Lessons from My Uncle Harold
Posted by Sheila Kennedy in Random Blogging on April 15th, 2012
There’s nothing like a funeral to focus your mind on what’s really important. Sunday, I attended the funeral of my uncle Harold–actually, he was my first cousin once removed in the arcane language of family trees, but he was my mother’s age, so my sister and I grew up calling him “uncle.” Harold would have [...]
NOW I Understand!
Posted by Sheila Kennedy in Public Policy and Governance on April 14th, 2012
A few days ago, in a post about N.J. Governor Christie’s decision to abort a badly needed tunnel linking New Jersey and New York, and his multiple lies about his reasons for doing so, I admitted that I was baffled: there was no scenario I could come up with that made the decision explicable. Now, [...]
Chickens and Eggs
Posted by Sheila Kennedy in Random Blogging on April 14th, 2012
Chris Mooney has written several books about science–or more accurately, the rejection of science by conservative Republicans. His most recent book is The Republican Brain: The Science of Why They Deny Science and Reality. While Mooney has an obvious political perspective, his analysis of the role of media–and specifically, Fox News, is interesting. Mooney reviews [...]
Deconstructing “Special Rights”
Posted by Sheila Kennedy in Gay Rights on April 13th, 2012
I heard someone make the claim again yesterday: gays want “special rights.” So let me understand this argument: If government respects the civil rights of Christians—and if Human Rights agencies protect those Christians from being picked on because of their beliefs—that’s simply government protecting equal rights. But if government treats LGBT folks just like it [...]
Allen and Joe
Posted by Sheila Kennedy in Random Blogging, Uncategorized on April 12th, 2012
After he called members of Congress’ Progressive Caucus “Communists,” several commentators compared Congressman Allen West to Joe McCarthy. It’s a bad comparison. McCarthy’s charges were dishonest at best, paranoid at worst, and he did a lot of damage to a lot of of people and to the country as a whole. But give him credit [...]
I Just Don’t Understand
Posted by Sheila Kennedy in Random Blogging on April 11th, 2012
There are a lot of positions conservatives take that I understand, although I disagree with them. There are sincere anti-abortion people who believe life begins at conception, for example. Belief in “fiscal responsibility” leads many people to draw (bad) analogies to household budgets and disputes over what sorts of behaviors actually are fiscally responsible. I [...]
The Legacy of “Our Man Mitch”
Posted by Sheila Kennedy in Public Policy and Governance on April 10th, 2012
The NorthWest Times of Indiana has an article detailing the devastation that tax caps are visiting on Indiana’s municipalities. We can thank Mitch Daniels for leading the charge to place these caps in the state’s constitution, where they will continue to strangle local governments until we manage the difficult job of passing a constitutional amendment. [...]
Loss of Trust
Posted by Sheila Kennedy in Random Blogging on April 9th, 2012
In 2009, I wrote a book titled Distrust, American Style in which I argued that a loss of trust in our social institutions–and especially in our government–has had significant negative consequences for our ability to function as a productive society. Things haven’t improved since 2009. If anything, our levels of distrust have continued to grow, [...]
Religious War and Peace
Posted by Sheila Kennedy in Religious Liberty on April 8th, 2012
Since today marks both Passover and Easter, it seems appropriate to consider the role of religion in American life–or at least, theories addressing that role. So in today’s New York Times, Ross Douthat bemoans the disappearance of what he calls “the religious center”–what many of us who are not Christians experienced as something rather less [...]
Doubling Down
Posted by Sheila Kennedy in Random Blogging on April 7th, 2012
The Chair of the National Republican Party pooh-poohs the notion that his party is waging a war on women–next, he says, the Democrats will accuse the GOP of a war on caterpillars. How silly, how over-the-top! Just another one of those politically-motivated charges that are thrown around during a campaign season. At virtually the same [...]
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