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American squeamishness about talking about sex has helped keep common sexually transmitted infections far too common, especially among vulnerable teens, U.S. researchers reported Monday. Latest statistics on chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis show the three highly treatable infections continue to spread in the United States. "Chlamydia and gonorrhea are stable at unacceptably high levels and syphilis is resurgent after almost being eliminated," said John Douglas, director of the division of sexually transmitted diseases at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "We have among the highest rates of STDs of any developed country in the world," Douglas added in a...

My Life of Drink and One-Night Stands Left Me Feeling Hollow, Now I've Found The Answer: I'm Going To Be A Nun KATIE COLBRAN 05th November 2009 New order: In a few weeks, Katie Colbran will become a trainee nun For the past four years, I've led the kind of glamorous life some people only dream about. Regularly jetting off to exotic destinations such as Rome, Istanbul and Marrakech, I've been fortunate enough to stay in some of the most exclusive hotels and see some amazing sights. I've made dozens of friends, partied until the early hours in some of...

President Obama’s highly controversial Safe Schools Czar, Kevin Jennings, is concerned about the heterosexual indoctrination of children in our public schools. In his bizarre view: “we all know what’s promoted in our schools: Heterosexuality is promoted in our schools. Every time kids read Romeo and Juliet or they’re encouraged to go to the prom or whatever it is, kids are aggressively recruited to be heterosexual in this country. And you know what, it doesn’t work. The reality is that if schools could affect your sexual orientation there would have been no gay people in the first place. But they’re still...

One never knows what might be posted as a YouTube video, readily available to anyone with an internet connection. Among the most recent is a shocker starring Planned Parenthood http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvlCx3w_tss Federation of America's vice president for medical affairs, Vanessa Cullins, M.D. http://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-topics/ask-dr-cullins-6602.htm In a recent Wednesday STOPP Report, http://www.all.org/article_printerfriendly.php?id=12279 Rita Diller, http://www.stopp.org/rita_diller.htm national director of Stop Planned Parenthood International (STOPP), described this video's basic message quite simply as "Get sexually active and get your STDs." In fact, Cullins makes it clear that you should "expect to have HPV (human papillomavirus) once you become sexually intimate; all of us get...

Man pleads guilty to raping preteen girl BY KEITH EPPS A Spotsylvania man yesterday admitted that he raped a preteen girl earlier this year. Richard Eugene Smith Jr., 38, pleaded guilty to rape in Spotsylvania Circuit Court. He faces the possibility of life in prison when he is sentenced Dec. 2. As part of a plea agreement, prosecutor Amy Harper dropped a second rape charge against Smith. According to the evidence presented by Harper, Smith had sexual relations with the 12-year-old girl twice between June 1 and July 22. The second incident ended when the girl's mother walked into the...

The House of Representatives has approved an addition to the healthcare reform package. It calls for the creation of a “Healthy Teen Initiative”, and allocates $50 million to so-called “comprehensive” sex education. “This was a vote to bring science back into government”, said James Wagoner, president of Advocates For Youth and a leader of the coalition that promoted the amendment. The committee, he continued, “has taken an important step toward ensuring young people get the critical sexual health information they need to make responsible decisions about their lives.” Mr. Wagoner’s statement is astonishing, because Advocates for Youth’s sexual education curricula...

The NHS is telling pupils they have a 'right' to an enjoyable sex life in a leaflet being sent to schools. It encourages them to consider an 'orgasm a day' as a way reduce the risk of heart attacks and stroke.And if they can't get sex, the leaflet says children should consider masturbation.  The advice appears in guidance circulated to parents, teachers and youth workers. It says experts have for too long concentrated on the need for 'safe sex' and loving relationships - while ignoring the main reason people have sex, for enjoyment.But family groups condemned the guidance last...

PORTLAND, Ore., -- There’s a new nightclub opening in Portland for people who like to swing. And it's not the tree-tire variety, community park child's activity or mid 1950s dance style. Club Sesso opens Friday to Portland couples who like to have sex with other couples -- or singles who enjoy having sex with other couples. And iconic porn film star Ron Jeremy has lent his name and prestige to downtown's newest destination. Club Sesso is located on SW 1st Avenue. Paul Smith, its owner, is relocating from Clackamas and expects a lot of business. Portland just doesn't have a...

Peter Tatchell, Britain’s well-known defender of the rights of sexual minorities, is going to visit Moscow to participate in the gay pride parade in Russia’s capital. Tatchell is arriving in Moscow despite the decision of the Moscow government to ban the march of homosexual individuals. The parade is to take place on May 16, Saturday, to coincide with the final night of the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow. The contest enjoys stable popularity among the people of untraditional sexual orientation, RIA Novosti news agency reports. The organizers of the Moscow gay march intend to make it become a common Slavic...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Having sex with animals could soon be outlawed in Florida. The Senate unanimously passed a bill (SB 448) Tuesday that would make it a third degree felony for anyone to have sex with an animal.

India's real life 'Love Guru', a college professor who caused a scandal when he had an affair with one of his young students, has launched a 'Love Party' to contest the upcoming general election. His manifesto will pledge new 'love parks' where couples can canoodle in peace without fear of arrest or being beaten by police officers or morality campaigners. India's public parks have become moral battlegrounds between amorous couples stealing kisses away from their family chaperones and members of the so-called 'Hindu Taliban', traditionalists who attack dallying couples who show affection in public. Professor Matuk Nath Choudhary, 57, is...

Pope Benedict XVI will tonight attack the rise of aggressive secularism in western societies, warning them that they risked drifting into a 'desert of godlessness'. The Bavarian-born Pontiff will use his Good Friday meditations to compare deliberate attempts to purge religion from public life to the mockery of Jesus Christ by the mob as he was led out to be crucified. He will say said that 'religious sentiments' were increasingly ranked among the 'unwelcome leftovers of antiquity' and held up to scorn and ridicule. 'We are shocked to see to what levels of brutality human beings can sink,' he will...

Alaska and Florida consider bans on bestiality Recent cases prompt states to consider outlawing sex with animals March. 21, 2009 JUNEAU, Alaska - It's a subject that can cause nervous snickering, a little uneasiness and even a few bad jokes. But many in the southeast Alaska community of Klawock, population 800, weren't laughing last April after a 26-year-old registered sex offender was accused of molesting a local family's pet dog. The man was spotted by a local woman coaxing the Labrador retriever into the woods near a ball field. There he allegedly tied it to a tree, taped its muzzle...

When the case first began less than three years ago, the School of Tantra Web site said, "Enjoy seven days of exotic erotic fun in paradise!" Lovell said. "So we said, 'Aha, this is still a violation of short-term rentals, once we say that they advertised to provide accommodations there." ... Now, they only offer the occasional classes, which often have sexual themes, or "therapy" sessions in rented community rooms or maybe while taking a hike ....

Debra Haffner delights in the reactions she gets when strangers ask her what she does for a living. "I'm a minister and a sexologist," she says. They blink their eyes and try to reconcile what seems to them to be two opposing forces. Religion in the U.S., after all, seems to have quite a reputation for trying to stifle the joy of sex. So how could she joyfully live in these two worlds of church and sexuality? "Our sexuality and our spirituality are intimately connected," Haffner told a crowd at the First Unitarian Society in Madison earlier this month. At...

Like banishing beads and masks from Mardi Gras or removing the red carpet and gold statues from the Academy Awards, the banning of floats, beer and nudity at this year's Bay to Breakers will take all the fun out of it, many longtime revelers say. City leaders and sponsors of the 98th annual wacky footrace announced several major changes Wednesday that detractors say will turn the over-the-top, only-in-San Francisco party into a 12K footrace like any other race in any other city in the world. At the May 17 event, police will cite or arrest anybody openly drinking alcohol or...

Madrid, Jan 9, 2009 / 01:46 pm (CNA).- A campaign promoting atheism through ads on public buses in London has spread to the Spanish cities of Barcelona and Madrid, igniting a controversy among the inhabitants of both cities.The so-called “atheist buses” in London were inspired by columnist Ariane Sherine of The Guardian and backed by the British Humanistic Association and Professor Richard Dawkins.  Soon after philosopher, Anthony Grayling, journalist Polly Toynbee and the British Atheistic Association also voiced their support for the campaign.The campaign now has some $250,000 in donations and has spread to other British cities, where some...

Yes it is time for another “Hippie Report” from Humboldt county Ca. Join us as we explore The Triad of Death. Humboldt State University, the Ciy of Arcata Ca., and The glorification of marijuana aimed at the youth of the community by the local newspaper - The North Coast Journal. 01/07/09

New York, December 1 – Two new radio advertisements for condom use began to target Catholics in the U.S. Hispanic community here today, World AIDS Day, with the message that “good Catholics use condoms” to protect the people they love. The 60-second Spanish-language ads, which will air nationwide in 2009, “take on myths about condom use in Catholic and Latino communities,” said a statement from the sponsors, the Washington-based nonprofit organization Catholics for Choice and the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health. “Catholics use condoms because we know it is the responsible, loving and caring thing to do,” said Jon...

Sunday, November 30, 2008 Reaping The Consequences The latest article posted by the AP (Associated Press) stated that about 26 percent of New York City adults have genital herpes, compared to about 19 percent nationwide. My friend, this is only the tip of the decadent iceberg! The New York Health Department stated that genital herpes can double a person's risk for contracting HIV. The rate of contracting herpes is highest among New Yorkers, women, gay men and black people. My beloved, one-in-four New Yorkers has herpes!!! That's 2,000,000 individuals! This statistic should frighten and alarm any sane individual. How can...

This poster from the French government is aimed at reassuring young people who are "discovering" themselves that there is no difference between homosexuality and heterosexuality. It reads: The only difference between homosexuality and heterosexuality is homophobia. When you are an adolescent and wondering about your emotional and sexual orientation, you may unfortunately also discover homophobia and its violence. This period in your life is often difficult to endure and can lead to serious problems, sometimes even suicide. A national re-education campaign signed by: The Ministry of Health, Youth, Sports and Related Associations; and the National Institute of Health.

CANBERRA (Reuters) - An Australian holiday resort will hold a month-long, nude "anything goes" party to combat an expected economic downturn, media reports said on Thursday. "Tough economic times call for stiff measures," Tony Fox, the owner of the White Cockatoo resort in Mossman, in tropical Queensland state, told the Courier-Mail newspaper. ... "It will be a hedonism resort, where anything goes for a month. It doesn't take rocket science to work out what it means," Fox said, naming March as the risque party month. (Reporting by Rob Taylor, editing by Miral Fahmy)

San Luis Obispo, CA (AP) -- A Nipomo priest got probation for groping a male sheriff's deputy at the Pirates Cove nude beach. Besides three years' probation, the Rev. Geronimo Enrique Cuevas must complete 40 hours of community service and attend an AIDS education class. He also is banned from Pirates Cove.

New Haven (WTNH) _ Sex. It's everywhere. Online, on the radio, on TV and on the minds of your children. "I don't think oral sex is real sex," said Georgia Wetmore of New Haven, a peer educator who works with Planned Parenthood of New Haven. "I think most teens believe that." "As long as you don't let yourself out more, to get yourself a name as a slut or a dog or something, you're cool," said Domenia Dickey of New Haven, another peer educator. "We're still learning. We're still curious. We have hormones," Georgia Wetmore, another peer educator, said. "I...

The handsome young waiter's eyes followed Sarah as she walked across the restaurant, and she felt her heart beating faster as he leaned over to place a napkin in her lap. "At 54, I was unused to the attention of young men, especially a handsome one in his 20s," she says. "Our eyes connected as I told myself not to be silly - he couldn't possibly be interested in me. But I was wrong." Sarah Jarvis is 59 and has four grown-up children and four grandchildren. Attractive, slim and smartly dressed, she has been divorced from her lawyer husband for...

Diane Peterson works as a sales clerk at a Walgreens in Fenton. She was developing pictures last month when she spotted some familiar faces — teenage girls she has known since they were in kindergarten — in an X-rated spring break adventure. "I was appalled by what I saw," Peterson said. It wasn't just the drunken, sexual poses that bothered her. She knew some of their parents. And she knew they didn't have a clue. A recent poll commissioned by the cable network WE, which launched a docu-series called "High School Confidential," found a major communication gap between parents and...

VIENNA (Reuters) - They knew it would be risky to exhibit a homoerotic version of Christ's Last Supper, but curators at museum of Vienna's Roman Catholic Cathedral weren't ready for a barrage of angry messages and calls to be shut down. The source of the dispute, which Austrian media has dubbed Vienna's version of the Mohammad caricature row, is a retrospective honoring Austria's cherished artist Alfred Hrdlicka, who turned 80 earlier this year. But not everyone has been wishing Hrdlicka a Happy Birthday. And the Cathedral Museum's director and Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, the archbishop of Vienna, have both come under...

Colleges' final frontier: mixed-gender housing Jason Carmignani hung out with his roommate, Yael Bassal, at Clark University. "We're both pretty mellow," he said. (Dominic Chavez/Globe Staff) Email|Print|Single Page| Text size – + By Peter Schworm Globe Staff / April 2, 2008 In the Woodstock era, the advent of coed dorms caused a stir, with Life magazine proclaiming the development "an intimate revolution on campus." Coed floors came along over the next two decades, giving college students immediate proximity to each other. The next step, coed suites and bathrooms, brought the sexes even closer together. Now, some colleges are crossing the...

"Papa loved Mama, so they got married and had babies." Thus does my earnest four-year-old summarize the mysteries of marital love. For scientific purposes that statement is terribly incomplete. For philosophical purposes, it hits the bull's eye. With those words Phil Lawler began a Wall Street Journal op-ed in March of 1996. His child's perspective stands in instructive contrast to an article in today's New York Times titled, "Talking With Children About Sex and AIDS: At What Age to Start?" The answer suggested in the lede is "How about, oh, 4?" The reporter tells us this is the subject...

ANN ARBOR, MI – Maryland Circuit Court Judge William J. Rowan, III, ruled last week that it is permissible to teach 8th and 10th grade Montgomery County public school students how to use condoms during anal and oral sex, as well as that homosexuality is inborn, even though in 2007 Maryland’s highest appellate court ruled there is no scientific basis for such a conclusion. The controversial new curriculum was adopted as a result of pressure by homosexual advocacy groups. That sexual orientation is innate, namely, homosexuals are ‘born that way,’ is a theory that has been rejected by courts in...

How the Egypt's obsession with sex and virginity relates to the broader socio-economic picture Experience is valued in everything, it would seem, except in the world of traditional courtship. I am no anthropologist, but it strikes me that most of human societies, either now or historically, place a premium on premarital sexual chastity, or "purity", particularly when it comes to women: from the Bantu of southern Africa, to the various faiths of South Asia, to the monotheistic religions of the Middle East. While Egypt and other secularised Arab states were at similar to the west in terms of gradual sexual...

Duncanville, Texas (AP) -- The most popular address on Cedar Ridge Drive is Jim Trulock's split-level home, which has a group sex room and attracts as many as 100 people to swinger parties featuring "Naked Twister" nights. But the festivities could soon be over. In response to neighbors' complaints, the city has outlawed sex clubs in residential areas. Citations have been issued, and search warrants may be next. "It's crazy that they want to force their morality down our throats," said Dawn Burton, 45, a regular guest at the parties. "We're all frustrated." So are those who complain of the...

Extreme parenting has come to be associated with images of overly involved parents — this generation's stage parents, who manage and control every minute of their child's life, imposing their adult dreams and desires onto the little ones in a pathetic attempt to fuel their own insatiable need for success and recognition. As familiar as this parental profile has become, another form of extreme parenting has emerged, one that is getting harder to ignore. I am referring to the increasingly ubiquitous parenting approach that rejects the use of the word "no," and in which even the most reasonable degree of...

CHICAGO - A woman in her 30s who is one of the four organ transplant patients infected with HIV and hepatitis was not told that the infected donor was high risk, and had previously rejected another donor "because of his lifestyle," her attorney said. Attorney Thomas Demetrio filed a petition Thursday in Cook County Circuit Court on behalf of the woman, asking officials to keep a hospital and an organ procurement center from destroying or altering any records involving the donation. "She's really a mess right now," Demetrio said of the Chicago-area woman. "She's still in shock." The patient, identified...

Marriage is a foundation of civilized life. No advanced civilization has ever existed without the married, two-parent family. Those who argue that our civilization needs healthy marriages to survive are not exaggerating. And yet I cannot, in good conscience, urge young men to marry today. For many men (and some women), marriage has become nothing less than a one-way ticket to jail. Even the New York Times has reported on how easily "the divorce court leads to a jail cell," mostly for men. In fact, if I have one urgent piece of practical advice for young men today it is...

Dating a younger man bears many advantages for women who are on their second or third time around. Wendy, a Winnipeg woman who's notched up two divorces and is back on the dating scene at 44, said younger men are more honest about what they want in relationships. "I find men my age are getting more stupid, less responsible and less honest about what they want. They like to play games," said Wendy, who didn't want her last name published. The 44-year-old professional, attractive woman doesn't relish being labeled a cougar, but unabashedly admits her preference for men up to...

Abstinence advocate calls on CBS to apologize Program ridicules Christians, has hypocrites stone club member The leader of an organization that advocates abstinence is demanding CBS apologize for portraying Christian members of an abstinence club as sexually active hypocrites who stone another member to death. "CBS should apologize to America for its reckless episode," said Leslee Unruh, president of National Abstinence Clearinghouse. "With visibility comes responsibility, and CBS didn't take that into account when airing this tainted show. Abstinence education works." The episode at issue is of the CBS crime show "Cold Case," which depicts presumably devout Christian teens in...

FILM SYNOPSIS Can the love between two people ever be an abomination? Is the chasm separating gays and lesbians and Christianity too wide to cross? Is the Bible an excuse to hate? Winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Seattle International Film Festival, Dan Karslake's provocative, entertaining documentary brilliantly reconciles homosexuality and Biblical scripture, and in the process reveals that Church-sanctioned anti-gay bias is based almost solely upon a significant (and often malicious) misinterpretation of the Bible. As the film notes, most Christians live their lives today without feeling obliged to kill anyone who works on the...

Germany Pulls Booklet Encouraging Parent-Child Sexual Massage, but not Child Song Book Encouraging Masturbation By John-Henry Westen BERLIN, July 31, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - After severe criticism from German and Polish parents, medical and psychological experts the German government's Ministry for Family Affairs has pulled two booklets aimed at parents of toddlers and young children which advocated parent-child sexual massage. In addition to encouraging fathers to massage their infant daughter's private parts, the documents encourage unlimited masturbation. (see LifeSiteNews.com coverage: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/jul/07073008.html ) Reported on by LifeSiteNews.com yesterday, the content of the booklets were first brought to light in Germany by sociologist...

LONDON, July 10, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - "Gay", "queer", and any other words or behaviours offensive to homosexuals must be stamped out among schoolchildren in the United Kingdom says the new Children's Minister. Children's Minister Kevin Brennan told the homosexual advocacy group Stonewall that the government will require teachers to treat "homophobic abuse" just the same as "racist abuse." Brennan promised new regulations this autumn that would require teachers to act on name-calling such as "gay" and "queer" or be guilty of colluding in "homophobia," even when the words are being used as synonyms for "lame" or "bad.""This is too often...

Warning: This article contains objectionable material that is being taught to school children. A recent government study found that leading “comprehensive” sex education curricula intended to reduce teen sex, pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases contain sexually explicit material and factual errors. The study was conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the request of Senator Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) and former Senator Rick Santorum (R-Pennsylvania). The request came after the “Waxman Report,” written in 2004 by the staff of Rep. Henry Waxman (D-California), claimed abstinence curricula are deficient. That report was criticized...

On April 5, 1967, representatives of the San Francisco Oracle, the Diggers, the Family Dog, the Straight Theater, and other parts of the Haight-Ashbury hippie scene held a press conference to announce the formation of the Council for a Summer of Love. The event scored friendly media notices: The next day’s San Francisco Chronicle described the coalition as “a group of the good hippies,” defined as the ones who “wear quaint and enchanting costumes, hold peaceful rock ’n’ roll concerts, and draw pretty pictures (legally) on the sidewalk, their eyes aglow all the time with the poetry of love.” ......

T.O. announces campaign to attract gay tourists toronto.ctv.ca Tourism Toronto said Friday that it plans to launch an advertising campaign aimed at making the city a top destination for gay travellers from the U.S. The campaign will focus on four major cities - New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles. It will include ads in gay restaurants, bars and local publications, as well as event sponsorships and other promotional activities. "Toronto has things to offer all year round--we've got a number of festivals outside of Pride that we can market," said Bruce MacDonald of the Canadian Gay & Lesbian...

Some Boulder, Colo., High School officials have been given a "reprimand" for setting up and taking students as young as 14 to a seminar in which the children were told to "have sex, do drugs," but a request from the state legislature for further action has been turned down. Helayne Jones, the president of the Boulder Valley District School Board, read a letter at a public meeting on the issue stating that "actions" were taken on the complaints the seminar generated, and several Boulder High staff members were given "verbal reprimands." In addition, a letter was sent to parents...

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, June 13, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – One of the largest and most comprehensive studies of teen sex education, conducted by Dr. Stan Weed of the Institute for Research and Evaluation in Salt Lake City, shows why abstinence is the most successful method of preventing physical and emotional complications resulting from pre-marital sexual activity. The study (see http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007_docs/CompSexEd.pdf)  followed the education and behavior of over 400,000 adolescents in 30 different states for 15 years. The final report, entitled “Abstinence” or “Comprehensive” Sex Education? begins by pointing out the flaws in a national study on abstinence released by  Mathematica Policy...

The Rev. Mark Alan Lewis and the Rev. K. Dennis Winslow, Episcopal priests, were joined in civil union on Tuesday. The Rev. Tim S. Hall, also an Episcopal priest, officiated at the couple’s home in Union City, N.J., assisted by his wife, the Rev. Jacqueline Schmidt. Mr. Lewis (above, left), 47, is the vicar at the Episcopal Church of our Saviour in Secaucus, N.J. Mr. Winslow, 57, is the rector of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in New York. [snip] The couple met 15 years ago this week, shortly after Mr. Lewis moved to New Jersey. Mr. Lewis didn’t find the...

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Pope Benedict gave Brazil its first native-born saint on Friday and called on Roman Catholics to spurn media portrayals of life that glamorise pre-marital sex and undermine the traditional family. The Pope said a mass for hundreds of thousands of joyful, flower-waving faithful to canonise Friar Antonio Galvao, a Franciscan who lived in the 18th century and founded an order of nuns."The world needs transparent lives, clear souls, pure minds that refuse to be perceived as mere objects of pleasure," he said in his sermon on a military airfield outside Brazil's largest city on the third...

US artist Spencer Tunick will fill Mexico City's Zocalo square - the centre of the ancient Aztec empire and the heart of modern Mexico - with thousands of naked Mexicans next week for his latest mass nude photo shoot. Tunick, who was refused permission to stage his nude photo shoot at Mexico's famed Teotihuacan pyramids outside the capital, has been granted permission to use the Zocalo for his shoot next Sunday (local time), local media reported. The Mexico City Government was not available for comment. One of the world's biggest and most imposing squares, the Zocalo is framed by the...

The BBC is to relay a 'gay Mass' from San Francisco this Sunday, the first time such a service has been broadcast. The 50-minute Mass at the Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in the predominantly gay Castro district of the city will feature prayers and readings tailored for the gay community. The church has been described as an "inspiration" to gay and lesbian Christians around the world because of its ministry to homosexuals. Scroll down for more... The BBC is to relay a 'gay Mass' from San Francisco the first time such a service has been broadcast. Above, Members of...

An article in The Wall Street Journal (April 12) breathlessly informs us of the latest fad on the Incredible Shrinking Continent -- "As Religious Strife Grows, Europe's Atheists Seize Pulpit: Islam's Rise Gives Boost To Militant Unbelievers; The Celebrity Hedonist," the headline teases. The "Celebrity Hedonist," isn't geriatric frat-boy Hugh Hefner, but Michel Onfray, a 48-year-old author dubbed "France's high-priest of atheism" in the Journal piece. Reporter Andrew Higgins describes the doyen of disbelief -- commander of the faith-less -- strutting onto the stage of Caen's 500-seat Alexis de Tocqueville auditorium, dressed in black from head to toe, to deliver...