Ephphatha Poetry: “Imagine if the Tea Party Was Black” – Tim Wise

To ask any of these questions is to answer them. Protest is only seen as fundamentally American when those who have long had the luxury of seeing themselves as prototypically American engage in it. When the dangerous and dark “other” does so, however, it isn’t viewed as normal or natural, let alone patriotic. Which is […]

frum on the recently passed healthcare reform bill

No illusions please: This bill will not be repealed. Even if Republicans scored a 1994 style landslide in November, how many votes could we muster to re-open the “doughnut hole” and charge seniors more for prescription drugs? How many votes to re-allow insurers to rescind policies when they discover a pre-existing condition? How many votes […]

Respectful Insolence: “Have the conservatives in just two and a half months out of power become everything they hate about the loony left?”

There are certainly legitimate criticisms to make of the stimulus package as potentially being too large and generating too much additional debt to be added to our already staggering national debt. There are even more legitimate criticisms of how the various bailouts the government has been handing out to banks are more likely to help […]

White House Unbuttons Formal Dress Code – NYTimes.com

When Mr. Bush moved in, he exercised his presidential decorating prerogatives and asked his wife, Laura, to supervise the design of a new rug. Mr. Bush loved to regale visitors with the story of the rug, whose sunburst design, he liked to say, was intended to evoke a feeling of optimism. The rug is still […]

obama wearing sheep’s clothing?

Now, we probably shouldn’t jump on the guilt by association bandwagon (as Obama’s opponents were wont to do during the election), but there are significantly safer, more neutral, and more politically correct (forgive me) selections for an inaugural companion. And this news of the Warren selection is right on the heels of other questionable behavior […]

Obama’s Intervention for Ethics Bill Indirectly Led to Case Against Governor – NYTimes.com

Beyond the irony of its outcome, Mr. Obama’s unusual decision to inject himself into a statewide issue during the height of his presidential campaign was a reminder that despite his historic ascendancy to the White House, he has never quite escaped the murky and insular world of Illinois politics. It is a world he has […]

obama is the man we need: he likes big dogs

“It’s like a little yappy dog?” Obama asked Walters, foolishly ignoring his wife’s advice not to criticize. “It, like, sits in your lap and things?” queried the skeptical president-elect. Michelle, still trying to save her husband from himself, pronounced the dog “cute.” Barack wasn’t buying it. “It sounds kind of like a…a girly dog,” he […]

obama and hell and christianity today

as i’ve spoken of before, the “hell” topic was one of the main bones of contention i ended up having with what most evangelical christians consider “orthodox”. i did a big study on it in 2004, and abandoned the idea of hell once i actually got my mind around what the bible actually does and […]

Butterflies

Then my mom called. You might imagine I don’t get along all that well with my mother, and you’d be right. We’re cordial enough, but we don’t really talk about anything meaningful. It was time for that to change. I told her about my work, and about my next project, a game that would literally […]

Obama: Bad News For the New Atheists and Other Fundamentalists

The Obama presidency is great news for almost everyone. It’s bad news for some odd ideological bedfellows: the Religious Right and the so-called New Atheists. Into the all or nothing culture wars, and the all or nothing wars between the so-called New Atheists and religion the election of President elect Obama reintroduces nuance. President elect […]

Frank Schaeffer: Sarah Palin Will Never Be President — Trust Me

The small smear of red on the otherwise blue electoral map looks more like a minor bloodstain on a dirty Band-Aid than anything resembling a national political party. Who voted for McCain/Palin in bigger numbers than they even voted for Bush/Cheney? Only one shrinking group: uneducated white folks in the deep south and a few […]