National Intelligence Estimate
[ Posted Tuesday, December 11th, 2007 – 17:44 UTC ]
Church And State Revisited: The Story Of Smoot
[ Posted Monday, December 10th, 2007 – 18:10 UTC ]
It always amuses me when Americans are told that the political climate today is "poisonously partisan" or "divided" and that this is "the worst partisanship Washington has ever seen." While pundits in the mainstream media love to whip this non-story into a frenzy every election year, it only goes to prove their utter ignorance of American history.
Take just one example: the church and state debate. Much ink was spilled over Mitt Romney's speech last week about his Mormon faith. Very little attention was paid to America's dark history of anti-Mormonism. Americans, as a whole, are not taught these things in their basic history classes in school, because we naturally shy away from the uglier episodes in our country's past.
But the history remains, for anyone willing to take a look. Mormons have the unusual distinction of being the only religious group in United States history to be singled out in one state for extermination. Well, OK, it was in the midst of the "Mormon War" and the Mormons were not entirely blameless themselves in the run-up to the incident, but still... extermination?
How Low Can He Go?
[ Posted Saturday, December 8th, 2007 – 17:33 UTC ]
Friday Talking Points [Vol. 11]
[ Posted Friday, December 7th, 2007 – 18:55 UTC ]
It's been a week of circular logic from the political world.
To begin with, Mitt Romney gave a speech on religion. This speech was brilliantly summed up in a comment to Chris Kelly's recent Huffington Post column:
1. We should all be tolerant of religions, even ones we don't agree with.
2. Secularism/atheism is a religion.
3. Let's all hate on those traitorous, treasonous, blasphemous secularists/atheists!
The Separation Of Church And State
[ Posted Thursday, December 6th, 2007 – 17:17 UTC ]
[While I generally abhor writing about the subject-du-jour, I decided to challenge myself today and write about Mitt Romney's speech on religion while not making any references to John F. Kennedy's speech on religion while doing so. This alone, I believe, will set this post out from the pack, since I'd be willing to bet nobody else has managed to do so.]
While many have commented on various different quotes from Mitt Romney's speech on religion today, there was one passage that stood out for me:
Today's generations of Americans have always known religious liberty. Perhaps we forget the long and arduous path our nation's forbearers took to achieve it. They came here from England to seek freedom of religion. But upon finding it for themselves, they at first denied it to others. Because of their diverse beliefs, Ann Hutchinson was exiled from Massachusetts Bay, a banished Roger Williams founded Rhode Island, and two centuries later, Brigham Young set out for the West. Americans were unable to accommodate their commitment to their own faith with an appreciation for the convictions of others to different faiths. In this, they were very much like those of the European nations they had left.
From The Republican Debate
[ Posted Wednesday, December 5th, 2007 – 22:23 UTC ]
No Budget? No Paycheck.
[ Posted Wednesday, December 5th, 2007 – 13:51 UTC ]
President Bush has been proven wrong in some big and spectacular ways this week. But while he continues to channel his foreign policy advice from Pluto, Bush is right about one thing, even though he's just playing it up for political gain. The Democrats should be ashamed that they haven't gotten their act together on the budget.
Now, I've been called a partisan Democrat before, but I reject the accusation. Being a partisan means being blind to mistakes made by your side, and trotting out spin and excuses for such mistakes. While I admit to a lefty bias and have to agree that it's more fun to write about Republican follies than Democratic blunders, I pride myself on holding the spotlight of criticism up to either side when it fully deserves it. Which, in this case, the Democrats do.
Bush Political Officers De-Funded
[ Posted Tuesday, December 4th, 2007 – 16:21 UTC ]
Back in the old Soviet Union, official groups both large and small always had at least one "political officer" in them, to guarantee that whatever the group did was in step with current Party ideology. The Bush White House, taking its cue from this Soviet-era practice, decided that this was a good idea, earlier this year (after the Democratic takeover of Congress in last year's elections).
Which New Voters Will Actually Show Up To Vote?
[ Posted Monday, December 3rd, 2007 – 16:28 UTC ]
We're now about a month away from the first caucus in the nomination race for president. The Democratic race in Iowa is currently neck and neck and neck. Obama, Clinton, and Edwards are all roughly even in the polls, and it's anybody's guess who will emerge the victor. This is partly due to the bizarre caucus rules in Iowa, it's partly due to the notorious instability of the state (victors often emerge late, in the last few days before the caucus), and it's partly due to the possible overestimation by all three candidates on who will actually turn out on caucus day.
Iowa caucuses are not normally well-attended events, and the percentage of eligible voters that actually turns out for the caucuses is often extremely small. But compounding this low turnout, all three candidacies are (to one extent or another) falling into the New Voters Expectations Disease, which Democrats seem to always be more susceptible to than Republicans.
Friday Talking Points [Vol. 10]
[ Posted Friday, November 30th, 2007 – 17:07 UTC ]
Welcome back to the weekly roundup of the good, the bad, and the ugly, and (as always) my humble suggestions of things Democrats should say in media interviews this weekend.
Because I've been away for a few weeks, I have to apologize in advance if I've missed something obvious this week (I'm still getting back up to speed on the American political scene). Hopefully I won't have missed too much!
Having said that, let's jump right in....