Another email: The problem with Christianism is a theological as well as a political one. The Republican Party is very happy to lock the Evangelicals into being its permanent, hardcore political base. However, one has to look at the reason why Evangelicals are so easily lured by political ambitions.For me, the reason is clearly arrogance, … Continue reading Christianism, Debated
They keep coming: Along with so many of your readers, I have been frustrated in recent years to see my faith hijacked by the political right. I live in a very conservative part of Colorado, having moved here from Southern California. I was not prepared for the assumptions of my fellow believers that certainly I … Continue reading More Emails
A reader dissents: To briefly comment on your characterization of Spencer Ackerman as a ‘pathological pessimist’: may I just remind you that in his blog Iraq’d, and thereafter, Mr. Ackerman demonstrated the kind of intelligent foresight that was all but missing in the governing institutions of the US of that time?The issues that he worried … Continue reading Spencer’d
David Cameron’s new, more urban-friendly conservatism had its best showing last night in London. Elsewhere, fine but not spectacular. But the London vote matters. The Tories cannot regain national power or a majority without winning over the middle class professionals, especially in urban areas, who have supported them in the past. They’re beginning to do … Continue reading Tory London
A reader comments: I read this first with amusement then with a bit of irritation. Truth is, I like both Hitchens and Cole – they are way up on the list of writers I read compulsively. They both have strong suits – Hitchens is one of the most amazing wordsmiths of his generation, and a … Continue reading Hitch and Cole
One thing that today’s high gas prices strongly suggest is that, whatever else it was, the Iraq war was surely not about oil. If you care about cheap oil above everything else, you’d have found some deal with Saddam, kept the oil fields pumping, and maintained the same realist policy toward Arab and Muslim autocracies … Continue reading A War for Oil?
In the interest of further illumination of this Anglicized version of hip-hop-white-trash pop-culture, here is the real thing, Lady Sovereign, and here is a surprise chav on British television hijacking a softball interview with a boy-band. The best fictional version remains Little Britain’s "Vicky Pollard." Money quote: Vicky Pollard is a teenage delinquent who lives … Continue reading Three Lady Chavs
"Michael Hiltzik’s Golden State blog is doing him and his employer, the LA Times, proud. Smart, tough work from the newspaper’s best columnist. He’s a absolute natural in this medium," – Dan Gillmor, on his blog, last November. Gillmor recently gave the Hearst New Media Lecture at Columbia University. (For a glossary of this blog’s … Continue reading Von Hoffmann Award Nominee
Speaking of welfare reform, I just got back from a long lunch with Hitch. It was one of those rare occasions when I was able to introduce him to a new word: "chavs." It was quite the rage in London when I was there. Chavs are a sort of English combination of ghetto bravado and … Continue reading To Chav and Chav Not
I caught the trailer of United 93 online and found myself once again with a lump in my throat and a lurch in my stomach. My feelings about the movie opening tonight are complicated. Of course, I have no issue with someone’s First Amendment right to make such a movie, even after so short a … Continue reading Leave Them Alone
The Dish 