A couple of weeks ago, Prof. Paul Mirecki chairman of the Religious Studies Department at the University of Kansas, took a firm stand against intelligent-design creationism by including it in a class on “religious mythologies.” A week later, the course was cancelled after Mirecki mocked creationists on a website. This week, creationists responded — with […]
Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers: * Whether former Connecticut Gov. Lowell Weicker (I) challenges Sen. Joe Lieberman next year seems to be a matter of interpretation. The New York Times suggests Weicker is interested, but the AP reports, […]
Before 2004, Tom DeLay won his most competitive House race by 24 points. His was as safe a district as any in the country, and in several instances, Dems didn’t even field a candidate to run against him. Those days are gone. Last year, Richard Morrison, a self-described “no name” candidate, won 42% of the […]
You’ve no doubt heard about the trendy demographic sub-groups that political scientists get excited about. We’ve seen NASCAR Dads, soccer moms, office-park dads, security moms, wired workers, freelance evangelicals, and others. For 2006, there’s a new one — meet “Starbucks Republicans.” This time around, Florida-based Democratic pollster Dave Beattie has his eye on “Starbucks Republicans” […]
The beauty of intelligent-design creationism for the anti-science crowd was that it was supposed to help bridge the divisions within the broader creationist movement. “Young-earth” creationists, who base their views on a literal reading of the Book of Genesis, would be happy that ID proponents are pushing an anti-evolution argument that insists on the existence […]
In case you’ve missed it elsewhere, the San Diego Union-Tribune ran a thorough review of Duke Cunningham’s bribery scandal and his relationship with Defense contractor lobbyist Brent Wilkes. The U-T noted how the extent to which Wilkes, referred to as “co-conspirator No. 1” in the government’s Cunningham filings, would cater to those he hoped to […]
The conventional wisdom tells us that the president, unlike some of his predecessors, is not a voracious reader when it comes to the daily news. Over the weekend, the New York Times’ Elisabeth Bumiller seemed anxious to debunk this notion — which she described as “crazy” — and defended Bush’s reading habits. Discussing Bush’s appetite […]
Tom DeLay and his legal team needed a Texas judge to throw out the charges against him quickly so he could return to the Hill and fight anew to regain his leadership post. Unfortunately for DeLay, the judge said no. A judge dismissed the conspiracy charges Monday against Rep. Tom DeLay but refused to throw […]
When C. Boyden Gray was chair of the Committee for Justice, a far-right activist group committed to supporting Bush’s more conservative judicial nominees, he and his organization ran an attack ad when Senate Dems blocked Appeals Court nominee William Pryor. As Gray and the CFJ put it, Dems on the Judiciary Committee, many of whom […]
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, during a discussion with Sens. Chuck Lugar and Joe Biden, went a little further than usual yesterday and talked about his own personal disappointment with Iraqis. (via hark) “Senator Lugar, at the end of November, late last month, there was a conference of Iraqi leaders from all factions in Cairo put together […]