Link roundup for 1 December 2007

A passel of fundie wackjobs have somehow decided that the I-35 freeway in the central United States is the "highway of holiness" mentioned in the book of Isaiah in the Bible -- and have launched a series of "purity sieges" to harass nearby porn shops, gay bars, and so forth. Found via Andrew Sullivan.

Dennis Hastert -- horror/porn movie prop?

Big Heathen Mike has a wrathful posting about the "Qatif girl" case. Found via Tales of an Ordinary Girl -- her blog and Mike's are both worthwhile sites specializing in Randi-style skeptical thinking.

I hate pranks. This one was worse than most.

Is renting your home a better investment decision than buying?

Ralph Peters explains why the latest round of Arab-Israeli talks won't get anywhere.

The Texas state director of school science curriculum has been forced out after resisting higher officials' efforts to introduce intelligent design (found via Mock Paper Scissors, here). On a lighter note, here's an ID cartoon, and another one which I linked to long ago but is worth revisiting.

The NOVA report on the Dover ID trial, which I discussed here, can now be viewed online here at Ironwolf, who also offers some "nerdcore" videos.

The greatest Muhammad cartoon ever (warning: gruesome) contains more truth about its subject than I could pack into a thousand-word essay. Here's its creator's website.

This posting, and particularly the comments thread, offers some alarming insights into Ron Paul's views on separation of church and state. (My own main Ron Paul posting is here.)

Are the Democrats the natural party for atheists? Note that this posting is written from a testy Republican viewpoint, but to me at least, that just makes it more fun.

Over a century ago, two thinkers reached different conclusions about the theory of evolution from the same facts. One of them grasped that human knowledge on an important point (in this case, the energy source of the Sun) was incomplete at the time, while the other did not. Even today, people often forget that the mere fact that we don't understand something doesn't legitimize a religious "explanation".

American and Japanese researchers report progress toward a treatment for macular degeneration. Note also this linked story about how cigarette smoke increases the risk of developing the disease -- including exposure of non-smokers to second-hand smoke.

I've already posted here about the huge barrage of "end of the stem-cell wars" ideological flatulence which greeted last month's cell-reprogramming breakthrough. Finally one major media outlet, Time magazine, talks some sense.