It may come as a small comfort that lawmakers are still using the Bible to back up their case in the legislative process, but it's being used on both sides of some debates, and when both sides are more interested in finding verses that back up their previously held notions than they are about figuring out what the Bible says then there's bound to be trouble. And there was trouble this week as lawmakers try to figure out what to do with the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or, food stamps), the claims for which have skyrocketed since the economic downturn.

Representative Juan Vargas, a California Democrat, argued to keep things going more or less as they are, citing Jesus' words that whatever we do for the least of these, we do for him. This spurred a memorized Bible verse in Tennessee Republican Stephen Fincher's memory, who quoted 2 Thessalonians 3:10: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.” Ultimately, the cuts to SNAP ended up passing. Who knew Washington to be such big Thessalonians fans? ... Discuss

Steven Spielberg announced today that he's going to be the executive producer on a new Halo television show, one that will be exclusively available on Xbox's new "interactive TV" ecosystem. The idea is that the new Xbox (they're calling it "Xbox 1") will be your hub for your gaming, your television, your music, potentially all your friendships and perhaps your very identity as a human being. The big announcement was, of course, original television content, including—most notably—Spielberg's Halo live-action series, which will be based on the deliriously popular first-person shooter game that put Xbox on the map ... Discuss

Kevin Durant, largely known as both a star for the Oklahoma City Thunder and a generally great person, has donated a million dollars to the victims of the Oklahoma tornadoes. At this point, it would be weird if Durant wasn't doing something great and trying to help people out, as he has a long history of being one of the nicest guys in professional sports ... Discuss

It looks like ESPN could be laying off as many as 400 people today. The reason for this wildly profitable organization's cutbacks are a little hazy, but, according to Deadspin, it may have something to do with ESPN's recent addiction to buying rights to live events. Also, Disney—which owns ESPN—has been cutting a lot of costs lately, so this could just be a decision made by the much higher-ups. Either way, it's a very unexpected move from a very successful company ... Discuss

Great news everyone! A new study that was funded by the National Confectioners Association has uncovered some fascinating new research dispelling decades-old myths perpetuated by so-called “medical experts”, curmudgeonly dentists and mean ‘ole parents, about the ill health effects of eating too much candy. According to their groundbreaking research, “Frequency of candy consumption was not associated with the risk of obesity, overweight/obesity, elevated waist circumference, elevated skinfold thickness” or other terrible anti-candy lies perpetuated by the people who obviously hate fun. So, who is this “National Confectioners Association” that has helped bring such revolutionary science to light? They’re the group that represents the gum, chocolate and candy industries … Discuss