Satan's nightmare

Many years ago, I read an odd little fantasy story which has stuck in my mind ever since. I can't remember the author or the title or where I read it, but the basic theme was unforgettable.

The story was about Satan. Satan, of course, according to Christian mythology, has resided in Hell ever since his unsuccessful attempt to overthrow and replace God as ruler of the universe.

In the story, Satan went to sleep one ordinary night in Hell, and he had a dream.

In Satan's dream, the great battle in Heaven went the other way. He succeeded in overthrowing God, and in seizing the throne of omnipotence. He became the absolute ruler of the universe, taking God's place.

And in his dream, he saw his subsequent reign unfold.

He saw himself, not God, creating the Earth and mankind. He -- Satan -- not God, created man as an utterly innocent creature, without knowledge of good and evil, and then planted the Tree of Knowledge in the midst of the Garden of Eden, and commanded man not to eat of it, presenting the newly-made innocent creature with a temptation far beyond its power to resist.

Satan saw himself, not God, casting man out of the Garden of Eden as punishment, condemning him to mortality and suffering and toil for the sin he himself had made man scarcely able to avoid.

Satan saw himself, not God, raging insanely at the cruelties and sins of the race whom he himself had made unable to do any better, finally sending a vast flood to drown the whole Earth, slaughtering the guilty and innocent alike, even children and babies, even the bewildered and terrified animals who knew nothing of the concept of sin.

Satan saw himself, not God, testing the faith and devotion of Job with torments that the vilest monster who ever lived would scarcely visit upon a dog; he saw himself, not God, similarly test Abraham's faith by commanding him to sacrifice his own son.

He saw himself, not God, send his own son to Earth to preach and then be killed by excruciating torture in a bizarre and convoluted scheme to offer redemption, via this revolting sacrifice, to those human individuals who managed to believe in its power; when of course he, Satan, as omnipotent ruler of the universe, could easily have granted salvation to as many humans as he felt deserved it, by a simple act of choice.

Awakening at last from this hideous nightmare of unrelenting cruelty, Satan understood its meaning immediately. If he had indeed won that battle in Heaven, he thought to himself, then the absolute power he would have gained would have ruined him. He would have become just as evil and sadistic and corrupt as God, and would have perpetrated all the same horrors and insanities.

No, Satan thought to himself, it is better to have been defeated than to have become like that. And so, despite his situation, he achieved a certain contentment.

I would be curious to know whether anyone else has read the same story and recognizes it.

Atheism at last!

I like this little music video about religion (in French with English subtitles, though the latter are rather hard to read in places). Fans of the Pope, and of appeasing Islamic imperialism, probably won't much care for it. It's gentle in tone but very true.

Oh, and watch this too.

Link roundup for 23 May 2008

Jabberwock has a new Chick dissection up, on evolution.

At last -- a high-tech device which accurately forecasts the weather.

Is this where the Christian Right would ultimately take us? Here's an earlier example of religion vs. sex.

Be kind.

William Shatner recalls his meeting with Koko the gorilla.

What is the right punishment for a lie that kills? (Sent by Ranch Chimp.)

Examples of the disgusting misogyny of the anti-Hillary campaign, here and here -- just imagine the justified outrage if Obama had been subjected to a similar outpouring of racism. Some Obama supporters also think this is funny. And I've seen no sign that this has produced any improvement.

Here's a warning for the general election. Bashed-and-insulted Clinton supporters show little interest in supporting Obama as the nominee. This blogger expresses a view that seems widely held.

Clinton keeps making her case. Read this too.

Latest electoral-vote projections: Clinton 315, McCain 206 -- but Obama 242, McCain 272.

More on the likely Republican implosion in the House and Senate.

A letter reveals Einstein's real views on religion (sent by Blurber).

Horror erupts in Kenya and South Africa.

Will we "just get sick of it all and walk away"?

The pro-illegal-immigration crowd is trying to stop construction of the border fence.

Link roundup for 13 May 2008

Charles Babbage's "difference engine", a complex mechanical computer designed in the mid-19th century, has finally been built.

The creationist/ID propaganda film Expelled despicably misrepresents Darwin.

A Florida teacher has been accused of wizardry.

Here's an interesting photo and quote from the annals of church-state relations.

The Burmese regime's thugs are stealing cyclone aid and selling it.

John Evo sends this Huffington Post article about why we should be optimistic about Obama's chances against McCain. I think it ignores some of the major issues I've already discussed on this site, but check it out for yourself. I think the biggest danger to MCain is a third-candidate spoiler from the right.

Here's another argument that Clinton would be the stronger Democratic nominee. 64% of Democrats want her to stay in the race. Plugging the latest polls into the all-important Electoral College, the gap looks bigger than a week ago -- Clinton still easily beats McCain, but McCain now easily beats Obama.

Signs point to a Republican collapse in Congress this November, regardless of who wins the Presidency. Bush's approval rating is lower than ever.

Measles is making a comeback in the US -- almost entirely in children who did not receive routine vaccinations against it. In California, a school opposed to vaccination has suffered a whooping-cough outbreak. Britain has similar problems and is contemplating a crackdown.

The Methuselah Foundation has raised $7 million for anti-aging research.

Chell has a posting up on transhumanism.

Here's an unusual MSM nod to the potential of technology to enhance human memory.

Link roundup for 4 May 2008

Sadly No dissects Jonah Goldberg's whitewash of the Tuskegee syphilis atrocity.

Mall-Wart is still stonewalling on the Debbie Shank case (for background, see here and here).

PhillyChief looks at Florida's plan for Christian license plates, and suggests a few of his own.

Republican politician Tony Zirkle might have been wiser to skip this birthday event. British far-right politician Nick Eriksen might have been equally wise to keep his mouth shut.

Democratic superdelegates drift toward Obama even as polls show that voters are moving toward Clinton. Will the pro-Obama party establishment thwart the people's choice? Meanwhile, the North Carolina race is tightening. Keith Olbermann makes a disturbing comment. And I love this cartoon.

Taylor Marsh explains how the Democrats developed their bizarre nomination process.

Do demographic and social changes spell doom for the Republican party?

Heather Mac Donald looks at the cultural forces that undermine the educational prospects of black American children.

Our ongoing crackdown is reducing illegal immigration -- and putting the squeeze on those already here.

Visitors from Britain, with its strict gun laws and pervasive violent crime, are "shocked to the core" by the peacefulness and safety of gun-saturated America.

Daring bloggers defy one of the world's most repressive regimes.

Here's a discussion on religion, atheism, and intolerance.

Some evangelical Christians have produced a manifesto criticizing the entanglement of religion and politics.

In Britain, the "dominant opinion" is that religion is evil.

Sam Harris discusses why non-religious Westerners have trouble understanding the true threat posed by Islam.

Bruce Bawer looks at the West's cultural cowardice.

Muslims in India have adopted the practice of dropping babies from great heights for "health" reasons (found via Ordinary Girl).

It's not only Abrahamic religions that promote and justify evil.

Some once-vanquished epidemic diseases are making a comeback in the United States because of ignorant hostility to vaccination. Here's a reminder of what the pre-vaccination world was like.

A Christian biology student offers some proofs of the truth of evolution.

A new film reveals the surprising intelligence of our cousin species. Read this too (found via Mendip).

Here's evidence of real progress toward limb regeneration. And gene therapy is showing promise against blindness.

This self-reassembling robot seems to me to blur the boundaries between the living and the non-living -- its "behavior" appears comparable in sophistication to that of simple, purely instinct-driven animals such as insects (found via Mendip).

George Dvorsky looks at male contraception and gender power relations.

The Electric Pulse scores a short interview with Aubrey de Grey (found via Fight Aging).

Here's another small step toward a working nano-assembler.

Holy shit!

This posting and its comments thread raise an interesting theological question which has never occurred to me before.

According to Catholic doctrine, during Mass, the consecrated wafer and wine are "transubstantiated" into the actual flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, which are consumed by the worshipers. The question is, what happens then?

In the first place, since you are what you eat, doesn't that mean that all practicing Catholics are partially composed of divine substance, in the same proportion as the ratio of consecrated wafers to everything else they eat?

Even more disturbing, the molecules making up the wafer and wine, having played their roles in the body's chemical reactions, are eventually passed back into the lower digestive tract and excreted. Remember, this is material which the Church's doctrine claims is actually, literally the physical substance of a deity. As one of the commenters at the linked post points out, consecrated communion wafers are holy objects requiring special handling. So what is the theological status of feces and urine containing the same substance? Are the sewer systems in Catholic countries suffused with a faint radiance of the Divine?

I wonder if the Church's theologians have ever considered this problem.

Link roundup for 24 April 2008

The new logo of the British Office of Government Commerce is a little unfortunate (link sent by CP of Portland). And don't forget the immortal logo of the Brazilian Institute for Oriental Studies (scroll down a bit -- it's supposed to be the Sun with an Asian building in front).

The creationist/ID propaganda movie Expelled is turkeying out at the box office.

Read this primer on hiring women employees.

This guy seems to be getting himself pretty worked up.

Here's the world's oldest known tree -- twice the age of the Great Pyramid (link sent by Masterblurber).

An Australian gives his impressions of England.

I bet this kind of thing happens more often than we realize. Give people the benefit of the doubt!

Hot Lard presents the parable of the bird feeder.

After Pennsylvania, Hillary Clinton's case for the nomination hinges on electability. Her strengthening position deepens the superdelegates' dilemma. Jed Babbin says that Obama can't beat McCain; here's an argument that it's time for him to drop out. I'm seeing rising support for the Gore option. Clinton and (to some extent) Obama are moving toward realism on the Middle East.

Britain is allowing cancer patients who are dying anyway to try new treatments even if they're not yet fully approved -- what have they got to lose, after all?

I'm impressed with this guide for distinguishing pseudoscience from real science (found via Handmaiden).

Here's more on why scientists increasingly think that intelligent life is very rare in the universe (I still believe we are probably the universe's first and therefore only intelligent species).

The US military is joining the battle to give humans the ability to regrow lost body parts (found via Sentient Developments).

Artificial eyes are being implanted in blind patients in Britain.

The illogic of prayer

I've never understood the logic of praying to an omniscient deity.

Prayer is basically a request to God, asking him to do, or allow, something you want. Most Christians seem to do this on a fairly routine basis. God, please heal my child. God, please let me get that promotion. God, please make this lottery ticket a winner.

But why bother? If God is omniscient, he already knows what you want, and how much you want it, and whether or not you deserve to get it. The fact that you asked him for it adds exactly nothing to the set of data he will presumably use in deciding whether to give it to you or not.

So what's the point?

Video break

Because we can all use a laugh.....

Handmaiden presents the perfect sequel to the creationist/ID propaganda movie Expelled.

Vamp's World has an alert about another pedophile cult leader, a chat with Richard Dawkins, and some preachers making more sensible noises than usual.

The Bible, 123'd

After I posted this, Mary Ellen added a comment:

I did this one already and it was fun. It's a good thing I didn't have my Bible right next to me, I might have accidentally evangelized someone. Yikes!

This made me curious to see what the result would be if someone actually did this. In my copy of the Bible (KJV), page 123 falls within the Book of Numbers. Figuring what constitutes a single sentence as best I can in the face of the book's unconventional usage of punctuation, for the three sentences following the fifth sentence, I get this:

"Thus did your fathers, when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land. For when they went up unto the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, that they should not go into the land which the Lord had given them. And the Lord's anger was kindled the same time, and he sware, saying, Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me: Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, and Joshua the son of Nun: for they have wholly followed the Lord."

So there you have it.

Link roundup for 15 April 2008

Mendip has a couple of good links on Werner von Braun. See also this about Switzerland.

Also found via Mendip: online advertising as Rube Goldberg might have designed it.

Jabberwock has posted another great Chick tract dissection.

Hot Lard posts a passel of Wal-Mart posters (if you don't get the references to the disabled woman's case, read this and this).

The media's interest in this story shows that they don't grasp the concept of coincidence.

A small British village achieves food self-sufficiency.

American-made Skyy vodka responds to the Absolut ad I linked earlier. Here's another reaction.

Los Angeles citizens take a stand against the city's lenient policy on illegal-alien crime.

Republicans now see Obama as easy prey in the general election. Aside from Wright, "Bittergate" will resonate in the swing states. Democratic superdelegates have good reason to wait and watch.

Samizdata ruminates on the significance of Muslims leaving Islam.

He Who Zings Rats is visiting our country this week -- and plans to pray for Muslim terrorists at Groud Zero.

Check out these FBI hate-crime statistics. Contrary to what some might expect, anti-Muslim crimes are still much rarer than anti-Semitic ones.

Outrageous religious bigotry erupts in the Illinois legislature (found via Masterblurber, and don't forget this).

An Olympic torchbearer manages to protest for Tibet.

Here's a report on the FLDS polygamist compound recently raided by Texas officials.

Fight Aging looks at current research on mitochondrial DNA and the aging process.

Even today's crude nanotechnology is showing promise in the repair of spinal-cord injuries and in high-resolution medical scanning.

Here's a form of healthy exercise that shouldn't be too difficult to stick with regularly.

Link roundup for 4 April 2008

Scientists are trying to develop self-catching fish.

This is perhaps taking "What would Jesus do?" a little too far. More commentary here.

Air travelers already suffer from boredom, arbitrary security rules, and Republican-infested restrooms.....and now there's this.

Remember this outrageous story? Well, Mall-Wart has backed down in the face of the public outcry.

Cuba is now lifting its ban on household appliances (found via Masterblurber).

Germany intends to join the pro-Tibetan boycott of the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony. Note that Poland and the Czech Republic, which have some recent experience with tyranny, are already on board. Anne Applebaum makes the case for a boycott; here's a look at what's happening to Tibet.

British atheist Danny Carr is trying to get de-baptised (found via Vamp's World).

A Pittsburgh newspaperman reassesses Hillary Clinton. Her voters may bolt if Obama is nominated. The Boston Globe suggests a way out (see here too), while the Gore option is gaining attention. The high Democratic turnout is promising, but we need to catch the wave of populism. Ultimately the superdelegates must choose the most electable candidate.

If you decide to take up vodka, don't drink Absolut (Update: here's a list of other products of the same parent company).

Der Spiegel denounces European cowardice. Andre Glucksmann and Bernard-Henri Lévy call for a stand against the new fascism.

Were the Flores hominids victims of disease?

We're making impressive progress on cellular regeneration (found via Mendip).

Here's another small step toward Drexlerian nanotechnology.

George Dvorsky has tips on surviving long enough to benefit from the longevity revolution.

Book review -- The Bible Unearthed

The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts by Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman

Is the Old Testament history or legend? It's clear to anyone with a functioning brain that the story of creation in Genesis has no relationship to anything that ever actually happened, but once the story reaches the time of Abraham, most people -- even quite a few atheists -- tend to assume that they're reading something fairly close to actual history, even if inevitably somewhat skewed to reflect the viewpoint of the ancient Israelites who, after all, wrote the narrative.

Wrong.

I've known for a long time that the story of Exodus was a myth. The Egyptian records of the time don't mention the Israelites or anything remotely resembling any of the events in the story. The whole story of the Israelite captivity in Egypt and their dramatic escape simply never happened in reality. The Bible Unearthed looks at the rest of the Old Testament stories in the same light, comparing them with the known actual archaeological evidence and surviving records from the periods when the stories supposedly took place. In case after case, the record is clear: the "history" in the Old Testament bears little or no resemblance to what was actually happening during the periods it purports to describe. Instead, it appears to have been concocted in the sixth century BC as a heroic myth designed to bolster the interests of the kingdom of Judah and certain factions within it.

The Bible is full of anachronisms: camels are described as being in common use in periods long before the camel had actually been domesticated by humans, for example. Cities and states described as being large and important in the stories of Abraham and Moses either did not exist at those times or were insignificant -- though they were indeed large and important in the sixth century BC (by analogy, imagine a story set in the year 1500 in North America referring to Los Angeles as a huge city, or to the Cold War with the Soviet Union). Archaeological evidence from cities where the Old Testament describes tremendous battles and destruction show no sign of such events having happened. At the time when Jerusalem was supposed to have been the glorious capital of David and Solomon, it was in fact a sleepy little town.

The verdict of the evidence is clear. Abraham and Moses are pure myth. The invasion of Canaan, the battle of Jericho, the conquest and resettlement of the land -- none of it really happened (as best we can tell, the Israelites originated as a dissident group within Canaanite society and gradually became a distinct people -- they were not invaders from without). David and Solomon may have existed, but if so, they were chieftains of a tiny and backward collection of hill tribes, not the monarchs of a mighty empire. Only with the Omride dynasty does the Old Testament narrative begin to fall into line with real history -- we know King Ahab existed because he's mentioned in contemporary Assyrian records, for example.

Perhaps most interestingly of all, the dominant theme of the Old Testament -- that the Israelites started off as monotheists but had to be repeatedly punished by God for backsliding into paganism -- probably isn't true either. There's evidence of typically Canaanite pagan worship at Israelite rural sites throughout "Biblical" times. The Bible stories were apparently written to strengthen the hand of the monotheistic camp in sixth-century Judah; there's no way of knowing how old the monotheist tendency among the Israelites really was, or how dominant it was in the centuries before the stories were written.

In hindsight, none of this should be considered surprising. Most primitive peoples have myths about their origins and ancient heroes, and no anthropologist would ever mistake such myths for literal history, though in most cases they probably do incorporate a few vague and distorted memories of actual events. It's just a historical accident that one such tribal myth got incorporated into a set of texts which, centuries later, was declared by powerful religious leaders to be the infallible word of God.

Thanks to Handmaiden for bringing this book to my attention.

Quote for the day

"Now, by way of which vent or orifice is this venom creeping back into our national bloodstream? Where is hatred and tribalism and ignorance most commonly incubated, and from which platform is it most commonly yelled? If you answered 'the churches' and 'the pulpits,' you got both answers right. The Ku Klux Klan (originally a Protestant identity movement, as many people prefer to forget) and the Nation of Islam (a black sectarian mutation of Quranic teaching) may be weak these days, but bigotry of all sorts is freely available, and openly inculcated into children, by any otherwise unemployable dirtbag who can perform the easy feat of putting Reverend in front of his name. And this clerical vileness has now reached the point of disfiguring the campaigns of both leading candidates for our presidency. If you think Jeremiah Wright is gruesome, wait until you get a load of the next Chicago 'Reverend,' one James Meeks, another South Side horror show with a special sideline in the baiting of homosexuals. He, too, has been an Obama supporter, and his church has been an occasional recipient of Obama's patronage. And perhaps he, too, can hope to be called 'controversial' for his use of the term house nigger to describe those he doesn't like and for his view that it was 'the Hollywood Jews' who brought us Brokeback Mountain. Meanwhile, the Republican nominee adorns himself with two further reverends: one named John Hagee, who thinks that the pope is the Antichrist, and another named Rod Parsley, who has declared that the United States has a mission to obliterate Islam. Is it conceivable that such repellent dolts would be allowed into public life if they were not in tax-free clerical garb? How true it is that religion poisons everything."

Christopher Hitchens

Link roundup for 23 March 2008

Some of Ron Paul's followers, apparently feeling that the earlier plan to take over Texas was too ambitious, are now trying to start their own separate Paulist communities, free from the rules of the oppressive unconstitutional US government and, apparently, of correct spelling as well.

Don't miss Phillychief's great re-interpretation of Easter.

Here's a roundup of depictions of Martian war machines (click on the pictures for bigger versions).

The Tibet crackdown has again revealed the ugly reality behind the myth of a modernizing China. Calls are now being heard for a boycott of the Olympic opening ceremony.

More assessments of the Obama-Wright issue, from Mickey Kaus, Michael Meyers, and the Wall Street Journal. The New York Times looks at the Donner Party Democrats.

Here's an impressive photo of an avalanche -- on Mars (found via Ordinary Girl).

Scientists have discovered giant sea life near Antarctica.

Link roundup for 12 March 2008

Hey Richard Dawkins, is this your teapot? More proof that the Islamists have no sense of humor. At least tea is good for you.

If one takes certain aspects of Christian doctrine seriously, the most fortunate "people" are miscarried fetuses.

Here's a look at the twentieth century -- from 1900.

The special election in Illinois holds ominous portents for the Republicans. Voter self-identification is shifting strongly toward the Democrats (found via Tennessee Guerrilla Women).

"In case you haven't noticed, we in Washington aren't functioning as we should be.....It's getting harder and harder to do the Lord's work in the City of Satan." Mike Huckabee? Alan Keyes? No, John McCain (link sent by Mendip). McCain also seems swayed by junk science, which is a Republican tradition (found via Open Left), and has won at least one scary endorsement. Here's a sober view of his dubious dealings.

Is Obama tough enough? Voters in key swing states don't seem to be enthralled (neither do the British).

Jay Cost looks at a case for Clinton; Marie Cocco looks at the math. Here are some telling quotes.

Some say our society is too litigous, but I don't think this is an improvement.

Self-esteem: the new snake oil.

Canadian essayist Salim Mansur speaks out on multiculturalism.

Life in Iran just gets worse and worse.

Does Hamas want a new hot war with Israel?

An Idaho science teacher finds a way to sneak "intelligent design" into the classroom. With such people "teaching" our children, are these so surprising?

The surprising longevity of birds may hold useful clues.

Genetic engineering creates a new weapon against HIV.

A very simple computer, made of just 17 molecules, has been used to control simple nano-machines -- another step toward the vision of Kurzweil and Drexler.

Here's Kurzweil on the prospects for solar power.

Link roundup for 28 February 2008

There's hope for that poor widower in Sudan (found via Mendip), and perhaps for Senator Wide Stance (the best part of this is comment #3).

McCain really is different from other Republicans.

Here's how Hillary Clinton tends to do a bit better than the polls predict, another example of the repulsive sexism which has characterized the campaign season, and a collection of quotes.

Here's a German view of Obama, and a serious look at "change" and his program. In fairness, I was impressed by this.

And here's what the delegate situation looks like.

Is the Christian Right re-inventing the dynastic principle?

The US may be more religious than other advanced nations, but Americans' religious loyalties are volatile.

A look at Christianity and the Nazis -- a subject apparently not well understood by France's President Sarkozy.

More gangster tombs, this time from Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine.

Don't forget about Iran.

Okinawa, Sardinia, and Loma Linda CA offer some interesting data on lifestyle and life expectancy.

Bees have some surprising capabilities (sent by Blurber).

Cryonics is moving forward (found via Mendip).

Ray Kurzweil speaks on near-future technological progress.

Random thoughts for the day

A few weeks ago a friend, noting how much Republican politicians on TV talk about "values", described the said politicians as "full of values". It was such an apt phrase that, by now, my reaction to almost all Republican rhetoric is to think "what a load of values" or even just "bullvalues!" And of course Huckabee is so godly he thinks his values don't stink.....

= = = = =

Men, women, Jews, Muslims, white people -- I wish I had a dollar for every group which I've seen described as "the last group it's still acceptable to be prejudiced against".

= = = = =

People think that western Europe has no equivalent of America's Christian Right -- a grim religious totalitarian movement seeking to impose its rigid, misogynistic, sex-phobic, homosexual-hating taboos on the entire society. They're wrong. Western Europe does indeed have an equivalent movement -- it's just that it's Islamic, not Christian.

= = = = =

After Archbishop Williams's blather of accepting some aspects of Shariah law in Britain, it was odd to see him being defended by people who would rightly be raising pluperfect hell if a similar suggestion were made about implementing aspects of Biblical law here.

Link roundup for 14 February 2008

Tengrain presents.....Rapture-Ready Republicans!

Will Jesus return? (Link sent by Mendip.)

Move over, Obama Girl.....Here's Huckabee Girl!

Iowahawk imagines how Chaucer might have portrayed Archbishop Williams. Here's a more serious view, and a look at actual practice in Malaysia.

The Danish media stand up for free expression again.

Sleestak has a curious posting about digital censorship.

John Evo looks at fundamentalists' un-American attitudes.

US drug laws are stupid. Dubai's are worse.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is heading for France.

Darwin, whose 199th birthday was this week, is commemorated by Skepchick, Blurber, and John Evo.

The practice of having sex face-to-face was once thought to be unique to humans, but was later found to be common among orangutans and bonobos -- and has now been observed among gorillas as well. So it is now known to occur among four of the five great-ape species (chimpanzees being the sole abstainers).

Glenn Reynolds looks at anti-aging research. Meanwhile, even now it's easier to live to be 100 than you might think.

Conservative pundit Victor Davis Hanson argues that Clinton would be a tougher opponent for McCain than Obama would be. Jay Cost and Tom Bevan debunk the spin that Obama has the race sewn up. Here's an assessment of the Florida-Michigan problem.

Meanwhile, the Republicans are still plagued by divisions of their own. And conservative essayist George Will takes a gloomy look at Republican corruption.

The Arizona employer-sanctions law has survived another legal challenge.

Personhood

I offer here two candidates for the status of person, with all the moral and legal implications which that status carries, including the affirmation that the physical destruction of this entity would constitute murder from a moral and legal standpoint. See if you can guess which of these two the mainstream Christian religion accepts as a person.

Candidate #1 is an irregular microscopic spheroid consisting of between 70 and 100 undifferentiated cells. This entity has no consciousness; it has no awareness or volition of any kind, not even in the sense that an insect does. It has no brain, no nervous system, no senses, no organs whatsoever; it has none of the capacity for purposeful activity that, say, bacteria and other single-celled organisms have. Barring extraordinary and unlikely intervention with advanced technology, it will never develop into anything other than what it now is.

Candidate #2 is a middle-aged female whose IQ is somewhat below yours and mine. She cannot read or write, but she understands a great deal of spoken English and can use a vocabulary of at least a thousand words of another language which is widely-known in the United States. She is active and self-aware and has a very distinct personality. She experiences the full range of feelings typical of human beings: affection, curiosity, anger, frustration, pride, joy, sympathy, sexual lust, and so on. She has friends. She makes jokes. She paints pictures. She wants to have children.

Ready for the answer?

Candidate #1 is a blastocyst generated as a surplus by-product of an in-vitro fertilization procedure, being kept in storage at the clinic where the procedure was done. There is no prospect of it ever being implanted into a human uterus and developing into an actual fetus, but the embryonic stem cells it contains could be of immense value to medical research.

Candidate #2 is Koko the gorilla.

To fundamentalist Christianity, the blastocyst is a person and the act of destroying it to harvest the stem cells it contains constitutes murder and should be forbidden by law -- because it has human DNA, just as do the cells you shed (far more than 100) every time you blow your nose or scratch your skin. Koko, an individual who thinks and feels and understands and "talks" (in American Sign Language) is essentially a thing, because she is a member of a species other than human -- though more than 97% of the gorilla genome is identical to the human genome, with less than 3% of it showing any differences.

I beg to differ.