Things That Will Get You Arrested …

Which of these things will get you arrested?

1. Sprinkling flour in a parking lot
2. Lying to Congress and various other accusations of abuse of power
3. Improving your home
4. Arranging for a hitman to kill your family
5. Getting sick

The Boy Scouts

Over at Catholic World News, Diogenes has an interesting article showing how the Boy Scouts has dealt with sexual abuse of boys (and potential threats) over the years. He contrasts it with how his church dealt with the problem in the same period.

Canoeing

Speaking of canoeing, here’s an impressive video of some interesting techniques known as “Canadian style” paddling.

Hypocrisy in Science

It seems lots of big name folks are up in arms over a display at the Houston Museum of Natural Science over a new display.

HMNS is exhibiting “Lucy,” the supposed early human ancestor found in Ethiopia. The critics accuse the museum of sensationalism and of “prostituting” the fossils. A decade old UN policy says it is OK to take fossils out of a country for scientists to study them in labs, but not for people to see them. Said Richard Leakey: “It’s a form of prostitution. It’s gross exploitation of the ancestors of humanity, and it should not be permitted.”

“Advance ticket sales, about 3,000 so far, are on par with Body Worlds 3, the museum’s most popular exhibit ever. The Lucy exhibit costs $20 for adults.”

And that brings me to my point about hypocrisy. Did any of these scientists criticize Body Worlds? That was the macabre exhibit of partially dissected human bodies arranged in surreal poses (riding a horse, playing cards, etc.). No, none of them uttered a word. And while European Catholics unanimously condemned it, the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, in the voice of Msgr. Frank Rossi, said that was a perfectly fine use of a human body. (Fr. Daniel Callam of UST gave a very good sermon blasting this desecration of human bodies, but his was a lonely voice crying in the wilderness).