Life Without a Net
United States
Denialism and the Rise of Extremism
Humans are very good at denialism. We all do it to some degree or another. And in fact, it’s not always a bad thing. Contrary to popular belief, depression isn’t always a sign that a person has an unrealistic view of the world. It’s often the opposite. We need a certain amount of healthy delusion … Continue reading
Economics and Marriage: Making Sense of the Republican Agenda
What does marriage have to do with the political agenda of the Religious Right? Why are Republican Christians so united in their support for both conservative politics and “traditional” sex and marriage? To many non-believers, the two topics seem unrelated. Christians are sexual prudes, and Republicans are hyper-conservatives. It just so happens that most Republicans … Continue reading
Is Bin Laden in Hell?
A CNN research poll from May 4th gives us a sobering look into the mind of the average American. Across most political and gender lines, six out of ten Americans believe Osama bin Laden is being tortured in the worst imaginable way, and will continue to be tortured trillions of years after our universe has … Continue reading
Bin Laden’s 3 Trillion Dollars
By conservative estimates, Osama Bin Laden has cost the U.S. at least 3 trillion dollars. I’ve been thinking about things we could have done with that money. Pay for health care for every American for ten years. Pay for 30 million young people to go to college. Give every teacher in America a 50% pay … Continue reading
Religion and Politics: Musings
I hope you’ll forgive me a little diversion today. I’ve been tossing around some thoughts about the current state of politics and religion in America, and thought it might help clarify things by putting them down in print. Here’s a blog post I found over the weekend. It’s a neat idea: List what the Republicans … Continue reading
American Greatness. Mass Delusion.
I’m tired of the term “Anti-American” being applied to people who like to point out that America is NOT great. The thing is, they’re right. It seems to me that such people would be daft to both hate America and tell America what it needs to fix to be great again. So enough with that, … Continue reading
Why We Need Holidays
Yesterday I gave you some of my thoughts on the “Holiday War.” Today I want to talk about holidays in general. To begin with, let’s think about what holidays are and what they mean. First, a holiday is usually a day off from work. That’s not a small thing. The U.S. still ranks in the … Continue reading
Myth, Culture, Sex: Part 3: Current Mythology
PART 1 PART 2 Current Mythology Let us now return to the discussion of myths and sexuality. Please forgive my somewhat long and perhaps tedious recounting of events from so long ago, but an understanding of them is crucial to recognizing the fact that many of our concepts of love, sexuality, and marriage are not … Continue reading
The Hardest Job In The World
I generally try to avoid politics, but this is too big. For the sixteen to eighteen percent of Americans who don’t subscribe to the belief that God has chosen America to do whatever it is we’re supposed to do, this is a momentous time in history. At no other time in the foreseeable future will … Continue reading
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