The Republican party’s albatross

Much attention has been paid to the national Republican party and whether it can pull itself back from the edge of the cliff that its anti-science and extreme social conservatism and nativism have brought it to. This can be done. Political parties can show remarkable flexibility when their survival is threatened and many of the leaders in the national party have been warning that it has to shift course. [Read more…]

The tax dilemma for Republicans

The Republican party has managed to paint itself into a corner with its adamant stand against an increase in the marginal rates for the top 2% of income earners, even though that was the signature issue that Barack Obama campaigned on and won, and polls show consistent and considerable support for it. The party is now faced with finding ways to get around what is clearly a weak position and various proposals are circulating that would supposedly raise the same amount of revenue as a marginal tax rate increase and provide them with a face-saving compromise. [Read more…]

What happened to Jesus?

The ongoing debate as to whether Jesus was a historical figure or a unified character created later by cobbling together various legends circulating at that time is pretty interesting. But suppose that we grant that such a figure actually lived, and that his life corresponded broadly to the narratives found in the Bible, but do not accept his divinity and the resurrection. It is fairly easy to discount the miraculous elements of his life but the difficult remaining question is what happened to him in the end? [Read more…]

Trouble for the Boy Scouts

The Boy Scouts of America, long considered a wholesome activity for young boys that taught them useful skills and bred good citizenship, is now under siege. I was never a boy scout myself but if I recall correctly, it had a policy of requiring them do at least one good deed every day and the William stories by Richmal Crompton would have as a recurring comic plot line the mayhem that would ensure when her title character would fall behind in his good deeds and try to get back of schedule by cramming many good deeds into one day. [Read more…]

The real winners of elections – political consultants

Conservative Erick Erickson, searching for a culprit for Republican losses in the last election other than the conservative message itself, finds it in the greedy and incestuous world of political consultants within the Romney campaign, where a small, tight band of people enriched themselves by charging huge fees to give ‘advice’ to the candidate that resulted in campaign money flowing to companies that they themselves were associated with. [Read more…]