StMichaelsgate

Attributing Providence to Evolution

2010-07-21T19:09:00.007-05:00

Check out the NPR story Our Feet Are Fallible, But They Beat A Chimp's for another example of people casually attributing Providence to evolution (that is, seeing evolution as a source of goodness) and attributing intelligent design to evolution.The story says, "evolution gave us the one-of-a-kind human foot we have" and "human feet remain one of evolution's finest designs."I'm not opposed to

Magistrate Court Mediation

2010-05-01T12:33:00.003-05:00

For the last sixteen months or so, I have been acting as a mediator twice a month in local West Virginia magistrate-court “small-claims” cases, which the magistrates schedule for mediation in the hope the parties will settle and the cases will not have to be heard in court. These are the kind of disputes that, many years ago, would have been settled in local neighborhood or church or family or

The Execution of an Innocent Man

2010-02-21T23:33:00.006-05:00

In the 2006 case Kansas v. Marsh, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anton Scalia affirmed that, in the modern American judicial system, there has not been “a single case—not one—in which it is clear that a person was executed for a crime he did not commit.”In the past year, a nominee for this tragic distinction has again been put forward. Strong evidence suggests that Cameron Todd Willingham, who was

Blame and the Purpose of Judgment

2009-12-31T20:46:00.023-05:00

Job's Evil Dreams: William Blake's 1805 illustration to the Book of Job reveals Job's God as Satan, the Accuser, inhuman with cloven hoof, accusing Job from the Book of the Law. The serpent entwining Job’s God is that same serpent who tempted us, in the garden, to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; to see evil in the world, in others, and in ourselves, and to ourselves become

Free Roxana Saberi

2009-04-19T00:48:00.010-05:00

Update: Journalist Roxana Saberi spent four months in jail after being arrested in Iran. SeeRoxana Saberi's 100 Days In An Iranian Prison for an NPR interview with her on her memoir, Between Two Worlds: My Life and Captivity in Iran and on the other prisoners she met while she was there.____________________________________________________________________Roxana Saberi, age 31, is an American

Medicine: Survival vs. Quality of Life

2008-08-03T09:21:00.017-05:00

Getting Tough: Immigrants Deported by U.S. Hospitals, by Deborah Sontag, in today's New York Times, says, "Many hospitals are taking it upon themselves to repatriate seriously injured or ill immigrants because nursing homes won’t accept them without insurance."The poor immigrants are sometimes grateful, willing to face reduced life expectancy in exchange for the gift of being able to go home.Luis

Your Faith Has Made You Whole

2008-08-02T09:47:00.005-05:00

I was asked the other day whether I am Christian, and I said I'm Christian but I'm not a Christian.While Jesus was surely one of the best things to ever happen to the world, Christianity might be seen as one of the worst. One of the most harmful beliefs promulgated under the name of Christianity is that we must see Jesus as the source of salvation. I don't think Jesus taught this.The story is

The Arbitrary and Capricious FCC

2008-07-21T12:43:00.013-05:00

Responding, no doubt, to my 2006 analysis of The Erratic FCC's recent history of un-noticed departures from the agency's own guidelines, the federal Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in CBS Corp. v. FCC, today vacated as “arbitrary and capricious” the FCC’s $550,000 indecency fine against CBS for Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction” at the 2004 Super Bowl.The court cited the FCC’s “

Second Amendment: The Court Unguided

2008-07-17T09:38:00.023-05:00

The Second Amendment to the Constitution reads:A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, theright of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.Clause One (the prefatory clause): A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, Clause Two (the operative clause): The right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be

Obama Dream

2008-07-01T10:07:00.004-05:00

I dreamed last night that I was in a stadium for an event - I think Barack Obama was going to be speaking. I sat on the concrete steps of the stadium. Michelle Obama sat down on a bleacher seat next to me and their son, about twelve years old (I know they don't have a son in reality) was sitting in a bleacher seat on the other side of me. We said hello, and in response to something I said her son

Threat of Inflation Hamstrings Central Banks

2008-06-30T06:05:00.004-05:00

The world's central banks seem to be in a classic dilemma, brought into focus by unsettled world reaction to the Federal Reserve's decision Wednesday to hold short-term interest rates constant: If central banks raise interest rates, they may cripple economic growth threatened by inflation; if they don't raise rates, inflation might spiral out of control. See "Inflation Menace Has Echoes of

Leading Supreme Court Decisions

2008-06-23T12:57:00.006-05:00

I posted earlier on the Congressional Research Service history of overruled Supreme Court decisions. The CRS published, in 2002, with 2006 supplements, a history of Court decisions that:overturned previous Supreme Court decisionsheld acts of congress unconstitutionalheld state statutes or state constitutional provisions unconstitutional held local laws unconstitutional held state or local laws to

Clinton Urges Support for Obama

2008-06-08T08:06:00.006-05:00

Hillary Clinton has strongly urged support for Barack Obama. See video from BBC News.

Barack Obama Democratic Nominee

2008-06-04T22:59:00.001-05:00

We have a chance this election to make a quantum leap in the nature of this nation.

History of Overruled Supreme Court Decisions

2008-05-24T12:08:00.017-05:00

The Congressional Research Service published, in 1996, with 2002 and 2006 updates, a history of overruled U.S. Supreme Court decisions. I’ve incorporated the 2002 and 2006 updates into the original CRS table and linked the cases to their full texts on Justia, at http://mywebguide.us/Law/overruled.htm. As the researchers say: "While the Supreme Court sometimes expressly overrules a prior decision,

Barack Obama: 'A More Perfect Union'

2008-03-19T07:32:00.001-05:00

Barack Obama speaks in Philadelphia, PA at Constitution Center, on matters not just of race but of the fundamental path by which America can work together to pursue a better future.

Barack Obama - Highlights from the 2004 Convention

2008-02-20T15:08:00.001-05:00

These are highlights from Barack Obama's keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, which first brought him to national attention.In religious terms, we would say that Obama is "anointed."

Barack Obama - Yes We Can

2008-02-05T07:48:00.001-05:00

Yes we can. It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.Yes we can.It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.Yes we can.It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.Yes we can.It was the call of workers who organized; women

Barack Obama South Carolina Victory Speech Part 2 - Yes We Can!

2008-01-27T10:06:00.001-05:00

For the video of the first part of this speech, see Barack Obama South Carolina Victory Speech Yes We Can Part 1

Obama's Iowa Victory Speech

2008-01-04T11:59:00.001-05:00

If Obama's Iowa speech doesn't jump-start your heart, ask somebody to pray for you.

Evolution Again Credited with Creation

2007-12-12T14:21:00.003-05:00

Whitcome, Shapiro, and Lieberman, in “How Women Bend Over Backwards For Baby,” in the journal Nature, report that a difference between men and women in one vertebra and in a key hip joint help women to bear children. This is certainly interesting science, but I am especially interested in one researcher’s religious interpretation of the findings.Seth Borenstein of the Associated Press reports:

Taser Death

2007-12-09T12:41:00.003-05:00

Following up on "Speeding Ticket Taser" (Dec. 4), this CBC News video shows the Oct. 14 death of a non-English-speaking airline passenger Tasered twice by Royal Canadian Mounted Police after he became disturbed when Vancouver International Airport security practices stymied him for hours.Maryland Community Newspapers Online has reported that 20-year-old Jarrel Gray was pronounced dead at about 7

Speeding Ticket Taser

2007-12-04T01:03:00.001-05:00

This September 14, 2006, Utah incident calls up several legal issues which, as we see, are painfully relevant to motorists.The Utah Highway Patrol has reportedly said, "We found that Trooper Gardner's actions were lawful and reasonable under the circumstances."My understanding is that it is a motorist's signed promise to appear in court (or pay the fine) that forms the legal basis on which the

The Erratic FCC

2006-08-03T15:13:00.001-05:00

The Federal Communication Commission's recent erratic, unacknowledged departures from its own established guidelines demonstrate that the agency has lost its anchor and is being blown about by prevailing political winds.In finding indecent Bono’s slip at the 2003 Golden Globe awards and the unveiling at the 2004 Superbowl of Janet Jackson’s golden globe, the agency radically departed from two of

“Unauthorized” Americans

2006-04-17T10:17:00.000-05:00

The recent congressional focus on illegal immigration, and the resulting well-organized (peaceful) mass demonstrations by hundreds of thousands of Latinos across dozens of American cities, have brought attention to the collapse of U.S. immigration policy.Official U.S. immigration policy is being made irrelevant by a rapid and massive increase in illegal immigration. Widely accepted research of

Immigration: Policy by Neglect

2006-04-17T09:19:00.000-05:00

For the United States to allow illegal immigration from Latin America to continue unchecked at current levels amounts to setting, by neglect, an immigration policy which is changing America in ways we might not choose.One of the goals of U.S. immigration policy is “to ensure diversity by providing admission to people from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States,

WVUP Blasted in Student Probation

2005-11-28T14:18:00.000-05:00

West Virginia University at Parkersburg’s commitment to free speech and to due process in student disciplinary matters has been publicly questioned by some WVUP students, by state legislator J.D. Beane, and by the Parkersburg News and Sentinel.The school found itself embroiled in front-page political controversy during the recent Parkersburg mayoral election after placing student Warren Bigley on

The Politics of West Virginia Vote Fraud

2005-11-07T14:46:00.000-05:00

West Virginia Secretary of State Betty Ireland’s new six-person voter-fraud unit and hotline for election fraud (1-877-FRAUD-WV) have since August engendered multiple state investigations of election fraud in the state, which have thus far resulted in one indictment, of 2004 Republican House of Delegates candidate Fredrick E. Blackmer, Jr. Blackmer was indicted in Jefferson County after failing

A Prayer for Souls in Paupers' Field

2005-10-24T13:23:00.001-05:00

All Hallows Eve, whose name has shortened over the centuries to “Halloween,” has a special significance for West Virginia University at Parkersburg because of the graveyard by the campus with 219 unmarked graves.The graveyard is Wood County’s “paupers' field,” the burial place for the bodies of those who die indigent or unknown. Burials have taken place there in the last few months, and the field

The War Against Science

2005-10-10T21:33:00.000-05:00

Dr. Bruce Terry, chair of the School of Bible and Religion at Ohio Valley University, sought to discredit tenets of mainstream science that he believes contradict the Bible when he spoke Sept. 23 at “America’s Search for a Creation Story" at West Virginia University at Parkersburg’s packed College Theater. Sitting next to him on the stage, however, was Dr. Ed Crisp, professor of Geology at WVUP,

The Blind Observer

2005-10-10T17:00:00.000-05:00

The Blind Observer is a pack of damnable lies smuggled into the otherwise respectable West Virginia University at Parkersburg Chronicle by recalcitrant Journalism students who should have been spending their time in a more useful way. I have marked each Blind Observer story to warn decent citizens.

President Declares War on Nature

2005-10-10T16:06:00.000-05:00

(From the Blind Observer)WASHINGTON, D.C.– President George W. Bush, speaking at the National Cathedral today, called on “the Creator of wind and water” to be our ally in an all-out struggle against the “vast and indifferent might of Nature” demonstrated by her recent egregious onslaught on America.“The arbitrary harm left by these storms and the mystery of undeserved suffering,” he said, leaves

Sacrificing Our Children to Their God

2005-10-10T13:30:00.000-05:00

A cadre of conservative Christians are mounting a determined campaign against the teaching of the science of evolution in our nation’s schools. They seek to foment a new distrust of mainstream science, along with the ancient fear of a wrathful God, to try to block children from studying any science that would lead them beyond the science found in the Bible. Pressure on school boards to abet the

Squirrelfest© 2005

2005-10-10T03:01:00.000-05:00

(From the Blind Observer)PARKERSBURG, WV– Controversy has struck Squirrelfest© 2005. The normally sleepy event, held every year here during squirrel season, has grown far beyond the Squirrel Gravy Cook-Off that comprised the original 1952 Squirrelfest©, and now includes carnival rides, gospel music, and the popular Shoot-Your-Hats-Off.But suspicions have been cast on the time-honored Squirrel

Offensive T-shirt Goes Unnoticed

2005-10-10T01:45:00.000-05:00

(From the Blind Observer)PARKERSBURG, WV – Student Devon Nuckles’ “Your Retarded” T-shirt failed to outrage anybody at West Virginia University at Parkersburg on Wednesday, though Nuckles had readied himself for trouble from several directions. He said he had figured, WTF, man, fug’em if they can’t take a joke, and went ahead and wore it. He had figured the English majors would tell him it was

Local Man Smells Something

2005-10-10T01:30:00.000-05:00

(From the Blind Observer)DEER WALK, WV – Deer Walk resident John Hickey thinks he may have to do a wash again, he said Saturday, since he can’t figure out where that smell is coming from. He has put all the cats out of the house, and his shoes are out on the porch, but there’s still a smell coming from somewhere. “Maybe it’s something in the refrigerator,” he said, but he wasn’t going to deal

Napoli's Asst. Manager Cracks Under Stress

2005-10-10T01:12:00.002-05:00

(From the Blind Observer)WILLIAMSTOWN, WV - Brad Hitchens, who had recently been promoted to Assistant Manager at Napoli's Restaurant, left the restaurant suddenly at the beginning of the busy shift Friday night, saying he couldn’t take it any more. “I started yelling at the waitresses, cause they were laughing at how stressed I was. I thought, this is nuts. So I left.” “He wasn’t ready for the

Area Man to Buy Overalls

2005-10-10T01:10:00.000-05:00

(From the Blind Observer)VIENNA, WV – Vienna resident Dylan Webster has told friends that, if he comes into some money, he plans to buy a second pair of overalls. He says he likes the feeling of freedom he gets from not wearing pants, and stated that people seem to laugh more at his stories when he is wearing overalls. He further stated that, “If he was rich, he would have a pair of overalls for

Ripley Resident Has Not Evolved

2005-10-10T00:50:00.000-05:00

(From the Blind Observer)RIPLEY, WV – Robert Walling, longtime area resident, says he has read in the newspaper that human beings have evolved over millions of years, but, Walling says, he is a Christian man and does not believe in it. He says he has not evolved at any time, and does not intend to. No one in his family tree has evolved, he believes, though there are some of them, he says, that

Old Guy in Class Won’t Shut Up

2005-10-10T00:40:00.000-05:00

(From the Blind Observer)By Heather BloxtonPARKERSBURG, WV – This guy started taking our Journalism class who must be like 50, and he won’t shut up. He acts like he knows everything, and he keeps lecturing everybody and taking up the whole class time arguing about every thing anybody says. I guess they can’t throw him out unless he turns out to be a pervert or something, but we’re going to get

Local Woman Spending a Lot of Time Online With Brawny Man

2005-10-10T00:30:00.000-05:00

WAVERLY, WV – Kelley White of Waverly says she has finally found a man who understands her in the Brawny Paper Towel Man, who offers compassionate interactive video companionship online. The Brawny man, who welcomes his female visitors to an isolated cabin which he built himself, offers virtual foot massages, supportive conversation, and sublimated sexuality. “The Brawny man fulfills all my needs

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2005-10-10T00:25:00.002-05:00

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Obituaries

2005-10-10T00:22:00.005-05:00

Mr. Potato Head (From the Blind Observer)BOISE, ID - Mr. Potato Head died Oct.1 after a long struggle with ear, nose, and throat problems.For years the head of the American Toy and Cartoon Characters Association, which he founded with his lifelong friends Mr. Peanut, Reddy Kilowatt and Speedy Alkaseltzer, Mr. Potato Head was often seen to be disorganized, but Mr. Peanut, speaking of his friend,

West Virginia’s Betty Ireland

2005-09-12T13:14:00.000-05:00

Betty Ireland, elected West Virginia’s secretary of state in 2004, is the first Republican to be elected to that office since 1972, which would be 15 years before you were born if you were the average college freshman. (Which, of course, you’re not.) She is the highest-ranking Republican in the state government, and the first woman to be elected to a major non-judicial West Virginia state

How to Get Sentenced to Prison

2005-07-08T08:53:00.000-05:00

Steven Vaughn, who worked for Philadelphia's City Council, pled guilty April 7 to diverting $658,000 in delinquent-tax payments, which Vaughn had accepted for the city, to private operator Shamsud-din Ali so that Ali, by just handing the money to the city, could get $60,000 from the city for "collecting" it. Under pressure, the Central Germantown Council in Philadelphia (see post of May 8) and

On the Street, Wasi Seemed to Rise Up

2005-05-07T23:16:00.000-05:00

The Central Germantown Council, which administers city funds for Philadelphia’s Germantown neighborhood, has not dismissed its president, Steven Vaughn, from his position of fiduciary responsibility, though he has pled guilty in federal court to defrauding the city. The Council thus becomes part of the national laughingstock which is Philadelphia politics. Until a

The Labors of Benedict XVI

2005-04-20T08:48:00.000-05:00

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is now Pope Benedict XVI. Pope John Paul II opened new communication with Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and Christians outside the Church. Though many found his doctrines constrictive, his charisma was strong, even in his suffering, and people found him positive. But Cardinal Ratzinger played bad cop to John Paul's good cop. Vatican insiders are said to have joked

The Chastisement of Our Peace

2005-04-15T06:22:00.000-05:00

.In the early morning, on this date in 1865, Abraham Lincoln passed into memory. For generations, historians and popular polls have esteemed Lincoln a great president, perhaps the greatest president. But why? Was he a "success"? He himself, as Commander-in-Chief, regarded much of his army's conduct of the Civil War as a fiasco, and the fact that the Union entered into the war at all might be

Blessing Ngozi Eze

2005-04-11T15:46:00.000-05:00

I got another one of those letters from Nigeria today. Usually the letters are laughable for their unabashed crookedness. They display great enthusiasm for cheating governments, banks, and corporations of vast sums of imaginary money. The writers, who identify themselves as lawyers, bank officials, generals, civil servants, doctors, and clergymen, seek you to share their outrage that money might

That Ain't No Trust Fund! They's Just Papers in Them Boxes!

2005-04-08T16:59:00.003-05:00

President Bush was in my neighborhood the other day, and distinguished himself by his stunning ignorance of government finance. The President on Tuesday visited the Treasury Department's Bureau of Public Debt in Parkersburg, West Virginia, where the Social Security Administration holds the $1.7 trillion in United States Treasury Bonds which currently constitutes the Social Security Trust Fund.

Divine Right

2005-04-07T08:25:00.001-05:00

President Bush inaugurated his second term pledging America to a crusade to establish democracy throughout the world, and the news from Iraq seems to reward his belief in elections. But today, with his father and former President Clinton, he is in Rome kneeling before Pope John Paul II, whose successor will certainly not be elected by popular vote. It's a moment to look at the idea that popular

He Is Not Here: He Is Risen

2005-03-27T23:01:00.000-05:00

Mark.16[1] And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.[2] And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.[3] And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?[4] And when they

People Power: A Woman’s Touch

2005-03-25T16:11:00.005-05:00

The government of the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan today yielded to People Power. Inspired by recent victories in the Ukraine and Georgia, thousands of people showed up in the streets, with relatively little violence, displaying the yellow and pink colors which signified their opposition to the government. Opposition leaders, committed to non-violence, negotiated earnestly, convincing the

2005-03-23T13:51:00.000-05:00

Before my hair turned grey.

2005-03-22T11:14:00.000-05:00

Let's see how this works.