The US Supreme Court has made it quite clear that public schools cannot take a stand one way or another in favor of or against religion. This means that the school administrators and teachers, who are seen as agents of the government, cannot be seen as promoting any or all religions or no religion. Strict neutrality is what is called for. [Read more…]
Academics tend to be respected because of their reputations for having expert knowledge and some level of objectivity. As a result they are often sought as endorsers for various positions. I have written many times before of the danger that exists when that esteem is abused. This danger seems to be most present in the field of economics and medicine, not coincidentally because there is a lot of money at stake there. [Read more…]
I have written extensively about the fact that the Republican party is increasingly out-of-step with what the country is thinking, especially as a result of demographic changes and that its main problem is that its base has been fed a steady diet of rhetoric against women, minorities, immigrants, and LGBT groups for so long that taking that food away from them is likely to provoke howls of anger. [Read more…]
When the US Supreme Court ruled last year that president Obama’s health care plan (known officially as the Affordable Care Act and popularly as Obamacare) was constitutional, Republicans and Tea Party activists were surprised and livid because they had been confident that the law would be overturned. [Read more…]
After I came to the US in 1983 and before the internet became available to keep up with events worldwide, I lost touch with cricket news. One of the things that happened in the interim is that it has become increasingly popular with women and now there are women’s teams that compete internationally. [Read more…]
I have been fascinated by the fact that evolution tells us that if we could journey back in time, then all of our ancestors start to merge, with some surprising results. I wrote a series of posts exploring this topic some years ago and pointed out some surprising (to me at least) results. [Read more…]
Given my disdain for the entire field of theology, I did not think that I would write such a title for a blog post but author Gary Wills and Stephen Colbert, while both Catholics, had quite a difference of opinion on what their church should be like. While I liked what Wills had to say, I continue to be a little puzzled by why such people still want to be considered Catholics when they have so little in common with it. [Read more…]
I have been highlighting the progress that has been made in advancing acceptance of the LGBT community as deserving of the same rights and privileges as everyone else. But it is only fair to point out that there are still pockets of deep resistance and homophobia. For example, some parents and students and at least one teacher at an Indiana high school want to organize a prom that will be open to only heterosexual students. The reasons given are, of course, religious. [Read more…]
The world of wrestling was stunned by the news yesterday that all categories of their beloved sport have been recommended for elimination from the 2020 Olympic games. The demise is not quite certain. Wrestling can be re-instated, but it has to now compete with baseball/softball, squash, karate, sport climbing, wakeboarding, wushu, and roller sports and the betting in wrestling’s favor is not good. [Read more…]