Recent Blog Posts
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IIWAPBK and Privilege 101
I think Gene Marks has now been thoroughly excoriated for his column “If I Were a Poor Black Kid” on the Forbes web site last week. In his effort to explain how it’s still possible for underprivileged kids to succeed, he succeeded only in displaying a shocking lack of empathy. By that I don’t mean that he demonstrated a…
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Pareidolia of the– hey, wait a minute….
If you’re just too impatient to see Jesus or the Virgin Mary’s face appearing in bird poo, a cliff face, or a testicular tumor, for just $32 you can see one of them appearing reliably in an easily accessible location– your toast. Jesus and Virgin Mary toasters are apparently a hot commodity this holiday season,…
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Cycling through symbolism: Nitpicking the Rick Perry ad mockery
AKA The post about Rick Perry’s jacket. If you somehow have missed seeing Rick Perry’s recent campaign ad, now one of the least liked videos on Youtube, here it is: Yes, that is a real ad produced by a real candidate for president of the United States and long-time governor of the state where I…
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Obama “daughter tests” young women out of sexual privacy and responsibility
A few months ago I wrote about Freakonomics author Steven Levitt’s “daughter test” for legality. Levitt didn’t invent the test; he just articulated it: “If I wouldn’t want my daughter to do it, I wouldn’t mind the government passing a law against it.” The inanity and offensiveness of this standard should be plain on its face, but…
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The gay rights paradox
There’s an interesting discussion going on at Dispatches about Michele Bachmann’s recent statement to some Iowa high school students about gay marriage: JANE SCHMIDT: Then, why can’t same-sex couples get married?BACHMANN: They can get married, but they abide by the same law as everyone else. They can marry a man if they’re a woman. Or…
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“In God We Trust” and the right not to speak
The state of Georgia is considering a bill which requires that “In God We Trust” be on the license plates of all registered vehicles, unless the owner pays to have the slogan covered up: Georgia SB 293 would amend current law to mandate that, starting next summer, all plates would be imprinted with the religious…