Moses was stoned. That's what Benny Shanon, a professor of cognitive psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem wrote in the Time and Mind journal of philosophy.

"As far as Moses on Mount Sinai is concerned, it was either a supernatural cosmic event, which I don't believe, or a legend, which I don't believe either, or finally, and this is very probable, an event that joined Moses and the people of Israel under the effect of narcotics," Shanon told Israeli public radio on Tuesday.

Ten commandments, burning bush: voice of disembodied deity or psychotropic drugs--you decide!

More after the jump (bring your own deity/drugs)

Well, fuck this fucking shit.

They had a Democratic debate in Las Vegas tonight (but Brian Williams thought he was in Los Angeles--for this he gets millions and millions of dollars).

So not only did the three candidates NEVER utter the words gay or lesbian at any time (much less bisexual or transgender), they discussed the law forcing colleges and universities to permit military recruiters and ROTC without EVER mentioning Don't Ask Don't Tell.

What a fucking crock of shit.

More shit after the break....

BECAUSE THERE ISN'T ONE.

So unless you're an albino lesbian dwarf, or a Lithuanian Canasta addict with Rosacea, would y'all kindly STFU because I don't want to hear about it. Black...check. Woman...check. Mormon...check. Dumbass lawyer turned hack actor...check. Libertarian in moderates clothing with the supporters from hell...check. Dominionist in sheep's clothing who lost half his body weight, most of it from his brains...check. Womanizing moron supporting his mistress on the city's dime...check. We got Dopey, Grumpy, Sneezy, Donner and Blitzen, half the Partridge Family, three James Bonds and two of Liz Taylor's ex-husbands and we can't get ONE FUCKING HOMO??!!!

More after the jump (And I haven't been jumped in a loooong time--although I did go out on an honest-to-FSM date today, woo-hoooooo)...

To quote Gomer Pyle, "Surprise, surprise, surprise!"

Women are just as likely to get an abortion in countries where it is outlawed as they are in countries where it is legal, according to research published Friday.

This according to a story by Maria Cheng, AP Medical Writer.

In a study examining abortion trends from 1995 to 2003, experts also found that abortion rates are virtually equal in rich and poor countries, and that half of all abortions worldwide are unsafe.

The study was done by Gilda Sedgh of the Guttmacher Institute in the United States and colleagues from the World Health Organization. It was published in an edition of The Lancet medical journal devoted to maternal health.

More after the flip...

Ahh, the old double standard--military personnel are prohibitied from appearing in uniform at political campaign events UNLESS it's for a republican.

From the Boston Globe:

Seven on-duty Army personnel participated in a campaign event for Senator John McCain earlier this month in Londonderry, New Hampshire, in an apparent violation of a Pentagon directive against partisan political activity, two military officials confirmed this week.

More after the jump...

Gov. Bill Richardson has been trying to 'fix' his flubs at the Logo/HRC forum last week from the moment he walked off the stage. But it doesn't seem to be helping. Now he has talked about it in an interview in the NY Daily News:

Richardson again apologized for saying last week he believes homosexuality is a lifestyle choice rather than a biological characteristic. The comment at a candidates' forum on gay issues sparked outrage in the gay community.

"I made a mistake. I screwed up," he said, acknowledging that the gay blogosphere is upset with him.

That's all well and good, but then he unravels again. More after the flip...

Sgt. Eric Alva, the first Marine injured in Iraq is stepping forward to oppose Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

In the Washington Post, Alva, who lost his right leg to a landmine, speaks out.

More after the break...

As someone who has believed for 30 years that we need to 'save the planet' I am continually astonished when I come across what I think are counter-productive attitudes among self-described Greens and the environmental left.

Case in point: The Prince of Wales' visit to America. British Greens are calling him out for an 'ecologically harmful junket'. Tonight Al Gore (last year's winner) will present Prince Charles with the Global Environmental Citizen award from the Harvard Medical School's Center for Health and the Global Environment.

According to the AFP:

But green activists in Britain criticized the royal couple's decision to fly across the Atlantic with a 20-person entourage, accusing the prince of "green hypocrisy."

"Why can't he set a genuine example and accept the award by video link instead?" Sian Berry, the principal speaker for Britain's Green Party, was quoted in Britain's Independent newspaper.

"I am disappointed to see that ... his recognition of the threat posed by climate change does not extend to toning down his personal flying habits," Berry was quoted as saying.

Inconvenient facts after the flip.

Patricia Todd is set to be the first openly lesbian member of the AL legislature after beating back a challenge to her win in the Democratic primary runoff (she has no Republican opponent in District 54 which is heavily Dem). She was challenged by her opponent Gaynell Hendricks' mother-in-law for filing her financial disclosure form late, even though no other candidate including her opponent did so and neither has any candidate since passage of the state's 1988 financial disclosure law.

Birmingham Blues has been following the race.

More....

Worst. Segment. Ever!

Keith Olbermann (whom I adore) blew it completely tonight. His #2 segment on Countdown (MSNBC) was about the Southern Poverty Law Center ([http://www.splcenter.org SPLC]) report on the increase in skinheads/white supremecists/neo-nazis being accepted into the US armed forces.

Given how much I like an Olbermann slap-down, I was soooo looking forward to this segment.

Total. Snooze.

More below...

Earlier today, mjohnson posted a diary about the shutdown last Thursday of the Library of Congress' National Library Service (NLS) Web Braille site for unnamed "technical and security difficulties". Through this service, braille readers who were approved by their regional library, were able to access Web Braille digital braille book files with a computer and a refreshable braille display (electronic device that raises or lowers an array of pins to create a line of braille characters) or a braille embosser.

I have since exchanged emails with Christopher Gray, the President of the American Council of the Blind (ACB) and gotten an update. Chris spoke with the head of the NLS, Frank Kurt Cylke, with very unsatisfactory results. More on this after the jump.

There is now an online petition and I encourage all Kossacks to review it and (hopefully) add your names. There's more...

OK, so it's a dubious choice of diary topics given that I'm an urban hermit and confirmed old curmudgeon and plan to order pizza today before Pizza Orgasmica closes, but here goes. This is my all-time greatest hits, for good or ill, and in no particular order after number one.

In an excellent, but underrated diary End Game: The Elephant Gambit Denied, which I highly recommend, GreyHawk likened current political events (and in particular, republican losses) to a high stakes game of political chess. This is my extended and corrected response (with thanks to UniC for suggesting it).

GreyHawk hit it right on the head and we need to pay attention. This is a long-term game, not just through '06 or '08. The Rethugs usurped the amount of power they have by playing a long-term game. They developed their echo chamber, intimidated the so-called liberal media into submission, funded and developed their think tanks, completely took over K Street, realigned the congress and have begun to dominate the judiciary. More below the fold.

George Takei, best known for playing Mr. Sulu in the original Star Trek series has officially come out as a gay man in the Los Angeles gay paper Frontiers.

George and his partner Brad Altman have been together for 18 years. I was acquainted with them some years ago--they met in the Gay and Lesbian track club, Frontrunners, both being avid runners.

Although they had socialized with his Star Trek co-stars and been active in Frontrunners, George had not publicly said he was gay.

Congratulations guys!

Yes friends, it has come to this. As John Aravosis writes at Americablog:

Say what? Sounds more to me like the problem (according to their own flawed reasoning) is celibacy, not whether the priest is gay or bisexual.

But this being the vatican, it gets better. (Oh yes, there certainly is more.)

Mark Morford was so good today in the SF Chronicle it's hard to know where to begin. Here's just the start of his answer to the rethugs asking him "where is that famous so-called tolerance I thought all you libs were supposed to possess like some sort of gentle polyamorous smiling hug for the world?"

There's LOTS more... (He ain't even warmed up yet!)

I started writing this as a response to a post about going into Iran:

Go into Iran?

I have no doubt that they want to do that. But they have nothing to go into Iran WITH! We're already overextended in Iraq and Afghanistan. They would have to increase the size of our military when we already can't fill the positions that are authorized.

This started a lengthy discourse that caused me to look up and say, "Whoa--first diary!"

So here's the question. Given that they have not made the country safer since 9/11, what is the provocation they are waiting for to justify the draft? Many believe the military and/or the administration were complicit in ignoring the warning signs before Pearl Harbor. But what are the Bushies waiting for? How complicit are they? And are they actually planning it? I have not seen any evidence that they actively set up 9/11--the farthest I would go is "malicious neglect." But given the stakes they are playing for now, just how far would they go. They have too much riding on this now to turn back. Theres more...