Fewer Broken Pieces

Man shot 20 times by Boise police files excessive force suit:

A man who was shot 20 times by Boise police this summer and claims officers used excessive force has filed a $5 million claim against the city.

The fact that the man is able to file such a suit is an indictment of the shooting skills of the Boise Police.

He’s standing right behind you.

So that is where the reputation of monks in RPGs for hand-to-hand combat skills comes from.

We all know what happened the last time a Republican presidential candidate was associated with a plumber.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the greatest politician “gotcha” picture of all time:

McCain and Obama

Once more, with feeling:

Obama and McCain

I laughed out loud.

Ben Myers at Faith and Theology sponsored a most delightful caption contest for the following photo:

Stanley Hauerwas, John Milbank, and Pope Benedict XVI

Dave Belcher’s winning caption can be seen here.  Yes, check it out - you’ll be glad you did.

I would like to propose a new corollary to Godwin’s law:

As a Christian blog discussion grows longer, the probability of someone questioning the author’s salvation approaches one.

I will call it Halden’s law - not because he coined it, but because he is often the victim of it.

Breaking news: al Qaeda’s No. 2 is not dead.  The US has killed al Qaeda’s No. 2 so many times it is noteworthy when a living person is filling the post for any amount of time.

Barack Obama’s campaign has some materials printed in Hebrew.  For example, here is a button with his name:

I had presumed that “Barack” was an Anglicization of an Arabic cognate of the Hebrew word ברך (”barak”), meaning “blessing.”  However, the spelling on his campaign materials - ברק (”baraq”) - means “lightning.”  That certainly comes off differently than “blessing.”  I thought I had heard that his name indeed means “blessing,” so I am guessing that the desire to transliterate his name more accurately from English to Hebrew overrode the desire to use a cognate with the same meaning, thereby producing an ironic result.

Pope Benedict XVI is celebrating the mass today at Yankee Stadium.  I expected better judgment from the Holy Father than electing to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection in that den of iniquity, the home of the Damn Yankees.  The ecumenical movement is dead.