Today's Cultural Warfare Update

Creationism-as-mythology course religion instructor attacked, beaten;

salon.com article on the so-called "war on Christmas," and how it's being used by fundamentalists to whip up religious hatred and paranoia;

President Bush attacked as apparent part of the so-called "war on Christmas";

Several fundamentalist evangelical megachurches can't be bothered to host Christmas services on a Sunday;

Focus on the Family: A school play writing new lyrics to "Silent Night" is UNCONSTITUTIONAL because it "mocks Christian Christmas songs"; they've got lawyers on standby to sue if the school doesn't perform the original lyrics; includes ACTION ITEM to write and phone the school;

FotF reports on success of pressure tactics against retailers saying "Happy Holidays", which they have previously labeled "anti-Christian";

Lawsuit against Ohio's unspecified anti-RU486 law in court;

Wisconsin Senate approves anti-marriage Constitutional amendment;

Anti-marriage signature collectors claim they have 3x the number of signatures needed for their anti-marriage Constitutional amendment in Massachusetts; no mention is made of the documented signature fraud;

Focus on the Family on Michael Schiavo's new PAC, formed in response to brutal fundamentalist abuse of him and his late wife's medical situation;

FotF launches attack ads against Colorado senator Salazar for not supporting Alito for SC; includes action item;

Fox News poll finds 59% of Americans buying into "Christianity is under attack" meme;

Concerned Women for America poo-poohs Alito memo showing strategy for repealing Roe v. Wade;

Social conservatives upset with Bill Frist over lack of progress on their issues in 2005;

Family Research Council ACTION ALERT on anti-marriage initiative in Florida;

AFA, Agape Press: Donor Network of Arizona was right to reject organ donations from gay man solely because the donor was gay (and yes, of course, HIV-negative);

Focus on the Family highlight African-American pastors opposed to gay rights;

Fundamentalist "Canada Family Action Coalition" is "delighted" that Tory Stephen Harper plans a new vote on marriage rights if he becomes PM, hope to turn it into the major issue of the campaign;

Agape Press, WorldNetDaily attack White House's "Happy Holiday Season" cards; same column reports that Ford is saying that the ad withdrawal was purely a business matter and that Ford would NOT be dropping all advertisements in GBLT-friendly publications.

( Articles, press releases, excerpts )

more nattering about oil and money

Oil won't run out any time soon. True. This is being reported as a refutation of any ideas about the peak production of crude oil. However, if you look a little more closely at their numbers, you find a few key things:

1. Their numbers indicate that conventional crude production is apparently going to drop substantially - down to 80.6mbl/day, in a period of continually-rising demand.
2. Non-conventional petrochemical sources (read: mostly not actually crude oil) that can be converted to oil and oil-similar replacements will be used to make up all of the losses and add to gains. These are more expensive. However, they still think price will drop significantly, to $35/barrel or less, within a few years. I would love to see some of their numbers on this.
3. They assert directly that proven reserve statements are too conservative and should be taken as substantially larger. In particular, OPEC output growth will make up the overwhelming majority of the increase in oil supply.

I wish the details of their analysis that lead to their summary testimony before Congress today was available on their web site. I would like very much to know some of those details, particularly since there seems to be almost an all out suggestion offensive that oil will get much cheaper soon.

(Mind you, give a big enough recession, and it damned well will! But I don't think that's the way anybody wants to go about achieving that.)

In other news, crude inventories actually climbed a bit, against expectations; about the amount you'd expect if EU ships were still getting here with crude and processed inventories. That's good; we should get through the winter this way without any steep climbs. (I still don't have the kind of timetable I'd like on those EU shipments getting through the system; I wish I did. If we see the beginning of a series of sustained inventory drops, I think that'll be the clue.)

Also, this is interesting, if they go through with it. Venezuela and Russia are also reportedly interested, but aren't taking substantive steps that I know about - tho' Russia is apparently about to go on a Eurobond buying spree.

In mostly-unrelated news, Bloomberg is calling the real estate bubble over, as of yesterday. So are about a zillion other publications. I have no idea whether they're right; I'd have thought the bottom should have dropped out already.

And here's today's leaf:

November Revolution

Cultural Warfare Special Update: It's the Jews

Well, at least one segment is just coming out and saying it, just like Henry Ford did back in the 1920s: the War on Christmas is a plot of the Jews. And the ACLU, of course. But, says the article, the ACLU is run by Jews. So there you are. Personally, I'm almost kind of relieved that it's not me for a change. Go fig!

Some of this has been close to the surface in other bits and pieces floating around the net and cable - and yeah, I could pull out some real ugly juicy bits, but those are freaks and I don't play that game, I mean close to the surface in places I normally monitor. But this is certainly the first time I've seen anybody come right out and say it. Basically, they found a Jewish writer who doesn't like Jews in America very much, so he's got "in-group immunity," kind of like Ann Coulter, a woman who, as far as I can tell, really hates women, has "in-group immunity" as well.

Anyway, here's the start of the article; the URL points you to the rest.

( The Jewish Grinch who stole Christmas )