Huff Post comeback of the month

First read this. And then this. Please do not eat or drink while reading either, for totally different reasons.

Pharisee of the Year

James Dobson. It really shows the rhetoric, calling a virtual centrist “the far left.”

The Plymouth Brethren

With the “Obama is the Antichrist” rumors swelling up again this morning, I went to refresh my memory over the origins of dispensationalism. Apparently a lot of it starts with John Nelson Darby around 1830 who started the doctrine of the rapture. I found this particularly interesting because he was a member of the Plymouth Brethren, a religious organization the parents of magician Aleister Crowley belonged to. You could almost credit the Brethren not only with the origins of almost the entire fundamentalist movement but with its equal and opposite reaction, via Crowley, whose works were later incorporated into both Wicca and Anton LaVey Satanism, two of the most obvious bugaboos of the literalist movement. It’s an increasing fascination to me the way everything contains its opposite.

Found near the “Q” version of the Book of Mormon

Plants in Utah 200 million years ago.

I wonder if they would have made good pets

Heterodontosaurus skull sheds light on evolution of plant eaters. Feed it some cabbage and carrots and it’ll keep your place insect-free. I think its related to the snorkosaurus.

Cosmic humor?

Looking at the statistics for the poll tracking of California’s Proposition 8 (basically funded by Utah Mormons to overturn gay marriage in the state), am I the only one who thinks it’s funny that the curve looks like a Jesus fish? Must be some sort of irony in this some where. It does look like it’s about to grow a new tail though.

That AP poll released today showing a one point difference in the race?

Apparently 45% of the respondents were born agains/evangelicals. Liberal media my ass.

Older than Archaeopteryx

“You could say it was a link between dinosaur and birds. It was very close to the ancestor of birds,” Zhang wrote.

Flew off the ark?

If you thought the funniest routines last night were on SNL…

You’re wrong. Fast forward to both McCain and Obama speeches on this one, they’re both excellent and very funny.

Palin as President

Be sure to do a lot of clicking, sometimes even 2 and 3 times. Lots of goodies here.