A few interesting links for November 22nd through November 23rd:
- A Modest Mormon Proposal – A lot of religions, starting with Catholicism, think that Mormons are cultists, what with thinking Jesus is the brother of the devil and that Jesus married his mom, Mary, and two other women. So why isn't granting Mormons tax exempt religious status a violation of the religious beliefs of Catholics and other Christians? The state is quite literally legitimizing, and subsidizing, what many other religions consider a cult. … And how is any of this different from the state legitimizing, but not subsidizing, the marriage of gay couples?
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So, using Mormon and religious right logic, shouldn't we at least put the rights of Mormons (and religious right Republicans) up to a majority vote? If the Mormons can convince 51% of Americans that they're not a cult, and that their views of Jesus and the forced conversion of Jewish Holocaust victims to Mormonism should be subsidized by the American taxpayer, then they get their tax exemption. Isn't anything else un-democratic? - The Truth About Vermouth: The secret ingredient in today's top cocktails remains misunderstood – "Vermouth's commercial origins date to 1786, when Antonio Benedetto Carpano began marketing the aromatized wine he produced in Turin, but the consumption of vermouth and its precursors stretches back centuries. Typically made from neutral-character dry white wines that have been flavored with herbs, roots and barks – typically including cardamom, cinnamon, marjoram and chamomile – and then fortified with a neutral grape spirit, vermouth is classically made – and named – for another botanical: wormwood (the plant's name in Old High German is Wermud)."