'I want to rip Bill Clinton's eyes out. Kidding! See, that's what gets me into trouble'

...She is often called 'regal' but her bearing is less royal than military: brisk, often stone-faced (even when making jokes), mordant. Obama works out like 'a gladiator', a friend has said. When people - they're almost always shorter - ask her to pose for pictures, instead of bending her knees she leans at the waist. Her smile is doled out sparingly, a privilege to be earned, rather than an icebreaker or an entreaty...

In Wisconsin, I asked her if she was offended by Bill Clinton's use of the phrase 'fairytale' to describe her husband's characterisation of his position on the Iraq war. At first, Obama responded with a curt 'No'. But, after a few seconds, she affected a funny voice. 'I want to rip his eyes out!' she said, clawing at the air with her fingernails. One of her advisers gave her a nervous look. 'Kidding!' Obama said. 'See, this is what gets me into trouble.'

Yes, Michelle, despite efforts to mask what you and your husband think and who you really are, being honest and exposing the truth will indeed always get you in trouble. As it should.

Religion a figment of human imagination

Humans alone practice religion because they're the only creatures to have evolved imagination.

That's the argument of anthropologist Maurice Bloch of the London School of Economics. Bloch challenges the popular notion that religion evolved and spread because it promoted social bonding, as has been argued by some anthropologists.

Instead, he argues that first, we had to evolve the necessary brain architecture to imagine things and beings that don't physically exist, and the possibility that people somehow live on after they've died..."Religious-like phenomena in general are an inseparable part of a key adaptation unique to modern humans, and this is the capacity to imagine other worlds, an adaptation that I argue is the very foundation of the sociality of modern human society."

"Once we realise this omnipresence of the imaginary in the everyday, nothing special is left to explain concerning religion," he says..."As soon as you have theory of mind, you have the possibility of deceiving others, or being deceived," he says. This, in turn, generates a sense of fairness and unfairness, which could lead to moral codes and the possibility of an unseen "enforcer" - God – who can see and punish all wrong-doers.

Maynard's comment

It should be remembered that science cannot explain the phenomena of consciousness and free will, and that free will in fact provably cannot exist, in that it violates fundamental laws of causality and/or probability. Some scientists address this conundrum by suggesting that free will is merely an illusion. You can believe that if you (ahem!) so choose. The rest of us must acknowledge that there is a supernatural aspect to our existence.

These pompous academic dismissals are the words of educated imbeciles who are offended by the notion of any Authority higher than themselves. Arguments like this, while cloaked in words of reason, are in fact appeals to Man's vanity.

What is God? What does He want of us? These are questions we can (and should) debate and discuss. But, setting aside the specifics of theology...as the man said, "There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

Hey! While we're on the subject...This is exactly what the movie Expelled is about. See it!

CDC: Measles cases in US top 70, highest in 6 years

Measles outbreaks in several states have led to more than 70 cases so far this year, the worst in six years, health officials said Thursday. Most of the cases have been traced to outbreaks overseas and are mainly in children who were not vaccinated for religious or other reasons [Other reasons? Yeah, like the "being from Mexico" reason] or were too young, according to the Centers for Disease control and Prevention. Since measles vaccinations began in the early 1960s, cases have dramatically declined in the U.S.

So far this year, the CDC has confirmed reports of 64 cases in nine states. There were no deaths, but 14 people were hospitalized, said CDC spokesman Curtis Allen...Measles is caused by a virus that normally grows in cells that line the back of the throat and line the lungs. It spreads through contact with a sneezing, coughing, infected person.

Symptoms include rash, high fever, cough, runny nose, and red, watery eyes. But about 1 in 5 measles sufferers experience more severe illness that can include diarrhea, ear infections, pneumonia, encephalitis and even seizures and death.

Of the 64 cases reported to the CDC as of last week, 63 were unvaccinated or it wasn't known if they were vaccinated. At least 54 of the cases stemmed from outbreaks in Switzerland, Israel or other countries, Allen said. [Gee, I wonder what the breakdown is, and what those other 'unnamed' countres are. Hmmm.]

For more information about measles and what you can do to protect your family, visit the CDC.