“Religion is under assault by secularism in America.”

You’ve heard it so often that it even sounds true to many liberals. However, like so much the Right says these days, it is just rhetorical covering fire for a political manuever with exactly the opposite objective.

In reality, politicians are far to eager to give religious activity and organizations special treatment not afforded to others. Our political institutions have been so solicitous of religion, that they have put in place a formidable array of legal protections and exemptions for religious practice and organization without questioning whether the general welfare is harmed thereby.

Like any other human endeavor, religion, when unshackled from a common social contract and protected from the consequences of behavior, can become destructive to the common welfare. Marci Hamilton’s book explores exactly what has gone wrong in the American legal system’s handling of religious activity and organizations that impose costs and cause harm to others. She finds that religious organizations have systematically freed themselves from the social contract under the banner of religious freedom. The catalog of abuses her book records is long and ranges from the distortion of local land use laws that protect the heath and welfare of our families, to the lawless response of the Catholic church to predatory abuse of our children.

I don’t often write about movies, except perhaps documentaries, but Blackballed is different. First, it’s a largely improvised mockumentary, much in the vein of the sublime Best in Show or Waiting for Guffman. Second, it’s premise is the struggles of disgraced star of a fairly rediculous ‘sport’, like Dodgeball. Thirdly it has a ‘losers to … Read more

If you are like me at all (and you probably are if you are reading this blog) then you look forward to January 20th 2009 with a mixture of great anticipation and a certain nagging dread. Anticipation that the long dark night of two misbegotten and utterly tragic Bush terms will be over, and dread as to who will be taking the oath on that day.

I’d like to offer you some hope: I don’t think it will be another Republican (but then I never do, so my objectivity is questionable as to this point). In conjunction with the Republican Congress, Bush has, for now, exhausted the credibility of the conservative movement with the American people. I think I have some plausible ideas about which Democrats may be taking the oath, and it may not be anyone you expect.

Many progressive Democrats have angst about current polling that shows the most likely Democratic candidate to be taking the noontime oath from Justice Roberts is Hillary Rodham Clinton. Let me reassure you, it’s not going to happen that way.

I want to appologize for the mysterious disappearance of your Drinking Liberally hosts last week. Tasha was on vaction and I was suddenly taken ill. I hope that the Drinkers who showed up made the best of it and had a great time. Perhaps someone(s) would like to volunteer as a sort of emergency reserve … Read more

Link: The Raw Story | MSNBC confirms: Outed CIA agent was working on Iran. "INTELLIGENCE SOURCES SAY VALERIE WILSON WAS PART OF AN OPERATION THREE YEARS AGO TRACKING THE PROLIFERATION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS MATERIAL INTO IRAN. AND THE SOURCES ALLEGE THAT WHEN MRS. WILSON’S COVER WAS BLOWN, THE ADMINISTRATION’S ABILITY TO TRACK IRAN’S NUCLEAR AMBITIONS … Read more

I don’t usually lift articles whole, but in this case, I’m making an exception. Lieutenant Geneal William Odom is senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and professor at Yale University. He was director of the National Security Agency from 1985 to 1988. From 1981 to 1985, he served as Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence, … Read more