Just goes to show, parents don’t understand. For more alarmingly poor opinions and predictions, give the Bad Opinion Generator a spin.
"The second you see your son dropping that limp wrist, you walk over there and crack that wrist. Man up. Give him a good punch."
— The words of a North Carolina pastor named Sean Harris, who was caught on tape telling members of his flock to punch their sons if they show signs of being gay. Harris has since apologized for his comments, saying he was making a misguided attempt to be funny.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is criticizing the House Republican budget for cutting food stamps and other social programs too drastically. Rep. Paul Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman, says his Catholic faith served as a guide when he wrote the spending plan, and that runaway government debt is what will really damage programs for the poor. But the bishops say making disproportionately large cuts to the food stamp program — $33 billion in reductions over 10 years — fails to meet the church’s “moral criteria” to “serve poor and vulnerable people.” Is slashing spending on food stamps really immoral?
Yes. We have to help those in need: More Americans than ever are struggling in this sour economy, says Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite in The Washington Post, and it’s our “moral responsibility” to help them. “The ‘small government’ or even ‘no government’ folks want to say that the churches should pick up the slack on taking care of the poor instead of us paying taxes for a social safety net.” But churches simply “can’t do it all without the government.”
It is apparently quite common for school districts to request that standardized tests not include certain words that students might find offensive. But New York City’s list of some 50 banned test topics is twice as long as national sensitivity lists, and stands out as “a bizarre case of political correctness run wild,“ says Yoav Gonen in the New York Post.
Here, a look at some of the blacklisted topics, and why they might have been deemed problematic:
1. Birthdays
Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t celebrate birthdays
2. Dinosaurs
Some students don’t believe in evolution
3. Halloween
Suggests paganism
4. Religious holidays and festivals
Could offend students who don’t celebrate one or more of the holidays
5. TV, celebrities, and video games
To “avoid giving offense or disadvantage any test takers by privileging prior knowledge” like pop culture, Robert Pondiscio at the Core Knowledge Foundation tells the New York Post.
6. Computers in the home
Not all students have computers at home
The burning birth-control controversies boil down to two seemingly simple questions: How much does contraception cost, and who should pay for it? As the hubbub over Rush Limbaugh and his advertisers rages on, here’s a look at some numbers that factor into the true cost of contraception:
$9 → Monthly cost of some brand-name versions of the pill ($108 a year)
6.7 million → Pregnancies in the U.S. each year
3.2 million → Unintended pregnancies in the U.S. each year
$11.1 billion → Public funds spent on the births of unintended babies in 2006
$7 billion → Amount Medicaid and other government programs saved in 2008 by investing $1.9 billion in family planning centers
99 → Percent of women age 15-44 who’ve had sex and used contraception at some point
Super Tuesday unrolled much as the polls and pundits had predicted: Mitt Romney won the most states and the most delegates, but failed to quash his competitors or the lingering doubts about his candidacy. “We’re basically exactly where we were at the start of the day,” yawned Erica Grieder at The Economist.
Still, Tuesday wasn’t without its share of little surprises and unexpected twists. A few of the take-aways: Oklahomans really don’t like Obama, cross-party voters nearly propelled Santorum to an Ohio win, Catholics voted for the Mormon and evangelicals voted for the Catholics. The 6 Super Tuesday surprises and what they mean
From Rio de Janeiro and New Orleans, to Hungary and Bolivia, revellers let loose before the Lent repentance. Traditionally a celebration reserved for Catholic societies, Carnival now spans the globe and encompasses days of rowdy festivities, elaborate parades, and street parties crammed with costumed partygoers. Here, a slideshow of Carnival celebrations around the world.
(And yes, that is Will Ferrell in photo #2)
"The unholy alliance of the bishops and the GOP threatens the party’s ultimate presidential candidate and its House majority — and diminishes its chances of taking the Senate."
— Robert Shrum, in his latest column
