by Damon Martin
Ever since taking over the House of Representatives with the last elections in 2010, the Republican party has been screaming to the proverbial heavens about reducing the national budget by cutting spending and unnecessary programs.
However the GOP seems hell bent on side-stepping issues like cutting the national defense budget or dealing with Social Security, and instead are concentrating on finding new ways to erode and destroy women’s rights – especially when it comes to abortion.
Seeking to advance their social agenda since taking over the House, Republicans have been targeting programs like Planned Parenthood for termination. Their latest such atrocity, is the passing of HR-3, also known as the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” which was passed on May 4 by a vote of 251-175 (all Republicans and 16 Democrats voted for the bill).
[..]
by Darrah de jour
On Saturday night, the bold and the brightest came out (both literally and figuratively) to support the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center’s Evening With Women, raising almost $500,000 for its many programs, including LGBT youth advocacy and HIV/AIDS healthcare. It coincided with the non-profit establishment’s 40th anniversary, cementing it as a stronghold in the movement toward queer and women’s equal rights.
[..]
by Keith Daniels
The Bible is often presented by believers as a monolithic creation, as if it descended from Heaven whole, perfect, and in King James’ English. The truth, as in so many things, is so much more complicated and interesting. The text of the Hebrew Tanakh which became what Christians dismissively call the “Old Testament” began as an oral tradition that was eventually written down in Hebrew and Aramaic by unknown scribes over hundreds of years in what’s called “abjad” script – a system of writing in which only the consonants are set down and the reader is intended to fill in the vowels. These individual writings were eventually collected into a generally accepted canon by around 400 BCE and finally codified at a later but unknown date, probably by 100 CE.
And that’s just the “Old Testament”.
Similarly, the New Testament is a disparate collection of texts from numerous and mostly unknown authors – despite traditional ascriptions – writing from between around 50 to 200 CE. None of the books of the New Testament were written during the lifetime of a historical Jesus. And according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the popular conception of one singular ancient council of the Church that decided what books were in and what were out is inaccurate:
[..]
