The winter celebration that has been made-over by Christians into 'Christmas' was formerly closely identified with the sun-god Mithras. December 25th falls around the same time as the Roman festival known as Saturnalia. There is no proof of any sort that Jesus was born on or close to December 25th.

Jewish divorce law contains a provision that allows a husband to condemn his wife to a life as a sort of marital reject. If the husband refuses to sign a divorce document known in the Talmud as a sefer k'ritut, or ghet, his wife will be unable to remarry.

Women in strictly observant Jewish circles who have been refused a ghet are known as agunot - women who are unavailable for marriage... chained women. In some Jewish circles if a woman in this position does remarry, any children resulting from the union will be regarded as mamzerim - people forbidden to marry within the Jewish community.

It isn't uncommon for religious law and culture in general to reflect an imbalance in the treatment of males and females. However the ability of a husband to stigmatize his spouse for years on end by simply withholding a ghet, seems more related to life in the age of the patriarchs.

The Canadian Supreme Court is beginning to show increasing willingness to take a closer look at practices that have long enjoyed a species of immunity thanks to the protection afforded by the claim of 'religious freedom'. A recent ruling in the case of Bruker v. Marcovitz however, suggests that religious disagreements may come under the scrutiny of the law more frequently.

The husband in the case, Jessel Marcovitz, refused to grant a ghet to his spouse, Stephanie Bruker, even though he had agreed to do so. As a result Bruker put up with 15 years of stigmatization, unable to remarry or have children. She had to threaten a lawsuit before Marcowitz agreed to deal.

The court made the point that religion doesn't exist in a vacuum. It exists within the community and is part of a cultural milieu in which Canadian values form an integral part. Justice Abella put it succinctly when she said that it is within the court's jurisdiction to "ensure that members of the Canadian public are not arbitrarily disadvantaged by their religion". The court also took the view that religious obligations could well be enforceable, especially if any such obligations are formalized as a legal contract.

This makes complete sense. Why should the personal decision of Mr Marcovitz to penalize his wife by withholding the ghet be permitted to supersede values that relate to the general good and fundamental principles of equality? Considering that Jewish law permits husbands to divorce their wives for any number of trivial reasons, it's not hard to imagine that in some instances the withholding of a ghet might be based on little more than a spiteful attitude or plain selfishness on the part of the husband.

Canadian Jewish women in Bruker's position deserve to have their rights upheld by law.

Mitt Romney has been caught out trying to slip a fast one under the radar - always risky in an electoral campaign in which scrutiny is intense. Romney's fast one wasn't exactly a whopper, more the type of lie that seems plausible and so not likely to set off any alarm bells. But clearly some sleuths decided to get to the bottom of it and took the trouble to check the details. As a result, Mitt got caught short.

During a nationally televised speech earlier this month, Romney claims that he "saw" his father - former Michigan governor George Romney - marching with Martin Luther King Jr. It turns out that the records show conclusively that Romney Sr and King never did march together.

Faced with the evidence, Romney resorted to semantic sleight-of-hand, claiming that he used the word "saw" in a larger figurative context, to mean that he was "aware" that his Dad marched for Civil Rights. Problem is ... even in terms of use-of-language, his artful defense doesn't hold up.

When he appeared on the "Tonight" show with Jay Leno in May, his comment about his father was about as literal as it gets : "My father marched with Martin Luther King". He became even more literal and to-the-point in an interview with the Boston Globe when he said "My father and I marched with Martin Luther King Jr through the streets of Detroit."

Well, Dad didn't march with MLK, and young Mitt sure didn't. A Romney spokesperson, Eric Fehrnstrom, realizing there was no wiggle room stated emphatically in an email to the Globe that "Mitt Romney did not march with Martin Luther King".

The perception that Romney doesn't deliver the straight goods isn't exactly new. He has been criticized for being slippery on gun control, gay rights, abortion and immigration. The 'flip-flop' accusation has been made on a number of occasions and there is the sense on the part of some observers that Mitt will try and smooth talk his way into convincing you that black is really white, or vice-versa, depending on the day.

He has even been accused of exaggerating his hunting record ... story here. A New York Times article takes a point-by-point look at Romney's elastic adaptations of the truth.

It's not just his liberties with the truth that make Romney seem a bit phony. He has telegenic looks and at times gives the impression that 'the look' is a large part of his pitch. Voters tend to be distrustful of candidates who attempt to play on their looks.

Adding to the suspicion of latent narcissism, is the recent apparent effort to attract the refracted sheen of former glory. He was photographed striking a posture - arms crossed, head bowed - that was eerily similar to a posture struck by John F. Kennedy in a famous picture. Many observers believe it was a deliberate attempt on Romney's part to forge a subliminal connection with Kennedy.

There is more than a little of the showman in Romney's make-up. He seems unduly preoccupied with creating an impression. You suspect that he is a political opportunist who has no problem modifying his image if it means maximizing his selling points - even if it does involve stretching the truth.

Related story - here

Now that Huckabee has made his Christmas pitch, the other candidates are getting in on the seasonal messaging act also, minus the Christian iconography.

Obama's video shows the candidate at home with family, surrounded by Christmas decorations. The scene is refreshingly ecumenical, with no crosses, baby Jesuses or shepherds in sight. The Christmas tree may have been a calculated move to help counteract persistent BS about Obama's alleged adherence to Islam.

Rudi Giuliani's ad has a light touch and includes some humor of the "ho ho ho" variety.

Hillary Clinton's ad gives the impression that even her downtime is serious business. A variety of presents appear in the video with cards that announce - "Bring Our Troops Home", "Alternative Energy" and "Universal Health Care". Messages directed to voters in Iowa and New Hampshire no doubt.

Personalized Christmas cards are also hot this year. Katie Holmes' brown and cream effort has a pic of Tom and her curvaceous self on the front.

The annual event has become increasingly inclusive. But Huckabee is happy to make a percentage of Americans feel unwelcome with his emphatic statement - "what really matters is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ".

In a recent video Huckabee drives home the Christian message with the use of subliminal symbolism in the form of a floating cross. The cross, disguised as a bookshelf, is clearly meant to evoke associations with Christian iconography despite the denials of the ad makers.

The best response to this blatant piece of Christian propaganda comes from Sinclair Lewis who said :

"When fascism comes to this country, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross".

Republican presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee, has been making noises about using the position of president as "a bully pulpit" and if recent poll numbers are to be believed Americans are embracing this Baptist mullah with scary enthusiasm.

You alone are the LORD.
You made the heavens, even the highest heavens,
and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it,
the seas and all that is in them.
You give life to everything,
and the multitudes of heaven worship you.
NEHEMIAH 9:6 (NIV)

Unlike former presidencies when the Chief and First Lady signed off with messages of happiness, goodwill etc, the Bush card waxes religious with - "May the joy of all creation fill your heart this blessed season 2007".

America is made up of peoples of many different faiths and of no-faith-at-all. Aside from the fact that Christmas holds religious significance for Christians, it is a festive time of year for most Americans, including those whose religious observations are in no way related to the Bible.

The Christianizing of America threatens to undo the balance between Church and State. If Huckabee gets elected Americans risk ending up in one big megachurch with a preacher man at the helm.

After the Conrad Black trial ended there was speculation in the press that he might be put away for as long as 20 years. He ended up receiving a sentence of 6 1/2.

Vladimir Putin intends to honor the demands of the Russian constitution which forbids a third consecutive term for a sitting president. With the end of his term approaching, Putin has given unusually close attention to the naming of a successor. This isn't altogether surprising. Given the tactics used by Putin to silence enemies in his push for his version of a strong Russia he has very good reason to want to retain his grip on power, and what better way to do so than via a proxy.

Deputy prime ministers, Sergei Ivanov and Dmitry Medvedev, are the two main contenders to replace the boss. Medvedev appears to be the chosen son and this comes as no surprise. Medvedev is in every sense Vlad's creature - as attuned to his master's voice as a dummy is to a ventriloquist. Some might argue that in Medvedev's case the term "dummy" is a gross oversimplification. His family is well established, part of the Russian elite. He's an academic and a smart politician, well schooled in the liberal arts and familiar with Western ways. He's also a fan of Black Sabbath and Deep Purple - claims he has loved hard rock since his schooldays.

However this is a front that should fool nobody. He was on-side back in 1999 when Putin first took over the reins of power. Unlike Ivanov who might prove to be less predictable as leader, Medvedev is unlikely to buck Putin's agenda. He was part of the push to rebuild Russia along more centralized and authoritarian lines. In his role as head of Gazprom Media, he was instrumental in helping to put the clamps on media critics of Putin.

Medvedev represents no real ideological alternative to Putin. As a result of his distinguished background he has a certain cache in terms of status. If elected the odds are high that he will essentially be a well educated and refined puppet.

In Russian politics, what you see ... is rarely what you get.

Related story - here

It was inspirational to see Led Zeppelin back in top form at the recent comeback concert at London's 02 arena. YouTube clips and in-depth reports confirm the triumph.

Depeche Mode was ahead of the curve with their tune Personal Jesus. Now you can have your very own mini-Jesus for just $14.97 - one that even talks. A Jesus Christ action figure to go with Spiderman and Batman.

Jesus action figures are so popular they are selling out in Wal-Mart stores. The preacher who was opposed to idolatry, is now a little idol himself, performing the miracle of profit-making for one2believe of Valencia, California.

This Christmas kids won't be bored as they walk Jesus across the floorboards and have him attempt to turn coffee into Kool-Aid or possibly walk-on-water during bath time. Push a button on the savior's back and he will announce to all present - "I am Jesus. I am the son of God."

The Jesus figure is part of a line of religious greats that includes Moses, Noah and Samson. No golden calf ... no Jezebels or Herods ... just boring good guys.

It's a clever marketing ploy. Mass produce plastic biblical characters, call them "faith-based toys" and watch them fly off the shelves, especially in those parts of the country where the words "faith-based" hypnotize people into handing over cash.

Bored kids who want to be excused from the table early have the perfect excuse.

"Mom, can I go play with Jesus?"

What God fearing parent is going to say no.

Andrew Young, now in his 75th year, has been taking a few potshots at Barack Obama. He claims Obama is too young and inexperienced to take on the top job. He also claims that Bill Clinton is as-black-as-Barack ... Obama that is.

This is the same Andrew Young whose role in the Civil Rights Movement has always been over-hyped and who was never really embraced by the African American community with the same warmth and enthusiasm extended to many of his peers.

During the Carter administration, Young was appointed US ambassador to the UN. Despite the 'blackness' criteria he invokes when discussing Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, those who dealt with him as ambassador said he was more cafe-au-lait with a whole lotta latte. He was also described as "the bagman for US capitalism in Africa".

Most recently he was hired to help Wal-Mart improve its public image. A strange position for a former icon of the Freedom Movement. A few of his former associates have likened him to 'a corporate whore.'

He stepped down from the Wal-Mart position, but not before making comments that were so insulting to a number of different groups, even Wal-Mart (who the remarks were intended to benefit) was appalled. When asked by the Sentinel whether he was concerned that Wal-Mart is forcing mom-and-pop stores to close, Young offered this:

Ron Paul has received a donation from a Nevada brothel owner, Dennis Hof. On the surface it seems like a conflict of interest.

Paul after all is a Christian and frowns on prostitution - Hof's line of business. However Paul has a libertarian side to his thinking and believes the Feds should meddle in states' business as little as possible. That's a message Dennis Hof can relate to.

Hof is doing more than give thumbs up to the Paul campaign. He has personally donated the individual max of $2,300 and has been urging the staff and bunnies at Moonlite Ranch to donate to the campaign also.

Does Ron Paul have a problem taking cash from a brothel? Word is he was uncomfortable with the offer but even so his campaign accepted Hof's money. With the exception of three counties, prostitution is legal in Nevada.

However his campaign couldn't let it pass without adding a few 'for the record' comments. Jesse Benton, a Paul spokesperson sees it as "the price of freedom" and added "sometimes you have to put up with things that don't jibe with your view of the world".

Dennis Hof has gone a step further. He announced that if customers at the Ranch announce "I'm pimping for Paul" they get two bunnies for the price of one. I'm not sure if that also includes Brooke Taylor and Air Force Amy. They said they wanted to take a closer look at the other candidates before committing.

Related story - here

Mitt Romney has been jumping through hoops in his efforts to convince evangelicals and other bible believing Christians that he is deserving of their trust. Part of his tactic has been to identify a common enemy. That enemy isn't the horned enemy of all the God fearing. Hell, why go after Satanists when you have Atheists and Agnostics to hit on. Mitt Romney is no friend of non-believers.

This is a false paradigm. Freedom and morality are in no way dependent upon religion, and to make this fusion is simply wrong.

Romney's speech was billed as "the JFK speech". JFK called for the separation of Church and State. Romney makes the same call, but it lacks conviction coming out of his mouth because a genuine supporter of the separation of Church and State would be much more inclusive of non-believers, who after all are proud Americans too.

There's something phony about Romney. Behind the open and accessible front he presents, there's a calculating and cynical side he keeps under wraps.

Romney's rhetoric and some of his publicity photos seemed designed to forge connections with former political greats. A recent photo has him with arms folded high on his chest, head bowed, in a pose that bears a resemblance to a famous picture of John F. Kennedy. An effort to channel an iconic echo perhaps?

Related story - here

You got to wonder if Barbara Walters selects co-hosts for The View in order come off looking less dumb by comparison.

When co-host Sherri Shepherd starts to talk some viewers get understandably anxious. This is a woman who makes factual errors that are so wrong, they are almost bizarre. Not so long ago Shepherd said she didn't know if the earth is flat or not. This startling admission came on the heels of her flippant dismissal of the Theory of Evolution.

The most recent gaff exposed her complete ignorance about the meaning of the term BC - Before Christ.

In a recent episode of The View during a discussion about the Greek philosopher Epicurus (341-270 BC), Shepherd claimed there were Christians around during Epicurus' time because the ancient Greeks "threw them to the lions".

Since Epicurus lived centuries before Jesus allegedly walked the earth, the presence of Christians during Epicurus' time would have been a trick requiring time travel. Moreover it was the Romans who threw Christians to the lions, not the Greeks. Wrong, wrong and wrong.

It seems somewhat cruel to put Sherri front and center speaking off-the-cuff when she obviously lacks knowledge in key areas. On the other hand she no doubt appeals to the many fundamentalist Christians in America for whom life is all about Jesus and creationism - facts and science be damned. Bet a lot of those folk think Sherri is just fine and dandy. If you love Jesus and you seem bubbly and fun, you can pretty much revise all of the historical record and there are people out there who will shout "you go girl!".

If Sherri's presence on The View is also helping to move product, you can be sure that even if she claimed the earth was octagonal with polka dots and that Jesus rode dinosaurs on miracle mile, there's no risk she will get the boot any time soon.

There is something slightly twisted about the latest Clinton camp slam directed at Barack Obama. In an effort to demonstrate Obama has long held ambitions to become president, Hillary's team has come up with "damning" info from Obama's kindergarten years. They succeeded in turning up a former teacher named Iis Darmawan, who claims that in grade 3, Obama penned an essay titled "I Want to Become President". How diabolical is that?

Apparently having presidential ambitions makes you suspect and candidates (read Hillary) don't want to be perceived as scheming, conniving plotters with long standing ambitions to fill the top job.

The Clinton camp's sensitivities on this topic became clear when Obama recently said that he hadn't been planning to run for president as long as "some other candidates". This prompted the Clinton people to come up with the kindergarten 'evidence' of young Barack's Machiavellian plot to take the White House. What next? Evidence from a relative that the first words out of his mouth were "Me wan be prezzi ... dent"?

Dragging this sort of stuff up to 'prove' anything about Obama's ambition or lack of, is ridiculous. A child of that age wishing to be president, is no different from a kid wishing to be an astronaut or a General. You can't endow a childhood wish of this sort with sufficient significance to make it even a minor political talking point. Well you can - but it just comes off as silly and evidence of desperation. It speaks volumes that the Clinton people were actually prepared to go there and dig it up.

If anything, the story makes Obama seem a more attractive candidate because this was obviously a kid who had his head screwed on, rather than idling away his time scratching doodles on the desktop.

Related story - here

Florida based Spirit Airlines is offering a "MILF" promotion. The acronym MILF has passed into popular usage and is probably understood by most computer savvy users as well as say ... USA. Of course, this being God fearing N. America people will often deny they know what MILF means, in case someone starts wondering what they get up to in their spare time.

A director of communications with the airline, Juan Arbelaez, claims that the company staffers who planned the promotion had no clue what the raunchy acronym meant. Perhaps they took it to mean - "Mothers I Would Love to Frisk?" The company's official line is that in the context of their promotion MILF means "Many Islands, Low Fares".

The claim that they had no clue about the 'adult' meaning of MILF strains credulity. Their ad for the promotion shows a cluster of islands that has been designed explicitly to resemble a woman lounging seductively in a pin-up type pose. Maybe that was also sheer coincidence.

I'm not suggesting the airline is attempting to cash in on a Shirley Valentine trend, but truth is a percentage of N. American women, of the MILFesque variety, like to get away occasionally for a little fun in the sun without any strings attached. Our communication-driven society is so intrusive these days, a fling on-the-side isn't easy to keep secret. The risk of being discovered is obviously minimized significantly when you are on an a remote wire-free beach in the company of a few seagulls and a hunky stranger.

A certain class of female tourist has been heading off to the Caribbean for years for things other than sun and surf. White American women on the prowl are sometimes referred to by Jamaican beach gents as "milk bottles". The gents are variously named "rent-a-rastas", "rent-a-gents" "rastitutes"and "Foreign Service".

The West African nation of Gambia is a favorite destination for Swedish, German and Dutch women who vacation there and pay for sex with native men, known locally as "bomsas". Barbados and the Dominican Republic are also hot destinations, as are tiny out-of-the-way islands.

Obviously Spirit Airlines isn't catering to sex seekers as such, but if they didn't know what the term MILF meant before - after the media coverage they've had on this one, they sure do now.

Pope Benedict XVl, has issued a document in his second encyclical attacking Atheism. He claims Atheism is responsible for some of the "greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice" ever known.

He conveniently avoids mentioning the atrocity and abuse that has marked the progress of the Roman Catholic Church. The Inquisition and the witch hunts are sometimes cited as the main examples of Roman Catholic excess, but really those events were little more than a footnote in the catalog of violence perpetrated by the Church and its supporters.

The Church has acted like a temporal power, allying itself with political entities throughout its history. It gave its blessings to the Crusades and the barbarities carried out beneath the sign of the red cross. It looked the other way when Jews in the German cities of Mainz and Worms were rounded up and slaughtered.

Whether we are speaking of attacks against Huguenots, Cathars, Anabaptists, Jews, Muslims or any who were deemed a threat by the Church of Rome - atrocity was the name of the game in order to bring the pagans and apostates to heel. This was followed up with the predictable "laundering" of the facts by the spin doctors of the Vatican.

The statement by St Bernard - "The Christian glories in the death of the pagan, because thereby Christ himself is glorified", describes a prevailing attitude that existed at the time.

When the Conquistadors murdered, raped and plundered in the Americas, they did so as storm troopers bearing the cross of Christendom. In more recent times the Croatian holocaust has left a dark stain that the Church has had difficulty excising. Roman Catholic involvement with fascist regimes during the WW2 era was far more extensive than the Church is willing to acknowledge. Franciscans aided and abetted the notorious Ustashi. A one-time friar, Miroslav Filipovic, presided over the nightmarish Jesenovac camp where he tortured and murdered at will. The attempts by the Church to whitewash the true role of Cardinal Stepinac during this period is one of the more shameful acts of recent decades.

Unfortunately there were very few heroes of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's stature in Roman Catholic ranks. Photographs speaks louder than words. Here are just a few of the photos still in existence that would certainly suggest Roman Catholic collusion with the fascist regimes of the time ... 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10

Related story - here

Rapper Riskay has a surefire method for discovering cheats that cuts to the chase. It beats out the usual methods. You could describe it as getting to the crotch of the matter.

There have been quite a few advice columns written about the best ways to sleuth around if you suspect your partner is cheating. Strategies include checking pockets for receipts, notes or other scraps of evidence. Sniff-and-find strategies include checking jackets and shirts for tell-tale traces of perfume or other scents.

The computer is a source of potentially damning evidence. Everything from tell-tale emails to suspect urls and hidden photos of persons unknown. Naked pics can be put down to porn surfing, but multiple pics of a fully dressed good looking stranger is another matter altogether.

Rarely are these evidences 100% incriminating. There is usually weasel room for the accused to explain away the phone number scrawled on the back of a pack of matches or the scent of Estee Lauder on his jacket, such as - "I was jammed into a subway car beside this woman who reeked of the stuff."

However, if you have a partner who is a self-declared drama queen and prepared to cut to the chase you could be in deep. Rapper Riskay gets to the crotch of the matter with a new tune - here.