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POPSThe Superstitious Right Fights Good Science on Global Warming We could go on and on detailing the ludicrous inanities of American politics in the age of Bush (himself Exhibit A), but really my favorite has to be the case of global warming. In a society devoted like no other to the politics of fear, we have somehow managed to forget the one thing we should probably fear most.
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POPSPrimitivism Another viewpoint and value system than the current all-will-be well, if only we rush a faster and learn to accept all that is new and shiny. Or at the very least: food for thought.
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POPSWhat Religion's Blind Stranglehold on America Is Doing to Our Democracy to go from "there is a fixed truth" to "I have that fixed truth." Words alone are rarely enough to reassure the uncertain. In fact, the more people rely on faith talk to pursue certainty, the more they may actually reinforce both anxiety and uncertainty. It's a small step indeed to move beyond the issue of individual self-control to controlling others through the passage of laws. All too often, the faith-talk view of freedom ends up taking away freedom. In itself, faith in politics poses no great danger to democracy as long as the debates are really about policies -- and religious values are translated into political values, articulated in ways that can be rationally debated by people who don't share them. The challenge is not to get religion out of politics. It's to get the quest for certitude out of politics .
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POPSState of the world as we end 2007 This is an incredibly powerful paragraph. I wonder if when George Bush looks at the cover of Time Magazine and stares into the eyes of Vladimir Putin, he still says, "ah, those trusting eyes of Vlad." The U.S. is getting completely outplayed at the chess table and its leaders don't have a clue.
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POPSBell Ringer Season Good reading... take time to read the full article see what all they're doing with that money they guilt you into giving during the season of giving. =/
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POPSTripping over a shifting ethical line
Has it always been this way? No. Read on: "The agency's travel patterns during the Bush administration, detailed in internal agency documents, differ from those of the Clinton era. Ann Brown, who served as chairman from 1994 to 2001, traveled only at the expense of the agency or of media organizations that sponsored appearances where she announced product recalls" "Some say the commission's approach to gift travel points to a Bush administration philosophy that favors engaging corporations in policymaking that affects them. "This administration apparently has taken the position that speaking and appearing before the regulated community, even where there are enforcement matters pending, does not create the appearance of a conflict," said Kenneth Gross, an ethics lawyer at Skadden, Arps."These are difficult and subjective lines to be drawn," he said. "Prior administrations have drawn that line in a different place." "Gift Travel" How can this be ethical? :?
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POPSIraq: the new plan A deeply significant political commentary (no pun intended). Note the look on the American's face as he contemplates the significance of the new plan he's been handed.
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POPSDemocracy at work: Unity in Contempt Just as Clinton galvanized the GOP into the unified organization that took back congress, and then the white house, Bush now does the same for the left. So it's time for the pendulum to swing the other way... ...and you can't even get off it, even if you get dizzy!
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POPSPoliticians weighing renewal of Net access tax ban Another reason to pay close attention to politics; as the saying goes, we can't avoid death and taxes, but we can be more aware of how they are forced upon us unnecessarily by politicians. Unnecessary death by war, poverty, guns...and unnecessary taxes on Internet access. Is nothing sacred? Regarding sales tax on online purchases, shouldn't they be based upon the sales tax rate in the seller's location rather than that of the buyer, as if the buyer physically went to the seller to buy the item?
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POPSThai politics laid bare by a rapier wit The jaded view of Thai politicians sounds like an apt description of our own politics, at least in the US and Canada, although things here may not be as grim as they are in Thailand. More from the source: "The new constitution. Can it really bring a positive change for Thailand? One fervently hopes, but history shows that every time new ideas and ways of life arise, a backlash of the old ways rears its head and gobbles the change. Indeed, those who are superior to us in background, breeding or station have absolutely no desire to see any changes at all. In fact they would prefer that we did not even discuss such things and are prepared to take any necessary measures to ensure that the rest of us desist from doing so."
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