All is fair

If we're going to be going to all these extremes, invading the female body and such to save the living souls of the unborn (and even the unfertilized), turnabout is certainly fair play.

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 5 of Chapter 12 of Title 16 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to abortion, so as to make certain legislative findings; to prohibit the performance of vasectomies in Georgia; to provide for an exception; to provide for penalties; to provide an effective date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

There are some really ingenious female legislators out there... even though they are sadly outnumbered.

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Critical Thinking

"A criticism I often receive when I refuse to believe in the validity of such things as astrology, alternative medicine, religion, extrasensory perception, magic and a number of other commonly held beliefs, is that I am narrow-minded, that I should be more open to the possibility of things existing beyond current scientific understanding, maybe even contrary to the laws of nature as we now know them."

Read the rest of the story HERE

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We thought he was the last, best hope for mankind

Oh wait, wrong story line...

Oh well, even if the man has turned out to somewhat of a nutjob, at the the very least we can say he has done some of the best, most popular and influential films of modern times.

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Pass me some of that milk thistle, please

Diseased?

Traditional treatment not working?

Jump on the homeopathy bandwagon and get the Real Meal Deal, from folks like this...

...or this guy, who has treated "over 145 cases" of hepatitis C with his "very effective and absolutely safe" smoke and mirrors.

Somebody will bite. There will always be a market for these charlatans and the snake oil they peddle.

The world is full of suckers... and con artists...

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H/T Orac

Two Birds with one Stone

Just a brief missive in order to make up for my recent absence. I’d been preparing to deploy for some duty in Haiti, but due to the security (or lack thereof) situation, my team is on standby. Therefore, I have a few moments to post the gist of a recent, interesting conversation with a friend.

We began talking about books, which is one of or regular topics, when she mentioned that she was re-reading a tome by Dr. Andrew Weil. The author’s name tickled my CRS memory, but I couldn’t quite connect the dots. Then she mentioned the title, Health and Healing (Houghton Mifflin, 1983).

Weil is, apparently, a proponent of alternative medicine (he calls it integrative medicine), and is the founder and director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona. There is, as one might expect, much controversy with Weil’s theories.

My friend is more open to alternative medical theories than I, so the conversation got a bit heated, but in the end both she and I picked up on a quite interesting quote from the book. Weil cited the Bible, Isaiah 45:6—7, and noted that God is the creator of all evil in the world.

In addition to being a nut about alternative medicine, my friend is somewhat of the Biblical scholar. She admitted that the chapter and verses cited by Weil were unfamiliar to her, but that she would research. Later that day I received the following email…

“After reading that surprising passage in Weil’s book, I first consulted my copy of The Holy Scriptures According to the Masoretic Text, published by The Jewish Publication Society of America, showing copyright dates of 1917, 1945, and 1955. In the JPS scriptures, Isaiah 45:6—7 reads thus:

I am the Lord; and there is none else; I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I am the Lord, that doeth all these things.

Next I looked up the same scripture reference in my copy of the Protestant world’s chief standby, the Authorized King James Version, which reads almost identically:

I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.

Then, just because it struck my fancy, I checked on how a couple of more modern translations of Isaiah handled this passage. You might find them interesting also. Check these out.

Revised Standard Version (1952):

I am the Lord and there is no other. I form light and create darkness, I make weal and create woe, I am the Lord, who do all these things.

The New English Bible (1971):

I am the Lord, there is no other; I make the light, I create darkness, author alike of prosperity and trouble. I, the Lord, do all these things.

New American Standard Bible (1973):

I am the Lord, and there is no other, the One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these.

So, we translate ‘evil’ as woe, trouble, and calamity, watering it down a little. But look who is causing it, no matter how you name it.”

We may not agree on alternative medicine, but my friend and I certainly agree on the interesting inconsistencies that can be found between the god of the old testament and the one praised by modern xtians as the “god of love”.

Does this mean Pat Robertson is correct… at least partially… that god is the source of the misery in Haiti…

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