“But what are you for?” Answering a stupid question

I’m really not at all impressed with the Tea Party movement, for reasons Ed Brayton has explained at length. But I’m happy to defend them from a stupid criticism that’s been lobbed by Andrew Sullivan, especially since this is something atheists have to deal with a lot:
I like their broad philosophy:
“We’ve been running deficits for [...]

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How many people actually think socialism is a good idea?

I’m scratching my head over a libertarian-bashing post by PZ Myers. The current political environment in the U.S. is so strange to me: when I think about the recently health-care reform, I mostly think about how no one opposed publicly funded education and how Europeans and Canadians seem pretty happy with their system, even if [...]

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A sane conservative on global warming

Jim Manzi explains why, even though he’s skeptical of carbon taxes, cap-and-trade, etc. he insists on telling people that global warming is real:
Earlier in the post you said of the global warming debate that you “haven’t taken the time to study it”. Later in the post you say that “If the issue is truly important [...]

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Taner Edis on… something

I was going to call this post something like “Taner Edis’ criticisms of free speech,” but then I read a statement by Edis clarifying that he isn’t objecting to a legal right to free speech, he just thinks strong informal sanctions against saying certain things too loudly might (but isn’t necessarily) a good idea. Context: [...]

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Today in religious craziness

While browsing Google News, I happened across this headline: “Ugandan Pastor Airs Gay Porn in Church.” What’s this? Some uber-liberal religious leader giving the finger to Ugandan authorities in the most ridiculous, over-the-top way possible? No, even funnier: the pastor in question is Martin Ssempa, one of the better-known supporters of Uganda’s “kill-the-gays” bill. Yes, [...]

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