Monthly Archives: October 2009

New York’s 23rd Congressional District: Dump the Moderate Female for Another Rigid Authoritarian Dude in High Rush Limbaugh Mode!

The purge of moderate Republicans from the Republican Party continues: That’s just what the Republican Party needs: fewer female politicians okay with gay equality! It’s getting worse for the Republicans, isn’t it? Here’s the lowdown from MSNBC: Hoffman’s rise infuriated … Continue reading

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Galt’s Gulch: As Neoliberalism and Barack Obama Ascend, Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” Sees a Dramatic Increase in Sales

A sign of anxiety and nostalgia? Conservatives in a time of advancing liberalism are escaping into the “Galt’s Gulch” of Ayn Rand’s fiction. This at the Ayn Rand Institute website: “The spike in sales of Atlas Shrugged more than a … Continue reading

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Yet Another Good Reason to Get Your Swine Flu Shot

It works really, really well. This today in Spiegel: The researchers who develop vaccines hope, of course, that their products will work. This time around, however, even the developers themselves were surprised to see just how effective their products have … Continue reading

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Trick or Treaters, New York City, Circa 1910

  But they don’t have trick or treat bags, do they? Did kids used to go around and shill for candy back then? Link with more of these: http://www.flickr.com/photos/opiummuseum/4033581631/in/set-72157622380888091/

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Jon Stewart Deconstructs Fox News

Brilliantly and thoroughly here. And here’s a cherry on top:

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Jerry Brown in 2010?

In terms of politicians, second to Barack Obama, I’ve always liked Jerry Brown, and it looks like he’s got a clear path to becoming Governor of California next year. This today at Salon.com: If everything continues to go well for … Continue reading

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Tiny Tim was a Super Freak!

And the original Tiny Tim: Hattip: CCM104 Oh, and the original, original Tiny Tim: It’s okay to be different.

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For Halloween, a Super Freak Comes to the Rescue (of Evolution)?

Sometimes we think that if we could just have a stunning visual demonstration of something we believe in, that it would convince the nonbelievers in our midst. So it is that alien enthusiasts fantasize about UFOs on the White House lawn, and Evangelical … Continue reading

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A Muslim Imam Who Once Advocated Violence Now Renounces Terror

The heart intervenes. This today in Spiegel: In 2001, imam Mohammed El Fazazi of Morocco preached that it it is a Muslim obligation to “slit the throats of non-believers” in a Hamburg mosque. Among his listeners and star pupils were … Continue reading

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Love, Dignity, Freedom, and Hope

Make way.

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Great News

If you’re a Democrat hoping to hold off the Republicans from retaking one (or both) of the houses of Congress in 2010. This today at Politico: The nation’s gross domestic product grew at a seasonally adjusted rate of 3.5 percent for July through … Continue reading

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Is Faith Ever a Virtue?

It might be, especially if you think of acts of faith as akin to fantasy. Faith, like fantasy, may function to do real work in the psyche. I think this observation of Ethel Spector Person, from a book of essays titled Imagination and Its … Continue reading

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Religious Primitivism in a Nuclear Weaponized World

On Monday Major Adrian Agassi, one of the military court judges who holds jurisdiction over the West Bank, bluntly told the Guardian that God gave the land of Israel to the Jews, and that’s basically that:   In an unusually frank interview, … Continue reading

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A Quote for October

Faith Baldwin: Autumn burned brightly, a running flame through the mountains, a torch flung to the trees. __________

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Have a Very Edgy Halloween!

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Halloween is Coming

Look busy.

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Today’s Question

If patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel, is faith the last refuge of a failed thesis?   Or might faith be that place where you reach the end of all that you can figure and do, and, in … Continue reading

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The Last Daily Newspaper in the United States?

Kevin Drum at Mother Jones makes a prediction: I’ll stick with 2025 for now.  There may be small local papers around for longer than that, but no big city dailies.  New York will be the last to go, but in … Continue reading

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“You Made Me Hate Myself!”

Happy Halloween!

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Halloween is Almost Here!

Wow!

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