I admit to not being a regular viewer of Showtime's Penn & Teller: Bullsh!t, so when the boss asked for a volunteer to write up the season finale, I raised my hand like someone who hadn't been in the military (I was, and so should know better). I thought Penn & Teller did magic tricks, not attack what is arguably the most powerful person on earth who doesn't have access to nuclear weapons.
As the opening credits show, the irascible duo don't just go after conservatives, but take on sacred cows of the liberals as well: taxes, stress, video games and organic foods have all been targets of their commentary. I won't call what they do comedy exactly, because they're really too angry to be funny. Think Lewis Black without the facial expressions.
"If your morality is governed by anything personal, ethical, rational, or humanitarian, then The Vatican is bullsh!t!"
"That's Vatican for 'Shut your fu**king mouth, or go to hell!'"
Which things do they lay at the feet of the church throughout history? The Crusades, the Inquisition, condoning slavery, denying the Holocaust, as well as the oppression or outright persecution of Muslims, Jews, gays, women, Africans, children, the poor, and nonbelievers. No punches are pulled, and little hyperbole is used.
A brief history of the oppressed.
A lot of time is given to subjects such as birth control, sexual abuse by the clergy, and wealth hoarding. But the two things that stood out for us though were the current pope's opposition to condom distribution in Africa to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS, and his decision to oppose decriminalization of homosexuality at the United Nations last year.
Condoms are from the Dark Side. Sex should only make babies.
That issue came up when the French introduced a U.N. resolution making homosexuality legal worldwide since we're still illegal in 81 countries, and punishable by death in seven of those. Even many who dislike the Pope were surprised when the Vatican — which espouses treating gays with "respect and dignity" — opposed the resolution because it might somehow lead to gay marriage.
Better we let countries lock up gays for being gay than risk some countries letting them get married!
http://www.afterelton.com/TV/2009/8/penn-teller-vatican-bullshit
A couple of years ago, a neuroscientist at Trinity College Dublin noticed what seemed to be an unexpected byproduct of the digital age: a third of the under-30s he questioned didn't know their own phone numbers. They were worse than their elders, too, at remembering relatives' birthdays. It's tempting to wonder what else they didn't know: the formula to convert feet to metres? The prime minister of France? Why bother, after all, when the energy needed to obtain the information when required, from a hard drive or the internet, had diminished to almost nothing? "The line between where my memory leaves off and Google picks up is getting blurrier by the second," one Wired magazine writer observed. "Almost without noticing it, we've outsourced important peripheral brain functions to the silicon around us." Me, too. Until recently, I had to check my mobile to remember my home phone number. (Apologies to readers under 30 who've probably never heard of a "home phone". Why not look it up on the web?)
Iran's security forces, however, were absent. In a nation with a frighteningly effective intelligence service, Supreme Leader Khamenei was entirely unaware of this protest because it 
Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA), one of the most unabashed liberals in the U.S. House of Representatives, told a Massachusetts town hall recently that Texas Republican Congressman Ron Paul's bill to audit the Federal Reserve will clear his chamber by October.
Mason Tvert, executive director of 
You've committed your life to Jesus. 
Having trouble understanding the events since the October 2008 financial crisis? 
