Tag Archives: Sarah Palin

X Marks the Flop: The Real Problem for Cultural Conservatives Going Forward

Whether you’re an anti-gay evangelical activist or a Muslim dreaming of a new caliphate, here’s the really big picture: liberal attitudes are well adapted to urban life and culturally conservative ones are less so. And the world’s demographics are moving … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

The Other 1%

That would be the black Republican primary voter in South Carolina. Here’s the FOX Noise exit poll from yesterday: ____ Absorb that. Blacks are 28% of South Carolina’s population, but are 1% (or less) of Republicans in the state. How does … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Thomas Jefferson, Johann Gottfried Herder, and the Revived American Cult of Muscular Christian Nationalism

A bit of (good) advice for politicized Christian fundamentalists from Rob Boston: Jefferson and Madison worked together to end the government-established church in Virginia and guarantee religious liberty for all. Jefferson coined the metaphor of a “wall of separation between … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Listen to Reason? The Laws of God vs. the Laws of Man

Below are some public mug shots of Amish men serving brief sentences in a Kentucky jail. Their crime? They refused to put yellow reflectors on their horse-driven buggies when using public roads. Their religion does not permit them to display … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 21 Comments

Our Ten Public Virtues and Why It’s So Difficult to Think Clearly

Jonathan Kay’s Among the Truthers was reviewed by Jacob Heilbrunn for the New York Times this past month, and, in discussing the cult-like epistemic closure characteristic of so many people in America, this part of the review jumped out at me: As Kay … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

A Headline You Won’t See at Drudge

In a recent poll, Public Policy Polling (PPP) has learned the following: 46% of Mississippi Republicans think interracial marriage should be illegal. 74% of those same Republicans view Sarah Palin favorably. Here’s Tom Jensen: We asked voters on this poll … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Rick Santorum Opposes Gay Marriage, Gay Adoption, and Wants to Reinstate DADT. But Why?

Republican Rick Santorum is likely running for president in 2012 and here are his views on same-sex marriage and gay couples adopting children. Listen for the reasons that he offers (or at least alludes to) in support of his views: I pick up from … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 28 Comments

President Obama in Tuscon

President Obama in Tuscon. In turns moving, sad, and life affirming. If you don’t have much time, at least catch the last ten minutes where the President reflects on the life of the nine-year-old girl who was killed.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Glenn Beck and Jared Loughner: Separated at Birth?

Is it just me, or do Glenn Beck and Jared Loughner look like they were separated at birth? Here’s Beck, of course: And here’s Jared Loughner’s mug shot after shooting Gabriella Gifford in the head: And look at Glenn Beck … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 43 Comments

Correlation or Causation? Did the Internet Cause Jared Loughner?

It’s amusing how, when those on the right find their political ox is being gored, that they are, all of a sudden, highly attentive critical thinkers attuned to every hint of a lurking correlation-causation fallacy (as in “Sarah Palin’s gun rhetoric caused Jared Loughner’s gun usage”). Given their logical … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 20 Comments

Gabrielle Giffords and the Tea Party Religion of Peace

With regard to the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, it’s very important to remember one thing: the Tea Party movement is a Religion of Peace. Its jihadi-style rhetoric against liberal Christ scorning secularists, and its persistent references to guns, gun sites, … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

Ed Kilgore on the old in and out (groups)

At the New Republic today, Ed Kilgore has a new essay analyzing American attitudes toward broad Enlightenment values and civil libertarian principles. His bottom line: most Americans want to know whether you’re “in” or “out” before worrying about whether you should have liberty, justice, … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The United Nations: An Emanation of Lucifer?

At Talk To Action, a website devoted to reporting on, and deconstructing, the Christian fundamentalist right, Rachel Tabachnick flags the following overhead projection that appeared in an End Times talk by Col. Jim Ammerman. In ascending order, the projection portrays elite societies and global institutions as emanations of … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Neoconservative War on Nihilism (and Thomas Jefferson)

Harper’s website has a fascinating interview with C. Bradley Thompson on neoconservatism and his new book (with Yaron Brook) about it. Although, in the interview, the phrase “Herderian nationalism” is not used for neoconservatism by Thompson, he strongly implies that this is exactly what … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

California is Spain: A Debt Crisis Looms for the Golden State

This is front page news in the New York Times today, and, as a California resident, it’s alarming: [M]any state and local governments have so much debt — several trillion dollars’ worth, with much of it off the books and largely … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Palin-Huckabee 2012 and George Carlin

About 20 years ago, when George W. Bush’s father was president of the United States, George Carlin, in one of his stand-up routines, observed that there are three groups of dismaying people in this world, the first of which are those who are … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Adam Smith Specialization v. Sarah Palin Generalization

A global human society that has any chance of prospering is rational and efficient. This means that each citizen of the world selects one job (that is, one specialized activity) that he or she does for income. This is Adam Smith … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Sarah Palin: No Experts Need Apply; Joshua Livestro Has the Whole Economics Thing Covered for Me, Thanks

If you’re wondering how irrational, unpredictable, and volatile a Sarah Palin presidency would be, look no further. News is that she has retained, not an academically trained economist or financial expert, but a right-wing Dutch newspaper columnist (his name is Joshua … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Andrew Sullivan Makes a Prediction

Andrew Sullivan today predicts that in 2012 the Palin model of full media isolation and epistemic closure will be picked up as a strategy across the Republican candidate spectrum: Palin led the way by refusing any real scrutiny and any press … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Carl Jung, Alien Longing, Dante’s Beatrice—and Sarah Palin?

In a recent Washington Post review of a couple of UFO books that have just come out, there’s a sentence that I think nicely summarizes Carl Jung’s thesis on UFOs: [P]sychologist Carl Jung proposed that UFOs symbolized a wish that … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment