September 2010
“In the conservative moral system, the highest value is preserving and extending...”
– George Lakoff
“Links, you see, do so much more than just whisk us from one Web page to another....”
– Scott Rosenberg
Plato's Pop Culture Problem, and Ours →
Could Plato, who wrote in the 4th century B.C., possibly have anything to say about today’s electronic media? As it turns out, yes, It is characteristic of philosophy that even its most abstruse and apparently irrelevant ideas, suitably interpreted, can sometimes acquire an unexpected immediacy. And while philosophy doesn’t always provide clear answers to our questions, it often reveals what...
twittertopics asked: Hello, Can you help conduct an "Internet Approval Rating" of Barrack Obama's presidency on your blog by putting this widget on the homepage?
Widget: http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/barrack-obama-approval-rating
Widget: http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/barrack-obama-approval-rating
“There’s not a trip I make to Iraq where I don’t have to delete somebody’s name...”
– Nir Rosen
1 tag
“Bar-Lev’s examination of that lust stands out as the film’s most...”
– The Tillman Story Sets the Record Straight
Conservative Radio Station Polls Whether Muslims... →
San Diego radio station KFMB — which, like most talk radio stations in America, features only conservative hosts – had a survey on its home page (now removed), polling listeners with the question, “During a time of war should we register as many Muslims as we can find in a national database?”
The options to answer were (a) No – it’s an invasion of privacy and (b) Yes – gun owners have to, why...
bluntlyblue asked: I hope you don't mind if I pick your brain right quick.
Is there any valid linking points between Park 51 and the Greek Orthodox church? I can't find anything that makes the two cases at all similar, but there's always a good chance I've over looked something.
Thanks for your time - and for your blog :-D
Is there any valid linking points between Park 51 and the Greek Orthodox church? I can't find anything that makes the two cases at all similar, but there's always a good chance I've over looked something.
Thanks for your time - and for your blog :-D
The 10 Commandments: Where the Medium Was the... →
The second commandment is also profoundly different than anything found in ancient documents when it forbids the creation of any graven images.
You shall not make for yourself a carved image … You shall not bow down to them or serve them… (Exodus 20:4-5)
Technology scholar Neil Postman (who was himself of Jewish origin) wrote,
“It is a strange injunction to include as part of any ethical...
“You want to know who the biggest hypocrite in the world is? The biggest...”
– Stephen Anderson, Faithful Word Baptist Church Pastor
“We wondered whether the Five Brothers, the nickname for the Romney sons, could...”
– Meghan McCain
Once Upon a Time, in America… →
Storytelling is a codified, public strategy. It is often used opportunistically, as a psycho-social trope aimed toward a predetermined result—a schema selling a product or a pitch or a persona, a therapeutic process, a technique to persuade the public to favor a politician’s hairball agenda. Television conservatives, amply backed by parties and think tanks and strategists, don’t do anything by...
“While conservatives such as Beck and Palin point to a time past when America had...”
– Is America’s Honor, a Christian’s Honor? Thoughts on Glenn Beck and the “Restoring Honor” Rally
“There’s always been a big audience in the United States for conspiracy...”
– Glenn Beck’s religious rally nothing new
A letter to my students →
Welcome to Berkeley, probably still the best public university in the world. Meet your classmates, the best group of partners you can find anywhere. The percentages for grades on exams, papers, etc. in my courses always add up to 110% because that’s what I’ve learned to expect from you, over twenty years in the best job in the world.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that you have been...
Netherlands to Close Prisons: Not Enough Criminals →
For years prohibitionists, including our own Drug Enforcement Administration, have claimed — falsely — that the tolerant marijuana policies of the Netherlands have made that nation a nest of crime and drug abuse. They may have trouble wrapping their little brains around this:
The Dutch government is getting ready to close eight prisons because they don’t have enough criminals to fill them....
“The problem with American civil religion is that it reduces faith to a...”
– Bob Cargill
Tumblr Queue Post Order Annoyance
Since yesterday, for some unbeknownst reason, post ordering here has gone awry. Posts are not showing up in the order I placed them in the queue, nor are they displayed in the same procession on my Tumblr dashboard.
“It’s not just that Fox totally (and intentionally, of course) misread Cusack’s...”
– Matt Taibbi
The truths about Iraq that Obama couldn't utter →
He could not say, for instance, that the Iraqis are broadly resentful of the U.S. presence in their country and have wished to see us go for years. He could not say what even the most enthusiastic supporters of the Iraq war have been forced to admit: namely that peace in Iraq is tenuous and bloody civil conflict could soon break out again.
He could not say that the predictions of the war’s...
“This whole hunter thing, for Sarah? That is the biggest fallacy,” says one...”
– Sarah Palin the Sound and the Fury (via apsies)
“Google’s AdSense [click solicitation] policy of Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell is...”
– Cringely (via marco)
“Often we are preoccupied with the question “How can we be witnesses in the Name...”
– Henri Nouwen
Republic shuts down ex-cop’s blog →
Of the many blogs written by outside contributors to theArizona Republic’s website, Bill Richardson’s was perhaps the most critical of the region’s police and their practices.
Now, the retired Mesa police officer says the the state’s largest newspaper has given in to outside pressure from those who wanted his criticism silenced. The newspaper closed down his blog, deleted all his old posts and...
“No amount of Bible reading, sermons masquerading as prayers and Christian hymns...”
– Robert Parham
CEOs who cut jobs got paid more →
The CEOs who cut the most jobs during the recession earned more than their peers, according to a study being released today by a liberal think tank in Washington.
“When CEOs slash jobs they are often very richly rewarded,” said Sarah Anderson, lead author of the Institute for Policy Studies’ report, “CEO Pay and the Great Recession.”
Separately, the report...
“Unable to win, unwilling to accept defeat, the Bush administration sought to...”
– Andrew Bacevich
“When the focus is narrowed to Republicans, a Harris poll finds 57 percent of...”
– Roger Ebert
Prison Rape, America’s Torture →
In the same week in which the world was told about mass rapes taking place in the Congo, a report was released which detailed the prevalence of rape in prisons and jails across the United States. In 2008 and 2009, 88,500 adults held in jails and prisons reported being sexually assaulted. The rates of exploitation of juveniles is even higher, one in eight will be victimized during their...
“Many people struggle at work because they want more authority. It turns out you...”
– Seth Godin
“It is for all these reasons that the theology of liberation offers us not so...”
– Gustavo Gutierrez
Bjørn Lomborg: climate change is a problem after... →
He’s back and generating as many headlines as ever. After years as the world’s leading climate change critic, “sceptical environmentalist“ Bjørn Lomborg is now saying that we need to put it at the top of our priority list.
What’s that, he has a new book out? Indeed, and in Smart Solutions to Climate Change, Lomborg, an adjunct professor at Copenhagen Business...
“The 2008 presidential election was a near textbook example of how you can win an...”
– Earl Ofari Hutchinson
“As for the incredible gall of Glenn Beck arrogating the mantle of “Heir of...”
– David Brin
Positive-Sum, Zero-Sum, and Negative-Sum... →
Zero-sum, positive-sum, and negative-sum are all game theory terms that refer to the outcomes of a dispute or negotiation. They refer to the actual amount of wealth (money, land, vacation time) — measurable rewards — that each party receives. Though similar, these terms differ from the terms “win-win, win-lose, and lose-lose” which refer to wins or losses relative to...
“In my opinion, the Tea Party and its sympathizers consist of a bunch of scared...”
– Sit Yo’ Ass Down: Alveda King
“Evangelicals might not have caught how Beck slid Mormon theology into this...”
– What Was Wrong with Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor Rally?