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[Buster Posey, last year's Rookie of the Year is out for the season with a broken leg sustained on a collision at the plate last night. This is a major loss to the S.F. Giants. This blog post is in response to that hit.] Barreling into a catcher adds nothing to the game of baseball. It never has. Every time I'd watch Pete Rose barrel into Ray Fosse, I'd think how messed up it was. It never really hit home until now, but it's the only element of contact in a non-contact sport. It's like the NFL using Scrabble to...

After 10 years, “American Idol” still keeps it Christian among its finalists. The young devout Christians, Lauren Alaina and Scotty McCreery , who are set to bring the first all-country music finale to American Idol beginning Tuesday, are proud to share their faith with the rest of the world. While some critics have questioned the authenticity of McCreery’s faith because his choice song, “Your Man,” talks about sex and yet he kissed his cross after meeting Lady Gaga, he has proudly displayed his faith to an audience of millions each week since the beginning of the competition by wearing the...

A new, posthumous story of science gone wrong is coming in November from the late Michael Crichton, with help by Richard Preston. Crichton, author of such blockbusters as "Jurassic Park" and "The Andromeda Strain" died in 2008 and had written one-third of "Micro," a thriller about a biotech company in Hawaii and the graduate students who end up stranded and endangered in a rain forest. Preston, known for his best-selling nonfiction work about the Ebola virus, "The Hot Zone," used Crichton's outline, reference materials and notes to finish the book. Publisher HarperCollins announced Sunday that "Micro" would be "a high...

One of Canada’s leading TV sports broadcasters fired one of its anchors Wednesday after he voiced support for true marriage on Twitter. Damian Goddard, the now-former host of “Connected” on Rogers Sportsnet, had tweeted his support of Burlington hockey agent Todd Reynolds, who created a stir this week when he criticized New York Rangers hockey star Sean Avery for shooting a TV ad backing gay “marriage.” “I completely and wholeheartedly support Todd Reynolds and his support for the traditional and TRUE meaning of marriage,” wrote Goddard on May 10th. He also voiced support for U.S. Olympic gold medalist Peter Vidmar,...

The race to replace former Congresswoman Jane Harman (D) in California's 36th District recently took a heated turn, when one conservative candidate was booed and threatened. Conservative candidate Craig Huey (R) was booed during his remarks at a recent candidates' forum in Venice. The crowd, consisted primarily of liberals, progressives, and Hollywood-types. Huey was hissed and interrupted every time he spoke or tried to answer a question. And when asked about his stance on Israel, the crowd was outraged. " I talked about [how] there should be no compromise in our defense of Israel, keeping the integrity of Jerusalem, not...

Pressure from homosexual activist groups has compelled the head of the 2012 U.S. Olympic gymnastics team to quit. Two-time gymnastics gold medal winner Peter Vidmar has resigned upon receiving harsh criticism from homosexual and lesbian athletes and activists, who complained that he had donated $2,000 to promote California's Proposition 8, which defines marriage as between one man and one woman. "I wish that Peter Vidmar had not resigned," laments Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH). "I wish that he'd stood up for his right to defend marriage, and I wish that he'd forced them to fire him...

Being gay is a gift from God, asserts one church in Ohio. That’s the message that Central United Methodist Church is spreading throughout their community via a digital billboard, launched on Monday. This “simple statement,” the church announced, is “intended to be a gift to those who have experienced hurt and discrimination because of their real or perceived sexual orientation.” “The Church seeks nothing less than the healing of the world, and Central UMC wants to offer words and acts of healing to those hurt and marginalized,” the website states. Jeff Buchanan, the director of Exodus Church Equipping & Student...

On 19 August 2009, Tommy Davis, chief spokesperson for the Church of Scientology International, received a letter from film director and screenwriter Paul Haggis. "I hereby resign my membership in the Church of Scientology." He had been in the organisation for nearly 35 years. Haggis wrote the screenplay for Million Dollar Baby, which won the Oscar for Best Picture in 2004, and he wrote and directed Crash, which won Best Picture. In his resignation letter, Haggis explained that he had explored outside perspectives on Scientology. Haggis felt "dumbstruck and horrified", adding, "Tommy, if only a fraction of these accusations are...

Christian music’s largest annual tour proved itself to be the biggest tour in the world so far this year. According to Pollstar, a worldwide publication that covers the concert industry, Winter Jam 2011 Tour Spectacular was the biggest selling tour this year with a record audience of over 500,000. The tour has so far beat out all other music tours headlined by some the world’s biggest names including Bon Jovi, U2, X Factor Live, Lady Gaga, Brad Paisley and Justin Bieber. The 46-city tour, created by Grammy nominated NewSong, produced by Premier Productions and presented by Holt International, featured some...

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A New York City construction worker who witnessed the 9/11 terrorist attacks has launched a national campaign to counter radical Islamic efforts to get sharia law adopted in the United States. Andy Sullivan is a lifelong New York City construction worker and founder of the 9/11 Hard Hat Pledge, which is one of the groups working to prevent the mosque construction at the proposed site near Ground Zero. He recently launched the Anti-Sharia Oath, which calls on signers to agree to actively protest and vote against sharia and Islamic law in the United States. He says his campaign has been...

A New York City construction worker who witnessed the 9/11 terrorist attacks has launched a national campaign to counter radical Islamic efforts to get sharia law adopted in the United States. Andy Sullivan is a lifelong New York City construction worker and founder of the 9/11 Hard Hat Pledge, which is one of the groups working to prevent the mosque construction at the proposed site near Ground Zero. He recently launched the Anti-Sharia Oath, which calls on signers to agree to actively protest and vote against sharia and Islamic law in the United States. He says his campaign has been...

Massachusetts pro-family activist Amy Contrada has just released her definitive study of Mitt Romney's role in implementing "gay marriage," promoting GLBT "rights," and supporting the sexual-radical agenda in the Massachusetts schools while Governor. The e-book is available at Amazon.com: "Mitt Romney's Deception:  His Stealth Promotion of 'Gay Rights' and 'Gay Marriage' in Massachusetts."  Contrada details how Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney supported the homosexual and transgender agenda on same-sex "marriage," sexual-radical indoctrination in the schools, and societal transformation -- while posing as a defender of the Constitution and traditional family values. Pro-family leaders enthusiastically recommend the book: Peter LaBarbera (Americans for Truth...

WE ARE OFTEN TOLD that we possess the most powerful military in the world and that we will face no serious threat for some time to come. We are comforted with three reassurances aimed at deflecting any serious discussion of national security: (1) that Islam is a religion of peace; (2) that we will never go to war with China because our economic interests are intertwined; and (3) that America won the Cold War and Russia is no longer our enemy. But these reassurances are myths, propagated on the right and left alike. We believe them at our peril, because...

A proposed Illinois bill to mandate homeschool student registration was dropped after 4,000 home schooling families flooded the state capitol to protest. Homeschoolers and advocates from several state groups including Illinois Christian Home Educators (ICHE) and Home School Legal Defense showed up at Tuesday’s hearing to urge state lawmakers to leave them alone. The overwhelming response against the bill led lawmakers to reconsider the proposal. “I would love for Sen. Maloney to understand that this is a hot potato and to leave well-enough alone,” said David Smith of the Illinois Family Institute. Illinois is one among a dozen states where...

Some of the world’s pre-eminent experts on bias discovered an unexpected form of it at their annual meeting. Discrimination is always high on the agenda at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology’s conference, where psychologists discuss their research on racial prejudice, homophobia, sexism, stereotype threat and unconscious bias against minorities. But the most talked-about speech at this year’s meeting, which ended Jan. 30, involved a new “outgroup.” It was identified by Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist at the University of Virginia who studies the intuitive foundations of morality and ideology. He polled his audience at the San Antonio Convention...

A legislative initiative aimed at preventing “a court or other enforcement authority” from enforcing foreign law in the Palmetto State was introduced today in both the S.C. House and Senate by Rep. Wendy Nanney (who drafted the bill) and Sen. Mike Fair respectively, who say the bill will preempt violations of a person’s constitutional rights resulting from the application of foreign law. Legislators and other proponents of the bill say America has unique values of liberty which do not exist in foreign legal systems. Yet foreign laws are increasingly finding their way into U.S. court cases, particularly in the area...

The University of Kentucky (UK) has settled the discrimination lawsuit filed against it by Martin Gaskell, an astronomer who was denied a job due to his perceived doubts about neo-Darwinian evolution. The case was scheduled to go to trial on February 8th, but today counsel for both sides filed a joint motion to dismiss the case pursuant to the settlement. According to the Associated Press: The university has agreed to pay $125,000 to Martin Gaskell in exchange for Gaskell dropping a federal religious discrimination suit. Gaskell claimed he was passed over to be director of UK's MacAdam Student Observatory in...

In a time of shrinking government revenues and service cutbacks, a growing number of critics — now led by Gov. Jerry Brown — are questioning whether divvying up tax revenue makes sense. Brown asked the Legislature last week to dissolve all of the state’s 425 redevelopment agencies, saying the taxes they divert force the state to spend $1.8 billion a year on schools that would otherwise come from property taxes. “We’re spending money at the local level that the state doesn’t have,” Brown said. Under his proposal, the money would go to “core services” such as education, law enforcement and...

Rep. Elton Gallegly, who has made the fight against illegal immigration the signature issue of his two-decade-long congressional career, has been handed the reins of a House panel responsible for overseeing enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws. Gallegly, a Simi Valley Republican, announced Friday he has been named chairman of the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement. The appointment was made by Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, with whom Gallegly said he has worked for many years on immigration issues. “I appreciate the opportunity he has given me to step up congressional efforts to remove illegal...