Posted by XT on July 9th, 2010 in US News
I haven’t been writing much here lately. Not to offer a lame excuse, but I’ve been doing other things. Obviously. American political scientists sometimes like to talk about something they call “realignment.” It’s a concept that seeks to explain, and perhaps predict, when an entire generation will suddenly and irrevocably change their political identity. It [...]
Posted by XT on June 8th, 2010 in US News, World News
I’ve given up on watching TV news, at least until the “BP Gulf Oil Spill” saga is over. I’m simply tired of hearing earnest-sounding news anchors earnestly intone “the largest oil spill in American history.” With absolutely no background information – other than a vague idea about the Exxon Valdez – those words are pretty [...]
Posted by XT on May 2nd, 2010 in US News
This post started out with an unbelieving laugh: Now, I think Arizona’s actually gone off the deep end, or they’re playing a practical joke on us now. Because now they’re going after minotaurs. Following the link gives you this: The Arizona state Senate on Thursday passed a bill making it illegal for a person to [...]
Posted by XT on February 18th, 2010 in US News
Self-deception, by definition, is impossible to see without someone else’s help. And, all too often, it is likely that the person who helps us see that will, in the short term, anger us. This is part of being human. Rufus, over at the League of Ordinary Gentlemen, ties this self-deception, or lack of self-criticism, to [...]
Posted by XT on February 5th, 2010 in US News
This post is the fallout from a Facebook discussion. The issue at hand had to do with “Don’t Ask; Don’t Tell” (DADT) and its purpose. After all, no soldier, sailor, marine, or airman’s job is to get laid for their country. So serving in the military is not inherently dependent on sexual orientation. In concept, [...]
Posted by XT on January 27th, 2010 in US News
The latest word is that John and Elizabeth Edwards are now separated and will likely divorce. The descent of John Edwards has been stunning. From one step away from VP to a viable Presidential candidate, he is now simply a rich man who can’t keep his pants up. Worse, with all the money at his [...]
Posted by XT on January 11th, 2010 in US News
In case you haven’t heard about Sen. Harry Reid’s comments on Barack Obama, here’s a recap: [Reid] told staff to brace for a tough weekend and instructed them to go into damage-control mode. He then hunkered down at his home in Searchlight, Nev., and began working the telephone, apologizing for saying Obama had a good [...]
Posted by XT on December 9th, 2009 in New Jersey, Progressive Faith, US News
For those of you who don’t share my religious views, this post will be largely academic for you. But I hope that those who do share my religious views will take a moment to seriously consider the points I intend to raise. I grew up in a very conservative Christian household. We not only went [...]
Posted by XT on December 5th, 2009 in US News
Increasingly, there is little difference between the methods of the far left and those of the far right. Take, for example, the use of the Senate filibuster. Air America’s Mark Green is today’s example of liberals behaving ignorantly: To reach unanimity at the Constitutional Convention, the 1787 “Connecticut Compromise” created a House of Representatives allocating [...]
Posted by XT on November 22nd, 2009 in US News, World News
Anne Applebaum wants to know why responses to swine flu outbreaks vary so widely: How did we get to this point? That is, how did we get to a point where outbreaks treated with the utmost seriousness by the World Health Organization — swine flu has been officially declared a “pandemic” — receive vastly different [...]