Jay Michaelson: “Why Rick Santorum Can’t Just Say: God Doesn’t Want You To Be Gay“ If it were social policy that motivated him, he’d read the studies of same-sex couples in Massachusetts and in other countries, which show that they raise children as well as opposite-sex couples, form stable families, and the rest. But what Santorum is motivated by is actually religion: a fear of sexuality and of women souped-up by a misreading of Leviticus, Romans, and Corinthians. But he... Read more
Arthur S. Brisbane, public editor for The New York Times, asks “Should the Times Be a Truth Vigilante?“: I’m looking for reader input on whether and when New York Times news reporters should challenge “facts” that are asserted by newsmakers they write about. OK, Brisbane seems unclear on both sides of “All the news” and “fit to print,” so let’s review. “If your mother says she loves you, check it out.” That’s the job. That’s it. That is what being... Read more
Here’s some good news … The Montana Supreme Court sticks up for citizens against Citizens United. Elizabeth Kennedy reports on the “Battle of the Supremes“: In upholding the section of Montana’s Corrupt Practices Act that restricts direct corporate political spending, the Montana Supreme Court attacked the Citizens United fiction that independent expenditures aren’t corrupting and that corporate political spending isn’t a danger to democratic government. The Montana jurists’ decision in Western Tradition Partnership states unequivocally, “The impact of unlimited corporate... Read more
Mitt Romney on NBC’s Today show: You know, I think it’s about envy. I think it’s about class warfare. When you have a president encouraging the idea of dividing America based on the 99 percent versus one percent — and those people who have been most successful will be in the one percent — you have opened up a whole new wave of approach in this country which is entirely inconsistent with the concept of one nation under God. So... Read more
The Rev. Mark Driscoll has taken his all-American style of d-bag theology to the UK, telling British Christians to “man-up.” Let’s just say this: right now, name for me the one young, good Bible teacher that is known across Great Britain. You don’t have one – that’s the problem. There are a bunch of cowards who aren’t telling the truth. Well, I suppose N.T. Wright might not count as young, but … Young men, Driscoll says, won’t go to church... Read more
Friendly Atheist Hemant Mehta points us to a column in the (Ind.) Journal & Courier by Baptist minister Steve Viars, calling on Tippecanoe County commissioners to approve the zoning application for an Islamic center. Viars sounds like a Baptist minister in this column — citing Roger Williams and the First Amendment in an op-ed that reads like a sermon: Refusing to grant this request simply because the petitioners are followers of Islam would be contrary to our country’s cherished ideals... Read more
Like hope, I have two daughters. And while they are not named Anger and Courage, they are both beautiful. This year one’s a junior and one’s a sophomore in high school. If they continue on their current schedule, that means they will graduate from college* in 2017 and 2018. So I pay attention to things like this post from Ezra Klein: “If we add 200,000 jobs a month, will recovery take 7 years or 12 years?” He writes: On Friday,... Read more
Left Behind II: Tribulation Force, Part 2 Left Behind II: Tribulation Force is, obviously, a sequel. As such it gets a bit bogged down initially in some awkwardly sequel-ish revisiting of stuff from the first movie. I’m happy to give director Bill Corcoran a pass on that, though, since this early part of the movie also makes me gratefully aware of how much this adaptation condenses, cuts and enlivens scenes that dragged on pointlessly for hundreds of pages in the... Read more
I read two recent items about former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum that both turned out to be, oddly, about former Pope Pius XI. First up is an excellent question from Mary at The Left Coaster, who notes that Republican presidential candidate Santorum opposes contraception, arguing that sex without the possibility of conception is “a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be.” Mary suggests a follow-up question for the candidate:... Read more
Kudos to Rachel Stark of The Oregonian for following up on an important story four years later: “Loss lingers for former residents of Thunderbird Mobile Club, four years after Wilsonville (Ore.) park closed.” The last residents of the Thunderbird Mobile Club in Wilsonville can all trace a chaotic chapter in their lives to February 2007, when they were evicted at the height of the housing boom to make way for new development. More than 50 Oregon mobile home parks issued... Read more
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