There is a refrain I encountered over and over across the Internet and in the media today: it says that President Obama has offered nothing more than speeches and vision in the cause of peace. Now, I’m not arguing that he has done enough to merit the Nobel Peace Prize, but his administration has *taken [...]

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“Wow!” was my initial, unbridled reaction when I read about the Nobel committee’s selection of President Obama for the Nobel Peace Prize. I was in bed, reading the news on my iPhone, and leapt out to share it with the kids. Before I could say anything, I was greeted with, “Yeah, Dad, Obama won the [...]

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Nationwide, Christians who refuse to provide services on the basis of gender orientation are losing legal battles.

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This is how our president defined our country yesterday. Explicitly denying that it was a “Christian nation” and explicitly stating that this fact is one of our “great strengths”. It’s nice to be reminded of this—and by someone so high in the administration! It is vogue for politicians to exclaim “God bless America!” Whether or [...]

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It’s got it all: atheism, spirituality, god, scifi, and good music!! Hulu’s got the first four eps up right now (and it doesn’t keep them forever), so go catch up. It’s too smart and too well written to stay on the air for long. It’s the story of Kings David and Saul transposed into a [...]

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“Gender roles see a ‘conflict’ shift in work-life balance” at USAToday. Hat tip to @unapologeticfem (site) I’m not certain that anything in there is great news, but it does seem that there is some kind of cultural change at work, which is something.

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One of the many reasons I don’t post with my IRL name here (I won’t say “real”, since xJane is just as real in many ways) is because I am attempting to manage my image. In our internet age, I still find it to be very important to not ruffle feathers in a public way [...]

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The Vermont Senate, finding (correctly) that Civil Unions for gay couples fall short of providing equal rights, voted overwhelmingly to approve Civil Marriage for gay couples. The matter still has to go before the Vermont House (and since I’m late to this, may already have gone), where it is expected to pass. The margin by [...]

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Texas is reviewing its science standards, specifically with the desire to remove them altogether. Skepchick has a great discussion of exactly what this means, but here’s the short version: Texas and California’s choices for scientific textbooks drives the availability of textbooks nationwide because of their massive marketshare the Texas State Board of Education (TSBE) has [...]

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According this US News and World Report article, one of the biggest finds from the new American Religious Identification Survey is rise of the “nones” and the bleeding of traditional institutions’ membership. More people are choosing to call themselves non-denominational, spiritual, or not religious at all. In terms of percentage of population, the biggest gains [...]

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