Is Obama a Muslim?
President Obama has gotten some criticism for his response to the planned mosque near Ground Zero. However, this isn’t the only time that Obama has had problems with Islam. In the last presidential election, the former Illinois senator was assailed because of his middle name Hussein as seen in the snopes.com article from 2008. Recently, Barack Obama has been labeled as a Muslim once again, not by his political opponents, but by 18% of America.
The Pew Research Center survey was conducted between July 21 and August 5 (before Obama addressed the mosque situation in New York) and asked 3,000 people what Obama’s religion is. The survey found that 18% of Americans believe that Obama is a Muslim, up 7% from March 2009. The survey also found that 34% of America thinks that Obama is a Christian, and 43% of the United States say that they do not know Obama’s religion.
The final verdict is that Obama is not a Muslim; he is a Christian. He may not have chosen a church to regularly attend in Washington, D.C., but he’s not going to attend a mosque any time soon.
Read on:
Pew Research Center – Growing Number of Americans Say Obama is a Muslim
USA TODAY – What is Obama’s religion?
ABC News – The Rev. Franklin Graham Says President Obama was ‘Born a Muslim’
ABC News – Stained-Glass Ceiling: Would America Vote for a Non-Christian?
How does salmonella get in eggs?
The big egg recall originating with eggs packaged in Iowa has many people talking and checking their refrigerators this week, and you can never be too safe when dealing with salmonella and other bacteria, but the truth is the risk of salmonella in eggs has actually decreased in the past 10 – 20 years thanks to increased quality control, food safety, refrigeration standards, etc.1
What many people want to know but are afraid to ask is how does the salmonella get into the eggs? We all know the working environment on farms is a “natural” one, but many of us choose to block all that out when we eat our grilled chicken or steak, magically produced from the meat fairy. In reality, it’s a real, raw process, and in the case of salmonella in eggs, here is the likely scenario according to USA Today’s Q&A:
“Salmonella exists in rodents and some insects, which can carry the bacteria into poultry houses, infecting flocks. Once a hen is infected, she can infect her eggs in one of two ways:
The hen’s stool is contaminated with salmonella, and when she lays her eggs stool can get on the eggs, contaminating their exterior. This is why eggs are always washed.
However, with salmonella enteritidis, the infection can actually enter the hen’s ovary, according to Christopher Braden an epidemiologist with the CDC. The egg yolk and white are infected before the shell is even formed, so the infection is on the inside and cannot be washed away.”2
Sooo… you might want to make this subject an after dinner topic, rather than the typical dinner topic we try to provide. Your company will thank you for holding off on the information until after the food has been cleaned up.
Read on:
FDA.gov – official recall information including egg brand names and packaging dates
Roger Clemens and definitions of perjury and indictment
Roger Clemens has been indicted on perjury and other charges related to his 2008 hearing when he provided a testimony regarding his use, or lack of use, of steroids.
Before you start recounting this story, you should really make sure you’re aware of some definitions.
“Indict” is a formal accusation of wrongdoing1, so don’t confuse the word with “convicted” which relates to the finding of guilt. At this point, Clemens has simply been charged with wrongdoing.
“Perjury” is “willful and corrupt taking of a false oath in regard to a material matter in a judicial proceeding.”2 In other words, it’s lying under oath.
It will be difficult to find Clemens guilty of perjury, because according to sites like freeadvice.com,
“Perjury prosecutions stemming from civil lawsuits are particularly rare. This is because it is difficult to prove that someone is intentionally misstating a material fact, rather than simply testifying honestly from faulty memory.”
Clemens claimed that teammate Andy Pettitte “misremembered” a conversation with him regarding steroids, so it will be interesting to see if Clemens can now simply claim that whatever false statements he made during his testimony was simply a case of “misremembering” as well.
Read on:
Newsday.com – Roger Clemens indicted on perjury charges
Time.com – Three Strikes? Clemens To Be Indicted for Perjury
(image above from NYTimes.com by Doug Mills)
Wyclef Jean – who he is, what he’s up to, and how to pronounce his name
Wyclef Jean is a hip hop artist with family roots in Haiti who wants to become Haiti’s next president. Before you start chuckling, don’t forget about political names such as Ronald Reagan, Bill Bradley, Sonny Bono, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Al Franken, and Jesse “The Body” Ventura. After the earthquake ravaged the already depressed country of Haiti, Jean felt it was his duty to run for office and move power away from a group often considered to be corrupt.
What are Jean’s credentials? Very little, but the link below discusses the positives and negatives about a hip hop artist suddenly putting himself in the running for the highest office in a given country. Two nuggets:
- Wyclef Jean’s name is NOT pronounced “jeen” but with a softer j, like “zhahn.”
- Despite the recent hype, Jean may not even be eligible to run for president because of a potential failure to meet certain requirements, such as residing in Haiti for five consecutive years before election. 1 A ruling is expected soon.
Time.com – Wyclef Jean to Run for President of Haiti
(image above taken from: page2live.com)
Bobby Thomson Dies but his shot still heard ’round the world
You’ve heard this before: “The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!” For those of you not into baseball history, that familiar audio drop is in reference to Game 3 of a regular season playoff between the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers in which Bobby Thomson hit a game winning home run off pitcher Ralph Branca to send the Giants to the World Series. Thomson died yesterday at 86, so expect to hear plenty of talk about him in the coming days. Here are a few interesting notes to shares with friends about Thomson and that fateful 1951 season:
- Thomson also hit a home run off Branca in Game 1.
- The Giants went on to lose the World Series to the Yankees, 4 games to 2. Branca did NOT homer in the Series.
- For a short time during the ’51 season, Branca was replaced in the lineup by Willie Mays, a 20-year-old rookie.
- Theories now abound that the Giants were stealing the catcher’s signals from a centerfield “spy” and relaying them to the hitter in the ’51 season, which is why the team was able to make a late surge.
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Read on:
nytimes.com – Bobby Thomson Dies at 86; Hit Epic Home Run
baseball-reference.com – 1951 National League Standings
Explanation of “grounding a club”
NOT a PGA pro
The PGA Championship finished yesterday evening in dramatic fashion, and the result has been the big story on talk radio this morning. Before you make it to lunch, you should know the situation.
Dustin Johnson was penalized two strokes for “grounding his club” in a hazard on the 18th, likely costing him the victory. Johnson hit a ball in a patch that he thought was simply part of the rough, NOT a bunker or hazard. Because the area was considered a hazard, Johnson was subject to Rule 13-4b, which states that the player must NOT
Touch the ground in the hazard or water in the water hazard with his hand or a club;1
“Grounding the club” means just what you’d think: placing the club on the ground before swinging either to test the ground or begin a practice swing. Johnson did just that, thinking he was dealing with a normal lie, and the result cost him a major title. Think of a normal bunker situation and you’ll remember that golfers always take a practice swing in the air – in other words, they’re not hacking up the sand because they’re not allowed to. This is the process Johnson should have used, but the error was made not because of a blatant mental error but rather because of a vague interpretation of what is or isn’t a hazard on the course.
There is plenty of debate whether a field official could have or should have alerted him and whether he should have requested a ruling. The reality is that Johnson didn’t think it was a hazard so he didn’t think there was a need to ask anyone anything. Also, because of the inordinate amount of bunkers on the course (Whistling Straits), a specific set of supplementary rules was distributed and even posted in the locker room to avoid this exact confusion.
It’s an unfortunate ending but a very intriguing story that will be talked about for a while, and now you know enough details to “drive” your point home and explain what grounding a club means.
Read on:
GolfDigest.com – What rule did Dustin Johnson violate?
GolfBlogger.com – Grounding Your Club In A Hazard
FanHouse.com – Dustin Johnson Penalized Two Shots, Misses Playoff
Obama and the mosque in New York
One of the bigger circulating stories the past couple days is the talk of a proposed mosque to be built in New York City near the original 9/11 attacks. President Obama has become involved in the issue and there seems to be some confusion by his stance. A couple things:
- A mosque is a place for Muslims (followers of Islam) to worship.
- Obama was neither supporting nor condemning the building of a mosque close to Ground Zero. The President and the federal government in general have nothing to do with the mosque. Obama was simply defending the right for someone to build a mosque (or church, synagogue, etc.) in a place where permits allow such a thing.
Most of the posts on Dinner Topics try not to slant one way or the other (we prefer that you make up your own mind), but this is an interesting case because many Democrats are supporting Obama’s statement in that it is in direct correlation with our Constitution and the idea of religious freedom. Republicans are against it, even though they also agree that it upholds the freedoms America is supposed to represent. Ed Rollins (Rep.) wants to prevent the mosque because it is an emotional topic.
I thought the whole idea of a Constitution was to have a set of laws that can be used civilly, even when emotions may cloud our judgment. As someone who has voted for candidates on both sides of the ballot and in between, I prefer using logic and adherence to the law in my decisions rather than emotion and the side of the ballot my candidate resides.
This is a very “hot button” issue, and now that you know some details, read on and start some dialogue with your guests today. Post your comments here because Dinner Topics is curious to hear some thoughts on how one can be for religious freedom but against the building of a place to exercise it.
Free Football Newsletter
Read on:
USAToday.com – Obama makes proposed mosque in New York a national issue
(image above from: http://www.loonwatch.com/tag/anti-mosque-protest/)
How can GM have an IPO?
General Motors is hitting the business headlines again, this time for two reasons. First, the CEO, Ed Whitacre, brought in back in January to right the ship, will be stepping down and Daniel Akerson (a current GM board member) will take over September 1st. It wasn’t much of a surprise because Whitacre is 68 and his reign was intended to be short term with the focus being put on getting GM in a better financial position. The other news is only speculation so far, but it involves the possibility that GM will be offering public stock once again through an IPO (an IPO filing is expected today). If you aren’t an avid investor or forgot some of the details involving government bailouts, bankruptcies, and business failings from the past couple years, here is a quick refresher on what happened with GM and its stock.
GM filed for bankruptcy and all of the publicly traded shares were liquidated, courtesy of the new temporary owners which included the “U.S. Treasury, the governments of Canada and Ontario, the UAW VEBA and Motors Liquidation Company.” 1 Then, thanks to some savvy name changing, General Motors Corporation became Motors Liquidation Company and Motors Liquidation Company sold the “good” assets to the “new” GM named General Motors Company.
It sounds confusing, but the separation was a way for GM to separate the bad assets from the good. It has enabled General Motors Company to declare themselves free from bankruptcy. After all, those bad assets are now the property of Motors Liquidation Company. Still confused? Imagine Bob getting arrested for a robbery. Bob changes his name to Tom, and the newly named Tom says “I never robbed that bank. Bob did.” That’s it in a nutshell, and now Tom, I mean the new GM will likely be issuing new stock in the near future. The only question is whether there are enough investors still willing to forgive and forget the financially crumbled past and jump back in.
Now that you’ve had a refresher course on the situation, you can weigh in with your opinion when Uncle Frank reminisces about the good ol’ days of the American auto industry.
Read on:
Freep.com – Wrong time for GM IPO? Not necessarily
SmartMoney.com – Who Is Going to Buy GM Stock?
