In debate over the mythical "conscience clause" that supposedly allows pharmacists not to do their job and impose their moral obligations on their customers, people have said things to the effect of "What if they decided it was unethical to treat black men? Or gays? Or Jews?"

And we inch up that slippery slope:

A small-town police chief was accused in a federal lawsuit Thursday of stopping a would-be rescuer from performing CPR on a gay heart attack victim because he assumed the ailing man had HIV and posed a health risk.

...

The lawsuit accuses [Police Chief Bobby] Bowman of pulling off Green's friend Billy Snead as Snead was performing chest compressions on the man. Snead was a passenger in Green's pickup when Green collapsed; Snead had managed to pull over the vehicle.

Snead said in an interview that he didn't realize at first it was Bowman giving the order and continued working on his friend. Bowman repeated his command to get away, saying that Green was HIV positive, then grabbed Snead by the shoulders and told him to sit on the curb, Snead said.

"He was a police officer so I got out the way. I assumed he would help. I didn't want to be a hindrance," Snead said. "He also told the ambulance drivers that he was HIV positive and to be careful."

Mr. Bowman is, of course, denying any such thing.
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The spider Kama Sutra.

Cause male spiders need love too.

But they gotta pay.

With their lives.
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You can't force a cat to do anything it doesn't want.

But it's amazing how many cats want to be stars:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Russian clown Yuri Kuklachev has a troupe of cats who do handstands, crawl along high wires and balance on balls and he says the secret to training them is realizing that you can't force cats to do anything.

"The Moscow Cats Theater" came to New York in September and did so well at a small theater in the Tribeca neighborhood that it recently moved uptown to a bigger venue near Times Square, where it is close to Broadway giants such as "The Lion King," although not the musical "Cats," which closed in 2000.

Kuklachev started working with cats more than 30 years ago after adopting a stray kitten he named Koutchka. He now has 120 cats in Moscow and has brought 26 of them to New York.

"If the cat likes to sit you can't force her to do anything else," he said, adding that several of the cats in the New York show simply sit and watch the others.

"Each cat likes to do her own trick," said Kuklachev, whose show has not been the target of animal rights protesters. "Maruska is the only one who does the handstand. I find the cat and see what they like to do and use that in the show."

Kuklachev's cats apparently like to be swung precariously around his head balanced on hoops, to be shut up in a cooking pot and to walk on their hind legs pushing a child's stroller.

"I have a cat now that loves to be in the water," he said.

Kuklachev said the breed of cat made no difference to their abilities, although Persians tended to be lazy. He adopts cats from shelters and trains the offspring of the cats he has.

BOOK IN THE WORKS

Sharing his secrets over caviar and blintzes in Brighton Beach, a New York neighborhood known as Little Russia, Kuklachev said he plans to write a book about how to train cats since so many people are asking him.

Kuklachev, 56, said his cat-training method also can be applied to children.

"Parents need to watch their children to see what he or she likes to do and encourage this," he said, adding that it worked for his three children.

One child joined Kuklachev at the cat theater, one is a dancer and one is a painter who paints cats.

"If you do the same thing with your child as you do with your cat, he may not become a genius but he'll do whatever he enjoys doing," Kuklachev said.

He has had about 300 cats in his life and says every one had a different personality. Only one did not want to go on stage because she was already an adult when he got her.

Kuklachev says the show, which also includes his wife Yelena, is a hit because people everywhere love their pets. He chuckles as he recalls a friend who bought a hamster for $10 and spent $300 on surgery when it got sick.

"You're a better person when you love animals," he said.

The website is here, with many more pictures.
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From Tuesday's Colbert Report, a conversation between Stephen and director of debate at Liberty University, Brett O'Donnell:

Stephen: What do you think of the debate between Job and God? Don't you think that was kind of one-sided? I mean, Job said essentially, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" and God said "'Cause I say so."
Brett: Pretty much, yeah.
Stephen: Where would you have put the points there? I mean, that's not much of a cross-examination.
Brett: God always wins the debates.
Stephen: That's the problem. You cannot go toe-to-toe with the man on anything at all. Who laid the cornerstone of the universe? Not you, Colbert.

Somebody's not been reading his Talmud....
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MSDDO

Or Microsoft Dance Dance Office:

Ever feel like you're not making good enough use of your feet when you're catching up on your e-mail or sorting through all those digital pictures you took on that last vacation?

Computer scientists in Microsoft 's research division have developed a colour-coded "dance pad" with buttons you can tap with your feet - or jump on - to scroll through electronic files.

It may never make it to store shelves, but then again, Microsoft spends billions every year researching far-out technologies without worrying about whether every gizmo will sell.

This week the software giant held its annual internal trade show where hundreds of researchers were showing off their work. The "Step User Interface" technology was one of the concepts available for a sneak peek.

"This is just one off-the-shelf piece of hardware we can use," A.J. Brush, the lead researcher on the project, said after demonstrating the technology. "Now we're looking at broadening, thinking about accelerometers or other things you could strap onto your feet so you really could be just sitting at your desk and kicking your email away under the desk."

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Pentagon dismisses poll that says US troops want out of Iraq:

The Pentagon dismissed a poll's finding that 72 percent of US troops deployed in Iraq believe the United States should pull out of the country within a year or less.

"It shouldn't surprise anybody that a deployed soldier would rather be at home than deployed, even when they believe what they are doing is important and vital work," said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman.

One: way to support the troops.

Two: you know what "important and vital work" they think they're doing?

Remarkably, the two justifications most frequently mentioned by the troops were those that were discredited after the invasion. Forty-one percent said stopping "Saddam from protecting al Qaeda in Iraq" was the "main reason," while another 36 percent said it was a "major reason." At the same time, 35 percent said "retaliat(ing) for Saddam's role in the 9/11 attacks" was the "main reason", and 50 percent called it a "major reason."

So very vital to destroy a country over hallucinations.
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I'm not really clear on the issues at play here--does "freedom of religion" really mean "we can discriminate against people our god tells us to hate?
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A conundrum!

Why is it okay to eat Jesus but not eat people?
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Pepsiman desu yo!

I think this one is probably my favorite.

Oh, and apparently, all parts of Pepsiman are made of smelling material.
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Y'know that canard about homophobes just being closeted homosexuals?

It may be true after all.
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