Month: April 2009

Protecting Religious Freedom

I don't think concern for it should be dismissed in the push for marriage equality, although I do believe that most of the fears are overblown. But the Connecticut law seems to me to strike a very good balance:

Religious groups warned that the bill would infringe on religious freedom and did win a late bipartisan compromise, as sponsors agreed to modify the proposal to more explicitly exempt church-affiliated groups from some provisions. The language closely mirrors that in a bill recently passed in Vermont, overriding a gubernatorial veto to legalize same-sex marriage in that state. The language expressly permits churches and related organizations – including church-owned venues and adoption agencies – to continue to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation as long as the specific services that discriminate do not receive funding from the state or federal government.

You Can’t All Be The Economist

Matt Pressman explains why the news weeklies will never catch up:

Time and Newsweek seem to think The Economist is an opinion journal, and that emulating it is simply a matter of adding more analysis, a stronger editorial viewpoint, and maybe cleverer covers. In 2006, Newsweek editor-in-chief Jon Meacham told the New York Observer, “The Economist doesn’t even attempt to do original reporting, particularly.” He’s wrong. Last week's Economist, a typical issue, published stories datelined Tallinn, Colombo, and Lagos. A little help for you Newsweek readers out there: those cities are located in Estonia, Sri Lanka, and Nigeria. But instead of filling their articles with self-serving quotes from government ministers you’ve never heard of, The Economist’s correspondents just give you the essential facts and a meaningful takeaway, whether the information came from their own reporting, the local press, or some obscure think tank.

The Torture Of Zubaydah

Who authorized it before the legal cover was ginned up? And what country would you think rendered a prisoner into this state:

“At times, Mr. Zubaydah, still weak from his wounds, was stripped and placed in a cell without a bunk or blankets. He stood or lay on the bare floor, sometimes with air-conditioning adjusted so that, one official said, Mr. Zubaydah seemed to turn blue.”

This is America. Just a reminder.