The Daily Show had two good segments on the US policy of using drones to kill people. It looks at the so-called legal rationale that the Obama administration created to justify its own actions and how the language in it is designed to deceive rather than clarify. The memo is a deliberate exercise in the cynical use of language and reveals the utter hypocrisy of the Obama administration on this issue. [Read more…]
I have never understood the appeal of golf as a spectator sport. It seems to take forever for the players to hit the ball, and even then you can’t even see the ball’s trajectory or where it lands. But the big tournaments draw big crowds, even though you can see only a tiny bit of what is going on. At least with other slow games like cricket and baseball, you can see the entire action. I also find it hilarious that there has to be pin drop silence when a golfer is about to hit a stationary ball, when in tennis or baseball the players have to hit a ball traveling at around 100 mph with crowds screaming in their ears. [Read more…]
NPR had an interesting story on the controversy in France as that country’s legislature moves ahead on its plans to legalize same-sex marriage and allow adoption by same-sex couples. While the changes have support in the urban areas, the rural areas are more hostile, especially to the adoption provision, which is an interesting reversal of the situation in the US where same-sex adoption has become accepted. [Read more…]
I watched a lot of Sesame Street with my children when they were young. I particularly loved their parodies because they work on two levels, teaching simple lessons to young children while at the same time entertaining their adult companions by riffing off adult films and TV shows and music. Now that my children are grown I no longer watch the show but once in a while come across a new good parody. [Read more…]
We already heard of the killing of people carrying out polio vaccinations in Pakistan because of alarmist fears raised by the Taliban that vaccination was part of a western plot, fears that were fuelled by the horrendous decision by the US government to use a fake vaccination scheme to try and unearth Osama bin Laden. [Read more…]
Immigrants are in the news with the last election catapulting them into prominence as people began to realize that they are a significant voting bloc and are projected to grow larger as a percentage of the population. The Pew research organization released on Thursday the results of a survey they have done on the views of second-generation Hispanics and Asians as compared to their parents and there are hopeful signs for how social views will evolve in the future. [Read more…]
The Church of Scientology has been in the news recently (see here and here) with the publication of Lawrence’s Wright’s book Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief that exposes the seamy underbelly of the organization and its cruel and despotic leader David Miscavige. [Read more…]
In a bizarre case that happened in our neck of the woods, the leader of a breakaway Amish sect was found guilty of getting his family members and followers to forcibly enter the homes of those whom he considered enemies and shearing their hair and beards in October 2011. Hair and beards have religious significance for the Amish. “The hair and beard cuttings are meant to be degrading and insulting to the men, according to Amish experts. Once married, Amish men let their beards grow and women do the same with their hair, believing such action is prescribed by the Bible.” (I wrote about the Amish community’s lifestyles before.) [Read more…]
News reports have emerged that the US has been using a base in Saudi Arabia to launch its drone attacks in the region. What is most interesting is that big media outlets like the New York Times and the Washington Post have known about this for more than a year but rrefrained from publishing it at the request of the government. [Read more…]
Journalist Louis Theroux was given extraordinary access to the members of the Westboro Baptist Church, going to their church and homes in Topeka, Kansas and talking to members of the organization and produced two fascinating documentaries for the BBC. The first appeared in 2007 and was called The Most Hated Family in America and I wrote about it here. The follow-up was in 2011 and was called The Most Hated Family IN CRISIS and I wrote about it here. Those posts also give links to the two documentaries. [Read more…]