Perhaps one of the biggest critiques of the Evangelical Right in the US is a tendency to creatively interpret Scripture to support or prohibit activities deemed desirable or less so by the party citing the Bible or its chosen interpretation. (This may be best illustrated by a pro-gay marriage protest sign last year that read, “Leviticus also said no haircuts, but I guess we are skipping that one.”)

Case in point- noted Bible thumper Pat Robertson’s contention that divorce is permissible in cases where one spouse becomes ill with Alzheimer’s. While divorce is generally not considered acceptable among conservative Christians, Robertson likened the crippling form of dementia generally found in older people to be “like a death,” thus legitimizing a divorce morally.

At least some Christian leaders have a problem with this. Joel Hunter, senior pastor of Northland Church in Orlando, Florida, spoke out against the creative interpretation of what he believes to be God’s word, saying the slope Robertson approached was a slippery one:

“I’m just flabbergasted… I just don’t know how anyone who is reading Scripture or is even familiar with the traditional wedding vows can come out with a statement like that. Obviously, we can all rationalize the legitimacy for our own comfort that would somehow make it OK to divorce our spouse if circumstances become very different or inconvenient.”

Hunter continued:

“Obviously, you could do this for anything. … My husband watches and plays video games, and so he has left the marriage and it’s kind of like a death… It’s not death, and so we can’t start describing things as death that are really not death, and we have to stop trying to mischaracterize what Scripture says for our own convenience.”

Amusingly, this debate is an issue in which both religion and science converge against Robertson’s controversial assessment. While church leaders have condemned the statements, so too do medical professionals who see the ravages of the devastating disease each day. Dr. Amanda Smith, medical director at the University of South Florida Health Alzheimer’s Center in Tampa, Florida had this to say about Robertson’s assertion:

“To condone abandoning one’s spouse in the throes of this mind-robbing illness is absurd. While Alzheimer’s certainly affects the dynamic of relationships, marriage vows are taken in sickness and in health.”

Have you witnessed the effects of Alzheimer’s? Do you think abandoning a terminally ill spouse is morally or spiritually redeemable? Does it follow the teachings of Jesus?

Actress Scarlett Johansson has reportedly become the latest celebrity to fall victim to apparent leaked nude photos from her mobile phone, which appeared on a website on Wednesday.

The FBI has been drafted by “The Avengers” actress to investigate, according to celebrity news website TMZ. An FBI spokesman declined to confirm or deny the investigation, and a representative for Johansson was not immediately available to comment.

The photos show the 26 year-old actress in a towel with an exposed backside, while another shows her topless. They were posted on several celebrity gossip websites.

Johansson’s nude pictures are the latest to hit the internet after actresses including Jessica Alba and Vanessa Hudgens also suffered the embarrassment of explicit photos appearing on the internet.

Check out Scarlett Johansson Leaked Pictures here.

Whatever it is, the Virginia horse-country characters, who caused a scandal with their uninvited appearance at a 2009 White House state dinner, seized our attention once again Wednesday when Tareq Salahi reported that his willowy blonde wife had been abducted.

In fact, Michaele Salahi had run away, it seems — into the open arms of a grizzled rock star.

Tareq, the polo-playing scion of the feuding Oasis Winery family, lit up the Internet early Wednesday when he told TMZ his wife of eight years had gone missing — and that he believed she’d been “kidnapped.”

Hours later, though, came a calmer statement from the Warren County (Va.) Sheriff’s department:

They had talked to Michaele Salahi. She seemed fine. She had left home willingly. And she told them she didn’t want her husband to know where she was. Sad. Or was it? The spotlight had dimmed for the couple since Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of D.C.” — which turned their state dinner scandal into a juicy reality-TV plot point last year — failed to get renewed for a second season. Still, there’s been a mild buzz of activity in Salahiworld: They’ve continued to float oddball stories about themselves (i.e., a recent report that they’re trying to have a baby) to the online gossip rags. They’ve recently tried to hype a gala reopening at Oasis — though it remains mired in an ownership dispute, and its assets are scheduled to be sold at a bankruptcy auction Saturday. (Investigations of alleged charity and business fraud by the couple are said to still be in play.) Meanwhile, talk-show star Montel Williams has issued cease-and-desist notices against the duo for falsely linking his name to their gala, which the couple has claimed will be the subject of a future TV show.

But now she’s gone.

Despite Michaele’s assurances to police, Tareq (who did not return The Post’s phone calls) gave tearful interviews maintaining she must have been coerced; Warren County authorities dutifully announced they were working with the FBI “to assure her well- being.”

Oh, she’s fine. Late in the day, a publicist for Journey — yes, the ’80s arena rockers — confirmed to us (following another TMZ report) that Michaele, 45, is shacking up with guitarist Neal Schon, 57, and is currently with him at a concert tour stop in Memphis. (Journey, before their recent career resurgence, had played at Salahi-run polo matches. Read more about the Salahi-Journey connection.)

“She’s not been kidnapped,” the rep told us. “Nobody kidnapped her.”

Sigh. And hmmm. Schon’s not looking to get into reality TV, is he? “Absolutely not,” she said.

Google provided what it called an “early look” at the service on Tuesday with flights to and from a handful of cities, including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas and Minneapolis. Participating airlines include Delta, JetBlue, Continental and American.

Flight Search is a more user friendly version of a service Google launched in May. It offered flight info when you typed “flights from [a city] to [another city]” in the Google search window.

Google made its first formal foray into that segment last July with the $700 million purchase of ITA, developer of the airfare search and pricing system QPX that is used by major airlines.

A video below explains the service further:

The tone of the Labor Day speech indicates advisers inside the White House pushing for a jobs agenda to trump talk of debt and deficits have momentum going into Thursday’s speech. That address, a White House spokesman told reporters, will only make glancing reference to the long-term nation’s debt, and will instead lay out an ambitious plan to get millions of people back to work.

Obama’s speech before the workers in Detroit did not include the words debt or deficit, nor did it include admonitions that people ought to “eat their peas.”

Instead, the president stood up for the besieged labor, quoting Harry Truman from a Labor Day speech 63 years earlier, which said, “the gains of labor were not accomplished at the expense of the rest of the nation. Labor’s gains contributed to the nation’s general prosperity.”

Obama, accustomed to speaking about the need for “shared sacrifice,” spoke instead on Monday about shared prosperity.

“Now, let me say a word about labor in particular,” Obama said. “I know it’s not easy when there’s some folks who have their sights trained on you. After all that unions have done to build and protect the middle class, you’ve got people trying to claim that you’re responsible for the problems middle-class folks are facing. You’ve got Republicans saying you’re the ones exploiting working families. Imagine that.”

“Now, the fact is, our economy is stronger when workers are getting paid good wages and good benefits,” Obama continued. “Our economy is stronger when we’ve got broad-based growth and broad-based prosperity. That’s what unions have always been about — shared prosperity.”

The focus is an upbeat departure from what had become routine despondence from the White House about the need to cut spending. Friday’s dismal jobs report, showing that the labor market added zero jobs, made talk of battling the deficit that much less appealing and giving a jolt to advocates of more aggressive action to create work.

Obama said that on Thursday he’d challenge Congress to put a million construction workers back on the job.

“We’ve got roads and bridges across this country that need rebuilding. We’ve got private companies with the equipment and the manpower to do the building. We’ve got more than 1 million unemployed construction workers ready to get dirty right now. There is work to be done and there are workers ready to do it. Labor is on board. Business is on board. We just need Congress to get on board,” Obama said.

“We’re going to see if we’ve got some straight shooters in Congress. We’re going to see if congressional Republicans will put country before party,” he said. “We’ll give them a plan, and then we’ll say, do you want to create jobs? Then put our construction workers back to work rebuilding America. Do you want to help our companies succeed? Open up new markets for them to sell their products. You want — you say you’re the party of tax cuts? Well then, prove you’ll fight just as hard for tax cuts for middle-class families as you do for oil companies and the most affluent Americans. Show us what you got.”

WATCH The Full Speech:

The new Droid Bionic ad sure has it all: a Portman-esque lady in an illuminated leather blouse, brandishing a giant sword against a Terminator-looking ‘bot shooting lasers from his hands, all taking place in some crazy sky coliseum thing. As for the actual handset? Not so much on that front, save for a name at the end and a promised September release date — oh, and the implied promise that the phone will literally slice the heads off of its Android brethren. Video after the break.

A long, dry summer will come to a rainy close along the Gulf Coast this weekend as Tropical Storm Lee is expected to pour as much as 20 inches of rain over the New Orleans area.

Tropical Storm Lee, which was upgraded from a tropical depression Friday afternoon, is expected to make landfall along the southern coast of Louisiana around 1 p.m. on Saturday with winds of 60 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Forecasters said New Orleans could get up to 15 inches of rain through Sunday afternoon. The city, anxious about any possibility of a repeat of Hurricane Katrina, has already declared a state of emergency and is taking early precautions, according to the New Orleans Times Picayune.

Craig Taffaro, president of coastal St. Bernard Parish, told the newspaper that some flood gates were being closed along bayous and residents were being warned to brace for heavy rain. Still, in a parish that was nearly wiped out six years ago by Katrina, Taffaro wasn’t expecting a major event.

“We’d like the public to use this as a drill. Hopefully that’s all it will be,” he told the paper.

Tropical storm warnings are in effect from Pascagoula, Miss., across the coast to Sabine Pass, Texas.

Click here for the ABC News Hurricane Tracker.

The draught-stricken area is still at risk for flooding despite dry conditions, according to Dennis Feltgen, spokesman for the National Hurricane Center.

“We’re calling for extensive flooding, rainfall amounts of two to three inches per hour. That’s a lot of rain,” Feltgen said.

The slow-moving storm could linger over the coast well into next week.

“It’s just hovering there,” Feltgen said. “Until something comes to nudge it along, it just sits there, pumping up all that juice from the Gulf, with rain bands already spreading across southeastern Louisiana.”

Officials in Louisiana, which is still dealing with the long-term effects of Hurricane Katrina, are equipping wastewater treatment plants with temporary generators, readying portable pumps to drain streets, and preparing floodgates and pumps to prevent flooding from Lake Pointchartrain, the Times Picayune reported.

Meanwhile, on the East Coast, Katia has been upgraded once again to a hurricane, with 75 mph winds as of 11 a.m. on Friday. It had been temporarily downgraded to a tropical storm Thursday night into Friday morning.

Feltgen confirmed that Katia would not hit any land for at least five days, though its intensity was expected to increase during that time. The NHC predicts Katia could become a category 3 hurricane by Wednesday, he said.

“What impacts, if any, on the East Coast of the U.S. are still very unclear,” he said.

The “Single Ladies” singer is pregnant.

Beyoncé held her belly as she arrived at the Video Music Awards Sunday wearing a long, red dress, quite the opposite of her normal midriff-baring stage costumes.

When addressing photographers on the red carpet, Beyoncé said, “I have a surprise!” People reported.

Beyoncé’s rep later confirmed the news to the magazine. “I’m happy to say it’s true,” the rep said, according to People.

In a June interview special on “Piers Morgan Tonight,” Beyoncé said she looked forward to parenthood.

“I always said I would have a baby at 30,” said the singer whose 30^th birthday is September 4.

Apparently, Beyoncé’s husband Jay-Z has also had children on his mind. He and Kanye rapped about fatherhood on “New Day” from their new album, “Watch The Throne.”

Beyoncé and Jay-Z wed in April 2008.

WATCH:

Tyler gave an expletive-riddled acceptance speech, admitting he didn’t prepare one, and also confessed that he had dreamed of winning an MTV trophy since the age of 9. He ended the address with what seemed to be an inspirational statement to young fans, but it was largely bleeped by MTV so there isn’t much to quote.

The MTV award was for the single “Yonkers” from his solo effort “Goblin,” released on indie XL Recordings. The win was something of a surprise for MTV, as it veered from the popularity-contest feel of the show, as “Goblin” has long disappeared from Billboard’s top-200 albums chart.

Earlier, Beyonce revealed that she was pregnant with a few knowing rubs of her belly, and gave a rousing performance of “Love on Top,” a gleefully chipper single, while Orange County’s rising Young the Giant was given a prime slot for its energetic alt-rock single “My Body.”

Authorities found a body outside Flanagan’s home in Monkton, Md. on Wednesday afternoon. Hours later, the Orioles confirmed that Flanagan – who served the team as a pitcher, front office executive and television broadcaster – was dead.

“I am so sorry to hear about Mike’s passing. He was a good friend and teammate,” said Hall of Fame third baseman Cal Ripken Jr., a former teammate of Flanagan’s. “… Mike was an Oriole through and through and he will be sorely missed by family, friends and fans. This is a sad day.”

Flanagan was a crafty left-hander who went 167-143 with a 3.90 ERA over 18 seasons with Baltimore and Toronto. He didn’t possess an overpowering fastball, but won a fair share of games by depending on a slow curve, a sinker and a changeup.

Flanagan received the Cy Young Award with the Orioles in 1979 after going 23-9 with a 3.08 ERA and five shutouts. The Orioles lost the World Series that year in seven games to Pittsburgh.

“We were a family,” former teammate and Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer said after doing the Orioles telecast Wednesday night. “It’s devastating.”

Flanagan also played for Baltimore’s 1983 championship team, finishing 12-4 despite missing nearly three months with ligament damage in his left knee.

He was 141-116 with Baltimore and is a member of the team’s Hall of Fame. Flanagan was also the final Oriole to pitch at Memorial Stadium, Baltimore’s home from 1954-1991.

His career with Toronto was not as profound. Traded from Baltimore to the Blue Jays on August 31, 1987, for pitchers Oswaldo Peraza and Jose Mesa, he went 3-2 with Toronto that season, then 13-13 and 8-10.

He signed as a free agent with Baltimore in 1991 and pitched out of the bullpen during his final two seasons.

After his playing career, Flanagan worked in the Orioles’ front office as vice president for baseball operations and executive VP. In recent years, including this season, he did color commentary for the team’s TV network.

“It is with deep sadness that I learned of the death of my friend Mike Flanagan earlier this evening,” Orioles owner Peter Angelos said in a statement. “In over a quarter century with the organization, Flanny became an integral part of the Orioles family, for his accomplishments both on and off the field. His loss will be felt deeply and profoundly by all of us with the ballclub and by Orioles fans everywhere who admired him.”