Archive for the ‘All’ Category
The New Ideology of Evil
From CNN quoting Reuters quoting Pope John Paul II from his new book Memory and Identity: "It is legitimate and necessary to ask oneself if this [gay marriage] is not perhaps part of a new ideology of evil, perhaps more insidious and hidden, which attempts to pit human rights against the family and against man," […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Raised Eyebrows Dept.
The Tyranny of Morning People
Someplace in the last few days, I read an op/ed type column from some guy giving his opinion about why students someplace should be forced to get up earlier and go to school. These students were all snivelling lay-abouts and it would be good for them, he pronounced. What rubbish! Although he failed to lay […]
"Bloggeurs de Gauche"
This article, "Les relations ambiguës de Bush avec les journalistes" , from Le Monde, came to my attention via John Aravosis of AMERICAblog. The story is about the current administration's dislike for the press, and its attempts to manipulate the news. Naturally, it mentions the Jeff Gannon affair. The fun part is at the end. […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Splenetics
Buckley's Blind Spot
There was a time when I had some respect for William F. Buckley, although I can't for the life of me remember why. I was much younger then, and more naive; I probably was impressed by all the words he managed to write, and that funny way he has of talking without moving that part […]
A View from Kansas
A voice of reason from the state of my birth: Kansans in April will probably approve a state Constitutional amendment banning gay marriages, but it is only a matter of time before it will be repealed or struck down and society's attitude toward the issue changes, a former legislator said Sunday. "Ten years from now, […]
In: All, Common-Place Book
Legislating Underwear
Often, to counter that nagging "is it just me?" feeling that comes from living here as close as I do to the center of the anti-reality-based forces in our country (i.e., Washington, DC), it's useful to have a voice from the heartland (where I was born and raised, I'm happy to say). Here is the […]
In: All, Common-Place Book
The Fifth Estate
Commenting on the initial inattentiveness of the mainstream [American] media (MS) to the "Jeff Gannon" affair, and it's continued pussy-footing and inability to see the actual story, The Guardian [UK] observed (apparently in a story by Paul Harris in New York): On the internet, the mainstream media is derided and scorned. One question is dominating […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Splenetics
"I'm Not Going to Kick Gays"
The New York Times reports "In Secretly Taped Conversations, Glimpses of the Future President", by David D. Kirkpatrick, about conversations between the then-governor-of-Texas, G.H.W. Bush, and his "old friend" Doug Wead, who secretly taped them. Wead shared some of those tapes recently with "a reporter". Without further comment for now, here is a single, unedited […]
In: All, Common-Place Book
Knowledge-Based Learning
I was reading some article tonight that made a reference in passing to the current administration's obsessive fascination with "abstinence-only" programs for "sex education" (i.e., no sex education). These programs are known to lead to increased teen pregnancy when compared to the results of teaching about, e.g., condom use. How could this possibly be, the […]
What Would be Free?
Excerpt from "Right of free speech walks a fine line", by David Horsey in The Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Jackie Devincent of Seattle sent in a counterargument expressing indignation that some take offense at explicit sex rather than the pervasive violence in entertainment. "Until Americans are willing to question why bloody corpses are sanctified as free speech […]
In: All, Common-Place Book
Marriage and the Mists of Time
Someplace — I forget where now — during the height of the pre-election gay marriage "debate", I was keeping track of new records claimed for the length of time over which marriage had remained "traditional" and "unchanging". Generally, it looked like the claim was peaking at around 2,000 years. People seemed willing to risk guessing […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Splenetics
Hypocritical Ripples
I'm quite enjoying this whole Jeff Gannon / Jim Guckert story and all the stuff swirling about it. Recall: "Jeff" (we now have to use the quotation marks so you know it's a pseudonym, although I think "Jeff" is a perfectly good name myself) is the [apparently] gay-male prostitute who pretended to be a journalist […]
Preserving Press Freedom
An editorial in The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "Protecting Press Freedom", is justly concerned about the actions of a US appeals court ("activist judges"?) in upholding contempt citations against reporters who refused to reveal sources. In summary remarks, they say No administration in power is happy to read what newspapers write or what's reported on television. But […]
Change the World Instead
This is too beautiful. This excerpt is from "Gay Rights Advocate Blends in and Stands Apart", by Robin Finn, in The New York Times, a profile of Susan Somer, "the lead lawyer for Lambda Legal's landmark, if unresolved, litigation to secure the right for same-sex couples to marry in New York City" (who, as it […]
In: All, Common-Place Book
Maggie Gets one Wrong
I will admit, I don't know who this Maggie Gallagher* is who wrote this silly commentary called "Bush Gets One Right", but she's clearly a little red toady and, unfortunately, she got it wrong. Perhaps if I were red myself and she blue, I would jump up and down and point and shout "she's wrong! […]
The Prophetic Red Heifer
It seems that for the last two days, ever since I read that fascinating speech by Bill Moyers (mentioned a few posts below this one), in which he talked about faith-based politics and the influence of end-time prophesies, I've been following threads and reading with wide-eyed fascination and horror at this multi-car pileup on this […]
In: All, Splenetics, The Art of Conversation
Unintended Meaning
Sometimes, when my mind wanders (as it is prone to do) while people are talking to me, I occasionally mis-hear them: words that leave their mouths in one shape can enter my brain with an entirely different shape, leading to curious misconstructions of meaning. At other times, I drift along and only hear excerpts of […]
In: All, Hermeneutics, Notes to Richard, Splenetics
Bill Moyers on End-Time Politics
Excerpts from an amazing speech given by Bill Moyers on December 1, 2004, at the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School upon receiving its fourth annual Global Environment Citizen Award. I recommend downloading and reading the entire text. One of the biggest changes in politics in my lifetime is that […]
In: All, Common-Place Book
Reporting Disparities
This entire story about James Guckert, aka Jeff Gannon, "reporter" for Talon [so-called] News, is certainly odd, not least because of his sudden retreat underground after speculation about ties he might have had to the White House. Was he, too, being paid to channel propaganda to an unsuspecting public? But, there's an interesting divergence in […]
Unusual Search Strings
Every now and then I notice that people visit a page on one of my websites somewhere as the result of using a search string that strikes me as unexpected (although there are usually good reasons). For instance, today, someone arrived via by searching for pornography sex cartoons and comics stories I'm #16 on this […]