Submitted to a Candid World

I’ve written before about the empty, shallow religion practiced by fundamentalists, who name God merely to defend their backwards lifestyle, rather than devoting themselves to anything of real religious substance.  Focus on the Family graciously continues to play into my description of them: an employee there was only “partly joking” when he urged believers to [...]

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Two guests on NPR’s “Fresh Air” review how modern conservatism puts ideology over practicality, both in foreign relations, and in domestic fiscal management, with disastrous consequences.  The first linked interviewee, Peter Scoblic, reviews how Reagan’s ideology-based refusal to compromise & need to demonize the USSR, contrary to the popular myth that Reagan “ended” the Cold [...]

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If you listen to Libertarian presidential candidate and ex-congressman Bob Barr speak - a course of action that I don’t always recommend, especially for expectant mothers & individuals with compromised immune systems - you’ll hear that he honestly expects to win.  However, he’s also managed to erect another barrier to that triumph, by dredging up [...]

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After a relentless week of mocking Barack Obama for suggesting the controversial idea that car maintenance might help cut down on energy waste, and mischaracterizing Obama’s energy policy by implying that it starts and ends with conservation, McCain appears to be winding down. While there’s some personal delight to take in McCain spending precious [...]

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Let it never be said that I am sometimes equal in my criticisms: it’s time to issue a well-deserved wag of the finger to the Democratically controlled Congress. Senate Majority Leader Reid recently mocked Republicans, torn between using the impending recess for campaigning, or to push through important legislation. Well, be careful what [...]

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Normally, I try to adhere to a schedule, where I write posts and have the software auto-post them at around 9:30 and 12:00 every day. I try to make the 9:00ish post the major one for the day. Unfortunately, I’ve had to switch schedules, since I didn’t have time to write a major [...]

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Despite grim news from some pollsters, no small amount of schadenfreude, and a nasty slew of attack ads, Barack Obama remains on top.  The same polls, though, indicate that his hold could be tenuous: more voters credit McCain with the greater leadership ability on a majority of issues.  While this suggests that Obama’s ideological appeal [...]

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Site contributor Matt writes on the importance and frequent overuse of metaphors, especially in election season, and the Huffington Post catches McCain in an embarrassing misstep, in which he mentions that he almost asked his wife to sign up for a beauty pageant… without realizing that this town’s “beauty pageant” is essentially a wet t-shirt [...]

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