"Though you haven't heard of it, there are some fundamentalist churches that encourage dating and marrying nonbelievers and trying to convert them."

"It's called 'missionary dating' and it's a real thing."

Opening a religion post with "Though you haven't heard of it,...." cracks me up. It's now the story of my life and - while Emily Yoffe may not have heard of it - feminist NewAge is definitely THE "fundamentalist church" where "fishing" has always been real, too, so ♪shut-up♬.

"The assumptions of homeopathy,…are in overt contradiction to those of acupuncture which, in turn, are out of sync with those of reflexology, aromatherapy and Reiki.

Instead, each branch of alternative medicine has its own axioms that are largely detached from reality or, indeed, from the axioms of other branches of alternative medicine."

As far as I know, whites will only really stand up to Oprah on two topics - cattle futures and race - when they curiously, but proudly, love to point out how rich she's gotten with their full support:

You know, selling dangerous, bogus, NewAge occult "remedies" and the gurus and beliefs that go with 'em,...

 

Now, I ask you, serious business:

 "Is Gluten the Cause of Your Health Problems?" 

Or is it something else?

"Your choices are limited by who you are."

I love the ring of that phrase - and it's ring of truth - like a kick in the gut. So, since that seems to be the case (and since I'm *kinda safe* for the moment) excuse me as I jump in the fray, because culture is wailing on politics with a vengeance:

McAllister, running as an outsider, lined up an endorsement from "Duck Dynasty" star Phil Robertson, the patriarch in the popular reality show, and cast member Willie Robertson appeared in a commercial for the candidate. The program is shot in the northeast part of Louisiana that McAllister will represent.

Unlike McAllister, Riser had the backing of a number of prominent Republicans including U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.

Riser agreed with the governor's stance to reject the Medicaid expansion.

…The funeral home owner was the contest's early favorite with backing from the conservative Tea Party of Louisiana and the national group FreedomWorks, which is aligned with the Tea Party movement.

The Right is so out of sync now, it's pitiful. Everyday is the day before the last election - and then the "unexpected" happens. Again. GlennBoy's even already back to warning Republicans not to get cocky. Why? What are they going to do? Keep coming on like The Party That Doesn't Give A Shit? We've seen that. "Maybe get a black point-man."

"Man Has Magnetic Powers, Can Make Objects Stick To Body"

New Headline:

You Are A Fucking Idiot, Go Back To School - Retake Science

Unoriginal second thought - do we even need another metal attracting guy? Bending spoons? Wow.

Do something useful.

 Now here's a something that gets my attention:

"Since Christianity has produced a lot of dysfunctional people, suicides will more than likely increase among Christians in the very near future."

So it's a self-correcting system - cool. Kinda like this:

"Lady Gaga's 'ARTPOP' Flop Expected to Lose Label Reported $25M in Marketing Costs"

Word is people will be fired - at Christmas. Perfect. Contrast and compare with the netherworld:

 "Michael Jackson Tops List of Highest-Earning Dead Celebrities of 2013"

He's dead, and still a better entertainer than we've got now. What a wasteland. No, really, a wasteland. And nobody knows the difference, either, so far as I can tell. Everything just slips by.

"The Jamaican Maroons were runaway slaves who fought the British during the 18th century. When the British invaded Jamaica in 1655 the Spanish colonists fled leaving a large number of Africans who they had enslaved."

I'm beginning to think they're all a little insane. 

But probably not without good reason,...

"In the world of dieting, many promises are made and broken. But author Kevin Trudeau's is an extreme case: He had been warned by no less than the Federal Communications Commission not to make false claims about his diet book in advertisements.

Nevertheless, he appeared in a recent set of infomercials for his book "The Weight Loss Cure 'They' Don't Want You To Know About" saying that it revealed a miracle substance that would allow people following his diet plan to eat all they wanted and still lose weight. The infomercials aired 32,000 times.

A federal jury in Chicago found Trudeau guilty of criminal contempt Tuesday and he was taken into custody, Reuters reports. He faces potential federal prison time."

For consumers with a  conscience, they are top of the shopping list.

But it seems free-range eggs may not be all they are cracked up to be. According to researchers, hens kept indoors in cages lead happier lives.

A study found birds raised in ‘enriched cages’ enjoyed lower levels of stress and mortality, and were less likely to suffer from bone fractures or pecking than free-range chickens.

Demand for free-range eggs, which cost almost double the caged equivalent, has risen steeply as a result of high-profile campaigns.

£20 fine wine or £5 plonk? Most of us just can't tell... eight out of ten people prefer cheaper bottles in blind taste tests

“If we put out a social media ad based on scientific facts, how many hits would we get?”

"A Houston electrician known mostly for his personal crusades against LGBT rights and the city’s lesbian mayor has won a seat on the Houston Community College Board of Trustees after pretending in campaign materials to be African American,…

…KHOU reported that Wilson pulled stock images of people of color from websites and magazines and used them to make fliers to distribute in his district.

Wilson, a conservative white Republican with tea party leanings, realized that he had little to no chance of beating 24-year incumbent Austin in his heavily African-American district, so Wilson decided not to run as a white man."

“Anyone who wants to understand the devious, insane nature of the fraud known as L. Ron Hubbard should read this book cover to cover, and investigate all the footnotes. You will not only want $cientology ended forever, you'll feel the same way about any similar spiritual huckster that comes along in Hubbard's wake.”

“Mormonism would gain a measure of respectability if only some credible evidence could be found to support at least one of Joseph Smith’s claims.”

Cherie Blair, Carole Caplin, Peter Foster - even Deepak Chopra - I could predict what was coming, since they're NewAgers, but not when:

  "Conman Peter Foster - the figure at the centre of the 2002 'Cheriegate' scandal - was sentenced to three years in prison in his absence today for his forbidden role in the weight loss industry."

"The Tortoise And The Hare" is ultimately a spiritual tale,..