Daily Archives: January 25, 2009

Do as I Say?

Don’t bail—but let banks fail? We’re “singing a different tune” now that it is America that is in a financial crisis. Today’s NY Times: [C]leaning up the banks’ bad assets, without extracting a heavy price for the bank managers, shareholders … Continue reading

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Obama’s Example—and the Obama Effect?

The NY Times today: Educators and policy makers, including Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, have said in recent days that they hope President Obama’s example as a model student could inspire millions of American students, especially blacks, to higher academic … Continue reading

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By Lifting Bishop Richard Williamson’s Excommunication, Has Pope Benedict Just Signalled to the World that Catholicism, Holocaust Denialism, and Fascism Can Go Together?

Bishop Richard Williamson. The Pope just recently lifted the excommunication on this vile anti-Semite and Holocaust denying crank. What is the Pope signalling by lifting the excommunication on this psychologically and emotionally perverse man? Is the Pope saying that he wants people … Continue reading

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BIG: Obama to Authorize the Tightening of Auto Emission Standards

So says the NY Times: President Obama will direct federal regulators on Monday to move swiftly on an application by California and 13 other states to set strict automobile emission and fuel efficiency standards, two administration officials said Sunday evening. … Continue reading

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One of the Big Reasons I Voted for Obama

On science and the environment, Obama gets it. Money quote from a Salon.com article (that appeared today) on global warming: The greatest task of the Obama administration — and the next 10 presidents — is to avoid catastrophic global warming. The … Continue reading

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Oklahomans on the Couch

Denver Nicks, of The Daily Beast, explains Oklahomans’ general dislike of Obama: President Obama is from many places, including one (Indonesia) outside of the United States. He is a living mosaic who neither looks nor speaks like any president this … Continue reading

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Andrew Sullivan on Bush’s Torture Regime—and the Judgment of History

Andrew Sullivan wants a full process of discovery with regard to George Bush’s detainee torture policies, and offers a summary of some of what we already do know: [A]s the era of the dark side recedes a little, my sense … Continue reading

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Gladys Talks to Ellen

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Jut-Jawed Authoritarianism—and the Republican Party?

Is the Republican Party becoming an authoritarian party? Authoritarians like “shows of force,” are closed off to compromise, and are emotionally rigid (both religiously and politically). The question is whether the Republican Party wishes to be a “home” for such … Continue reading

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What Women Want?

Hmm. Speculation at Salon.com today: Meana, a self-described feminist, argues that women’s lust is “narcissistic” and guided by “the wish to be the object of erotic admiration and sexual need.” Is there power in objectification if it’s not imposed from … Continue reading

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Quote of the Day: Einstein on the Ontological Mystery (Mystery of Being)

Albert Einstein did not believe in a personal deity, but he was willing to talk about the ontological mystery (the mystery of being) in ways that bordered on the religious: The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mysterious. … Continue reading

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Is Creeping Authoritarianism the Republican Party’s Problem?

Conservative David Frum has started a new website: NewMajority.com. It appears to be an honest, self-reflective site devoted to thinking (seriously) about how to get the Republican Party out of the political wilderness. I have long respected Frum, and his … Continue reading

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