It has become routine in the wake of some major tragedy for some religious idiot to say that it was punishment from god for something or other. The only question is who will enter that swamp first. This time Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association and Republican huckster Mike Huckabee who do the honors, saying that god did not prevent this unspeakable tragedy because of the fact that school-sponsored prayer and Bible readings and the Ten Commandments are no longer permitted in public school classrooms. [Read more…]
I love good parodies but to really appreciate them, one needs to be familiar with the material being parodied. Some time ago, there was an excellent parody of the Old Spice ads, put out by (of all people) the Brigham Young University library. [Read more…]
I have been reading about the dreadful shootings in an elementary school that has resulted in so many deaths.
I really don’t know what to say that will not be said by many other people. But I wonder about what goes on in the dark recesses of someone’s mind that can cause them to prepare so carefully and methodically to kill so many little children.
I have not seen (and will not see) this film that deals with the killing of Osama bin Laden but have been following the controversy over it. Glenn Greenwald has a powerful essay about the film that touches on a whole range of important issues. [Read more…]
There was recently a big fuss about how the Hostess company was going out of business, because many people seemed to have a sentimental childhood attachment to its products though I personally had never eaten any, perhaps because I had not grown up in the US. Much of the media spread the message that the cause was that the workers were not willing to grant huge concessions in salary and benefits for the company to stay in business. [Read more…]
When I assert that modernity will undermine religion over time, I often get pushback from people who, while sharing my views about religion, think that I am hopelessly naïve and optimistic and that some religions are so deeply entrenched that they will never budge. [Read more…]