Some thoughts on Iraq

There is of course much that is being written by many as both Syria and Iraq rip themselves apart and so while this latest turn of events might appear to be a surprise, it should not be. This is because the sequence of events that is playing out is the inevitable consequence of the belief … Read more

Praying the gay away is now an official GOP policy in Texas

One kind reader (hat tip to Kathy) pointed out a bit of utterly insane GOP policy that perhaps ticks a few boxes for the religious and leaves the rest of us truly wondering what on earth is going on inside their heads, and so as reported by CNN, the news is that the Texas Republicans have … Read more

Barney Frank could not talk about his atheism while in Congress – why?

Barney Frank is a Democrat who served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromMassachusetts from 1981 to 2013. In 1987 he came out as gay, and to the great credit of the majority of the public this had little impact on his electoral prospects, and so he was returned to office again and again as the most prominent gay … Read more

Some rather strange responses to Obama’s new Climate Change rules

As I’m sure you are aware, Obama announced some rather sensible regulations that mandate that coal-fired power plants in the US need to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions by 30%. In fact Al Gore has chipped in and said the new rules were “the most important step taken to combat the climate crisis in our country’s history”.  Sigh! … if … Read more

Meriam Ibrahim not being released

News has been circulating in the media that Meriam Ibrahim, the woman under sentence of death in Sudan for marrying a Christian, is to be released. For example … BBC here Guardian here Sadly this is not true, her lawyer has advised Channel 4 as follows … Ms Ibrahim’s lawyer Elshareef Ali Elshareef Mohammed told Channel 4 … Read more

woolly mammoth is now the state fossil of South Carolina

I love this story – in South Carolina the wooly Mammoth has been adopted as the official state fossil, not because some learned body or institution managed to promote it, but rather because of the efforts of a passionate history-obsessed 8 year old third-grader named Olivia McConnell who won the day despite some very vocal and rather … Read more