News From Around The Blogosphere 6.11.10

Stupid me. I always grab pictures from the wrong youth organization

1. Phili yanks Boy Scouts of America’s rent-free space – It’s been long known that the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) are given privilege in the U.S. despite being a fundamentally bigoted organization that openly discriminates against gays and atheists. Well now one American city is fighting back. Philadelphia is now insisting the local BSA chapter must pay the standard $200,000 in annual rental fees using public space. The BSA has responded by suing and declaring that the the local chapter does not follow the national BSA’s discrimination policies. The Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia is organizing a rally this weekend to draw attention to the issue.

2. Just when you thought Mississippi schools couldn’t get any lower – For the past several months, the evolving controversy surrounding a Mississippi high school’s despicable treatment of openly lesbian teen Constance McMillen had made national news. Then recently reports came out of another lesbian teen being discriminated against by her high school. So I guess this makes strike three. It has just come out that Alice Hawley, a math teacher at Franklin County High School in Mississippi, has for the past 17 years been leading student prayers in class. To the schools credit, they did demand her to stop once her actions became national news, and then when Hawley refused to sign a document stating she understands the law on these matters, the school fired her despicable ass. But to the schools discredit, they just rehired her a day later. That’ll teach her!

Open letter to Mississippi schools:

FUCK YOU!

3. The Fightin’ Hitchens Brothers – The disparity of views between brothers Christopher and Peter Hitchens is an endless source of amusement. I have to think this is what it’s like at the Baldwin family gatherings between Alec and Stephen Baldwin. And now it turns out that almost simultaneously, a memoir from each Hitchens brother has hit book stands. The books sound like they are polar opposites. And while Peter’s book sounds like it’s obsessed with Christopher and making excuses for why Christopher kicked his ass in a public debate, Peter is practically but a footnote in the elder Hitchens’ memoir, Hitch-22.

Galileo's actual middle finger--suck it, Charles!

4. Prince Charles blames Galileo for the world’s problems –

The Prince of Wales has blamed a lack of belief in the soul for the world’s environmental problems, and said that the planet cannot sustain a population expected to reach 9 billion in 40 years.

He said he found it “baffling” that so many scientists professed a faith in God yet this had little bearing on the “damaging” way science was used to exploit the natural world.

The Prince pinned part of the blame on Galileo. Criticising the profit imperative behind much scientific research, he said: “This imbalance, where mechanistic thinking is so predominant, goes back at least to Galileo’s assertion that there is nothing in nature but quantity and motion.

Here that, Galileo. Prince Charles has had enough of your heliocentric nonsense! In response to Prince Charles, I encourage my limey friends across the pond to throw telescopes at him.

Prince Charles is ‘exploiting the gullible’

Prince Charles has been a long-time sucker for homeopathy and other forms of bogus medicine. But now he’s selling bogus medicine in the form of a detox remedy. His brand is Duchy Originals and it has produced numerous herbal and detox preparations.

Prof Ernst, the first professor of complementary medicine in the UK, said: “Prince Charles contributes to the ill health of the nation by pretending we can all overindulge, then take his tincture and be fine again. Under the banner of holistic and integrative health care he thus promotes a ‘quick fix’ and outright quackery.”

He said detox is based on the idea that toxins accumulate in the body until it becomes overloaded and that certain products can speed up the elimination of these substances.

Prof Ernst said: “The body has a powerful mechanism to deal with itself and there’s no evidence that dandelion or artichoke will improve these functions.

News From Around The Blogosphere 8.15.08

Donations for Robert Lancaster and Family – Lancaster, creator of the site StopSylviaBrowne.com, suffered a stroke last week and is on the road to recovery. If you’d like to help, click on the first link to find out how.

Webster Cook and Ben Collard Avoid Expulsion – Cook is the student who’s communion wafer heist sparked Crackergate. As you may recall, I wrote to the university president to defend Cook and his friend Collard and received this dismissive response. Well, I wasn’t alone in writing the university on this matter. And although I don’t know for sure, it’s possible our letters contributed to the university’s decision to not punish Cook and Collard:

On Tuesday, a panel of four students and two administrators, voted unanimously to dismiss all charges against Webster Cook and his friend Ben Collard, saying there was no hard evidence that the two did anything which would merit expulsion or suspension.

Prince Charles claims genetically modified crops are dangerous – He also supports Homeopathy. It jsut goes to show that you can have all the money in the world and a world-class education, and still be a dumbass.

Big Foot hoax story not going away -Nothing new here. Guy claims to have evidence that he won’t show anyone, shows a blurry photograph, and promises of forthcoming evidence that will never come. Though I do get a little bit of comfort from the fact that even the Faux News people don’t hide their obvious skepticism.

Jenny McCarthy emails Orac for help – Boy, did she get the wrong address.

Review – “The Goldilocks Enigma” by Paul Davies – A deeper look on the Fine Tuning Argument

And now for a moment of science:

Big-brained Animals Evolve Faster – “Ever since Darwin, evolutionary biologists have wondered why some lineages have diversified more than others. A classical explanation is that a higher rate of diversification reflects increased ecological opportunities that led to a rapid adaptive radiation of a clade.”