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Woke up at 5 in the morning with a completely inexplicable panic attack. Oh joy.

I blame the Limburger.

Well, since I'm up

Commentary on the successful LHC switch-on here and here. irritant01 informs me that, sadly, an RSS feed is not available for the latter. btw, anyone got any idea what a "deSitter space transition" is?

Never mind the strangelets, have some Torchwood SPOILERS in the form of creepy as hell footage of location filming.

Meanwhile back in reality - specifically, in my other home turf, Montgomery County MD - transgender civil rights are safe with the failure of a dodgy petition.

And in Australian news: Homeless will get a place to call their own: "Common Ground Sydney... is looking for a site suitable to be turned into units for about 100 chronically homeless people and some low-paid workers. It aims to improve on what homeless people are usually offered in Australia - a few nights in a crisis shelter, "transitional" housing or a berth on a housing department waiting list. Some people alternate from park bench to night refuge for years. They cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars in services that assist them but do not end their homelessness."

Mercy Ministries complained to the Press Council about the SMH's expose, but their complaint was dismissed.

"Bible literacy is slipping and not just among atheists."

ETA: Australian women working in casual or contract jobs are up to 10 times more likely to be sexually harassed. "... the findings were part of a growing body of evidence that "precarious employment" was linked to a variety of adverse working conditions, and to poorer mental and physical health for the workers."

I KISSED A GIRL AND I LIKED IT THEN I WENT TO HELL

So, in the hope of improving Biblical literacy, here's today's Bible study, thanks to ihasatardis. No seriously. That's a real church sign, not one of the plentiful joke ones.

Now IMHO there's a little Scriptural blunder in the sign which I'd like to draw to your attention. (I am hardly a Biblical scholar, so your (informed) comments are welcome.)

The Bible mentions lesbianism only once, but is, erm, not exactly positive about it (it's Paul, sigh). Here's the NIV version of the passage, Romans 1:26:

Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.

Paul's in the middle of a lengthy rant about how those who haven't accepted Christianity have therefore turned to all kinds of sin and wickedness, including anything-goes orgies. (Interestingly, the Romans accused early Christians of holding their own orgies. It's a stock accusation which every religion uses against its rivals.)

So that's the basis of the Ohio church's sign. Unfortunately, they seem to have stopped reading somewhere around the orgies, because just a few lines later in Romans 2, Paul pulls out his punchline:

You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?

He goes on to make his meaning pretty explicit:

you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?

This is one of a number of New Testament warnings against hypocritical piety, including Jesus' words in Matthew 7 - the famous "Judge not that ye be not judged." (Fred Phelps and co are very keen on Galatians 6:7 but not so keen on Galatians 6:1.)

So, in short, the third line of the Church sign simply ignores Paul when he becomes inconvenient to their message. Tch tch tch. They want to see an opthamologist about that beam.

ETA: In further unnatural usage news, Frank is currently sleeping in the litter box. :P

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Some fucker beat a kangaroo unconscious and then put a video of his fun online. The RSPCA are asking for help in catching him.

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As you probably know, Republican Presidential candidate John McCain's running mate Sarah Palin is staunchly pro-life. An SMH op-ed explains the importance of the issue to American voters, and notes that, with the Democrats pro-choice and McCain equivocal, "Until the announcement of Palin's candidacy, there was nowhere for a passionate anti-abortion voter to go." This means the Republicans have mobilised millions of anti-choice voters, making it crucial for pro-choice Americans to register and vote. This means you. Well, a lot of you, anyway.

McCain and Palin are both opposed to pregnancy prevention measures such as sex education. (McCain doesn't even know that condoms prevent the spread of HIV, for heaven's sake.) Instead, they favour abstinence-only education - long known to be ineffective, and abandoned by 25 US states, including Alaska.

Still in the US, Bush plans to introduce a conscience rule allowing doctors and other medical workers to refuse to provide or participate in abortions. "There are no provisions for assisting women who have been denied -- none," explains naamah_darling, who has further information about the new law and what you can do to oppose it - but you must act before 25 September.

Mass Dandelion Break

Fire fighter saves cat with mouth-to-mouth