April 1st in the war zone and no one's laughing.

 Sometimes I think the American military has a very progressive outlook on men and women serving together.

Married troops in Iraq allowed to live together.

and sometimes not...

Women serving in the U.S. military are more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire in Iraq.

I'm in a mood for news articles today, apparently...

Someone shares my opinion on that greatest of vehicular eyesores, the Darwin fish. 

DISCLAIMER:  The point of me sharing this is NOT to go "Oh, Christians are so persecuted!" We're not. And based on the name of the article's author and some of the comments that he makes, I think there is a very good chance that he is, in fact, Jewish. I don't find the Darwing fish offensive because it insults Christianity, but because it professes the bearer's ignorance on the subject while presuming to be smart. The Icthys emblem denotes a belief in Jesus Christ. A belief in Jesus Christ (or Zeus, or Amaterasu, or Shang Ti, etc.) and a belief in evolution are two entirely seperate things. And yes, the sheer hypocrisy is maddening too. Just like the author, I have seen my share of Darwin fish slapped on the back of cars alongside "Hate is NOT a family value!" and similar dear and fluffy messages of so-called tolerance and love.

I have a friend who once lived in an American city well known for its high population of conservative religious people. She drove around with a bumper sticker that said "When religion ruled the world, it was called the Dark Ages!" She loved to complain about how people would give her dirty looks while driving, or leave notes on her car while it was parked, and would go on and on about how intolerant Christians were. She did not see the intolerance of her own actions. I believe an argument could be made that she was receiving the very reaction from people that she had sought out to begin with. I pointed out once that for every person who left a note or gave a look, there were probably twenty-five Christians who went on their way past, simply trying to live their own lives. It's very easy to bait a group of people we don't like and not even realize that we're doing it.

Years ago I saw a t-shirt that showed a Darwin fish and a Jesus fish facing each other, with a little red heart above them as though they were kissing, with the caption "Stop the fish wars." To this day, I wish I'd bought it.