) MRRF is commendably trying to combat this trend, which some services have resisted more vigorously than others. (For a darker view, from an even more worried perspective, see http://community.livejournal.com/dark_christian)"

If you're reading this Dr. Brin, welcome - and I loved "Kill'n People".

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY guma_kawauso)

I guess it's not a real surprise, but it was more of a surprise that the following article was published by ABC...

The faith-based movement to convert people's sexuality is a lucrative industry. Last spring the conservative Christian organization Focus on the Family hosted a conference called "Love Won Out" at a megachurch in Nebraska. Parents were encouraged to bring their children to the conference so they could learn the church's take on homosexuality.

In addition to the $60 entrance fee, attendees could purchase books and videos, including a book by John Paulk, former chairman of Exodus International, a network with more than 11,000 affiliated ministries. Claiming to be "ex-gay" for more than a decade and happily married to a woman, Paulk was considered a poster child for conversion therapy.

Then in 2001, "20/20" reported that Paulk was photographed coming out of a gay bar in Washington, D.C. He is still married, but stepped down from Exodus. His book about his own conversion from homosexuality is still being sold.

Is this then just for the money? I hear "success rates" are low, suicide rates are high...

Full article here: http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=3634484&page=1

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY exotic_princess)

http://blog.nola.com/times-picayune/2007/09/vitter_earmarked_federal_money.html

WASHINGTON -- Sen. David Vitter, R-La., earmarked $100,000 in a spending bill for a Louisiana Christian group that has challenged the teaching of Darwinian evolution in the public school system and to which he has political ties.

The money is included in the labor, health and education financing bill for fiscal 2008 and specifies payment to the Louisiana Family Forum "to develop a plan to promote better science education."

The earmark appears to be the latest salvo in a decades-long battle over science education in Louisiana, in which some Christian groups have opposed the teaching of evolution and, more recently, have pushed to have it prominently labeled as a theory with other alternatives presented. Educators and others have decried the movement as a backdoor effort to inject religious teachings into the classroom.

The nonprofit Louisiana Family Forum, launched in Baton Rouge in 1999 by former state Rep. Tony Perkins, has in recent years taken the lead in promoting "origins science," which includes the possibility of divine intervention in the creation of the universe.

(click link for full article)