The fight between the Tea Party and establishment wings for the control of the Republican party is now well out in the open. It was hoped by the GOP establishment that the Virginia and New Jersey governor’s races would break decisively in their favor. [Read more…]
The Greece v Galloway case argued before the US Supreme Court on Wednesday has once again brought to the fore the question of prayer in official government-sponsored settings. Two recent events highlight the fact that many people do not understand that the constitutional protections of freedom of speech and the free exercise of religion does not give everybody carte blanche to impose their religious and political views on others. The limits are especially strong when the ‘others’ are children in a captive environment where the sense of coercion is palpable. [Read more…]
As I said before, I think that the problems with the Affordable Care Act are technical and therefore soluble. It is already the law and is not going to be repealed. While it is true that the implementation of the ACA has problems, some of them serious, The Daily Show wonders why those opposed to it feel the need to exaggerate and even flat-out lie about them. [Read more…]
Without too much fuss or national publicity, on Tuesday the Illinois state legislature approved a bill that legalizes same-sex marriage and the governor has said he will sign it, with such marriages beginning next June. [Read more…]
A high school cross country runner Codie Thacker refused to take part in a regional championship and forfeited her chances at winning because the number that had been randomly assigned to her was the dreaded 666, known to Christian cognoscenti as the Number of the Beast, where the Beast is Satan, aka Beelzebub, aka Lucifer, aka a whole lot of other names. [Read more…]
The ‘good news, bad news’ set up is often used in jokes. But apart from humor, I bet that almost all of us have at some point been asked by someone the above question when they were about to tell us something. I hate being asked it and would much prefer the person just tell me in whatever order they like. [Read more…]
Last week a surprising rumor began to be floated that pope Francis may appoint some women as cardinals of the church. This rumor was quickly batted down by the Vatican but before they did my puzzled reaction was ” How can a church that bars women from being priests have them as cardinals?”
It turns out that while women cannot be deacons, priest, or bishops there is no prohibition against women cardinals. [Read more…]
Scotusblog provided a timeline of the Greece prayer case, along with links to all the filings and Friends of the Court briefs that were submitted. (For more see here and here.) In September, in preparation for this case, Scotusblog also had an online symposium on it and invited several people with differing views to submit opinions, which I briefly summarize below. Note that these were written before the oral arguments yesterday. [Read more…]
Did you know that men and women are being treated equally when it comes to setting premiums for the health care plans under the Affordable Care Act? Yes, that is the awful injustice being perpetrated on us that has some members of the right wing in an uproar.
Stephen Colbert understands their pain. [Read more…]
The steady movement of the Republican party towards total dominance by the crazies is undoubtedly going to hurt them in elections. Some argue that this is a good thing because it will make them marginalized. While this will undoubtedly make it easier for Democrats to win elections, especially at the Congressional and presidential level, it could well be a bad thing for progressive causes in general because of the general law that politics abhors a vacuum and that candidates will seek to fill as much space on the spectrum of viewpoints as they are allowed to get away with. [Read more…]