Conservative Judaism’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS) of the Rabbinical Assembly has recently approved three responsa on the question of ordaining avowed homosexuals as rabbis and cantors. The way the CJLS works, any of the three positions is now considered valid within Conservative Judaism, and individual rabbis may choose which to follow.
Remember back on the playground, when you lost a favorite knickknack and later saw another kid playing with it? “Finders keepers, losers weepers!” the finder chanted, and that was the end of it, for how could you challenge such a time-honored saying? It is not surprising that children would resort to this defense, but how… Read More »
Apparently, BCBS MA’s foray into invading patients’ privacy, which I detailed here, wasn’t good enough. Now, they’re planning on sending invasive surveys to all mental health patients. The surveys are “voluntary,” of course, but if too many of any particular practitioner’s patients don’t respond, s/he may lose his/her annual increase in reimbursement rates, so practitioners… Read More »
In September, my Chase credit card offered me a deal — a good rate on a balance transfer with no transfer fee. I wasn’t using the card at the time, so its full credit limit was available to me for transferring balances, and I had a pretty big balance on my home equity line, so… Read More »
Seen in an article in today’s Herald about the fact that tail-gaters weren’t allowed to carry in their own liquor for the Harvard-Yale game (although people 21 and over were allowed to buy up to five beers): “Is this not the lamest tailgate?” Ellie Brophy, a 21-year-old Yale junior, complained to her friend. “You actually… Read More »
Seen in the Boston Herald Tuesday, November 14, 2006: Maine pair dies from CO2 poisoning SMITHFIELD, Maine — Two men working in a house died of carbon monoxide poisoning… Maybe it’s time to alert the Herald to the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide.
Seen in yesterday’s Boston Herald in a letter from Geoffrey Nathan, an attorney of an alleged child pornographer: “In purchasing kiddie porn, users abuse children who live in distant countries. Who really cares about incarcerating U.S. citizens for looking at pictures on their computers, when the pictures ware taken thousands of miles away? Are we… Read More »
Check out this site. This guy’s ex-girlfriend applied for various credit card accounts over the Web in his name while living with him for several years, grabbing the statements from the mail as they came in or signing up for paperless statements so he never found out about them, until she finally skipped town right… Read More »
I just sent this letter to Stewart Umholtz, the challenger to Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan in the upcoming election:
The Pope gives a speech in which he quotes a Byzantine emporer characterizing Muhammad’s teachings as “evil and inhuman” and referring to spreading Islam “by the sword.” Offended Muslims all over the world protest the Pope’s speech by burning the Pope in effigy; participating in violent riots; firebombing churches; wounding and killing people; calling for… Read More »