Does Michelle Obama not act and look like a First Lady should?

You may recall I wrote last month about the minor flap that occurred when NPR reporter Ari Shapiro broadcast a short interview with a woman named Bobbie Lussier at an American Legion meeting in Indianapolis. Referring to the Obamas, Lussier told him, “I just – I don’t like him. Can’t stand to look at him. I don’t like his wife. She’s far from the first lady. It’s about time we get a first lady in there that acts like a first lady and looks like a first lady.” [Read more…]

Upcoming events of interest to skeptics in the Cleveland area

1. The Center for Inquiry Northeast Ohio will be holding its 2012 conference on the topic “On the Barricades: Reason vs. Religion in Public Policy” on Saturday, October 6, 2012 from 9:00am to 4:00 pm in the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Independence, Ohio.

More details of the program and registration information can be found here.

2. The CWRU chapter of the Center for Inquiry will be hosting Eddie Tadash who will talk on “Is America a Christian Nation?”

The talk is free and open to the public and will be held on Sunday, October 7 at 6:00 pm in Room 322 in the Wickenden building on the Case quad of the campus.

Unequal justice

Glenn Greenwald gives us a horror story of how the US government will go to any lengths, however cruel, to prosecute ordinary people for minor crimes that were well intentioned, while ignoring the major crimes of important figures.

His recounting of the story of how they treated Dr. Shakir Hamoodi should make people’s blood boil.

DOMA works its way through the courts

It is to Bill Clinton’s eternal shame that he did not veto the Defense of Marriage Act when he was president and to my knowledge he has never apologized for it, but has simply shifted in his reasons for signing it. It is anticipated that the constitutionality of the law will be decided by the US Supreme Court in its upcoming term, though it has not selected any of the cases as yet. [Read more…]

The attacks on free speech gain steam

As could be predicted, the violence resulting from the anti-Islamic film Innocence of Muslims has resulted in calls for the limits to freedom of speech and laws for the protection of religious sensibilities. The president of Egypt Mohamed Morsi and the president of Yemen Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi both made speeches at the United Nations this week calling for such restrictions. [Read more…]