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Have you gotten up to speed yet on Bob McDonnell, Virginia’s theocratic governor who is being touted as a serious contender to be the GOP Vice Presidential nominee? If not, Rachel Maddow’s report is eye opening, troubling, and must-see: Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Your Thoughts?
Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
Virginia’s Aggressively Theocratic Governor
February 23rd, 2012 
Daniel Fincke New Jersey Governor Chris Christie Vetoes Gay Marriage Bill
February 17th, 2012 Daniel Fincke Infuriating: Gov. Chris Christie has followed through on his promise to reject a bill allowing same-sex marriage in New Jersey by quickly vetoing the measure Friday. “I am adhering to what I’ve said since this bill was first introduced — an issue of this magnitude and importance, which requires a constitutional amendment, should be [...]
Posted in Civil Rights, Civil Rights, Gay Marriage, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Gay Rights, Law, Law, Law & Politics, LGBTQAA, Politics, Politics, Right Wing Politics, Right Wing Politics, Same Sex Marriage, Same Sex Marriage 
Tags: Chris Christie Vetoes Same Sex Marriage Bill, Governor Chris Christie, New Jersey Same Sex Marriage Bill 
9 Comments »The Vagina Ideologues
February 14th, 2012 Daniel Fincke It was nice to see Jon Stewart finally have a chance to weigh in on last week’s absurd push from the Catholic Church to win the exemption from the law requiring employers to provide health insurance that covers contraception: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The [...]
Posted in Authoritarianism, Authoritarianism, Comedy, Comedy, Politics, Politics, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church, Satire, Satire, Separation of Church and State, Separation of Church and State, Theocrats, Theocrats Tags: Catholic Church Demands Contraception Exemption, Catholic Privilege, Catholics and Obama, Contraception, Obama's Affordable Care Act, The Daily Show 8 Comments »Happy Times
February 11th, 2012 Daniel Fincke The Obama campaign commemorates 5 years since Obama announced for president. It’s political propaganda, of course, but boy is it some slick, professional, cutting edge advertising. And the consistency in tone with the ’08 campaign shows a remarkable feel for continuity of “branding”: So does this mean that the 2012 Obama campaign will be going, [...]
The Food Stamp President
February 9th, 2012 Daniel Fincke via Joe.My.God. Your Thoughts?
The Forgotten Women of Health Care Reform
February 9th, 2012 Daniel Fincke Lawrence O’Donnell does a bang up job articulating the case for a single payer health care plan and the unacceptable consequences of the path we have chosen instead: Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Your Thoughts?
Posted in Law, Law, Law & Politics, News Discussion, News Discussion, Politics, Politics Tags: Affordable Care Act, Anti-Obamacare, Catholic Church Birth Control Exemption, Catholic Church Contraception Exemption, Negative Consequences of Affordable Care Act, Single Payer System, Virtues of Single Payer System 1 Comment »Religious Privilege and Grievance-Based Catholic Identity Politics on Full Display
February 7th, 2012 Daniel Fincke In a column last week, Melinda Henneberger criticized the Obama administration’s refusal to exempt the Catholic Church from requirements it provide for its employees health insurance which would cover birth control at organizations it runs which have secular functions. The column is an extraordinary exemplification of religious entitlement, identity politics, and anti-secular, anti-democratic demands for [...]
Posted in Applied Ethics, Applied Ethics, Atheism, Atheism, Authoritarianism, Authoritarianism, Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Christianity, Christianity, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, Faith, Feminism, Feminism, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, Law, Law, Law & Politics, News Discussion, News Discussion, Philosophy Of Religion, Political Secularism, Political Secularism, Politics, Politics, Rape, Religion, Religion, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, Religious Moderates, Religious Moderates, Religious Rights, Religious Rights, Religious Secularism, Religious Secularism, Right Wing Politics, Right Wing Politics, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church, Secularism, Separation of Church and State, Separation of Church and State, Theocrats, Theocrats, Women's Rights, Women's Rights, Women's Rights, Women's Rights, Women's Issues Tags: Affordable Care Act, Bart Stupak, Birth Control, Catholic Identity Politics, Catholic Voters, Conscience Exemptions, Faith and Politics, Grievance Politics, Liberal Protestant, Melinda Henneberger, Obama National Prayer Breakfast, Obama's Faith, obamacare, Religious Rights, Religious Tests For Office, Reproductive Rights, Ressentiment, Secularism 11 Comments »“What Are The Limits of Church Authority In the Public Sphere?”
February 5th, 2012 Daniel Fincke This is part 2 of a debate with Roman Catholic theology graduate student named Mary. In part 1, we introduced and began to debate the topic of whether or not universities, hospitals, and social agencies run by the Catholic Church should be exempted from laws requiring employers to provide their employees health insurance that covers [...]
Posted in Abortion, Abortion, Applied Ethics, Applied Ethics, Authoritarianism, Authoritarianism, Authority, Authority, Autonomy, Autonomy, Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Bio-Medical Ethics, Bio-Medical Ethics, Christianity, Christianity, Civil Rights, Civil Rights, Contemporary Ethics, Contemporary Ethics, Feminism, Feminism, Gay Marriage, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Gay Rights, Homophobia, Homophobia, Law, Law, LGBTQAA, News Discussion, News Discussion, Personal, Philosophy, Political Secularism, Political Secularism, Politics, Politics, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, Religious Moderates, Religious Moderates, Religious Rights, Religious Rights, Religious Secularism, Religious Secularism, Right Wing Politics, Right Wing Politics, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church, Secularism, Separation of Church and State, Separation of Church and State, Women's Rights, Women's Rights, Women's Rights, Women's Issues Tags: 1st Amendment, Affordable Care Act, Conscience Exemptions, Discrimination Against Gays, Free Exercise, Freedom of Religion, Gay Rights, Health Coverage For Gay Spouses, Mary C. Young, Pharmacists Rights of Conscience, Relig, Religious Discrimination, Reproductive Rights, Roman Catholic Adoption Agencies Refuse Gay Adoptions, Roman Catholic Charities, Roman Catholic Church 55 Comments »“Should Catholic Employers Be Exempted From Paying For Health Insurance Covering Contraception?”
February 5th, 2012 Daniel Fincke If you were reading Camels With Hammers regularly before we made the move to Freethought Blogs, you would have frequently been treated to the long, insightful, and vigorously argued comments of my friend Mary. Mary is a Roman Catholic and is politically liberal in many (but not all) respects. We met when I was a [...]
Posted in Applied Ethics, Applied Ethics, Authoritarianism, Authoritarianism, Authority, Authority, Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Christianity, Christianity, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, Feminism, Feminism, News Discussion, News Discussion, Personal, Philosophy, Political Secularism, Political Secularism, Politics, Politics, Religious Moderates, Religious Moderates, Religious Secularism, Religious Secularism, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church, Secularism, Separation of Church and State, Separation of Church and State, Women's Rights, Women's Rights, Women's Rights, Women's Rights, Women's Issues Tags: 1st Amendment, Affordable Care Act, Catholics and Obamacare, Conscience Exemptions, Discrimination, Freedom of Religion, Mary C. Young, obamacare, Obamacare and Contraception, Religious Discrimination, Reproductive Rights, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Universities 48 Comments »Suddenly Gingrich and Romney Will Save the Poor!
February 5th, 2012 Daniel Fincke Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the econom Okay, as I always note when discussing anything remotely related to economics, I am not an economist. I rely on my trained economist readers to provide expertise about the strictly economic aspects of what I am about to comment on. I am [...]
Mitt Romney Fires Debate Coach For Making Him Bad By Making Him Look Good
February 4th, 2012 Daniel Fincke In South Carolina’s debates watching Newt Gingrich debate Mitt Romney was like watching Cicero debate automated customer service telephone prompts. So Romney diligently and proactively went out and got an excellent debate coach, Brett O’Donnell. And Romney went on to utterly neutralize and deflate Gingrich next they met, in Florida. So that’s a point in [...]
Posted in News, News Discussion, News Discussion, Politics, Politics, Right Wing Politics, Right Wing Politics Tags: Debate Coach, Mitt Romney 16 Comments »Who Was Saul Alinsky?
February 4th, 2012 Daniel Fincke In response to Newt Gingrich’s regular raging against Saul Alinsky in the last few weeks of campaigning, Bill Maher hilariously raised the question, “Who the fuck is Saul Alinsky?” Bill Moyers educates: Bill Moyers Essay: Newt’s Obesession with Saul Alinsky from BillMoyers.com on Vimeo. Money quote: Maybe that’s why Newt Gingrich has been slandering Alinsky’s [...]
Occupy Protesters vs. Santorum
January 22nd, 2012 Daniel Fincke Some protesters got into Santorum’s face in South Carolina: That was painful to watch. Rick Santorum strikes me in many ways as a bad person with dangerous ideas. He thinks in unnervingly authoritarian and bigoted ways. And the combination of his arrogant and idiotic ideas and overgrown jock demeanor in speaking and debating makes him [...]
Does Free Trade Really Work?
January 22nd, 2012 Daniel Fincke Ian Fletcher argues “no”: I am not an economist and never claim any expertise on economic questions whatsoever. I occasionally post interesting theses about economics for your insights, not as a knowledgeable endorsement of any kind. In the case of this video, I was inspired to post it when I saw National Review conservative John [...]
PIPA Co-Sponsor Senator Marco Rubio Withdraws Support For PIPA
January 18th, 2012 Daniel Fincke From his Facebook page:
The Daily Show vs. Cognitive Dissonance
January 13th, 2012 Daniel Fincke John Oliver does a number on Froma Harrop over her hypocrisy of calling the Tea Party Republicans “economic terrorists”, comparable to al-Qaeda, while simultaneously running a project for restoring civility in public discourse. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook Last [...]
Occupy Propaganda
January 13th, 2012 Daniel Fincke This one is really well done: More with this ideological bent and lack of subtlety. Your Thoughts?
Newt Gingrich Discovers the Down Side of Capitalism
January 12th, 2012 Daniel Fincke We all knew that Newt Gingrich was a craven grifter who would say any preposterous or divisive thing to get himself elected. But did anyone ever imagine a Super Pac devoted to supporting him creating the 28 minute video advertised in this attack ad?? Your Thoughts?
10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Rules Against Bans on Shari’a Law
January 11th, 2012 Daniel Fincke Andrew Cohen highlights and explains key sections of a ruling by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (which you can read in full here) that considers attempts to outlaw all use of international law in legal judgments in the United States and which places special emphasis on outlawing considerations of Shari’a law as any [...]
The Dangers of Religion Itself
January 8th, 2012 Daniel Fincke Salvaging Religion In this post I am going to explore the dangers of religion. For some context, I have written often that I think that there are good things that go by the name religion that atheists should try to salvage from authoritarians, irrationalists and bigots. I am generally optimistic about the idea that we [...]
Posted in Atheism, Atheism, Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, Faith, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, Islam, Islam, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, Philosophy, Philosophy Of Religion, Political Secularism, Political Secularism, Politics, Politics, Psychology, Psychology, Religion, Religious Secularism, Religious Secularism, Right Wing Politics, Right Wing Politics, Secularism 40 Comments »Georgia Court To Hear Out Birthers
January 7th, 2012 Daniel Fincke Insipid: The prospect of the President being banned from the ballot is sheer lunacy. Your Thoughts?
Openly Bisexual and Non-theist Woman (Who Rejected Parents’ Mormonism) Runs For U.S. Congress
January 7th, 2012 Daniel Fincke Kyrsten Sinema is a Democrat from Phoenix who has resigned her seat in the Arizona state senate to run for the state’s new 9th Congressional District. She is a bisexual with a history of advocacy for gay rights. She is also a non-theist of some variety who openly participated in a 2010 event marking the creation [...]
Posted in Atheism, Atheism, Atheism, Civil Rights, Civil Rights, Gay Marriage, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Gay Rights, Law, Law & Politics, LGBTQAA, News, Political Secularism, Political Secularism, Politics, Politics, Secularism, Separation of Church and State, Separation of Church and State Tags: Kyrsten Sinema, Kyrsten Sinema atheist, Kyrsten Sinema non-theist 23 Comments »The Case Against Literature As Moral Education
December 18th, 2011 Daniel Fincke The other day, Corey Robin, author of The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism From Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin, eviscerated Christopher Hitchens over two morally dubious comments he made. Robin concluded from them that, contrary to his reputation, Hitchens was not at all an internationalist but rather “a narcissist, the most provincial spirit of all”. Robin ended his post quoting [...]
Thoughts and Questions About Obama
December 11th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Before Obama, America had not elected as president a legislator, either a congressperson or a senator, for decades. We have consistently preferred governors, vice presidents, and generals. Now in electing Obama we have a legislator, law professor, and grass roots organizer. We have someone whose skills are building consensus, managing intricate relationships with allies and enemies, [...]
Full Video of Republican Theocratathon
November 22nd, 2011 Daniel Fincke Last weekend the Republican candidates met for the “Thanksgiving Family Forum” where, except for Ron Paul, they each tried to prove they were the holiest Christian and, therefore, the most deserving candidate for president of our theocracy democracy. The actual discussions with the candidates do not start until 36 minutes in. And, as Jerry Coyne [...]
Posted in Authoritarianism, Authoritarianism, Christianity, Christianity, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, Politics, Politics, Religion, Religion, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, Right Wing Politics, Right Wing Politics, Separation of Church and State, Separation of Church and State 2 Comments »
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