US torture issue blog

One of my colleagues is teaching a course on the rhetoric of torture this semester, and her class has a blog that publicizes some of the information they're learning and the discussions they are having in that class.
I reccomend it to most of my readers because it offers straightforward, brief posts about an important contemporary issue. A few of you may also be interested in it because it demonstrates a cool pedagogical strategy as well.


(weird note: I had trouble coming up with an eye-catching title for this post - "torture blog" just gives the wrong impression!)

GodTube

A friend of mine directed me to GodTube a few weeks ago and it got some coverage in this week’s Newsweek, so I feel compelled to comment. Although I find the content and the concept of this site less disturbing than Conservapedia (I’m sure if you are familiar with this blog you can imagine my snarks if you start looking around that site…), I still think GodTube is kind of… dumb.

Like Christian Rock music before it (and Christian Tea and Mints and… well… you know....) GodTube makes me wonder why. Why start a site for “Christian” videos with specifically religious content separate from the video site that everyone else watches? Indeed, I have seen that banana video on YouTube months ago. Do Christians need to be protected from the dangerous world of YouTube? Are they persecuted or excluded there? Why is it necessary to make a sectioned off website for christians, inviting those who are talented to put their art with religious content there instead of in a place where it might actually reach more people. Where it might even make someone think differently about religion, or justice, or humanity.

Does this strike anyone else as completely unnecessary?

march madness

those who enjoy laughing at my sports ignorance (and I know there are several who read this blog) can visit Morgan's website to see my bracket. Even though I used ESPN to construct the bracket, I didn't taint my ignorance by reading the information provided and trying to make educated guesses. No, no, I went with the same strategy I used last year: random guessing. Sometimes I selected schools I am not mad at to beat schools I am mad at, but not in any systematic way. So basically there is little/no pride on the line for me. That's the way I like it.

today's rock star

I found this blog strangely compelling. It chronicles who is referred to in the news as a "rock star" each day. The blogger says Barack Obama and Al Gore are tied for "biggest rock stars" currently. Notably absent: actual rock stars.