Sex with Sandwiches and Other Choice Bits of Discourse

As an Nth tier candidate for President, Senator Brownback has to do something to separate himself out from the pack. Why not attack established scientific theory in favor of a Bible-based approach? Of course this sends more conservative blogs into a tizzy of support. Joe of Yet Another Lame Blog tears apart Brownback’s arguments: Brownback: [...]

The UMass Community Stood Against Card

And they stood tall.  During the graduate commencement students, faculty, and friends and family in the audience protested Andrew Card’s recognition by the University leadership: AMHERST, Mass. –Hundreds of students and faculty erupted in a chorus of boos Friday when President Bush’s former chief of staff Andrew Card rose to accept his honorary doctorate in public [...]

Rape Allowed in San Jose

The D.A. for San Jose has elected not to prosecute a gang rape case due to lack of evidence: In an editorial published Sunday in the San Jose Mercury News Dolores Carr said while the players’ behavior was quote “abhorrent to us all” — It did not “provide a sufficient basis for a criminal prosecution”. [...]

Corporations and People: Content and Control

Corporations don’t get people. There is a fundamental problem with tailoring one’s message for more than one specific audience: Conflicts. Slashdot has the catch: bill jackson writes “A couple of former Yahoo execs are trying to create the next MySpace by aggregating fanfiction on a website called FanLib. But the fanfic writers recognized that exploitation [...]

The Democrats, Bush, and Strength

The Democrats in office do not appear to have a good grasp on strength. They have failed us. Sometimes a compromise really is failure. We’ve become the Pussy Party. And it is driving us to have it neither way at once: Welcome to the learned helplessness of the Democratic Party. They’ve been spanked on national [...]

Losing Our Rights

When an Amnesty International report applies to your own country, it is hard to find the right words (via Ten Percent): Powerful governments and armed groups are deliberately fomenting fear to erode human rights and to create an increasingly polarised and dangerous world, said Amnesty International today as it launched ‘Amnesty International Report 2007′, its [...]

Why is Bush Grabbing Power When His Term Is Almost Over?

Bush is nabbing some hefty powers for himself in the event of an emergency (hat tip Pam). But why bother if he only has a few more years in office?  Is he that unconcerned with the prospect of a Democratic Presidency having those powers?  Is he that confident a Republican will win?  Is he planning [...]

UMass is Going to Honor Andrew Card

This is going to happen. What we need to do is show our strong dissent, and combat efforts to whitewash Card’s record, and by extension, the administration’s.  If you are going to be in the Amherst area tomorrow afternoon, join in the protest. Also, it appears chancellor Lombardihas been sacked, so emails or letters to [...]

The Cost of Misguided War

This should hammer the cost of the war with finality. The war in Iraq is helping the terrorists financially (LA Times via Hullabaloo): Little more than a year ago, Al Qaeda’s core command was thought to be in a financial crunch. But U.S. officials said cash shipped from Iraq has eased those troubles. “Iraq is [...]

The Earth is an Immoral Heathen Slut!

The problem with using the Bible to make a political argument is you then open it to critique. Sisyphus at blogs for Brownback has given us an unfortunate glimpse into the lines of thought Brownback supporters are doing: However, for both moral and theological reasons, we should always bear in mind that the Earth does [...]

Tackling Patent Abuse

A new lawsuit is taking on Netflix’s patents (specifically, the one’s used to target Blockbuster). Via slashdot (emphasis mine): An anonymous reader writes “Techdirt has a story about a new class action lawsuit against Netflix, claiming that the patents the company is using to sue Blockbuster were obtained fraudulently. Specifically, the lawsuit claims that Netflix [...]

UMass and Andrew Card

The University of Massachusetts at Amherst is making a damaging and lasting mistake.  As an alumn, I feel a special responsibility to speak out against this regretful decision. UMass is going to give Mr. Card an honorary degree.  Thankfully, students and faculty are doing the right thing and protesting.  The language UMass officials are using [...]

Dear Chuck Norris: Christianity is not Bigotry

We want to tear down America by following the constitution and keeping your religion out of our lives. Riiiight. You have an odd idea of what it means to be a Christian, Chuck (via Autumn): Though the majority of Americans continue to claim to be Christians, a Gallup poll discovered 45 percent of us would [...]

One Issue Voters and Weak Candidates

I was thinking about politicians who seem to set their stance based on the preferences of a few bigots, and started wondering how many of these “desirable” voters are actually out there.  I’m talking about voters who care so much about gay marriage they will disregard every other issue out there to ensure it is [...]

Is Marriage Sacred?

One of the arguments against gay marriage is that it threatens the sanctity of marriage.  Is marriage a sacred or a legal bond? If it is a sacred bond, then government cannot play a role in its regulation without violating the separation of church and state. If government regulated marriage is simply a legal state [...]