These two particularly exquisite flow charts turned up over the last day or so: one from the Joint Chiefs of Staff that explains the counterinsurgency effort in Afghanistan, obtained by NBC News’ Richard Engel, and the other mapping out the counterarguments on gay marriage, via University of Minnesota, Morris professor PZ Myers’ Pharyngula blog.

Elsewhere in Minnesota news this morning …

STATE CAPITOL: House to file brief in unallotment suit. It’s a roundabout way to have their say in state’s budget after Gov. Pawlenty’s unilateral cuts. [MN Publius]

STATEWIDE: Norm Coleman is golden in guv-race poll. Smart Politics says told ya so, while candidates not named by pollster have a right to cry foul. [Politics in Minnesota; Smart Politics; Political Animal]

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: Scholars debate ID. The clash of ideas rang out as Minnesota’s P.Z. Myers pushed evolution and Ohio’s Jerry Bergman pushed back with intelligent design. [Minnesota Daily]

ROCHESTER: MnDOT hearts PRT. The state’s Department of Transportation hosts a symposium on personal rapid transit, the podcar system that’s been known to polarize people. [Associated Press]

MOOSE LAKE: Superintendent files suit over abuse as teen. His community houses sex offenders, now he alleges abuse at the hands of one, at a Catholic church retreat. [Star Tribune]

AVON: Trailers ‘untenable.’ A manufactured home park’s travails highlights the scarcity of low rents in rural areas. [Minnesota Public Radio]

But it hasn’t yet tackled Bachmann’s Earth Day floor speech about the Obama administration’s plan to regulate carbon dioxide emissions. Biologist P.Z. Myers quickly debunks some of those claims, including the biggie — that because carbon dioxide is naturally occurring it’s “harmless”:

She claims that not one study has ever been produced to show that CO₂ is harmful, and she goes further to claim that CO₂ is a harmless gas. We could correct that in just a few minutes: give me a large tank of CO₂ and a small room containing Michele Bachmann, and we’ll give her a personal experience.

Update: Bachmann is using the DCCC site to fundraise, according to MPR. She sent out an email that reads, in part:

“The Democrats are gunning for me because I refuse to shrink from a fight. With your help, I can keep fighting for your freedom, for your pocketbook, and for all that the Constitution has secured for the American people for generations.”

In his address on Tuesday, Barack Obama said, “We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and nonbelievers.”

That last word has garnered praise from many corners.

PZ Myers, perhaps Minnesota’s most prominent “nonbeliever”: “It’s a small thing, but appreciated. Everyone seems to be a bit unsatisfied with his specific choice of word, and I agree a bit. The better choice, the word that would have been more inclusive and positive, is ‘freethinkers.’ Someone let his speechwriters know.”

American Atheists’ Ed Buckner: “In his Inaugural Address today, President Barack Obama finally did what many before him should have done, rightly citing the great diversity of Americans as part of the nation’s great strength and including ‘non-believers’ in that mix. His mother would have been proud, and so are we. ”

Ronald A. Lindsay, president of the Center for Inquiry, “a global federation committed to science, reason, free inquiry, secularism, and planetary ethics.”: “For much of American history, agnostics and atheists were denied important civil rights, and in some states, until the early 1960′s, were explicitly forbidden from holding public office. Even after these legal constraints had been removed, nonbelievers were stigmatized or ignored by most politicians. We are encouraged that President Obama has unambiguously indicated he will be the president of all Americans.”

PZ Myers (Wikipedia)

While Catholic bishops and priests can hear confessions about sins as severe as murder or genocide, the Vatican’s 830-year-old Apostolic Penitentiary is “reserved for crimes which are viewed by the Church as even more serious,” writes the UK’s Telegraph. In Rome this week, this secretive “tribunal of conscience” held a two-day panel to discuss what it does and how it works. Crimes so grave they can only be absolved by the pope include attempting to assassinate the pontiff, directly participating in (or funding) abortion or desecrating the Eucharist. The inclusion of that last sin seems to put University of Minnesota professor PZ Myers in a worse class of sinner, in the eyes of Catholics, than genocidal dictators. The Telegraph even mentions the atheist biology professor, who blogged about his desecration of a communion wafer last summer, although it’s not clear from the article whether his case was specifically discussed by the Apostolic Penitentiary:

Cardinal Stafford said there had been a rise in incidents in which people would receive Communion and then spit it out or otherwise desecrate it, sometimes in Satanic rituals.

In July last year an American academic, to make a point about freedom of thought and religion, drove a nail through a Communion wafer and then threw it in a rubbish bin.

Paul Myers, from the University of Minnesota, said later: “I pierced it with a rusty nail. Then I simply threw it in the trash. Question everything. God is not great, Jesus is not your Lord.”

Such sins, which can only be dealt with by the Pope, acting through the tribunal, bring automatic excommunication from the Church. If the Pope decides to grant absolution, the excommunication is lifted.

Blogging about the news yesterday, Myers asked, “But how can I be excommunicated from a church to which I’ve never belonged?”

In response he got hate mail and death threats from across the globe, or what Myers termed “the most impressive demonstration of mass lunacy I have ever seen.” He finally followed through on the threat, piercing a communion wafer with a rusty nail and tossing it in the trash. The Minnesota Independent published an interview with the unrepentant cracker abuser in July.

A phalanx of riot police ready themselves at the RNC. Photo: Tim Roman

Newswise, it was an eventful 2008, thanks to the Republican National Convention, the historic election of Barack Obama, Sarah “In what respect, Charlie?” Palin, John McCain, Michele “anti-American” Bachmann, P.Z. Myers (and the communion “cracker” incident) and, now, the ongoing recount of ballots in Minnesota’s U.S. Senate race between Norm Coleman and Al Franken. MnIndy had a record year: We more than doubled 2007′s readership, welcoming nearly two million unique visitors, and saw nearly 6,000 comments. Here are two gauges of the stories you liked best — top 10s of the most-read and most-discussed stories.

The year’s most-read stories:

10. “Boot print on his back: Photographs, video of 17-year-old RNC protester after run-in with police,” Paul Schmelzer, September 2

12,433 views

9. “Crackdown begins: Food Not Bombs house among Saturday raids,” Jeff Severns Guntzel and Paul Schmelzer, August 30

12,483 views

8. “Youth in iconic RNC protest photo was later beaten by police, according to his mother,” Paul Schmelzer, September 2

14,670 views

7. “Bachmann controversy upends views of her re-election prospects,” Paul Demko, October 21

14,649 views

6. “Police seize ‘propaganda literature,’ staples, curtain rods, and caltrops from raided home on 17th Avenue,” Molly Priesmeyer, August 30

15,571 views

5. “Alcohol, Tobacco and Firecracker?: ‘Explosion’ in St. Paul leads to rounding up anyone with a backpack,” Molly Priesmeyer, September 3

15,739 views

4. “Franken campaign decries frivolous challenges,” Paul Demko, November 21

16,080 views

3. “RNC DIY: Plant this in your yard,” Paul Schmelzer, June 30

16,093 views

2. “Crowd control at the RNC: Fifty million unanswered questions,” Jeff Severns Guntzel, September 7

17,712 views

1. “Norm Coleman: ‘I’m a winner’ and ‘most challenges will be dismissed’,” Chris Steller, November 21

52,110 views

Most-commented stories:

10. “Letter from Alaska: Palin a maverick? Please,” David Noon, September 16: 60 comments

9. “October Surprise: Bachmann raises more than $120,000 for Tinklenberg,” Paul Schmelzer, October 18: 61 comments

8. “DCCC Poll: Bachmann’s lead in the Sixth is down to four points over Tinklenberg,” Andy Birkey: 63 comments

7. “Bachmann controversy upends views of her re-election prospects,” Paul Demko, October 21: 81 comments

6. “Bachmann calls critics of her ‘anti-America’ statements ‘liars,’” Andy Birkey: 81 comments

5. “Boot print on his back: Photographs, video of 17-year-old RNC protester after run-in with police,” Paul Schmelzer, September 2: 88 comments

4. “New McCarthyism: Bachmann calls for investigation of ‘anti-American’ Congress members,” Andy Birkey, October 17: 94 comments

3. “MnIndy interview: Unrepentant science-heathen PZ Myers still intends to prove ‘this cracker is nothing,’” Paul Schmelzer, July 14: 100 comments

2. “Crackdown begins: Food Not Bombs house among Saturday raids,” Jeff Severns Guntzel and Paul Schmelzer, August 30: 100 comments

1. “Youth in iconic RNC protest photo was later beaten by police, according to his mother,” Paul Schmelzer, September 2: 151 comments

Special thanks to our many current and past staffers and freelancers who made 2008 such a success, including: Abdi Aynte, Ken Avidor, Andy Birkey, Joe Bodell, Karl Bremer, Paul Demko, Mike Dvorak, Jeff Fecke, Tom Elko, Dan Haugen, Robin Marty, Jefferson Morley, Tony Nelson, David Noon, Nancy Olsen, Steve Perry, Anna Pratt, Molly Priesmeyer, Britt Robson, Tim Roman, James Sanna, Jeff Severns Guntzel, Peter S. Scholtes and Chris Steller.

More of MnIndy’s Best:

Top 10 photos of 2008
Top videos of 2008

Best RNC tweets