Whether called marriage or euphemistically something else, opponents of state-sanctioned gay unions often cite “the sanctity of marriage” as a primary argument to restrict the institution to heterosexual couples. Marriage, we are told grimly, must be between one man and one woman and all else is an affront to god....
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Most of us act hypocritically when going green, at least some of the time. Celebrities take a big hit with the most visible transgressions. John Travolta properly advocates against greenhouse gas emissions, but owns a fleet of jets. Barbra Streisand is a vocal supporter of many environmental causes, and her website offers advice...
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Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) used his bully pulpit as the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee to be a bully during the first day of confirmation hearings for Supreme Court candidate Elena Kagan. His opening remarks were a series of unsubstantiated personal attacks with the primary intent of degrading the nominee....
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Before imploding in the face of his sordid extramarital trysts, presidential candidate John Edwards based his campaign on the idea of two Americas: one rich, the other poor. He was right about the idea that American is divided, but wrong about the nature of the division. The deeper and more important split is defined by religiosity,...
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In the world of aviation, if a systemic flaw is found in the design of an aircraft, usually following a deadly crash, the entire fleet is grounded until the problem is fully characterized and fixed. In 1979 the FAA grounded the entire DC-10 fleet because of “grave deficiencies in the structure which attaches the engine to...
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Religious morality has maintained a powerful grip on the human psyche for two millennia through the concept of “free will.” Without the notion of free will granted by an omniscient and omnipotent god, religion would run into an immediate and insurmountable conundrum. Humans would be automatons, doing god’s bidding...
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Moderate Republicans, tea baggers and Party extremists all share a common love of big government, against which they protest too much, methinks. All strongly support a vigorous national defense ($718 billion), Health and Human Services (including Medicare, $900 billion) and Social Security ($780 billion), which combine to a sum...
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Being among the living, all of us have a bias toward life. We are not to blame, for our first reference point is our own existence. We view life as special, something unique, divine, sacred. We naturally consider life as inherently superior to inanimate objects that do not enjoy our vital fluids. Being dead is less interesting...
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As we helplessly watch the spreading brown ooze soak into the porous sands of the Gulf coast courtesy of BP, the encroaching spill should at the same time be seeping into our collective consciousness, goading us into redirecting our national energy strategy away from carbon and toward sustainability. The crisis in the Gulf of...
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