When can we stop pretending that Islam is a “religion of peace,” and publicly acknowledge it as a genuine threat to all civilization? Now, maybe?

Jimmy Carter is a hot topic lately, having apostatized from the SBC over their misogynist policies. Southern Baptists are naturally interested, but old Jimmy’s even got the attention of at least one Lutheran. And Dan wraps up my thoughts pretty well. I’ll just add one comment: So? He’s undeniably the worst former President in history, and now the former worst President in history (note the clever word-play there). Should we expect him to be a great theologian?

In another not-so-strange moment, on a program featuring the non-stop, simultaneous, incoherent babbling of five silly women, Whoopi Goldberg admits that conspiracy theories of the alleged moon landings do make her wonder. (HT: Fred, who offers this in Whoopi’s defense.)

I hate hearing the derisive expression, “That’s gay,” or the more emphatic “That is so gay.” The folks at ThinkB4YouSpeak.com agree. Well, actually, they don’t. When I ask, “When you say ‘That’s so gay,’ do you realize what you say?” — and I do ask, if I know the offending party sufficiently well — I mean, and say, Do you really think sodomy is involved here? Is that the picture you want to paint? Because, unless you mean “exuberantly happy,” that’s exactly what you’re saying. Would you like me to elaborate on what that means? No? Then ThinkB4YouSpeak, indeed. (HT: Frank)

Here is an echo of my thoughts on boycotts. The money quote:

It is easy, it is without cost, to refrain from drinking Pepsi and send them them emails explaining your moral outrage. Now, put your money where your mouth is. The United States of America collects taxes, some of which goes to funding legal partial-birth abortions. If you think the dyslexic sexuality (I wish I could remember who came up with that description) of gay people is bad, how much worse is infanticide? Quit paying your taxes and boycott a country that funds killing babies if you think boycotts are the way the Kingdom is grown. (I hear crickets chirping.) “But I have to pay taxes” you say. No you don’t. You will go to jail if you don’t. It will cost you and your family unlike switching from Pepsi to Coke and sending Pepsi a few emails. So, do your really think boycotts are the way to go out into the world with the Good News to the glory of the Triune God?

The citizens of the state of my birth had me shaking my head when they elected The Body governor in 1999. But when the land of 10,000 flakes elected Al Franken to the Senate, they confirmed once and for all what I already knew: Minnesota is no longer peopled primarily by level-headed, hard-working Scandinavians. Anyway, it terrifies me to think of Franken as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. But that’s not what I’m after here. I want to correct a misconception that came up in an exchange between Franken and Judge Sonia Sotomayor during the Sotomayor nomination rubber-stamping hearings: that the right to privacy is not in the Constitution. It is, in the same way that the Trinity is in the Bible. Check the Fourth Amendment.

Finally, here is something that is unconstitutional: in case you’re interested, here’s a list of who has gotten financial bailout (TARP) money so far.