Keep the List Small, Please Certain conversations are not allowed, nor are certain associations. We don’t seek out the company of pathological liars. We don’t invite women who have a habit of hitting on married men to dinner parties. We don’t invite Holocaust deniers to speak on public platforms, (unless you’re Columbia University.) We..
Category: Politics - page 21
Elections, Journalism, Tea Party
I suppose I make an odd culture warrior. I don’t fit the James Dobson brand. I hate the war on drugs, along with its serial abuses against the Bill of Rights. I don’t think the church talks enough about sex, and it certainly doesn’t do a very good job celebrating the sort of..
Doing the Dictators Proud Here is what I still find startling about the entire GLAAD public communications manifesto: removing sexuality and religion from the discussion for a moment, the precedent of any group declaring a preemptive ban on criticism feels creepy and totalitarian. Imagine yourself unable to express, say, any negative opinion about Republican leadership..
“God Hates Rural Jackasses” Or… A Few Thoughts on Pastor Michael Hiltzik’s Recent Sermon in the Los Angeles Times If you never grew up in a religious community, you might not understand how religious you really are. Even if you claim to be a proud, free-sailing atheist, you do have a religion; you do..
The Market Place of Approved Ideas A few of my friends are Phil Robertson scoffers, not because they disagree with his position on New Testament sexual morality, but because they feel certain the controversy was manufactured. A revelation of this sort makes the already shrill gay lobby scream bloody murder, and the faithful rush..
In the summer of 2004, we took all the kids back East to see Boston, Concord, Gettysburg, Mt. Vernon, and Williamsburg. One day, when we were out searching for a pizza place near Harvard, we walked past a crowd of young guys who didn’t quite know how to handle the prospect of such a large..
If the Iphone were designed by political consultants it would still have a rotary dial, and it would cost $29 — and it wouldn’t do much of anything, because consultants would be careful to assume no customer, ever, can really be talked into, or out of any purchasing predisposition. No one will pay more, for..