Mano Singham
Just another Freethought Blogs site
Iran has not been in the news for some time, which is a good thing. Reports are coming out of Israel that suggest that the impetus for a military strike against that country is waning.
One reason given for this lessening of war rhetoric is that Israeli prime minister Netanyahu has overplayed his hand in trying to pressure Barack Obama to attack Iran by exploiting the election season, and since the re-election of Obama seems increasingly likely, now seeks to try and mend those fences by toning down the war rhetoric. [Read more…]
The city of New York is proposing legislation that would require parents to sign a form giving consent to a specific circumcision practice that is unhygienic and runs the risk of infecting the infant with genital herpes that can lead to serious illness and even possibly death. [Read more…]
As I have said repeatedly, I don’t watch highly scripted events like party political conventions. But I do follow media reports on them. Political conventions are not aimed at informing the voters directly, they are aimed at influencing the media narrative in the days to come. [Read more…]
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…]