Starting October 16, we are currently going through the 50th anniversary of the 13 days in 1962 during which Cuban missile crisis grabbed the attention of the world and seemed to bring us to the brink of a nuclear war. [Read more…]
The Republican candidate for the US senate in Indiana Richard Mourdock has created a furor by saying in a debate with his Democratic opponent that “even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that is something that God intended to happen.” [Read more…]
Remember Joe the Plumber, whose brief casual interaction with candidate Barack Obama in 2008 shot him to stardom in Tea Party circles when John McCain repeatedly praised him in a subsequent debate? [Read more…]
On a program on MSNBC’s Morning Joe following Monday’s debate, co-host Joe Scarborough was musing uneasily about the significant new developments in warfare that the current drone program has created, where someone in America operating a joystick can blow up people half a world away, with widespread death inflicted upon people who just happen to be near the target. This was a topic that was passed over without discussion in the debate. [Read more…]
As I wrote before, there are four state referenda on same-sex marriage. Here’s an update on those ballot initiatives. [Read more…]
The Book of Mormon, like other religious books, has its origins myths. An integral part of their story is that god punished the bad tribe (the Lamanites) by giving them dark skin while the favored ones (the Nephites) are given light skin. Brian Keith Dalton (aka Mr Deity) is a former Mormon and he explains how this racism is embedded in the Book of Mormon as an integral part of its theology. [Read more…]
On the ballot in November in Ohio is Issue #2 that seeks to take the drawing of electoral boundaries in the state out of the hands of elected officials who have a vested interest in drawing lines that favor incumbents and the majority party. [Read more…]
Evangelist Billy Graham has put out full-page ads in Ohio newspapers including the Plain Dealer basically calling on people to vote for Mitt Romney. [Read more…]
I did not watch the debate, preferring to spend a quiet evening reading, but did read the transcript this morning to see what was said and how it compared with my predictions from yesterday. In general, it seemed to have gone pretty much according to that script. You can also read The Guardian‘s entertaining live-blog by Richard Adams. [Read more…]
I am a great admirer of polite and urbane but devastating put-downs of bullies and blowhards. Bill Moyers delivered a beautiful one to Bill O’Reilly for something the latter said in his recent debate with Jon Stewart. [Read more…]