Jerry Falwell speaks... but why is anyone listening?

Just saw this AP story, Rev. Falwell Decries Stem Cell Research. Why the AP feels the need to give this crazy man an outlet is a mystery to me. This is the same guy who said feminists, gays and lesbians, and the ACLU were responsible for 9/11:

I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians...the A.C.L.U., People for the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America, I point the finger in their face and say, "You helped this happen."
—Falwell on The 700 Club about the 9/11 terrorist attacks

Pittsburgh: 'Amazing Adventure Town'

The September 2006 issue of National Geographic Adventure Magazine includes Pittsburgh in its list of 30 "best adventure towns to live and play in," ranking it at the top of the "urban adventurer list ahead of Las Vegas; Portland, Maine; Portland, Oregon; Spokane, Washington; and Washington, DC in that category.

The editors of National Geographic Adventure praised Pittsburgh for its beauty, cultural amenities, career opportunities, and recreational experiences, from the regions great hiking and biking trails to white water rafting on the Youghiogheny. As a contender in the urban adventurer category, they also liked Pittsburgh for its neighborhoods, calling the Strip District "Pittsburgh's answer to SoHo," low housing prices, and its large number of high-tech companies.

(via the Pittsburgh entry on About.com)

Evolution, shmevolution

We're Americans! We didn't evolve from ANIMALS!
































From Science (via the NYT, via 3quarksdaily)

Cost of birth control skyrockets

Is this happening in Pittsburgh, too?

Via Poynter Institute column Al's Morning Meeting, this article in the Charleston (W.V.) Gazette:

Clinics in West Virginia and across the country providing free birth control to low-income men and women face a possible drought of contraceptive pills and patches after the top supplier drastically raised prices [last] month.

Prices for birth control products from Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical Inc. to public health services leapt from a few pennies to more than $20 in some cases, meaning programs such as West Virginia Family Planning cannot buy the company's products anymore. ...

A 30-day supply of one type of pill that once cost a penny now costs $21.01, [West Virginia family planning program director Denise] Smith said. The Ortho Evra patch ran at $12.15, but now comes in at $22.46. About 4,800 low-income West Virginians got the patch last year, Smith said. ...

The national picture looks just as bleak from the perspective of perpetually under-funded public health-care agencies, said Marilyn Keefe, vice president for public policy at National Family Planning Reproductive Health Association, a family planning center advocacy group in Washington, D.C.

"This price increase comes at a terrible time in the life of the public health care system," she said. "It's a hope that the company will rethink its decision and reverse those price increases. ..."

The company followed federal Medicaid pricing formulas that change every financial quarter, the last being July 1, [Ortho-McNeil spokeswoman Julie] Keenan said. ...

Switching birth control pills is not like changing your favorite soda or taking a different route to work. Each pill releases different levels and types of hormones with different effects, Maddox said.

Casey: Too pure for Savage money

Melissa Meinzer reports in this week's Pittsburgh City Paper that Bob Casey has turned down a donation from Savage Love's Dan Savage.

Larry Smar, spokesperson for the Casey campaign, says that controversial and vulgar content in the column and on Savage's anti-Santorum Web site, www.spreadingsantorum.com, led to the decision to return the contribution.

Casey's $10 million behind Santorum in fundraising. He'll take money from more than 200 of the same corporate PACs as Santorum does, but not from Dan Savage? The man continues to amaze.

Savage's response was to send the money to Philadelphians Against Santorum. He says, "I’m going to have to swallow hard and support Bob Casey whether he wants me to or not." Then he ends with this gem:

But if I wanna keep sending money to mainstream politicians it looks like I’m going to have to form a political action committee (PAC) to fudge the source of the funds. Bob Casey may not take check from me, but maybe he’ll take one from my Fudge PAC.

Josh Hartnett as Bob O'Connor? Somehow, it works

This cracks me up. Maria of 2 Political Junkies used the celebrity lookalike software on myheritage.com to cast the film of the Thursday Morning Massacre in the mayor's office. I especially like Zach Braff as Bill Peduto and Missy Elliott as Tonya Payne.

Update: A thoughtful analysis of the purge from the Angry Drunk Bureaucrat.

Thursday Morning Massacre: The Movie
Starring:

Josh Hartnett as
Mayor Bob O'Connor
And:

Meatloaf as Dennis Regan	John Cage as George Specter	Harold Ramis as Scott Kunka
Julia Roberts as B.J. Leber	Patricia Arquette as Susan Malie	Albert Finney as Paul Leger

With:

Jean-Paul Belmondo as Jim Ferlo	Dick Skrinjar as himself	Colin Farrell as Yarone Zober
Sharon Stone as Marlene Cassidy	Adam Carolla as Father Terry O'Connor	David Letterman as John Delano
Tom Hanks as Doug Shields	David Hasselhoff as Jim Motznik	Dean Cain as Luke Ravenstahl

And:

Zach Braff as Bill Peduto	Missy Elliott as Tonya Payne	Beyonce Knowles as Twanda Carlisle
Jim Carrey as Len Bodak	Gael Garcia Bernal as Dan Deasy	Brad Pitt as Jeff Koch