Coffee & Conversation
COFFEE & CONVERSATION
The foundation for healthy community is fellowship through open and honest communication.
Every week we bring you the best in Current Events, Humor, Ethics, and Philosophy pertinent to the Free Thought Community.
Currently there are Coffee & Conversations in San Diego and Irvine California.
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The art of conversation is often thought to be lost. It is alive and well.
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THIS WEEK
possible articles this week
Friday 2/12/2010
Craigslist.com Offers Post-Rapture Pet Protection
Selective Brain Damage Modulates Human Spirituality
Morality Research Sheds Light on the Origins of Religion
Morality Evolved First, Long Before Religion
Hypocrisy and Double Standards of Mainstream Religions
Religion: Adaptation or Byproduct?
Being Religious may not make you healthier after all
Brazil handing out 55M condoms for Carnival
Christian Churches in Canada Fading Out: USA Next?
Professor: We have a moral obligation to seed the Universe with Life
Haiti Raises Quake Toll To 230,000
Politics
School bombing exposes Obama’s secret war in Pakistan
Clinton Ok after minor heart procedure
Iran Proclaims new success in Uranium Enrichment
Tea Party is Full of Conspiracy Theorists
France Unveils National Identity Plans
Saudi Sex Braggart Gets No Relief in Court Appeal
Separation of Church & State
Muslim Men Defends right to bring second wife to Ireland
Malawi Man Arrested for Posting Gay Rights Posters
Virginia Legislature bans implantable chips as “Mark of the Beast’
Election Candidate in Head-scarf causes uproar in France
Windsor CT School votes to stop holding Graduations at Church
Man Sues Mall After Guard Arrests him for having a conversation about God
In Wheaton, opening prayer to be held before meeting officially opens
California’s Highest Court Puts end to suit against critic of Prayer-Study
Free Speech
Pernicious Piety
Iran Uses Enemies of God Charge on Protestors
Turkish Girl Buried Alive for “Talking to Boys”
Rabbi: Gays in Military Cause Natural Disasters (2/3)
Are Devoutly Religious Congregations more Racist?
Pastor Held for Detaining Manipuri Kids
Muslim Group: Full-body airport scanners violate teachings of Islam
Islam, the cutting of hands and feet ***WARNING GRAPHIC!!!***
Science & Health
Medical Isotope Supplies Dwindle
Scientists Sequence 4,000 year old human
US Successfully Tests Airborne laser on missile
More Tigers in Captivity than in the Wild
Astronaut: US gives up space-leadership
Acid-syringe could end dentist’s drill
You can really be bored to death
3-D Shape of Bullet Shaped Virus with Ability to fight cancer and HIVrevealed
Mass Extinctions: Giant Fossils revolutionize current thinking
Archaeological ‘time machine’ greatly improves accuracy of radio carbon dating
Sweden Beats US for top Tech Usage Ranking
Making the case for the social Sciences
Scientists identify genetic variant responsible for biological aging in humans
Did Bacteria Develop into more complex cells earlier than thought?
Global Warming causes more severe storms
Obama Administration Proposes New Climate Change Agency
Lack of Oxygen forces Fish’s First Breath
Aspberger’s and Bipolar Disorder diagnoses may change in new DSM
Ingredients for Life Present on Saturn’s Moon Enceladus
Commercials are the Culprit in TV-Obesity Link
Long-Term Care Hospitals face little Scrutiny
Human Rights
Anti-Gay Law Maker Describes Anal Sex in Public Hearing
Support for Gays in the Military Depends on the Question
Kenyan Police Stop Gay Wedding, Make Arrests
Race & Gender Make Enormous Difference in Rulings; Studies Find
Atheists Deny Call to Criminalize Homosexuality in US
SNL Mocks Foxes Coverage of DADT
Virginia Senate OK’s Ban on Sexual Orientation Bias
National Organization for Marriage Reports Prop 8 Judge Gay
Kill or Jail Gays but Not Pastors
Senator Schumer Recommends First Openly Gay Man to Bench
Friday 2/5/2010
Sign a Petition to Make Feb 12 Darwin Day

Six More Weeks…
Politics

Google to Enlist NSA to ward of Cyber-Attacks
Congressional Hearing reveals US intelligence agencies shielded flight 253 Bomber
White House Prepares for Possibility of Two Supreme Court Vacancies
Thomas Defends Campaign Finance Ruling
US Missile Test Mimicking Iran Strike Fails
US Tries whether Blackwater Bribed Baghdad
Why do People Vote Against Their Own Interests
Pakistan’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Rejected over name
China/Iran Spur US to Develop Air/Sea Battle Plan
Former Mexican Official Urges US Marijuana Legalization
Senators Warned of al-Qaeda Terrorist attack by July
Iran Opposition Leaders Call For Protests
Muslim Cleric Shot 21 Times in Federal Raid
Separation of Church & State

Officials Deadlocked over approval of CA Hebrew-Charter School
Anti-Evolution Bill In Mississippi Dies
Religious Leaders Worried that Obama’s Faith Council is Just For show
9-Charged in Iran for ‘Waging War Against God’
AU Joins Coalition of Orgs asking Obama to Reform Faith-Based Initiatives
Nothing Fails the Constitution like a National-Prayer Breakfast (FFRF)
Christians Desecrate Wiccan Religious Site at Air Force Academy
Why is Obama Attending the Family’s Prayer Breakfast?
Obama Calls for civility at Prayer Breakfast
KY House Ok’s National Motto License Plate
Furor over Atheist Display at Springfield Capitol Continues
AU Speaks out against Intolerant Agenda of Prayer-Breakfast
Faith, Hope and Charity: Why President Obama’s Faith-Based Agenda Must Change
Haiti

Voodoo High Priest claims Aid Monopolized by Christians
Don’t Ask Don’t Tell

Defense Officials Say Lift Military Ban on Gays
Senator Kerry Stunned by Gates, Mullen Attack
Admiral Mullen: “Allowing Gays and Lesbians to Serve openly would be the right thing to do.”
DADT the beginning of the end?
Gates: Don’t Rush to lift ban on gays in the military
Free Speech

Dutch to try case of anti-islamic far-right MP
Superbowl Commercial Controversy

OpEd: Woman Lauds Tebow’s Courage
The Grisly Truth About Super Bowl Abortion Ad
Tim Tebow Superbowl Ad may be based on Falsehood
CBS Rejects ‘Dante’s Inferno’ Videogame Ad
A moment of pernicious piety

Montreal Pastor Faces more jail time in sexual assault of “ten-year-old bride”
KS Youth Pastor Charged with Sex Crime
Wisconsin Pastor Charged with Embezzling $200k
Motivational Speaker Charged in Sweat-Lodge Death
Sweat Lodge Guru Pleads not-guilty to man-slaughter
Motivational Speaker Charged in Sweat-lodge Deaths
Science!

Quantum Mechanics @ Work in Photosynthesis
Spherical Cows dump Metabolism Law
Jeff Schweitzer: The Failure of the God Gene
Brain Scan Allows Unconscious Patient to Communicate
Link Between Excessive Internet Use and Depression
Open-Source Science to take on neglected disease
Hundreds of Quakes Rattling Yellowstone
6.0 Quake Hits Northern California
80-year old Primordial Soup theory rejected
US doing “scientific research” to boost interrogations
Jupiter’s Moons: Explanation for differences between Callisto and Ganymede
Homeopaths admit expensive concoctions just water
Scientists Crack 20-year-old HIV drugs puzzle
UN Climate Change Panel based claim on student dissertation and magazine article
Digital Doomsday: The End of Knowledge
Lancet accepts ‘MMR’ Study False
Cat Predicts 50 Deaths in RI Nursing home
Why does time fly as you get older?
Can You Write Your Way to Good Health?
Pig’s lungs in human transplants become one step closer
Water Movements Can Shape Fish-Evolution
Scientists Kill Cancer with “nano-bubbles”
Potential evolutionary role for same-sex attraction

One in Eight Americans needs Emergency Food Assistance
Georgia Law will Safeguard Children from Abusive Military Recruitment
Comedian John Stewart Bashes Fox on O’Reilly
Study Finds Afghan-men struggle with sexual identity
Fox is America’s Favorite Source for ‘News’
‘Abstinence-Only’ Ed Gets boost
Abstinence Program gains clout
Mexican Drug Cartels Go Into the Rehab Business
Oh-My-God, Australian Atheist Convention Sells Out
Ancient Tribe goes extinct as last member dies
Tax Court Allows Deduction for Sex-Change
Restaurant Promotes Sex in Their Bathrooms
Friday 1/29/2010

1922-2010
The People’s historian has passed on. Humanist Howard Zinn has died at 87, while swimming in California. Zinn changed our Historical conscience by giving us one.
Howard ZInn Historian Who Challenged Status Quo Dead at 87
Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, and Alice Walker remember Howard Zinn

GUILTY!

Scott Roeder Convicted of Murdering George Tiller
CBS Superbowl Ad Controversy
Abortionists Yes! Gays a No Go!
Fundamentalists to Play Anti-Abortion Ad During Super Bowl
CBS Rejects Gay-Dating Site Superbowl Ad

Several years ago the United Church of Christ unsuccessfully attempted to feature a Superbowl advertisement for their churches, illustrating their church’s welcoming of homosexual congregants. Since that time, CBS has stated their policy to not show issue ads. Enter 2010, Superbowl XLIV. James Dobson’s Focus on the Family has recruited Gators’ Quarterback Tim Tebow to star in an anti-abortion spot. Though breaking its CBS has decidedly stayed true to its tradition of no-gay friendly ads. CBS cites insecurity of the credit-line of successful Canadian gay-dating firm “Mancrunch”, in their decision to reject a proposed ad. The ad (seen below), features two fans, finding love over the game and popcorn. For a touchy subject such as abortion, why prevent the advertisement of gay-love… If there was one group of people who are least likely to get an abortion, it is most definitely gay men. But, if gays don’t go over well in football; at least they will still have their skin tight pants, their communal showers, and grab ass.
Haggard No Longer Gay
According to a new book by Gayle Haggard, her husband Ted, was cured of homosexuality through therapy. Now isn’t that fabulous?

LANGUAGE ARTs

Virginia County School Board Pulls Diary of Anne Frank over vagina passage
Anne Frank Diary Banned By School District
Dictionary Banned over “oral sex”
Voice of Scientology wants his money back

Larry Anderson, the “voice of Scientology,” upon resignation from the Church of Scientology has asked for his money back; $120,000 to be precise. Scientology spokesman Tommy Davis has said that reimbursement is mute, due to Anderson’s lack of following procedure. In the 1996 Scientology-recruitment video, Anderson announced, ”If you leave this room after seeing this film and walk out and never mention Scientology again, you are perfectly free to do so. It would be stupid. But you can do it. You can also dive off a bridge or blow your brains out. That is your choice.”
Separation of Church & State

Zandari Slaughters Goats to Ward off Evil Spirits
US Grants Home-Schooling German Family Politcal Assylum
Youth Pastor Elected to NV Sex Ed Committee
AZ Bill Fires Up Church State Fight
Judge: Prayer Before NC Meeting: Unconstitutional
OHIO Judge Has No Right to Promote Religion in Court Room
German Homeschoolers Granted Political Assylum
Forsyth County Must Stop Sectarian Prayer At Public Meetings
Panel To Favor Partial Veil-Ban in France
117 In Hospital After Drinking Holy Water
Space & Science News
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Would Space Aliens Need Redemption?
How Eating Grass-Fed Beef Could fight Climate Change
Channeling your inner Alien? Maybe, Scientists Say
NASA Accepts Mars-Rover Stuck for Good
Lead may be the culprit in ADHD
Whiff of Mystery in Planetary Science
Venus Flytrap for Nuclear Waste
Can men be trusted to take Contraceptive Pill?
New Compound Could Be Alternative Strategy to HIV Prevention
Light Extinguishes Dark-Matter Claims
Water-Vapor Could be Behind Global Warming Slow-Down
Monarch Butterflies reveal in a novel way how animals sense earth’s magnetic field
Dinosaur Had Ginger Colored Feathers
Plans for Alien-Contact Found Wanting
Gates Foundation Pledges $10B for Vaccines
John Paul II: Self-Flagellator

What is your papal-safeword?
Pope John Paul II has been outed as a self-flagellator this week in a new biography. The previous pontiff engaged in the Opus-Dei practice of self-flegellation to feel closer to Christ.
STATE OF THE UNION

Obama-Alito Tensions Surface at State of the Union
Pentagon Plan on DADT ready for Congress
HUMANIST CHARITIES
Haiti’s Developments: 16-days-later
(1/23/2010)
HAITI

Seismologists warn that Mississippi Delta is ‘Haiti waiting to happen’
Chavez: US Weapon Caused Haitian Quake
Haiti could be third largest life ending event in last 100 years
Rescue Called off in Haiti-but person still found alive (11 days Later)
Haiti Mourns loss of Three Leading Feminists
Earthquake Risk: Seismic Gap South of Istanbul
Massive Aftershock strikes Port-au-Prince
Qunicy Jones to Re-Record “We are the World”
Scientologists ‘heal’ Haitian earthquake victims through touch
69-year-old pulled out of rubble, ten days after quake
TRIJICON BIBLE VERSE GUNSIGHTS
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Trijicon will remove Bible Verses
Pentagon: Bible Verse Gun Sights don’t Violate Rules
US Weapons Inscribed with Biblical Codes
Military Denies Knowledge of Bible Verses
US Military Weapons inscribed with secret Jesus Codes
Marine Corps Considers Ending Contract with Trijicon over Bible Messages
SUPREME COURT WEIGHS IN ON CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM

The Supremes Roll Back Campaign Finance Reform
Supremes Decimate McCain-Feingold
Supreme Court Changes Campaign Financing
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE NEWS

Jeff Schweitzer: The Affairs of Mixing Religion and Politics
Oklahoma Bank Posts Ten Commandments
Creationist Teacher Accused of Burning Crosses into Student’s Arms
City Council Weighs in on Prayers
Speakers Blast Tampa City Council over opening Prayers
Courts Consider Religious Program Funding
Senate GOP leader to investigate California Science Center’s Cancelation of Anti-Darwin film
No Place in Denmark for Burqa says PM
SCIENCE

Research throws new light on the evolution of bacteria
Doctor’s Office Hit By Meteorite
Bacteria more capable of making complex decisions than previously thought
Doctor Claims Scientific Evidence of Afterlife
German Scientists Develop Fast-Acting Germ-Killer
Doctor Claims to have proof of afterlife
HUMAN RIGHTS

What is Really On Trial in Prop 8 Case
Man Accused of Beheading Wife, says she abused him
China Says it needs no internet lessons from US
Ugandan Muslim Cleric Threatens to Hunt Down Gays
Ex Pastor Guilty on Sex Charges
Cindy McCain Poses for Marriage Equality
Gay Man Says Reversal Therapy did not change him
More Wives are becoming Higher Income Earners than spouses
Kenya Charges Muslim Activist over Hate-Cleric Riot
White’s-Only Basketball league announced
Saudi Cleric: No Religious Justification for Saudi Marriage
Rifqa’s parents end fight to get her back
Filmaker Geert Faces Hatred Charges
POLITICS
Biden: US to appeal Blackwater Dismissal
Scott Brown Gets Celebrity Welcome in Senate
Air America Files For Chapter 7: Soon to be off air
al Qaeda: still very much active and threatens US
Obama and new bank regulations
OTHER NEWS
Catholics Cry Foul as Celebrity Cruises Drop Priests From Ships
Big City Left With no Book Store
Yemen Haven for Tourists Drawn to Militant Islam
Religious Item Causes Airplane Scare
(1/16/10)
THE HAITIAN EARTHQUAKE
•The quake, the devastation, the aftermath, how we can help, and how we can prepare for disaster in our community
QUAKE 1
•Obama offers asylum to undocumented Haitian immigrants
•40,000 Buried, 100,000 thought dead

•DOD to speak at Senate DADT hearing
•Gay teen worried that he may be Christian
•Scientists Discover how dormant viruses remain silent
•US Foreign Aid Going to Spread Christianity
•States Rethink Adult Time for Adult Crime
•Weight Watchers Floor Collapses under Dieters
•Lamb Born with Human Face in Turkey
•Doomsday clock moved back one minute (partially due to Obama)
•California Assembly plants seed for legal Pot
•Google Threatens to Leave China after attacks on Activists Emails
•Sarah Palin Makes her Fox debut
•US finally has a legal-male prostitute!
•Doctor gets court order to hold pregnant woman against her will
•85 Sharia Courts in Great Britain
•TX BOE tackles religion in textbooks
•Iowa Atheist Group wants Lawmakers to stop praying before sessions
•Use of body ornamentation shows Neandertals capable of complex thought
MARTIN LUTHER KING Jr.’s Humanitarian Legacy
