I get comments....

On this post about Thomas Jefferson not being a Christian:

"Thomas jefferson was a a secret muslim and practised polygamy. They just found out that his ancestors were arabs."

Hmm.. This is either someone incredibly stupid or hilariously prankish. So... a quick google. This company: The Wellcome Trust funded this college: University of Leicester to have their geneticists do a DNA check on the DNA of Thomas Jefferson. One of the projects is:

Sequencing of the human genome at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute

Ok, so far so good. So, what is this about Jefferson?: (my bold)

Almost 10 years ago, the University of Leicester team, led by Professor Mark Jobling, together with international collaborators, showed that Thomas Jefferson had fathered at least one of the sons of Sally Hemings, a slave of Jefferson’s.

The work was done using the Y chromosome, a male-specific part of our DNA that passes down from father to son. Jefferson carried a very unusual Y chromosome type, which helped to strengthen the evidence in the historical paternity case.

Now, new techniques have been brought to bear on Jefferson’s Y chromosome, in a study reported in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. The presidential chromosome turns out to belong to a rare class called ‘K2’, which is found at its highest frequency in the Middle East and Eastern Africa, including Oman, Somalia and Iraq. Its closest match was in a man from Egypt. Could this mean that the President had recent ancestry in the Middle East? A careful survey revealed a few K2 chromosomes in France, Spain and England. Together, the K2s form a diverse group that may, in fact, have been in western Europe for many thousands of years.

Further evidence for Jefferson’s British origins come from the finding that two out of 85 randomly recruited men named Jefferson share exactly the same Y chromosome as the President. Prof Jobling said: ‘The two men have ancestry in Yorkshire and the West Midlands, and knew of no historical connection to the USA. They were amazed and fascinated by the link, which connects them into Thomas Jefferson’s family tree, probably about 11 generations ago.’

The ultimate origins of K2 chromosomes remain a mystery, however, and need further investigation: while they may have been present in Europe since the Stone Age, another possibility is that K2s came to Europe with the Phoenicians, an ancient maritime trading culture that spread out across the Mediterranean from their home in what is now Lebanon. The US media has taken up a different theory, leading to the New York Times headline, ‘Jefferson – the first Jewish president?’: European K2 chromosomes may originate in Sephardic (Spanish) Jewish populations, who have their ultimate origins in the Middle East.

Prof Jobling said: ‘When we look closely at large collections of British Y chromosomes we find surprises, like this rare K2 lineage, and the African chromosome that we recently found in a Yorkshireman. These exotic chromosomes remind us of the complexity of British history and prehistory.’

So the poor benighted fool who frothed at the thought that Jefferson had 'impure' blood most decidedly has 'exotic DNA' in his lineage as well. In fact we ALL have African blood.

Welcome to the gene pool, pal!

While lying in your VA hospital bed and feeling ill

Be more assertive in beating off a persistent chaplain who notices you are an Orthodox Jew and decides you need to be converted.

While the staff decides you don't need kosher food.

Onward, Christian soldiers!

This is far worse than Pelosi's evil doer scarf

Bush:

The most common hat for men in the synagogue is a small round cap called a yarmulke (Yiddish) or a kippah (Hebrew), but an ordinary homburg or street hat will be accepted.

So. Where is the outrage?

Nothing is as American

As a good old-fashioned witch hunt:

The Repository in Canton, Ohio reports on a teacher who is suing The Hampton Bays school district in Long Island, N.Y for firing her because they believed she was a Witch. Lauren Berrios, who is Jewish, claims that rumors of witchcraft started circulating when she didn't attend Christian services that she was invited to.

"In 2001, Lauren Berrios filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Central Islip saying she was fired because co-workers wrongly believed she was a witch. Berrios is Jewish and said the witchcraft rumors surfaced because she turned down invitations to attend Christian services. The accusations intensified after a fifth-grade reading lesson on the Massachusetts Bay Colony, when Berrios mentioned the Salem witch trials in a historical context, said her lawyer, John Ray."

The school claims that the firing was due to poor performance, but this doesn't seem to add up with reports on Berrios's performance at her new job in Atlanta where she was voted teacher of the month. Berrios's attorney also claims to have some fairly concrete evidence proving that the school thought she was a Witch.

"Ray said he has strong evidence to prove Berrios was fired amid religious hysteria. He said he plans to call former principal Andrew Albano as a witness. Ray said he will read testimony into the court record of Albano saying during a deposition that he believed Berrios practiced witchcraft. Albano could not be reached Monday."

If Berrios wins this case (the suit is for 2 million dollars), it could act as a strong deterrent against future arbitrary firings due to a perceived adherence to a modern Pagan faith. Her experience mirrors many modern Pagans who are in the "broom closet" due to working in places with a predominately Christian staff (or clientele), and who fear the effects of the "rumor mill" on their livelihood. Opening statements for the case are scheduled for Wednesday.