Church

The US District Court decision on August 4, overturning California’s Proposition 8 and its ban on same sex marriages was a watershed moment for proponents of equal rights for gay and lesbian Americans. Within hours of the landmark decision , pundits ranging from MSNBC’s liberal Rachel Maddow to Fox’s ultra-right wing Glenn Beck, began postulating that the ruling signaled a new “post-homophobic” era in America.

Andrew McCarthy, one of the dependable frothers over at what experts call ” American’s Shittiest Website ,” has some indignant things to say about Islam and Islamists–and in so doing, he has deeply insulted both me and America. How? In a minute. First, though, everyone wants to know: Does McCarthy’s latest bleat meet or exceed standard National Review Online (NRO) specifications for dishonesty, fake “thoughtfulness,” and barely-contained scaredy-cat pants-pissery? It certainly does.

When Darsi Ferrer, a Cuban dissident emerged from nearly a year’s confinement for buying black market construction materials, a reporter asked him who should get the credit for his release. He credited the Cuban Catholic Church. And then he said, “What should be the solution in Cuba? Dialogue. The dialogue of the Church and civil society; between the people and the government; between the Diaspora and Cuba; the dialogue between the European Union and the government.” Among those who could help the Cuban people, he never mentioned the United States.

I’ve heard it said that complaining doesn’t solve anything, it merely restates the problem. That may be true, but sometimes it’s worth restating problems just to make sure that everyone knows what solutions they should be working on. Well, that, and sometimes it just feels good to bitch a little. It seems to me that the people who are against improving health care because they claim it will saddle their children and grandchildren with too much debt are the same people who want to keep drilling off our precious coastlines.

Certain moments in our nation’s history have consistently opened the door for the least civil voices to enact evil through civil policy: think the institution of race-based U.S. slavery, the Indian removals, Jim Crow laws, legalized segregation, the federal protection of lynching mobs, and, don’t forget, the Japanese internment camps, among others. In each case, hard economic times led otherwise sane people to unleash insane injustice under the guise of public policy. There’s something about hard-knock times that consistently opens civil minds to uncivilized acts.

Listen to Jancee Dunn - she’s the author of But Enough About Me: A Jersey Girl’s Unlikely Adventures Among the Absurdly Famous , a long-time contributor to Rolling Stone , The New York Times and O, The Oprah Magazine - basically a top-tier authority on fame in America. Things are different. Fans have changed. There’s lots of hugging, and you’ll never guess who is her top celebrity pick for self- awareness.

WASHINGTON — Over the years, “Little Billy” learned much from the country’s top minds. Secretaries of state, touched by the 10-year-old’s handwritten letters on grade-school notepaper, wrote back advising him how to settle a treehouse dispute with his sister. O.J. Simpson’s lawyer told him how to get off the hook on accusations he destroyed a doll.

UNALAKLEET, Alaska — She was greeted like a rock star in Unalakleet, a fishing village on the Bering Sea. She danced with Eskimos in Kotzebue. And she watched grizzlies at a wildlife sanctuary on the Kenai Peninsula. In all, Sarah Palin has been on eight trips outside her Anchorage base since announcing her resignation two weeks ago. Is this a farewell tour, the start of a possible presidential campaign for 2012?

Let me say first that I am a big fan of yours. The way that you point out the faults of both the republicans and the democrats is absolutely brilliant. I believe your talent along with the likes of Jon Stewart as well as Steve Colbert is very much needed especially among young people. Not to say that adults don’t benefit from your show as well, but it’s the young people, who otherwise would not pay attention to the news who benefit the most.

by Caryl Rivers Sarah Palin is feisty, gives a dynamite speech, and the camera loves her–not surprising, since she’s a dead ringer for Tina Fey. She’s positioning herself to run for president in 2012–but why is she still pushing fossil fuels when much of corporate America is going green? The Alaska governor has actually said that climate change is harming her state. “We Alaskans are living with the changes that you are observing in Washington,” Palin said.