No More Secular Zoo

Saudi Prince: Fracking Is Threat To Kingdom

"A Saudi prince has warned that his oil-reliant nation is under threat because of fracking technology being developed elsewhere around the world."
While most Saudi officials have in public insisted they are not worried by the shale threat, Opec has recognised that it needs to address the issue.In a report earlier this month, Opec forecast demand for its oil in 2014 would average 29.61mbpd, down 250,000bpd from 2013. It cited rising non-Opec supply, especially from the US.

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Alwaleed warns of US shale danger to Saudi - FT.com

"Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the billionaire Saudi Arabian investor, has warned that his country’s oil-dependent economy is increasingly vulnerable to competition from the US shale revolution, setting him at odds with his country’s oil ministry and Opec officials."
“Our country is facing continuous threat because of its almost total dependency on oil,” he wrote in the letter, copied to King Abdullah, Prince Alwaleed’s uncle, among others.

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Atheist Political Party Makes Big Announcement, Wants ‘Worldwide Network of Secular Organizations’ | TheBlaze.com

After launching the group more than two years ago in an effort to create an electoral structure that represents non-believers, the coalition has now announced that, effective August, it will be changing its name to the Secular Party of America."

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LiveLeak.com - Criminal charge dropped

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Native Watercraft Mariner 10 Propel Kayak - austinkayak.com - Product Details

Native Watercraft Mariner 10 Propel Kayak - austinkayak.com - Product Details:

Lee this is what I want for fathers day.

The Native Mariner 10 Propel Kayak has been a long awaited entry onto the kayaking scene. The drive allows you to go forward and backwards without making any adjustments. The steering system is located while your peddling . What a great way to fish. I can hook it to my bike and pull it to the lake. Save the earth and all that.

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Report: Homeschooling Growing Seven Times Faster than Public School Enrollment

"Recent studies laud homeschoolers’ academic success, noting their significantly higher ACT-Composite scores as high schoolers and higher grade point averages as college students. Yet surprisingly, the average expenditure for the education of a homeschooled child, per year, is $500 to $600, compared to an average expenditure of $10,000 per child, per year, for public school students."

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Abolish the I.R.S. Now

"The IRS unlawfully targeted conservative groups to silence the president’s critics in the middle of an election. This is a chilling abuse of power and we need to make sure it never happens again.

It’s time to abolish the IRS!

We need to reform our tax system so the IRS no longer has an army of agents to police every aspect of our lives. We need a tax code that is simple, fair, flat, and that protects our freedoms."

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Goodbye to the Namesake of the ‘Lemon Test’

Anyone who has a cursory understanding of America’s laws regarding church/state separation should be familiar with certain landmark Supreme Court cases. Cases likeEngel v. Vitale and Abington School District v. Schempp and Lemon v. Kurtzman.

That last one in particular is important not necessarily for its immediate ruling (does anyone even remember what the case was about?) but for the legacy it left behind: The Lemon Test.

The Lemon Test said that there were three rules that legislators had to follow when it came to laws concerning religion:

The government’s action must have a secular legislative purpose;
The government’s action must not have the primary effect of either advancing or inhibiting religion;
The government’s action must not result in an “excessive government entanglement” with religion.

Break any of these rules and the whole law becomes unconstitutional. It’s a precedence that has been used for decades and its namesake was Alton Toussaint Lemon:

"The Freedom From Religion Foundation has a very rare, very elite category of members who are “honorary officers.” The title is reserved for freethinkers who have won Supreme Court cases in favor of the separation of church and state. We’re sorry to report that Alton Lemon, one of our honorary officers, died on May 4…
…
[The Lemon Test] was not new law, per se, but a kind of noble attempt to clarify and make the Establishment Clause idiot-proof. The “Lemon Test” has been invoked in virtually every lawsuit FFRF has ever taken. It is our best friend."

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Muslim Countries are The Most Racist in the World | FrontPage Magazine

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Asian and Middle Eastern countries are among the most racist in the world.

Of the four most racist countries, two, Bangladesh and Jordan are Muslim, and one, India, has a very large Muslim population. Furthermore, while most Western countries, are blue, meaning that they are not racist, most Muslim countries surveyed fall into the red category, meaning that they are very racist."

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