Friday Oct 29th is Don’t Pray for Hitchens Day

Stricken with cancer and fragile from chemotherapy, author and Slate columnist Christopher Hitchens is standing by his atheist beliefs: He will not take part in a prayer day devoted to him. From Video: Christopher Hitchens won’t attend a prayer day in his honor. – – Slate Magazine I’m declaring Friday Oct 29th to be Don’t… Continue reading Friday Oct 29th is Don’t Pray for Hitchens Day

Op-Ed Columnist – The Marriage Ideal – NYTimes.com

What we think of as “traditional marriage” is not universal. The default family arrangement in many cultures, modern as well as ancient, has been polygamy, not monogamy. The default mode of child-rearing is often communal, rather than two parents nurturing their biological children. … The point of this ideal is not that other relationships have… Continue reading Op-Ed Columnist – The Marriage Ideal – NYTimes.com

America Goes Dark

Meanwhile, a country that once amazed the world with its visionary investments in transportation, from the Erie Canal to the Interstate Highway System, is now in the process of unpaving itself: in a number of states, local governments are breaking up roads they can no longer afford to maintain, and returning them to gravel. …… Continue reading America Goes Dark

Is Anthony Weiner an Angry Loon?

In this age of cable and YouTube, millions of people evidently saw the one-minute-plus clip. But there has been relatively little focus on why the substantive debate that sparked it matters. More broadly, while I appreciate the concern over the future of civility in politics, I believe a little raw anger right now is justified.… Continue reading Is Anthony Weiner an Angry Loon?

The political genius of supply-side economics | Martin Wolf’s Exchange | FT.com

To understand modern Republican thinking on fiscal policy, we need to go back to perhaps the most politically brilliant (albeit economically unconvincing) idea in the history of fiscal policy: “supply-side economics”. Supply-side economics liberated conservatives from any need to insist on fiscal rectitude and balanced budgets. Supply-side economics said that one could cut taxes and… Continue reading The political genius of supply-side economics | Martin Wolf’s Exchange | FT.com

Hamas targets women’s underwear in modesty drive

A week after banning women from smoking water pipes in public places, the Hamas-run police force has told stores selling women’s underwear to remove scantily-clad mannequins and any posters of racy undergarments. From Hamas targets women’s underwear in modesty drive – Yahoo! News Glad to hear that things are going so well in Gaza that… Continue reading Hamas targets women’s underwear in modesty drive

Chris Kelly: Why You Don’t Care About JournoList

The problem with the JournoList scandal is the problem with a lot of right wing news: It’s not happening on Earth I, where you and I live. Like the Black Panthers taking over the Justice Department, or Shirley Sherrod’s night raids on Andrew Breitbart’s small family farm or Glenn Beck’s lonely one-man struggle against the… Continue reading Chris Kelly: Why You Don’t Care About JournoList