Category: Politics

My aunt, who lives just outside of Portland, Oregon, told me that one of her neighbors told her that Barack Obama was the anti-Christ. She thinks the comment was meant fairly seriously, and in any case felt too intimidated to reply. I told her that she should have pointed out that the anti-Christ would be…

I watched the vice-presidential debate last night. It was reasonably interesting, but not all that exciting. I was hoping that Sarah Palin would address the obvious impossibility of the U.S. becoming self-sufficient in energy by drilling for more oil, but no such luck; when Joe Biden pointed out the numbers (4% of world oil reserves,…

In November California will vote on whether to overturn the state court’s decision to permit homosexual marriage. I personally will vote to support the court, against the proposal. However, I think the whole issue is basically a mistake. The government should not be in the business of legitimizing marriage. Currently marriage comes with a set…

The telecom companies helped the Bush administration in wiretapping people without a warrant. The wiretapping was illegal by any reasonable reading of the law (the law was written after the last burst of questionable government wiretapping during the 60s). There has been a strong push by some people to sue the telecom companies for their…

I see that both McCain and Clinton are suggesting that the gas tax should be abolished for the summer. Obama is resisting that, though he voted in favor of a similar proposal back in 2000 as a state senator. Dropping the gas tax would be hideously irresponsible. The U.S. must start weaning itself off of…