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Here's the thing about the Bible: if you are a practicing Christian who adheres to it's teachings, you can't pick and choose what parts to endorse. The Bible was put together to be followed as a whole, so either you do that or you deal with the various interpretations of certain books. What you don't do is pluck a verse and/or story to use as justification for killing someone who, in your eyes, is a sinner : A little-known Oklahoma state house primary candidate is getting some national attention this week, after a local magazine found Facebook comments he made last year that appear to endorse killing homosexuals—via stoning, specifically.  Republican Scott Esk made the comments on another user’s link to a BBC article which quotes Pope Francis last July telling reporters “if a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?”  Esk responds by quoting Bible verses from the book of Romans and Leviticus which some Christians interpret to cond...

Between Twitter and phones, there doesn't seem to be much use for it .

Sincere-yet-hollow offers and feuds with the University president is pretty much his legacy in Massachusetts .

Via Botson Globe : Barbara A. Lenk, a veteran Appeals Court judge, today won confirmation to a seat on the Supreme Judicial Court, becoming the first openly gay judge to serve on the state’s highest judicial body. The Governor’s Council confirmed Lenk on a 5-3 vote. She is Governor Deval Patrick’s fourth appointment to the seven-member SJC, which issued the landmark 2003 ruling that made Massachusetts the first state to legalize same-sex marriage. Lenk, who married her partner, Debra Krupp, after the ruling, has 18 years’ experience on the bench, a degree from Harvard Law School, and a doctorate in political philosophy from Yale. Patrick nominated her to replace Justice Judith A. Cowin, who is retiring. Lenk's confirmation hearing last week lasted more than seven hours, and was often contentious. Critics raised questions about Lenk’s ruling in an incest case, and about whether she had avoided conflicts of interest when Krupp represented clients at the Appeals Court i...

From The Boston Globe : Cities and towns across the state are diverting large sums of money to “rainy day’’ accounts even as they lay off employees and make deep cuts to schools and services, girding for what many believe will be a long period of austerity. Municipal leaders give a variety of reasons — cuts in state aid, anticipated increases in health care costs, dwindling federal stimulus funds — but the financial stockpiling is also a signal they fear the funding enjoyed before the financial collapse will not return anytime soon. “This is the new normal,’’ said Mayor Dean J. Mazzarella of Leominster, which set aside $3 million this year while it also made sharp cuts that included layoffs. “And we need to adjust.’’ The increase in savings is significant — even surprising. Municipalities saved, on average, more than 6 percent of their fiscal 2009 budgets, the highest rate since at least 1994. Meanwhile, over in The New York Times ... Republicans who have taken over state ...