Thy faithful torturer

Via Pharyngula comes rather disturbing news that church attendance is (weakly) correlated with an acceptance of torture, as revealed by a survey by the Pew Research Center:

More than half of people who attend services at least once a week — 54 percent — said the use of torture against suspected terrorists is “often” or “sometimes” justified. Only 42 percent of people who “seldom or never” go to services agreed, according to the analysis released Wednesday by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

White evangelical Protestants were the religious group most likely to say torture is often or sometimes justified — more than six in 10 supported it. People unaffiliated with any religious organization were least likely to back it. Only four in 10 of them did.

Although this is a weak correlation, I find it troubling. If this research shows anything, it shows that religion is not necessary for morality.

And what got 40% of other people so approving of torture? How could anyone support something so evil?

Souter to quit SCOTUS

Later this year, David Souter will be retiring from the Supreme Court of the United States (hat tip).

He will be replaced with a left-wing judge, as he should. I’d like to indicate that filibustering him is really a waste of time because replacing one left-winger with another will not fundamentally alter the ideological balance of the court.

And who will replace him? I maintain my view that it is not going to be Elena Kagan because her appointment as Solicitor General is to groom her for a SCOTUS nomination later. Sonia Sotomayor and Diane Wood are frequently mentioned names. Sonia Sotomayor is a bit more towards the center of the political spectrum, but she is still the most likely nominee.

Women haters go big in the Dominican Republic

Via Feministe comes news that the Dominican Republic has passed a total ban on abortion with no exceptions, not even for the mother’s life:

[A coordinator of the United Nations Program for Human Development Miguel] Ceara [Hutton] said the new Constitution excludes the women’s right to life and encourages  the incidence of clandestine abortions and maternal deaths in the country.

In that regard, the Dominican Gynecology and Obstetrics Society Wednesday warned that the number of maternal deaths will increase considerably, with the approval of the article that bans the interruption of pregnancies.

The entity’s president, Aldrian Almonte, said the current figure of 160 deaths for each 100,000 live births per year will increase, because doctors would be reluctant to proceed from fear of being charged in cases where they must decide on the interruption of a pregnancy to preserve the mother’s life.

“Those deaths are product of the unsafe abortions. I would like of the honorable legislators to tell me what are we going to do before the presence of a woman with severe preeclampsia or eclampsia, convulsing in any emergency room around the country, what must we do, see her die to protect ourselves from the repercussions that article 30 stipulates?,” he said.

As I have shown before, a ban like this is pro-death. It is anti-woman because it includes no right to life for the woman. Hence, this law is clearly misogynistic through-and-through.

FDA complying with EC court order

You know that court order ordering the FDA to make emergency contraception available to 17-year-olds? The FDA is complying and the morning after pill will soon be available over the counter for 17-year-olds. The next step is to make it available over the counter to all people who need it.

The name Alma is history

At its recent meeting, the World Meteorological Organization’s Regional Association IV Hurricane Committee has retired hurricane names from the lists for both the Atlantic and the Eastern Pacific.

From the Atlantic, the names Gustav, Ike, and Paloma were retired and replaced with Gonzalo, Isaias, and Paulette on the name list for the 2014 season. Hurricane Gustav caused over 6 billion dollars in damage and killed 153 people in Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and The United States. Hurricane Ike, the most intense hurricane of the season, caused 32 billion dollars in damage and killed 195 people in The Bahamas, Cuba, and the United States. Hurricane Paloma was not at all a gentle dove as it killed one person and caused nearly a billion dollars in damage in the Cayman Islands and Cuba. Unlike what might have been expected, Hurricane Hanna, which killed over 500 people on Hispaniola, was not retired.

In the Eastern Pacific, for the first time since 2002, a name was removed from the list, as the name Alma was replaced with Amanda on the list for the 2014 season. Tropical Storm Alma was the first Pacific tropical storm to hit Central America since 1949. It killed nine people, five of which were due to the crash of TACA Flight 390 in Tegucigalpa.

Just like the Atlantic, the Eastern Pacific has questionable retirement decisions. Truly bizarre retirement decisions are Fico in 1978, Fefa in 1991, Knut in 1987, and Iva in 1988. None of those caused significant deaths or damage, and Knut did not come anywhere near land. Bad nonretirements include Tara, Liza, Paul, and Tico. Hurricane Tara killed over 500 people in Guerrero in 1961. Although the name Lisa is on the lists for the Atlantic, the name Liza should have been retired in the Pacific as it killed at least 435 people on the Baja California Peninsula in 1976. Hurricane Paul is the second-deadliest Pacific hurricane as it killed over 1000 in El Salvador and Guatemala in 1982. In 1983, Hurricane Tico killed 135 in Mexico, mostly Sinaloa.

Justice!

Great news! A verdict has been reached in the Angie Zapata murder trial. Allen Ray Andrade is guilty of first-degree murder after he brutally beat Angie Zapata to death using a fire extinguisher. His attempt to use the “trans panic defence” failed. He has been sentenced to the legally-required sentence of life imprisonment. The murder was a hate crime, as were several lesser charges (guilty in those too).

It’s a good thing that justice has been served.

New Earths?

Astronomers searching for extrasolar planets have found potential Earth-like planets around the red dwarf star Gliese 581. Three other planets have already been found, and a fourth has been discovered:

Gliese 581 e is only 1.9 times the size of Earth — while previous planets found outside our solar system are closer to the size of massive Jupiter, which NASA says could swallow more than 1,000 Earths.

Gliese 581 e sits close to the nearest star, making it too hot to support life. Still, Mayor said its discovery in a solar system 20 1/2 light years away from Earth is a “good example that we are progressing in the detection of Earth-like planets.”

Scientists also discovered that the orbit of planet Gliese 581 d, which was found in 2007, was located within the “habitable zone” — a region around a sun-like star that would allow water to be liquid on the planet’s surface, [Michel] Mayor said.

He spoke at a news conference Tuesday at the University of Hertfordshire during the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science.

Gliese 581 d is probably too large to be made only of rocky material, fellow astronomer and team member Stephane Udry said, adding it was possible the planet had a “large and deep” ocean.

“It is the first serious ‘water-world’ candidate,” Udry said.

If Gliese 581 d is an ocean planet, it’s ocean could be hundreds of kilometers deep. Due to the high pressure at the depths, exotic types of ice could form.

Let’s just say that Gliese 581 d would be one hell of a swimming pool.

Hat tip to Shakesville.