The GoP in the House want to declare 2010 “The Year of the Bible.” Why not the Koran, the Talmud, the Gita, or, for that matter, Thus Spake Zaruthstra? Oh, because “the Bible has inspired acts of patriotism that have unified Americans…” Is that it? A whole year for that?

No good will come if this, and if we are very lucky, no good means no bad either. At the very best, the country will ignore this as thoroughly as we ignored it in 1983, which was also designated The Year of The Bible. Do you remember that? Me neither, and I was in Kansas at the time, where the Bible has a little more presence than some other places. Read the rest of this entry »

Go read this article http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/19/business/19credit.html and give me YOUR spin on it.

This article was brought to my attention by someone who I will not name, out of respect. I mean, he’s an otherwise nice guy. But he posted a link to this article, and then said, “If I pay my credit card bills before they draw interest, it’ll mean I pay for it in other ways, more than those who carry debt…That’s a great law!! We end up paying for people who don’t pay…good thinking here!” (I changed the wording, because I don’t want to appear to be sucker-punching him in a place he cannot respond. But this is the gist.)

In response, someone else wrote “Another amazing Washington accomplishment! Gotta love those flippin goof balls!” (I didn’t change this one. I don’t know this guy). Read the rest of this entry »

It seems that Washington, as in the state, is getting around to legalizing gay marriage. They have not done it yet, but they’re getting closer by having passed a bill that gives same-sex domestic partners all of the rights of a married couple. Go read about it here. Then take a look at the date on that piece. April 15, 2009. How come I am only hearing about this now? Read the rest of this entry »

An article was recently brought to my attention. It seems that somewhere in New Jersey, a kid has been suspended for five days from school for organizing and running a beauty contest. Called May Madness, he and his friends pick the 16 hottest girls in the school, and then vote on them in a head-to-head tournament, not unlike the way the NCAA runs its March Madness basketball tournament. And for this, he’s been kicked out of school for a week. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been putting a lot of thought into this lately. I mean, I like to rant and rave and point the finger as much as anyone, but sometimes, you have to just hunker down and try to see if there’s a solution. Strip away all the nonsense and address the question: what is the fundamental point of friction here?

A conservative is not merely “pro-torture.” And a liberal is not merely “pro-gay marriage.” Rather, a political philosophy (for want of a better term) leads a person to one side of the fence or the other. If I can find out what those philosophies are, I might be able to better dismantle the arguments of my opponents. Read the rest of this entry »

Question: is water boarding torture?

I do not like to get caught up in sensationalism. I’ll read about it, but I try not be the subject of pandering—for example, I’ve seen maybe 60 seconds, when added all together, of 9/11 footage. Whenever it’s on the screen, I turn away. I don’t see the point of gawking.

Same with this water boarding. There’s been plenty of clips on the internet of people getting the treatment, and I have avoided them if possible. But the other day I watched one, since curiosity had gotten the best of me. Go watch it for yourself (link goes to Huffington. I still haven’t made up my mind about that website). Read the rest of this entry »

In a press conference on Wednesday, our President and Commander in Chief said, “I was struck by an article that I was reading the other day talking about the fact that the British during World War II, when London was being bombed to smithereens, had 200 or so detainees… And Churchill said, ‘We don’t torture,’ when the entire British — all of the British people were being subjected to unimaginable risk and threat.”

Seems straight forward. He’s comparing our situations with theirs. Their situation was worse, and their leader still didn’t advocate torture.

And of course, the conservative are jumping all over the statement. “The president needs to learn some history. The British used enhanced techniques on captives during WWII!” One blogger wrote: “The premise here is that the Brits didn’t resort to harsh interrogation techniques in WWII… But if the premise relied upon fails — as it seems to here…”

No, that’s not the premise– so it doesn’t “fail”. The premise is that the president was struck by an article that he read, and that Churchill said “we don’t torture.” The phrase “enhanced techniques” is not in there.

Remember, conservatives, you’re the ones who were insisting that what the US was doing to those prisoners was not ‘torture.’ You insisted it was ‘enhanced interrogation.’ Or something. Hannity is for ‘enhanced interrogation.’ O’Reilly is for ‘enhanced interrogation.’ And the reason they’re for it is so they can be against torture.

So don’t compare what Churchill, and now Obama, are saying about torture, to what the British actually did to German PoWs in WWII. You guys are the ones who insisted there is a distinction. If anything, you’re the ones making Obama look more like Churchill with these statements.

And, please, let’s not start a discussion about our President’s needing a history lesson; let’s not start talking about education, intelligence, and being articulate. Let’s not starting quoting Bush. That joke is played out..