Negligible Knowledge Base

Give whatever name to it you want: “abstinence vows” or “viginity pledges” or “virginity contracts”, it just doesn’t matter. And you goddamned well know that the latest label, “purity rings”, makes no difference either.
Teen abstinence programs don’t work.
When it comes to pledges of abstinence “no pledge” is every bit as effective as “any pledge” or [...]

Hello everybody, and welcome to this very special program. I’m Paul Gates. If you grew up in the Baton Rouge area anytime from 1955 to 1990, you probably–well, you almost certainly watched two local children’s television shows starring Buckskin Bill Black. Every weekday for almost 35 years, thousands and thousands of girls and boys within [...]

Like being penalized–for not “being married”–by the very systems and institutions of the very society that denies them the right to marry, no less!  That’s double-sided prejudice, people.
Associated Press, Tennessee: Divorced mother appeals night ban on partner:
ACLU spokesman Paul Cates said the clause primarily affects lesbians and gays with children because same-sex civil unions are [...]

I get so fucking furious every time some freedom-bashing pinhead tries to make the argument that if the rest of us don’t abandon our freedoms and conform ourselves to the pinhead’s personal belief system, then we are trampling or endangering or disrespecting the pinhead’s “religious freedom”. This time it’s the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops:
BALTIMORE — [...]

Michelle Obama in an article in the TimesOnline, My No. 1 job as First Lady is to be First Mom:
A few weeks ago at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, I shared with the nation some of the many reasons why I believed my husband would be an extraordinary president. It was the biggest speech [...]

The website of the Office of the President-Elect is online.
It really does kind of feel like a metaphorical “torch” is being passed, if you’ll excuse me for referencing the Inaugural Address of John Kennedy. What I mean is, Barack Obama will be the first President of the United States that is less than two decades [...]

The forthcoming Disney-Pixar movie UP has had it’s release date bumped up from June 12, 2009 to May 29, 2009. Hey — two weeks is two weeks!
They also have a proper site for the movie now UP : The Official Website. This site is, at this point, little more than a teaser for [...]

I was just browsing around the website of the National Center for Science Education, as I do from time to time, and came across their 10 Tips for Writing Letters to the Editor on the Resources page. It’s full of practical, well-reasoned tips for being more effective and increasing your chances of getting your letter [...]

Another insightful post in vjack’s excellent series on atheist activism, over at Atheist Revolution.
On a personal note, this is exactly why I never patronize Chik-fil-A. I tried to go to Chik-fil-A once on a Sunday after church and AH-HAH! — Oh OK, just making sure you were paying attention…
But seriously, I know [...]

I’ve been out of town for almost two weeks, returning home only a couple days ago.  My mother, who has been in deteriorating health since taking a fall in February, wound up in the hospital a couple weekends ago, and the initial report from the emergency room doctor was very, very bleak: catastrophic stroke with [...]