Last night Rachel Maddow’s lead story, which is often the highlight of her show was a disappointing bit of smarmy partisan hackery as she wondered, with oh so much sincerity, why John Boehner was such a bad Speaker of the House. But then her reporting on Clarence Thomas was more interesting and worth calling to [...]
Anderson Cooper interviews Montana State Representative Bob Wagner who refuses to admit that he knows either that President Obama was born in America or even that being born in America makes someone a citizen: Stupefyingly, Representative Wagner is representative of more than 50% of likely Republican primary voters: Birthers make a majority among those voters [...]
Watching this video, I’m starting to fear those who have seemingly no belief in either the intrinsic value or potential effectiveness of democracy as much as I fear Islamism: Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Your Thoughts?
Alright, before I get into my possibly anal critique of an off-hand remark from the good Dr. Myers of Pharyngula fame, let me preface what follows with the disclaimer that I really love PZ Myers. I think he’s great. There are few bloggers I read who make both my brain happy and butter up my [...]
A really well made music video for their otherwise mediocre song “Evolution”: Your Thoughts?
There’s some needless name-calling in what follows but the laundry list of indisputably valuable reforms and programs offered, all of which are creditable to the Democrats, is really staggering: Your Thoughts?
Rachel Maddow covers the remarkable story about Wyoming State Representatives Lisa Shepperson and Sue Wallis making a small government conservatism argument against a paternalistic proposed abortion law: Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Wallis is the mother of 7 and the grandmother of 1. More about her can be [...]
Some already did: In July of 1798, Congress passed – and President John Adams signed – “An Act for the Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen.” The law authorized the creation of a government operated marine hospital service and mandated that privately employed sailors be required to purchase health care insurance. Keep in mind that [...]
There are more instances of emphatic agreement in this 34 second clip than I have ever witnessed between debating philosophers in my 15 years spent in philosophy. Your Thoughts?
via The Daily Dish (whose Egypt coverage all-day, everyday is must read) and whatstherumpus.) Your Thoughts?
Nathan Brown is a political science professor at George Washington University and director of the school’s Institute for Middle East Studies. He gives an overview of the Muslim Brotherhood’s evolution from their found through to today, explains how their renunciation of violent means came to pass decades ago, why al-Qaeda sees them as sell outs, [...]
Conor Friedersdorf thinks the left is better off without Olbermann and not having all the liabilities that come with inflammatory characters: The left has its own malign influences on public discourse. Some are rich and successful. It no more makes sense for liberals to envy the right it’s talk radio hosts than it makes sense [...]
I received secondhand this reply to my post on Clinton’s response to the situation in Egypt: 1. I’d like his explicit definition or explication of “long term concerns for stability in the region.” 2. If we really want the United States not to be dictating to foreign countries what they should do then we should [...]
In reply to yesterday’s open philosophical question whether a Swedish law banning any school, even private ones, from indoctrinating students by teaching their religious tenets as truths (with the ulterior motive of undermining Islamic schools’ abilities to radicalize their students), Mary Young makes a rigorous and eloquent case against such bans well worth highlighting (and [...]
I have already made my case that Secretary Clinton is saying the right things. In the interest of giving equal time to alternative viewpoints, here is a wholly uncharitable and scathing video which “translates” recent remarks to show that she allegedly “really means” the wrong things: Your Thoughts?
As always when I venture out of my areas of specialization, let me preface all following remarks with the obvious reminder—I am by no means a foreign policy expert or a Middle East expert. So take the following on the merits of my arguments and bring forth any facts you think I may need to [...]
In response to Ricky Gervais’s fervent insistence that he was not mocking religion at the Golden Globes, which I aired earlier this afternoon, Jude takes Gervais to task, as charitably as she can, for not owning up to what he is effectively doing in his act: I’ll begin by saying, as you know Dan, that [...]
Rachel doing what she does best, the night after Obama’s State of the Union speech last week: Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Your Thoughts?
Sweden is planning to make it illegal, even for private schools, to teach religious doctrines as true. Their content may be discussed, of course, but they will not be able to be presented as facts. In The Guardian, Andrew Brown explains the issues involved and the ulterior motives which may really explain the legislation: The [...]
It’s been well over a year since I’ve felt inclined to give out a ’nuff said award to a commentator, but Mary’s reply to my post on charity, religion, and conservatism definitely qualifies as a comment which deserves its own blog post and needs no further comment from me: The driving force behind what calls [...]
Last week a heinous, conscience-shocking injustice occurred when the brave, openly gay, Ugandan gay rights campaigner David Kato (pictured above) was murdered shortly after a Ugandan newspaper featured him on the cover with the headline: “100 PIctures of Uganda’s Top Homos Leak” and the words “Hang Them” next to it. The AP photo of the newspaper [...]
Every time I see him speak of late, he only becomes better. It’s almost like the cancer only makes him stronger: Your Thoughts?
Tom Rhees has a fascinating article in which he analyzes religious and irreligious generosity by a number of metrics, yielding some revealing insights. The whole piece is worth reading. But I would like to focus on this last bit: Arguably, charity is a means to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor. Seen in [...]