Probably everything that could be said about Clint Eastwood’s appearance at the Republican national convention has been said. As my last comment on it, here is Stephen Colbert’s take on the performance. [Read more…]
Laws against blasphemy have rarely been about religious dogma. They are, like anti-terrorism statutes, political weapons that are available to intimidate and ensure conformity in the population. The very vagueness of the concepts of terrorism and blasphemy allow them to be interpreted so broadly that almost any action can be interpreted as breaking the law. These weapons are invariably used by the most extreme elements of society. [Read more…]
I have written before about the absurd dietary rules imposed by religions. The Mormons have their own bizarre prohibitions and one of those was supposed to be to avoid caffeine. Hence I was surprised to read in some news reports that Mitt Romney drank Diet Coke because by all accounts he is a devout Mormon with the rank of bishop, not just some ordinary guy in the pews (if Mormon temples have pews in their temples). [Read more…]
For those who did not watch the Republican convention, The Daily Show broadcast a sneak preview of the biopic of Mitt Romney titled Mitt Romney: A Human Being Who Built That, showing how he had to struggle against great odds all the way to become a successful businessman, doing it entirely on his own, starting from the time when he was a mere sperm. [Read more…]
Americans presidents often go through rocky periods and face withering criticisms. But you have to give their spouses credit that they have managed to avoid any public scandals. The first ladies have an excellent record of not doing anything to embarrass the country they represent, often being held in higher esteem than their husbands. [Read more…]
In his article trying to explain the decline of religion in the US that I commented on a couple of days ago, Rod Dreher pinned the blame on Christian institutions being too liberal and abandoning traditional verities in favor of what he sees as a post-modern sensibility that demands nothing from its followers and has abandoned its core principles. He calls for a return to a “traditional religion, with its truth claims and strictures”. [Read more…]
Stephen Colbert zeroes in on how Paul Ryan conveniently abandoned his enthusiastic promotion of Ayn Rand once her atheistic and political views became better known and uncomfortable for modern Republican orthodoxy and his own political ambitions. [Read more…]
Australian mining tycoon Gina Rinehart, reportedly the world’s richest woman, has some advice for all those whining poors. [Read more…]
Lying in politics is not uncommon. But it is a sign of weakness because it means that you really don’t have a good case as to why people should vote for you over your opponent. It is also risky. You can get away with a certain amount of it by but have to be alert to not cross an invisible line and gaining a reputation of being a chronic liar because then every statement starts to be scrutinized and even those that might earlier have been shrugged off as trivial or merely hyperbolic become further evidence of lying, as has become the case with Ryan’s claims about his marathon prowess. [Read more…]