Great quote from Attorney General Michael Mukasey, when asked about the profiling of Muslims:
Mr. Mukasey said that tactic is not used at airports. However, he used blunt language to defend extra scrutiny the Justice Department gives to militant Islamic groups.
“So far as focusing investigations, we investigate where the threat is coming from. The threat is coming from Islamist extremism. It’s not coming from Calvinism,” the attorney general said.
A van full of 11 illegal immigrants crashed into a Homeland Security SUV in Arizona.
Not exactly the way to slip in under the radar.
Hat tip: geno
Here’s a moving story from the Los Angeles Times about the growing number of men who are experiencing grief over abortions they’ve supported in the past.
Jason Baier talks often to the little boy he calls Jamie. He imagines this boy — his son — with blond hair and green eyes, chubby cheeks, a sweet smile.
But he’ll never know for sure.
His fiancee’s sister told him about the abortion after it was over. Baier remembers that he cried. The next weeks and months go black. He knows he drank far too much. He and his fiancee fought until they broke up. “I hated the world,” he said.
Baier, 36, still longs for the child who might have been, with an intensity that bewilders him: “How can I miss something I never even held?”
From the Philadelphia Inquirer:
Gov. Corzine yesterday signed into law a measure to abolish the state’s death penalty, putting New Jersey into the vanguard of the fight against capital punishment.
With Corzine’s signature, New Jersey became the first state to remove the death penalty from the books since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated it in 1976. Corzine said yesterday he saw a moral duty to end “state-endorsed killing.”
The Democratic governor said the death penalty amounted to an “endorsement of violence,” and as such it only “begets violence.”
From the stupid criminals file:
So asks Laz in a post about Pekka-Eric Auvinen, who killed eight people at a school in Finland.
While I will not say that Modern Evolutionary theory drove him to murder 8 people (human depravity plus a host of other factors did), are his actions the end result of a worldview which views humans as nothing more than self-contemplating matter?
Did this young man carry out this worldview to its logical conclusion?
By the way, if you’re not reading Laz’s Last Row on a regular basis, I’d encourage you to do so. He’s been writing some great stuff lately.
If you don’t mind, please take any discussion on this matter over to his blog. I’m sure he’ll be a gracious host.
Gibson the Great Dane and Boo Boo the Chihuahua, both in the Guinness Book of World Records, got to meet each other to celebrate Guinness World Records Day.
According to an AP-Ipsos poll, 67 percent of respondents support the practice of schools giving contraceptives to students.
From Canada’s National Post:
Women who rush back to work after giving birth may do so at their baby’s peril, suggests a new Canadian study that fuels the emotional debate over career versus parenthood.
The less time a new mother stays off the job, the more likely her child’s motor and social development will be impaired, University of British Columbia researchers concluded.
Hardee’s has unveiled a coronary-inducing, 920-calorie breakfast burrito.
The last week has been the busiest week of my semester thus far, so I haven’t had much time to devote to the ‘ol blog. I’ve had a few folks send me some news stories in recent days that I haven’t gotten around to posting yet, so here are a few of these items for your information and for discussion:
Mastermind of first Twin Towers attack claims he has converted to Christianity
Scandal hits TV preacher’s academy
Mom’s religion dominates custody hearing
Bush: All religions pray to ’same God’
Children of primary school age spend more time on their own or playing with friends than they do in the company of their parents, according to research published today. Even mealtimes are squeezed into as little time as possible so that children can leave the table and watch television or play with their toys.
The loony vegan school teacher I posted about previously has been fired by the school district where he taught.
The school board vote was, of course, unanimous.
An Oregon man almost died after trying to impress his ex-girlfriend by putting a rattlesnake in his mouth. Watch the video report.
In a study illustrating the potential downside of prenatal genetic testing, researchers reported Tuesday that 25 percent of couples whose unborn babies had a certain genetic mutation chose to terminate their pregnancies—even though that particular abnormality probably would not have resulted in serious health problems.