When organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center get coopted by pro gay/lesbian life style groups, they both circle the wagons and marginalize groups that do good work on the basis of their not being politically correct. As a result, the good work they themselves do in other areas gets tainted. An example of the new "embattled liberal" mentality can be found on one of their news reports, "A Mighty Army."

The BBC report, :Towards a two-tier internet," discusses an ongoing feud between content providers and Internet carriers, including Internet Service Providers (ISP's).

Some writers have such a simple way of putting things that they can't be ignored.

An article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "Burke excommunicates board and priest," says

Excommunication is rare, according to Monsignor Ronny Jenkins, a professor of canon law at the Catholic University of America in Washington.

This is, unfortunately, quite inaccurate. According to canon 1398,

The Blessed Virgin Mary asks the Archangel Gabriel, "How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?" (Personally, I prefer the earlier, more literal translation, "since I have not known man." The new, "modern" version is much more clinical in its phrasing of so delicate and personal a matter.) Those of us who are amateur theologians may note the evident similarity of her bold question to Zechariah's query, "How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years." There is a crucial difference, however, in the purposes of these questions.

An article in the New Oxford Review considers the broad social and technical trends I hinted at in the post below on the "Bleex 1." Entitled, "Bio-Luddites & the Secularist Rapture," the article points to an organization called the "World Transhumanist Association," which promotes extending merely human capabilities with a variety of electronic, mechanical and biological "enhancements." Obviously we're talking about everything from traditional el

Jimmy Akin has decided to take on Fr. Lawrence E. Mick's perspective on Jesus' presence in the Mass (which can be found in "Finding Jesus in the Eucharist: Four Ways He Is Present." See, also, Catholic Update July, 2005.). Akin's blog entry can currently be found "Christ's Unique Presence In The Eucharist." He cites numerous Magisterial authorities for the understanding one can find in chapter 6 of John's Gospel, the Eucharistic Discourse.

MachineDesign.com has featured an exposition of recent work by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration) on electro-mechanical-hydraulic exoskeletons to aid soldiers in carrying heavy loads over rough terrain. Entitled, "Giving soldiers a high-tech leg up," the article includes a photo of a man equipped with the "Bleex 1," designed at Berkeley Labs. The armed services have been working on mechanical aids to soldiers for decades.

The SciAm blog reflects on what's been happening in "Stem Cell Meltdown."

The SciAm blog reflects on what's been happening in "Stem Cell Meltdown."