Friday, December 11, 2009
Friday’s roundup
Hanukkah starts at sunset tonight, so get your candles ready. You might also want to check out the wind-powered menorah developed by students at Yeshiva University. Chabad offers a brief history of menorahs in public places here. Something not to celebrate: Jewish charities still struggling a year after Bernie Madoff's house of financial cards fell apart.
Speaking of falling apart, South Carolina first lady Jenny Sanford is sending her husband off to the Appalachian Trail again, this time not by his choice, saying she wants a divorce. Apparently the couple couldn't reconcile (it's hard when the husband's "soul mate" is another woman) despite repeated attempts.
A man has pleaded not guilty to murdering a nun on a Navajo reservation. In Brazil, the gunman sentenced to 27 years for killing U.S. nun and Amazon rain forest activist Dorothy Stang has waived his right to a new trial. Uganda has outlawed female circumcision (before they outlaw homosexuality), and Austria's parliament has voted to approve civil unions.
Up in Toronto, the war over Christmas has collided with the war over abortion. The creche at City Hall can stay, officials said, but the anti-abortion message has to go. In Leesburg, Va., they're fighting over not just Christmas displays, but what else they can drag out to clutter the courthouse lawn.
The feds are questioning several Muslim men from suburban Washington who are suspected of trying to join jihad in Afghanistan; friends say the suspects are devout "good guys." Analysts say the threat of home-grown radicalization is reaching a dangerous point.
It's been a busy day for the pope: Benedict XVI became the first pope to host the president of communist Vietnam. No word on any pending developments toward normalization. Benedict also met with Irish church leaders over the nation's wide-ranging abuse crisis and expressed his "regret." In an Irish headline likely to give the Vatican further indigestion, a gay sperm donor has won visitation rights for the child being raised by lesbian parents.
From the Dept. of Things We Already Knew, Gallup says more-religious Americans heavily lean Republican, and secularists go for the Democrats. And, from the Dept. of Things We'd Rather Not Visualize, half of British women, and 39% of British men, are considering liposuction before making the big walk down the aisle.
Posted by Kevin Eckstrom at 9:58 am
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