Imagine that the Democrats wanted to pass a federal law requiring food companies to label their products if they contained genetically modified organisms. What would be the Republican response? Undoubtedly a big piece of their argument would be the app…
Continue readingTag: US politics
Scripturient: The Continued Rise of Anti-Intellectualism
I dream of a world where the truth is what shapes people’s politics, rather than politics shaping what people think is true. Neil deGrasse Tyson on Twitter* Anti-intellectualism Is Killing America, says the headline in this recent Psychology Today story. The subtitle reads: Social dysfunction can be traced to the abandonment of reason.
Continue readingwmtc: some thoughts on the u.s. moving a bit closer to equality (#lovewins)
At last, it has happened. With Obergefell v. Hodges, same-sex marriage has been declared legal and constitutional in the United States. Same-sex couples can legally marry, just as opposite-sex couples have always had the right to do. Most importantly, laws prohibiting same-sex marriage are now unconstitutional.* For some years on
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Kshama Sawant: An interview with ‘the most dangerous woman in America’
Kshama Sawant: An interview with ‘the most dangerous woman in America’ There is an alternative — even in the United States Perhaps no other elected official on the Left in the United States is Read more…
Continue readingScripturient: Jade Helm 15 and the Madness of America
For a guy who gets great entertainment from reading the wild and wacky conspiracy theories that sprout like mushrooms online, I was surprised that I missed the rapid growth of the Jade Helm 15 conspiracy. I only noticed it as a surface ripple until this past weekend, when I realized
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Baltimore Protests Turn Violent; State of Emergency Declared
All hell is breaking loose in many US cities over the last few months. It seems like hardly a day goes by without reports of another black man being shot by trigger happy racist cops. Read more…
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Written by God?
I don’t pay as much attention to American politics as I suppose I should, in part because despite the entertaining craziness of some of their politicians, the internal politics seldom affect Canadians, and also in part because the craziness not only baffles me – it scares me. But this week
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: A same sex marriage, 200 years ago
Is same sex marriage a recent phenomenon? Actually, it isn’t. Let me explain. On Tuesday, the odd legal team of David Boies and Ted Olsen (who opposed each other in the infamous Bush vs Gore debacle) will try to build on their previous victories in striking down Proposition 8 and
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: A same sex marriage, 200 years ago
Is same sex marriage a recent phenomenon? Actually, it isn’t. Let me explain. On Tuesday, the odd legal team of David Boies and Ted Olsen (who opposed each other in the infamous Bush vs Gore debacle) will try to build on their previous victories in striking down Proposition 8 and
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: A same sex marriage, 200 years ago
Is same sex marriage a recent phenomenon? Actually, it isn’t. Let me explain.
On Tuesday, the odd legal team of David Boies and Ted Olsen (who opposed each other in the infamous Bush vs Gore debacle) will try to build on their previous victories in s…
Continue readingPop The Stack: Should America Make Voting Mandatory?
So US President Obama recently suggested that making voting mandatory. There are multiple reasons for this, one being that the people who don’t vote are more likely to be low income and democrat so it would favour his party. But he also suggested it would reduce the influence of money
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Edward Snowden and His Ideological Allies Are Winning
Richard Hughes- Political Blogger The War on Ideas is losing ground. This was clearly demonstrated through two clashing films recently. American Sniper and Citizen Four. They could not be more opposite and yet they were both declared Oscar winners The War on Ideas is winning over public support in spite of the
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Obama Vetoes Bill Pushing Pipeline Approval
Richard Hughes-Political Blogger In one of Washington’s worst kept secrets President Barack Obama confirmed earlier indications of his opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline proposal. This is huge and could help bring about rejection of the Enbridge and Kinder Morgan proposals as well. The New York Times reports on this
Continue readingwmtc: what i’m reading: pro: reclaiming abortion rights by katha pollitt
Katha Pollitt’s new book, Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights, is a powerful gust of fresh, clean air that blows away the toxic stench of the current discourse about abortion. Pro is a thorough, no-holds-barred takedown of the hypocrisy of anti-abortion-rights movement – not only in the most obvious sense that people
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: The US Budget Deal is atrocious for progressives, and the GOP base
The 2014 US midterm elections were a massive win for the GOP and, rightly or wrongly, gave them a mandate to act on the issues they campaigned upon. However, the big new budget bill is drawing controversy over something few GOP supporters are going to have thought was core to
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: The US Budget Deal is atrocious for progressives, and the GOP base
The 2014 US midterm elections were a massive win for the GOP and, rightly or wrongly, gave them a mandate to act on the issues they campaigned upon. However, the big new budget bill is drawing controversy over something few GOP supporters are going to …
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: The US Budget Deal is atrocious for progressives, and the GOP base
The 2014 US midterm elections were a massive win for the GOP and, rightly or wrongly, gave them a mandate to act on the issues they campaigned upon. However, the big new budget bill is drawing controversy over something few GOP supporters are going to have thought was core to
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Kick Russia out of the Helsinki Accords
Is the Helsinki Accord of 1975 a worthless scrap of paper? Because Vladimir Putin sure seems to think it’s a joke. I was not even three years old when the declaration was signed but my father, an emigré from Croatia, understood its meaning. As a younger it was impressed on
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Is America an Oligarchy? – The New Yorker
Is America an Oligarchy? – The New Yorker. From the Dept. of Academics Confirming Something You Already Suspected comes a new study concluding that rich people and organizations representing business interests have a powerful grip on U.S. government policy. After examining differences in public opinion across income groups on
Continue readingwmtc: the courage and compassion of dr. willie parker, the last abortion doctor in mississippi
“The Pink House”, the last abortion clinic in Mississippi.The owner painted it pink so it would stand out, in defiance. I’ve thought a lot about heroes, that tremendously overused word, about who my heroes are and why I love them. Moral courage, as you may know, is my highest value.
Continue reading