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July 2023

July 30, 2023

Humanized Machines and Mechanized Humans

There have been times over the past few years when I've gotten the deeply unsettling...

April 2019

April 20, 2019

How to Govern as an Autocrat within a Democratic System

You start by playing to fear. You will find plenty of people who, for various...

February 2019

February 02, 2019

Both Bipartisanship and Impeachment

There is a narrative being frequently reiterated by political analysts around the 116th Congress, particularly...

November 2018

November 04, 2018

It’s Not Really About the Issues

Granted, it's never entirely not about the issues. The lawmakers we elect will invariably make decisions...

June 2017

June 26, 2017

The one thing I’ll add to all the Trump-parsing

Since the rise of The Donald, journalists and analysts have been racing to keep up...

February 2017

February 04, 2017

1950 Hollywood on the Buyout of Democracy

I've been thinking this week about an old movie I saw recently: Born Yesterday, in...

February 03, 2017

Godwin’s Law Overturned on Appeal

Godwin’s Law is, in the words of Wikipedia, ...an Internet adage which asserts that ‘As...

January 2016

January 04, 2016

Bring Boring Back

If anything is widely agreed on in current U.S. politics, it is that Washington is...

May 2014

May 22, 2014

Resisting Empire

IS THE UNITED STATES AN IMPERIAL POWER? I would say that it is, and that...

October 2013

October 25, 2013

We Are All to Blame

The US government is (technically) functional again, and the national crisis has been (sort of)...

November 2012

November 16, 2012

Conflicting Rights: A Muslim/Canadian Perspective

A minor story out of Canada, reported by the Religious News Service, may provide a...

November 14, 2011

Rick Perry, Waterboarding and Prudential Judgment

In the most recent Republican debate, Rick Perry made an impassioned defense of waterboarding. According...

April 2011

April 01, 2011

For God and Country: The Legacy of Francisco Franco

Eighty-two years ago today, the Spanish Civil War ended. On April 1, 1939, Generalissimo Francisco...

December 2010

December 21, 2010

Questions I’d Like To Ask of the Democrats

When are you going to stand up and act to stop the rape of the...

November 2010

November 29, 2010

Chris Hedges, On the Failure of the “Liberal Class”

While I obviously don't agree with him in every particular (he appears to be pro-choice,...

January 2010

January 28, 2010

Howard Zinn (1922-2010)

Many of us are thankful tonight for the full, radical life of historian/activist Howard Zinn...

October 2009

October 09, 2009

I Give Britain Less Than 50 Years

But if these guys have any impact they might squeeze out an extra 5 or...

September 2009

September 26, 2009

Re-personing ethics, de-personing the corporation

In his fantastic book Who Count as Persons?: Human Identity and the Ethics of Killing...

September 18, 2009

Threats of violence from the right

Last Saturday, a friend of mine from Dayton, Ohio described an encounter he had with...

September 17, 2009

Frank Schaeffer: GOP & A Subculture of Insanity

Frank Schaeffer offers a penetrating look at the devolution of the modern day Republican Party....

September 16, 2009

President Carter Speaks

President Carter publicly added himself yesterday to those concerned over the tone of the health care debate,...

September 09, 2009

We Can’t Afford to Wait

The music is "You Are The Everything" by R.E.M., one of my favorites.

September 03, 2009

Far right cries that Obama is bad for our children

It appears that there is another outbreak of right-wing crazy, this time over President Obama's innocuous...

August 2009

August 27, 2009

It’s not just a few “nutcases”

Several recent posts at Vox Nova have turned their critical attention to individuals who have...

July 2009

July 02, 2009

Coup in Honduras: silence

After an explosion of interest in the Catholic blogosphere surrounding the election controversy and subsequent...

June 2009

June 21, 2009

On the Futility of Certain Arguments in the Same-Sex Marriage Debate

Up here in Canada, there has recently been a lot of to-do regarding a family...

June 10, 2009

Abortion and Democracy

Ross Douthat (or, as I’ve nicknamed him, “he who should be read every Tuesday”) has...

May 2009

May 19, 2009

Book Review: On Deaf Ears

It is always good to read, whenever possible, arguments from the "other side" of where...

May 18, 2009

Christian Identity and Communities of Memory: Renewing the Public Life at the Parish Level (Final)

Part 1: Introduction Part 2: The Challenges of Individualism Part 3: The Person, the Other,...

May 13, 2009

Christian Identity and Communities of Memory: Renewing the Public Life at the Parish Level (Part 6)

Part 1: Introduction Part 2: The Challenges of Individualism Part 3: The Person, the Other,...