Rick sat in the Peace Room of the Triangle Commission, monitoring the internet for unfavorable mentions of gay marriage. Track lighting illuminated the row of crisp Apple displays while the hum of the room’s HVAC provided the white – no, light industrial – noise that held an uncomfortable silence at bay. Things were tense. It …
Why “Anybody but Obama” is a Losing Strategy
This is a gut feeling post. I’m not a political strategist, a poll watcher or an otherwise qualified expert. I am a voter, and as such, I have always (yes, even when I was a liberal) been of the mindset that voting against someone/something is a losing strategy. Consider the momentum the conservative movement had …
Gandhi TOTES Would Have Skinned Puppies
It’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the United States. A day when we join in remembrance of a man who taught us some important lessons about human dignity and how one man’s dream can inspire the world. Or, half-off sales. Or, more absurdly, a day when we like to imagine what a man like …
Hey. Shut Up.
Listen up, Mitt Romney fans, because I’m getting sick of your whinging. This goes for you Ron Paul fans, too. Every candidate gets vetted. Every candidate is called to task for past decisions and past remarks. Yet criticizing Mitt Romney is somehow a great evil that shall not be endured. Uh, no. A friend of …
Gay Marriage in Washington State and Danny Westneat’s Dishonesty
Seattle Times blogger, Danny Westneat, has jumped on the Gay Marriage is Inevitable bandwagon with this piece, in which he talks about – shock of shocks! – Republicans who support gay marriage. The piece seems innocent enough, even praising the Republican souls who bravely support gay marriage in the face of wide party opposition. (Though, …
And Jesus Said, “Ha ha ha! You’re going to Hell.”
Welcome to 2012. I hope you had a blessed Christmas, a happy New Year and that all your dreams for 2011 finally came true. Pleasantries aside, let’s skip right to the tears, recriminations and anger. There is a dangerous trend I see emerging from conservative Christians on social networking sites: that of conflating the tactics …
Merry Christmas
Once a year, on Christmas Eve, my parents piled my sister and me into the Chrysler, and drove the few short miles to Central Lutheran Church for our version of midnight mass (it was at 11. You know us Lutherans: always with the contrariness.) It was a lot to ask of two sugared-up kids who …
Ron Paul Understands Blowback!
There’s a video up, posted under the title “Ron Paul’s Foreign Policy is Crazy … Until I watched This!” Go watch it. No, really. It’s … bizarre. “They attack us because we’re over there,” an earnest Paul lectures us. “We’re there. Occupying their land. And if we think we can do that and not have …
Plan B From Outer Space
I never thought it would happen, but I’m writing a post defending a position taken by the Obama administration, namely Kathleen Sibelius – the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. It seems, even though it is perfectly safe, Sibelius doesn’t think women under the age of 16 should have access to Plan …
King County Metro Plays Politics
photo credit: brianholsclaw You may remember a local Seattle/King County dust-up that became national news a while back when King County Metro, one of our mass transit systems, decided to allow advertisements on buses that alleged Israeli war crimes. That’s right. Buses were going to roll through the streets stating that the nation of Israel …
Remembering Anne McCaffrey
Sad news for the world of speculative fiction writers and fans today. Ann McCaffrey passed away at age 85. Most people remember her for the Pern series, and with good reason, but I remember her for an encounter at NorWesCon in … oh … 1986 or 1987? Ms. McCaffrey was one of the guests at …
The ACLU: Always Jump the Shark to the Left
photo credit: Fibonacci Blue In Hennepin County, government officials became so annoyed with protestors occupying a downtown plaza that they enacted new rules banning tents, electricity and marking up the pavement with chalk. “Argh argh argh mumble argh,” cried the protestors, which the ACLU of Minnesota translated into: Hey! You can’t enact rules just, you …
Occupy Critical Thought
I rarely go over to Google+ these days. Sure, it was fun while it lasted. Breaking away from the social networking megaliths of Twitter and Facebook, we brave G+ pioneers thought we were on the front of the Next Big Thing. Then, two weeks later: Hey! Where did everybody go. Oh, back to Twitter and …
Better Than Shakespeare
I’m re-watching Ken Burns: The Civil War. At the end of of the first segment, a letter written by Sullivan Ballou to his wife Sarah, is read (abridged) by Paul Roebel.
Of Mormons and Jews
Recent kerfuffles in politics and in American society have once again caused me to look at how various religions are perceived here in the United States. With two high-profile presidential candidates professing the Mormon faith, and with the plight of Israel played out in the media, various “Occupy” events and the United Nations (as always), …