It was supposed to be a massive show of unity against the Boy Scouts of America's ban on homosexual scout leaders. Rallies were planned at 36 Boy Scout offices in 21 states (or 40 cities in 19 states, depending on what paper you're reading). But what if you threw a protest and nobody came? Only half a dozen showed up for a Houston march. Even San Francisco only had 30 protesters—about the same as Washington, D.C. And at Boy Scout headquarters in Irvine, Texas, only a dozen gay activists demonstrated. The New York Times, which usually jumps at any opportunity for gay-related news, doesn't even mention the protests in today's paper—and it's a relatively slow news day.

Borno, Nigeria's northeasternmost state, is the latest Nigerian state to adopt the strict Islamic law—despite an agreement with the federal government that it would not do so. As in other states, Christians are protesting the decision.

Gary Paul Karr may not have been found guilty of kidnapping or killing the famed atheist, but under Texas's "three strikes" law, the four counts of extortion and theft jurors did find him guilty of are enough to send him away for life. Still, the jurors don't think justice was done. "Gary Karr is right that he got the short end of the stick," said jury foreman and attorney Hector Rodriguez. "We kept wondering why we didn't have [former O'Hair employee David] Waters on trial. We didn't buy the prosecutor's story that Karr was a kidnapper or a killer. Most of us weren't convinced the O'Hairs are even dead." (See also the Associated Press coverage of Karr's sentencing.)