It has long been a mantra, especially in the media, that the US is fundamentally a center-right country. This assertion is routinely made by conservatives, who argue that any policy that is ostensibly liberal is going against this consensus and should be viewed as an aberration, and that Democratic electoral wins are statistical fluctuations that do not change this underlying reality. But is this statement true? [Read more…]
Mitt Romney damaged himself considerably with his infamous 47% speech, suggesting that this number of people in the US were shiftless layabouts who just wanted to mooch off the hard work of the rest and were the ones who would vote for Obama no matter what. [Read more…]
At a news conference in Thailand on November 18, president Obama made the following comments concerning the violence in Gaza and Israel: [Read more…]
Every New Year’s day, god speaks to Pat Robertson and gives him a list of predictions for the coming year. Famously, in 2007 he said that a terrorist attack would cause a mass killing in the US. For some inexplicable reason, god did not give any details that would enable people to foil the attack but no matter since it did not happen. [Read more…]
I wrote recently about Republican Florida senator Marco Rubio hedging an answer to the question on the age of the Earth. [Read more…]
Here is a random collection of cartoons, jokes, and puns for the holiday. [Read more…]
The Church of England has voted at its General Synod to deny women the opportunity to serve as bishops. This was despite a compromise that allowed congregations to request a male bishop if they opposed a woman. This has plunged the church into crisis. There are dire warnings that the Anglican church has seriously harmed itself with this decision by seeming to be outdated and out of touch. [Read more…]
(Due to the holiday, this is a repost from previous years, edited and updated.)
Today is Thanksgiving Day in the US. For an immigrant like me, the Thanksgiving holiday took a long time to warm up to. It seems to be like baseball or cricket or peanut butter, belonging to that class of things that one has to get accustomed to at an early age in order to really enjoy. For people who were born and grew up here, Thanksgiving is one of those holidays whose special significance one gets to appreciate as a child as part of learning the traditions and history and culture of this country. As someone who came to the US as an adult and did not have all the fond memories associated with the childhood experience of visiting my grandparents’ homes for a big family reunion on this occasion, this holiday initially left me unmoved. [Read more…]