First up from the God machine this week is a religion story I’ve been following quite closely lately, involving a dispute between All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena and the Internal Revenue Service. If you’re just joining us, a guest pastor at All Saints delivered a sermon shortly before the 2004 presidential election. The Rev. […]
I know we take television pretty seriously in this country, but I didn’t quite expect this. The average American home now has more [tag]television[/tag] sets than people. That threshold was crossed within the past two years, according to [tag]Nielsen[/tag] Media Research. There are 2.73 TV sets in the typical home and 2.55 people, the researchers […]
Guest Post by Morbo Leaders of the Lutheran Church in Germany have an unusual problem on their hands: They don’t known what to do with a church full of Nazi imagery. As Religion News Service explained recently, Berlin’s Martin Luther Memorial Church definitely has some odd features. From the outside, it’s an ordinary church with […]
[tag]Reading First[/tag] is not just another grant program in the [tag]Department of Education[/tag]. According to the cabinet agency’s website, it is “the academic cornerstone of the bipartisan No Child Left Behind Act.” Reading First, the Department of Education has argued “is a prime example of the No Child Left Behind law’s emphasis on programs and […]
In the wake of the “compromise” on torture between the White House and Senate Republicans, the media coverage has been a bit of a mixed bag. The WaPo and the NYT ran helpful, illuminating op-eds that everyone should read, but a lot of the coverage has been, sadly, more about the politics than the policy. […]
According to press accounts this morning, the Bush administration threatened to bomb Pakistan “back to the stone age” in 2001 unless it cooperated in the US-led war on terror. We know this, apparently, because President Pervez Musharraf says so. According to a wire story, the Pakistani leader said former deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage […]
I noted last week that VoteVets.org unveiled one of the campaign season’s most effective ads in Virginia, criticizing Sen. George Allen (R) for his vote against body armor funding in 2003. The ad drew such a positive response, and garnered so much support, VoteVets.org brought its ad to Pennsylvania to take on Sen. Rick Santorum […]
Following up on an item from a few days ago, the Family Research Council, DC’s most powerful religious right lobbying group, is hosting a major conference, starting today, called the “2006 Values Voter Summit.” For a mere $95, attendees can hear three days worth of far-right, theocratic rhetoric from nearly all of the movement’s most […]
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: * In Pennsylvania, two new Rasmussen polls offer Dems good news and very good news. In the Senate race, after Rick Santorum (R) closed the gap recently against Bob Casey (D), the Democrat […]
Following up on yesterday’s item about Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson and his apparent penchant for letting politics dictate the grant process, it looks like Bush’s cabinet secretary has a real problem on his hands. Yesterday, an initial news report indicated that HUD’s inspector general found that Jackson “urged top aides to take […]