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The plant of the week
My friend Abdul Rahman Kassig was kidnapped by ISIS. Here’s his story.
Wow truly touching
The following is a story written by Erin Cory about her friend Abdul-Rahman Kassig, formerly known as Peter Kassig, who has been held by ISIS since October 2013 and has been recently threatened with death.
With Abdul-Rahman in Lebanon, June 2012.
I admit I have been stalling on writing this entry since Joey generously offered it to me last week. By now, we have all read about Abdul-Rahman Kassig, born Peter Kassig, and his plight in Syria at the hands of the so-called Islamic State. I have read perhaps thousands of words by reporters and people like me, who are his friends. But the truth is, the shock of seeing him in this situation, the pain of witnessing his family’s fear and grief, has taken my breath away and with it, the words to make sense of what is happening.
Tonight, for the first time, I feel as though…
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I’m A Christian, And I’m Voting NO On Tennessee’s Abortion Amendment.
Roe v. Wade was never about the “rightness” or “wrongness” of abortion…. It was always a case about privacy. A woman named Norma McCorvey (Jane Roe, for privacy) went to a doctor in Texas (a state where abortions were illegal, but allowed for in the case of rape or incest) and asked for an abortion claiming she had been raped. And you know what they said? “Prove it.” Well, the Supreme Court didn’t think she should have to prove it. They decided, in a 7-2 decision, that the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects the right to privacy, including a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy. And that same Due Process Clause makes laws criminalizing abortions (in all cases other than life-saving procedures) without taking into consideration the stage of pregnancy and other interests (like rape or incest) unconstitutional as well.
What if both of these could happen….
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Amanda Bynes, Robin Williams, and the Spectacle of Mental Illness
Preach
Internet, we need to have a talk.
I’ve had a number of readers ask why I’ve neglected to write about Amanda Bynes this last year. It’s simple, really. I don’t believe that celebrities are “fair game,” and that, when they have very human and very difficult struggles, I should capitalize on those things by writing an article, however well-intentioned. I believe they are deserving of privacy and respect, by virtue of their being people.
However, I’m making an exception here, because in the midst of the negative and callous press that Bynes has received, I think it’s time we had a chat about it from a different perspective. And then, after we’re done, I think it’s time we stop speculating about it altogether. Deal?
First and foremost, there is no way for us to know what, if anything, Bynes has been diagnosed with. The family has denied schizophrenia and bipolar…
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“Dying with Dignity”: thoughts on Brittany Maynard’s resignation from cancer
Praying for her
“What do you think of this?” was all my friend wrote me in a private Facebook message with an attachment of an article about a young woman, Brittany Maynard, who has stage 4 brain cancer. Brittany’s doctors gave her 6 months to live and she decided to beat the cancer by ending her own life with the help of prescribed medication.
After a quick response he then asked me what he always asks me about these sorts of things: “Will God be mad at her?” For some reason this friend has chosen me as the ‘go-to-answer-guy’ for all things religious. He tends to use discussion as way of working through his frustrations with God, or at least his ideas about God, and I always oblige since his questioning usually challenges me a great deal.
The question is really a basic one: does God condemn those who commit suicide?
I’ll say…
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Bud of the day
Bong of the week
Horror Movie Marathon: Netflix Fright Flicks You Probably Haven’t Seen
Why don’t mosquitoes spread Ebola?
Authorities are quick to remind the community that Ebola virus is spread by blood and bodily fluids so it is hardly surprising that many are asking, “can mosquitoes spread Ebola”?
The 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa is the largest in history. As of mid-October, there have been approximately 9,000 cases and 4,500 deaths. The World Health Organisation warned that the infection rate could reach 5000 to 10000 new cases a week by the end of the year.
The virus is primarily transmitted from sick to healthy people by blood or body fluids (including but not limited to urine, saliva, sweat, feces, vomit, breast milk, and semen). In addition, objects contaminated with the virus (including needles and syringes) and direct contact with infected animals also play a role. Given this knowledge, it is not an unreasonable question to ask if blood feeding mosquitoes could spread the virus from infected…
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boarley 