Just in from Switzerland: No proof for the existence of God, or at least his Particle. Dang.
Only hints, scientists say, of the existence of the Higgs boson subatomic particle, a.k.a. the God particle (that’s not it, at left), so-called because it would explain a lot of things, like how the universe could exist.
Actually, I don’t really understand what I just wrote, but Lawrence Krauss does and he has a nifty “Higgs boson for Dummies” explainer, and why it matters.
The Catholic bishops are telling Congress that it has a “moral obligation” to help the unemployed and their chief spokesman on domestic issues is framing it as a “right to life” issue.
Those notoriously tolerant Canadians have decided to bar Muslim women from wearing a face veil while taking the oath of citizenship:
“The citizenship oath is a quintessentially public act. It is a public declaration that you are joining the Canadian family and it must be taken freely and openly,” said Immigration Minister Jason Kenney.
In Egypt, newly-elected Islamists want to welcome tourists but say they can’t drink alcohol, wear bikinis, or swim with people of the opposite sex while they’re having fun. That’ll shore up a pillar of the country’s beleaguered economy.
In Saudi Arabia, authorities have executed a woman convicted of practicing magic and sorcery. But the religious police say her crime was charging people up to $800 and saying she could cure their ills. In the United States, you’d get a TV show.
Michael Gerson explains and decries Newt Gingrich’s “War on Shariah,” which Gerson says is basically an invented issue.
Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn discover gerrymandering, and like it: they are pushing legislators to create majority Jewish (Orthodox Jewish, that is) districts to better represent their needs.
“Why Are American Politicians Always Switching Religions?” Mark Oppenheimer asks and answers the question – and notes that Mitt Romney is a lifelong Mormon but is derided as a flip-flopper.
Mitt can’t win for losing. He is still taking heat from bien pensant pundits (it’s okay – Mitt was a missionary in France and speaks the argot) for his $10,000 bet offer to Rick Perry during the recent debate: bad move politically, they say, and Mormons are against gambling to boot.
Probably right on the first point, but not necessarily on the second:
“There is no stance…on a friendly wager or verbal challenge between friends or even adversaries,” explains Peggy Fletcher Stack. “Husbands and wives do it all the time. Utah mayors in heavily Mormon cities, such as Provo, routinely place friendly wagers – often for charity – on BYU-Utah football games.”
Of course, Peggy maybe be assuming too much with the “friendly” part of that wager.
A West Virginia minister wants to turn the Pink Pony strip club into a church and a center to help gambling addicts.
The “War on Christmas,” or rather on a particular Christmas tree, is heating up along the DMZ in Korea.
Former Penn State coach and alleged serial child abuser Jerry Sandusky is receiving daily doses of support from the pastor of his longtime Methodist church.
Gary Laderman explores that venerable year-end tradition: the Celebrity Death List.
“More cultural than faith-based, the sacred practice of creating a yearly roll call of certain deceased individuals who now are gone caters to religious sensibilities that are no longer adequately addressed for many Americans in their church, synagogue, temple, or other place of worship.”
Finally, 13 years ago today, Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore acknowledged that he had won the war for the popular vote but lost the battle for electoral votes to George W. Bush.
Carl Cannon recalls Gore’s concession as “a short speech extraordinary for its grace and eloquence” and says it invoked the spirit of Lincoln and the better angels of American politics:
“The concession speech is not a mere nicety; it is an essential part of the democratic process. It signifies to partisans that the election is really over.”
And we’re done too.
— David Gibson
