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Condoms: Is there nothing they can't solve?
Today's New York Times editorializes, "The United States will never contain deadly diseases like AIDS and hepatitis C without common-sense programs that distribute condoms in prisons."

Such programs "are unavailable in about 95 percent of this country's prisons … despite studies showing that same-sex encounters behind bars are more common than prison officials care to admit," the Paper of Record explains.

Uh, yeah, Weblog has seen some of those studies. One in five male inmates reports that he has been forced into sexual activity while in prison; about 10 percent say they have been raped. The Times editorial doesn't even mention prisoner rape (pity the paper didn't check its archives). Implementation of 2003's Prison Rape Elimination Act has been "slow" and "fraught with problems," says an update from Stop Prisoner Rape.

But The New York Times thinks it can solve the problem exacerbated by prison rape with condoms, just as Times columnist Nicholas Kristof thinks that condoms can solve the problems exacerbated by marital rape in Africa. Given that the Times has repeatedly reported that it's hard to get at-risk men in gay bars to use condoms, why does the paper think they'll be all the rage for rapists?

50 Shekel: the first Messianic Jewish rapper?
Coming soon to the cover of Relevant magazine? Media darling 50 Shekel made his mark as "the New King of Heeb-Hop" with his single "In Da Shul," a takeoff of 50 Cent's popular "In Da Club." His other songs, however, were not parodies. But is his conversion to Christianity and joining Jews for Jesus?

At first glance, it does look like a joke, a la Tool's Maynard James Keenan. On 50 Shekel's website, he's dressed in one of those Jesus T-shirts that are oh-so-cute among the ironic these days. And the five-second version of his conversion testimony should give the skepticism meters a workout: He says he was converted after watching The Passion of the Christ (shades of South Park's The Passion of the Jew). The site also promotes Chick Publications' anti-Catholic tracts (which CT exposed as false years ago).

But the longer version of 50 Shekel's testimony (his real name: Aviad Cohen) really doesn't read like parody—even a very subtle kind. And some Jews certainly think his conversion is legit: The Jewish newspaper Forward notes that Baltimore's Jews for Judaism is encouraging a 50 Shekel boycott, and Jewish sites Bang It Out and Jewschool are arguing who is to blame for his conversion. Quoth one Jewschool reader of Cohen: "Kill him. These Jews for Jesus give me a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I can't even describe the sheer and utter disgust and contempt I feel for these heretic mamzers."

Even if Cohen's conversion is parody, such jokes have an odd way of boomeranging. After all, the first Christian rap album released in the CCM market, 1985's "Gospel Rap" by the Rap'Sures, started off as a joke, too. It became successful, and spawned several sequel albums; now Christian rap is a solid sub-genre. And let's not forget the classic ironic-rap-turned-megahit, the Beastie Boys.

To quote The Simpsons:

Teen1: Oh … he's cool.

Teen2: Are you being sarcastic, dude?

Teen1: I don't even know anymore.

Listen to 50 Shekel's latest album here and here.

Religion columnist: Bible will make you nuts
Palm Beach Post religion columnist Steve Gushee regularly gets a drubbing from GetReligion's Terry Mattingly, who considers him the worst (or at least, most hathotic) religion columnist working today. Weblog isn't quite on that bandwagon, but is eager to say what Mattingly will say about today's column, in which Gushee says it's basically a crapshoot whether Bible readers will be led to love or kill their neighbors:

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June (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49