Halacha today deals with certain legal concepts, such as the corporate entity, which have no direct precedent in Halachic sources. At the same time, the American judicial system from time to time is asked to confront and even apply areas of Halacha dealing with such diverse matters as kashrut and gittin (Jewish bills of divorce).

In order to forge a better understanding of the interact ... read more

Monday, April 14, 2008
Massachusetts High Court Says Nudity to Support Christmas Can Be Prosecuted
In Commonwealth v. Ora, (MA Sup. Jud. Ct., April 10, 2008), the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court permitted a prosecution for "open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior" to proceed, reversing a trial court's holding that the law that bans public nudity is facially unconstitutio ... read more

Friday, April 04, 2008
Clashes Continue in Basra:
Badr Militia Strengthened

Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that clashes continued to be fought in Basra on Thursday between Iraqi government troops and the Mahdi Army militia.

It also says that US troops in civilian clothing were targeted in the Shiite city of Hillah south of Baghdad. They were attacked by unknown gunmen and ha ... read more

Cult medicine vs. professional medicine
Category: Altie Meds
Posted on: March 26, 2008 8:58 AM, by PalMD

So-called alternative medicine beliefs are an interesting and perhaps inevitable phenomenon. They make use of uniquely human qualities such as our intelligence, our pattern-recognition abilities, and our tendency to over-estimate how well we understand things. Most "science", ... read more

Weblog  
Hijabs on Western Political Women

For fun, how about collecting those instances when female political leaders, especially leftist ones, don the hijab (Islamic headscarf)?

Oriana Fallaci, interviewing Ayatollah Khomeini in September 1979 in Qum, Iran. The interview lasted six hours and at one point, an indignant Fallaci removed her chador in and threw it at ... read more

Expelled: No Intelligent Flying Spaghetti Monsters Allowed
March 10, 2008 — L. Ron Brown
I'm mad. Flaming mad! I thought the scientific community was about academic freedom, following the evidence wherever it leads, and expelling dogmatism. That was until I saw this documentary preview. I was wrong. The scientific community that I had long trusted and respected has been usurped by Da ... read more

Some Blogging Philosophy
Category: Miscellaneous

As usual, I'm late to this particular party. Over at BayBlab, a blogger calling himself "Anonymous Coward" offers up some choice words for the all-powerful, all-consuming, resistance-is-futile ScienceBlogs combine:

If you examine the elephant in the room, ScienceBlogs, the trend is maintained: politics, religion books, tech ... read more

Monday, March 03, 2008
Non-Religious Americans Outnumber Most Faiths
 
Sphere: Related Content

Labels: Science

We knew there were more of us than anyone seems willing to admit, but now we have additional evidence of our numbers. Recent data from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life show that 16.1% of Americans describe themselves as having no religion. This m ... read more

Bishops Tell Christians to Give Up Some Carbon for Lent
By Alexis Madrigal February 07, 2008 | 5:18:58 PMCategories: Climate, Religion  
 Two Church of England Bishops want their followers to join them in a "Carbon Fast" for Lent, the 40 day period in which many Christians abstain from eating or imbibing some favored item.

But really the plan is closer to a carbon ... read more

"Euros Only"
Published by geoff on February 25, 2008 - 6:38
Back on November 5, 2004, I wrote a little piece entitled "Follow the bouncing ball" about the tumbling US dollar:

What will this mean for the US economy? Unless the budget and current account deficits are slashed, the probable consequences are rising interest rates, rising inflation, a depressed housing market, and rece ... read more

January 17

Jewish Voters Prefer Clinton
Politico's Ben Smith has this story on how Senator Clinton has worked hard to sure up the support of many Jewish voters. Smith feels this will give her a leg up in Nevada, California, New Jersey and New York.

"Like so many other once skeptical constituencies, Hillary Rodham Clinton has won over Jewish voters," said New York Democra ... read more