Conservatives try to adopt President Lincoln as their Republican icon but libertarians have an issue with how Lincoln ended slavery. Yes, libertarians are more concerned about the ‘free market’ then about people OWNING other people. But we already knew how some libertarians are plain assholes. That aspect of libertarianism was on full display recently on the FOX Business Channel (FBC).
In a Black History segment on FBC on February 14th, ‘Judge’ Andrew Napolitano falsely blamed Abraham Lincoln for the Civil War.
Yes, Atheists Can’t Be Republicans
An article published on Salon this weekend made the claim that I’ve been making for some years. It is impossible for an atheist to identify with the Republican party. CJ Werleman offers some evidence why atheists need to “grow up”. I agree with most of the article.
Why Glenn Greenwald Is Wrong?
Today in my twitter stream was someone ranting about Glenn Greenwald and Katrina vanden Heuvel writing nice things about Ron Paul. In fact the person said both were RWNJs for supporting Paul. Of course the tweeter was wrong. Neither was supporting Paul only pointing out the ideas that Paul has that liberals usually support. I agree with most of what Greenwald writes but when talking about Ron Paul I disagree with his unstated conclusion.
Michael Shermer’s Skepticism Missing In Giving Praise Of David Brooks
Michael Shermer is founder of The Skeptics Society, and Editor in Chief of its magazine “Skeptic”. He is a BIG NAME in the freethought community and is well known for debunking pseudoscientific and supernatural claims. Shermer has been an advocate of Scientific skepticism – questioning the veracity of claims using the scientific method – except it seems for his own political views. Recently Shermer wrote a series of tweets praising an OpEd by David Brooks that complained about the Occupy movement. He (and Brooks) totally missed the point.
The first tweet shocked me because I really didn’t know that much about Shermer’s political views:
Why I am NOT a brain-dead liberal
I admit I’m a liberal and have been for most of my life. David Mamet is a well known and loved screen and play writer who I have admired for his creative work. In 2008 he wrote an essay in the Village Voice that gave the big kiss off to being a liberal. His essay was titled “Why I Am No Longer a ‘Brain-Dead Liberal'” where he explains how he changed from a liberal to libertarian. I feel sad that a smart and well-respected person can come to a conclusion based on wrong information. I want to explain how one can be a liberal and not be “brain-dead”.