In the World Posts for June, 2011

In the World

Leading by following

Jun 28, 2011 by Steve Thorngate

President Obama seems to be moving in the direction of openly supporting same-sex marriage. But when he spoke in New York last week, he stopped short of endorsing it--despite pressure from the audience:

In the World

Colbert's commencement sermon

Jun 24, 2011 by Steve Thorngate

Stephen Colbert's commencement speech at Northwestern wasn't as funny as Conan O'Brien's at Dartmouth, but the inevitable "now I'm serious kids, please keep listening" section was far better--it was pretty much a hard-hitting sermon.

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Two people I'm admiring this week

Jun 23, 2011 by Steve Thorngate

The most Christlike behavior I've seen in the news in some time comes from a Muslim victim of a hate crime.

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The pointless ethanol subsidy

Jun 16, 2011 by Steve Thorngate

On Tuesday, the Senate rejected a measure that would eliminate the tax credit given to fuel refiners who use corn-based ethanol.

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The pious primary is underway

Jun 15, 2011 by Steve Thorngate

Mark Silk notes an interesting moment at the Republican presidential debate Monday night in New Hampshire: Rick Santorum's take on religion in public life sounds an awful lot like the one then-Senator Obama articulated in 2006.

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A just way to fix state budgets

Jun 09, 2011 by Steve Thorngate

All 50 states have regressive tax structures: the lower your income, the larger share of it goes to state taxes. While a few states have flat income-tax rates--here in Illinois, everyone pays 5 percent--most are mildly progressive (higher rates for higher income).

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Don't blame social media

Jun 08, 2011 by Steve Thorngate

Well, now we know: Rep. Anthony Weiner used Twitter to send a lewd picture to a young woman. He then lied about it repeatedly before finally confessing.

In the World

Another Twitter frenzy

Jun 03, 2011 by Steve Thorngate

I don't know whether Rep. Anthony Weiner sent a lewd photo of himself to a college student via Twitter. The evidence is mixed: on the one hand, Weiner's claim that someone else sent the photo as a prank is quite plausible given security holes (since fixed) in photo-sharing service yfrog.

In the World

Michele Bachmann's calling

Jun 02, 2011 by Steve Thorngate

After President Obama's inauguration in 2009, I wrote about going to a DC church that weekend at which I heard him referred to from the pulpit as a prophet called by God. Love the president or hate him, that's a troubling category mistake.