Here’s more on the incident in Georgia in which a judge held a Muslim woman in contempt for wanting to wear her headscarf in the courtroom.

Here’s one from the Georgia homefront.  A judge in Douglasville, GA put a woman in jail for trying to enter the courthouse wearing her hijab, or Muslim headscarf.  The judge cited a rule about no headcoverings.  This same judge previously had another woman removed from court for not removing her hijab.

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Congratulations to President-Elect Barack Obama!  The possible ramifications of an Obama presidency will be shaking out for weeks and months to come, but freethinkers are particularly interested in the effect it will have on separation of church and state, the integrity of government-funded science, gay rights, women’s rights, etc.  We’ll also take a look at various election results from across the country. 

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 Podcast #33 - Election 2008: Download (2030)

I can’t remember now where I first saw this, but this has been mentioned on other popular blogs.  It’s a Solar System Quilt made in 1876 by Iowan Ellen Harding Baker.  I have to add this to my list of Coolest Things I’ve Ever Seen (okay, I don’t really have such a list but maybe I should start one).

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Check out this documentary film from director Markie Hancock, which details her struggle to leave evangelical Christianity behind.  Let me know what you think about it.

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Writer/activist Ayaan Hirshi Ali made a rare public appearance to accept the 2008 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for her biography Infidel.  Ali, who has been deeply critical of Islam, especially its treatment of women, is under threat of death by her former co-religionists and has lived in seclusion for the last few years, only going out in public with armed guards.

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One of my favorite dead TV shows is Joss Whedon’s Firefly, which was criminally cut short halfway through its first season.  It got some justice with the well-received feature film Serenity, but there’s little hope we’ll see more adventures of Cap’n Mal and his cohorts.

Why am I telling you this?  Because the legions of Firefly fans (who call themselves “Browncoats” and organize themselves into “Brigades”) are gettin’ their geek on for a good cause.  Theatres around the world are sponsoring special screenings of Serenity, and the proceeds go to Joss (creator of Firefly and Buffy the Vampire Slayer)  Whedon’s favorite cause: Equality Now, an organization that “works to end violence and discrimination against women and girls around the world through the mobilization of public pressure.”

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First up, what does the selection of Sarah Palin for the Republican presidential ticket mean for the cause of secular government in America? (Spoiler Alert: It won’t be good.)

Next, we offer a wrap-up of the extremely successful Skeptics Track at this year’s Dragon*Con.  If you were in attendance, send an email to dragoncon@dragoncon.org and let them know what a fantastic job Track Director Derek Colanduno did.

Plus: A special, super-secret guest panelist joins us for the first (and hopefully not the last) time!

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 Podcast #26 - Sarah Palin: Download (2063)

Point #1: When abstinence-only education fails, what’s Plan B?  Oh yeah, there’s no Plan B.

I have no idea what to make of the rumors floating around that Palin’s fifth child is actually her grandchild.  Whether or not it’s true is largely immaterial to me; it’s a family matter.  Nonetheless, if it turns out it is true and if it turns out the Palins concealed this truth from McCain’s vetting committee…

More problematic is the new revelation that Palin’s 17-year-old daughter is pregnant and that she plans to marry the boyfriend who is the father.  Again, this would normally be a family matter I would care nothing about, but… this is a governor who advocates abstinence only sex education in public schools.  (more…)

Everybody in the West knows by now that Muslims get a bit tetchy when it comes to the Prophet Muhammed.  You can’t draw him, you can’t insult him…you’re even putting your neck out by publishing anything critical of him.  Danish cartoons, anyone?  And while he didn’t directly insult the Prophet, Salman Rushdie spent years in hiding over his novel The Satanic Verses, which included material considered controversial by Islamic fundamentalists.  It’s not surprising that polite society treads lightly when it comes to insecure primitives who threaten - and commit - murder against those who break their irrational taboos.

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