I and the Bird #32 is now available.  If you like birding (bird watching) or just want to see great bird photos, this is your blog carnival.

43rd Skeptics’ Circle (sad puppy edition): “Good logic and critical thinking never hurt anyone, but bad logic, gullibility, and uncritical acceptance of questionable claims causes distress to small, furry animals.”  Go get your needed dose of skepticism.  Do it for the animals.

Look at all these kittens!

Yet another study proving the health benefits of marijuana: “[Those] infected with hepatitis C virus may stick to their medications better if they are allowed to use marijuana, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday.”  It goes even deeper than that (read the article for all of the details).  But don’t believe all that science crap: the American government already said that, contrary to their own studies, marijuana has no medicinal use.  Um, whatever.  [via Andrew Sullivan]

I’ll let this stand on its own.  Bush says he’s leading the third great religious awakening right here in the US.  Blah and bleh.

This is troubling.  “In a country where a sodomy conviction carries a penalty of life imprisonment, a Ugandan tabloid’s decision to publish the names of alleged homosexuals is a chilling development that could presage a government crackdown [on gays]…”

It won’t make her popular and will be used against her to desecrate a dead soldier’s memory, but that’s a perfect example of why the separation of church and state is so important.  Not everyone is Christian.  Unfortunately, that doesn’t matter, because this man, someone who made the ultimate sacrifice for his country, was a follower of a religion that our government “does not recognize and therefore prohibits on veterans’ headstones in national cemeteries.”  If you’re wondering, they’re Wiccan.  Anyone care to tell me why a pentacle shouldn’t be constructed on government property — in a federal cemetery, no less — while Judao-Christian crosses breed like rabbits in the same spaces?  [via Michael at Gay Orbit]

Even the WaPo, normally the mouthpiece of Republicans, bashed Disney/ABC’s “Path to 9/11”.  The article pretty much demolishes the program and smacks around the network for its many flaws, let alone for airing such crap.  In fact, they sum it up quite nicely: “The docudrama is an inherently flawed form, one that invites embroidery. The irony of ‘The Path to 9/11’ is that this dramatic license was so unnecessary, given the richly detailed narrative in a document available to the docudrama’s creators. It was called ‘The 9/11 Commission Report.'”

Look what we found.  “A newly discovered planet has one-quarter the density of water and would float if placed in a bathtub large enough to hold it.”  And it’s about half the mass of Jupiter, so we’re not talking about a small object.

Along the lines of what’s acceptable to us versus what’s acceptable for us to do to others, what do you think about cemeteries?  Current US policy forbids us from taking military action against targets in a cemetery.  This has caused us to lose opportunities in the past.  Personally, and even though I do not share the morbid fascination with death and the dead that so many appear to have, I think this is a reasonable restriction on our actions.  On the other hand, people who are buried generally are already dead and don’t normally care if we mess up a few tombstones.  This is one issue where I see it from both perspectives and don’t have a strong opinion either way — although I will add I tend more toward keeping the restriction than getting rid of it, and I feel that only on the basis of showing respect to other cultures.  If we don’t keep this rule, we should also get rid of the policy that prohibits us from attacking churches and mosques and other religious buildings.  The two are intrinsically linked.