The religious right’s support in the Republican presidential primaries is clearly up for grabs. Rudy Giuliani has the worst “family values” of any presidential candidate in recent memory .John McCain thinks the movement’s leaders are “agents of intolerance.” Fred Thompson was denounced by James Dobson earlier this week. Mitt Romney has the disadvantage of being […]
For quite a while, conservatives have embraced an annoying strategy — trawl through liberal comments sections in the hopes of finding intemperate remarks. The right then takes these comments to “prove” that the left is made up of unhinged radicals. The practice has always been rather self-defeating. In fact, about a year ago, Kevin Drum […]
Given his record, Rudy Giuliani’s pitch to the National Rifle Association is a tough one. He’s referred to the group’s members as “extremists”; he’s fought the group on the assault-weapons ban; and he filed a federal lawsuit as mayor against the nation’s gun manufacturers for violent crimes involving firearms. Indeed, he’s blasted the gun industry […]
What could make this week worse for Blackwater? If shooting Iraqi civilians and facing deportation pressure from the Maliki government weren’t quite enough, there’s also the looming investigation into illicit arms smuggling. Federal prosecutors are investigating allegations that employees of Blackwater — the security firm accused of shooting dead up to 20 Iraqi civilians — […]
By any reasonable measure, Fred Thompson, the actor-lobbyist-presidential candidate, is off to a rough start. Particularly on policy matters, Thompson has been confused and uninformed about everything from Social Security policy to drilling the Everglades for oil to the 2005 Schiavo controversy. But this has to be my favorite. NBC’s “First Read’ reports that when […]
At a minimum, I can’t help but think Bill O’Reilly needs to get out more. He explained the other day, on the air, that he and Al Sharpton had dinner together in Harlem, and O’Reilly was amazed by what he found. Regrettably, he wasn’t talking about the food. “[W]e went to Sylvia’s, a very famous […]
I try not to get too worked up over the hassles of airport security. Officials are well-intentioned and trying to provide a crucial public service. But when federal officials maintain travel records on Americans that keep track of everything from destinations, to travel companions, to reading materials, one can’t help but wonder if some reasonable […]
First up from The God Machine this week is a disconcerting story out of Base Speicher in Tikrit, Iraq, where a U.S. soldier has found that his religious liberty is being squelched by his superior officers. A soldier in Iraq whose superior prevented him from holding a meeting for atheists and other non-Christians is suing […]
Guest Post by Morbo I monitor some websites that deal with creationism and “intelligent design” because, in my opinion, nothing the fundamentalists do makes them look more foolish than their refusal to accept evolution. Recently, the ID sites have been all atwitter because they have a new champion: Actor and alleged comedian Ben Stein has […]
Guest Post by Morbo The Salvation Army is perhaps the most overrated organization in America. Everyone gets a warm fuzzy seeing their bell ringers outside the Wal-Mart at Christmastime. Woe to anyone who dares to point out that this band of right-wingers in uniforms are just homophobic religious fundamentalist adept at tapping the public purse. […]