Andrew Sullivan has a very short and sharp rebuff of a National Review piece which claims that God supports individual gun ownership, as part of a “Biblical” right to self-defense. In general, I hate the word “Biblical,” because it implies a simplicity which only ignorance can accept uncritically; the first Christians recognized many holy “books” [...]
Category Archives: Political Comments
Jesus and the Second Amendment.
29-Jan-13Jon Talton.
16-Jan-13This guy is well worth reading. This is an older piece, but he’s still got zip and actual insight. He’s looking at the large issues and not just whatever the hell the head-chimps are tweeting.
I found myself laughing at the trillion-dollar coin idea today – someone had told me about it, and like any sane person I dismissed it as some kind of odd viral silliness – but I read up on it in the Atlantic and had a good chuckle or two. Credo quia absurdum. Basically this is [...]
What a fabulous profile. We have a city called Cincinnati, and Uruguay has an actual Cincinnatus. This is what Jefferson hoped for but neither was nor could help to create. It is not surprising that suffering – fourteen years in jail, more than ten in solitary confinement – helped to produce this. Some kind of [...]
Campaigning for Obama in Ohio.
15-Dec-12For a long time I was not sure if I would campaign for Obama this year. I was fairly complacent about the election; Romney was, I thought, a terrible candidate, and the Republicans had no ideas beyond giving further government assistance to an utterly unworthy investor class, which I felt could hardly be a winner [...]
America, Obama, and D.W. Griffiths.
15-Dec-12Driving back from campaigning in Ohio, I passed by an intriguing sign. It said, “America or Obama: You Can’t Have Both.” Now it seemed to me we have had both for four years now; and that America was about the same it was when he took office. Having both had proven easy enough, in fact. [...]
The Racially Conscious Society.
16-Nov-12Above is the electoral map for Mitt Romney among white men. Even in states like California and New York, white men voted for Romney. Identity is crucial in presidential politics, but there is some danger that our society will continue to amp up these kinds of divides, and that elections will be more and more [...]
Music is politics.
04-Nov-12Today in Ohio there will be a concert at the Board of Elections during early voting. John Legend is headlining the concert. Do you think John Legend might be pulling a slightly different crowd to the polls than, say, Randy Owen?
Catskills Political Commentary.
19-Oct-12Since I showed a picture of my own empty chair, I thought maybe I’d include another empty chair. From the Rondout Valley, just outside the big state prisons north of Ellenville:
Saint Augustine and Religious Empiricism.
20-Mar-13There was a little bit of Facebook hullabaloo over this Tuesday’s march against gay marriage in D.C., which is being promoted by Catholic bishops. As usual, the bishops going out of their way to prevent non-Catholics from getting things like hospital visitation rights is a good indicator of the general fact that if you want [...]