I am not a huge fan of the retrospectives that are so common at this time of year but I will make an exception for one of my favorite political cartoonists Tom Tomorrow, who lists the favorite ones he drew over the past year that dealt with a whole range of the important news stories. Here’s just one.
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Cheryl Eddy lists what she describes as the ten most notorious paranormal hoaxes in history. I was familiar with almost all of them. I had heard of the Amityville Horror but thought it was just a fictional film and did not know that it was based on a supposed real event. I had also not heard of the Ghostwatch.
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The license plates on cars are issued by the state. But states have found that they can generate extra revenue by creating so-called ‘vanity plates’ that surround the obligatory identifying information with a message that car owners can choose subject to state approval. This raises the issue of whose view is on the plate, the car owner or the state. The fact that the owner chose that message argues in favor of the owner. The fact that the state issues the plates and controls what can be put on it argues in favor of the state. So what happens when the owner selects a message that the state objects to?
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When trying to justify the most appalling acts of torture, its advocates invariably invoke the ‘ticking time bomb’ scenario where we are told that in order to save a huge number of lives it is imperative to get some information quickly from someone who refuses to give it. Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia is the latest to haul out this old chestnut about how it could be justified to save millions of lives, adding that there is nothing in the US Constitution that prohibits this, though one would think that the Eighth Amendment prohibition against inflicting “cruel and unusual” punishment would cover it.
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Here’s wishing all the blog’s readers a happy holiday season from Baxter the Wonder Dog and me.
When president Obama announced the thaw in relations with Cuba, my guess is that many people would have been surprised that there was even an embargo with Cuba, since knowledge of foreign relations is not exactly the strong point of the public. But Obama seems to have a better feel for public opinion on this issue than those who are acting apoplectic over this development, with polls overwhelmingly supporting his move.
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Andrew Cockburn has an interesting article (paywall) in the January 2015 issue of Harper’s Magazine where he talks about how the military industry, alarmed by the fact that the end of the Cold War led to a reduction in the need for things like fighter planes, tanks, and other highly profitable heavy armaments, set about creating a new cold war and succeeded.
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(Via Kelly Conaboy)
I have noticed that at some point when you try to point out to people that the wars they support (such as the US waging war all over the world or Israel unleashing assaults on Gaza) lead to the deaths of large numbers of innocent people, these people will sometimes resort to the cliché that “War is hell”.
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It has become routine to find out that virulent anti-gay pastors turn out to closeted gays themselves. It has happened so many times that I would not have bothered to comment on this latest episode of a pastor soliciting sex at a public place except for the fact that in this case the pastor’s first name is ‘Gaylard’.
