So according to scientists, pollution is turning birds gay. Yep, increased exposure to mercury (a bad chemical, apparently) can steer the sexual preference of some birds toward their own sex. The birds studied – male white ibises – tend to pair with other male ibises after nibbling mercury found in the environment.

The researcher’s conclusion: That while this doesn’t mean mercury can make humans gay, there are enough reasons “why cleaning up the environment for birds also reduces risk for humans.”

So let me get this straight (no pun): are the researchers suggesting that if we don’t clean up the environment, birds will turn gay? If so, this implies that preventing gay birds is an incentive to going green.

Now, isn’t this homophobic? I mean, who’s to say gay birds are any less valuable than straight ones? If anything, having gay birds around can only mean one thing: fabulous nests. And that can only drive up real estate prices in your neighborhood.

But regardless, here you have environmental science slamming head first into a politically correct cul de sac. You can’t say pollution is bad, because it causes homosexuality. Because homosexuality, isn’t bad. In a way, this study seems to be telling me that pollution is, like, totally awesome! And simply by discarding mercury thermometers into rivers and streams, we will help create a more cosmopolitan wetlands. (more…)

So according to an article in England’s The Daily Mail, Muslim doctors and nurses will be allowed to opt out of strict hygiene rules aimed at stopping the spread of deadly superbugs. Apparently the change was made after female Muslims resented having their arms exposed below the elbow under new laws enacted in 2007. Some Muslims may be allowed to use disposable sleeves, although some say this “compromises patient safety.” If you don’t change the sleeves, you spread superbugs, which kill thousands of patients yearly.

Now, I don’t care what religion you follow: if it compromises your job, and the safety of others – that blows. I mean, if Catholicism required that you wear a crucifix over your left eye at all times – I’m not hiring you as a pilot. Or a table dancer.

This decision to sacrifice hygiene to appease religion arrives just as our own government decides to remove the terms “Islamic extremism” and “jihad” from national security policy. Obama feels that linking Islam to terror is hurtful to non-terrorists. My philosophy is simple: I don’t care what you call homicidal maniacs, as long as you kill them.

Which Obama’s been doing, so cool. (more…)