Twelve of my better posts from 2011
Many of my best posts in 2011 went largely unread, probably because they were massively long text posts that went up somewhere around 1:00 am when everybody was asleep. I routinely break my own rules for writing a blog people might read. Here’s a list of twelve of my favorite posts (one from each month) that went mostly under the radar. They’re a bit longer and a bit more thougtful than the usual fare. Some months were awfully difficult to narrow down to a single post. (For other months, it was tricky to find a single post worth rereading.)
If the problem were simply that the poor don’t have much money, we could just do a straight-forward wealth transfer and end the problem. Unfortunately, we can’t solve poverty by anything as simple as writing a few checks. Poverty is also about lack of opportunity, lack of security, lack of power, and (too frequently) a learned lack of expectations.
Striving to be a passion—to seamlessly embody a plan that isn’t my own—does not mesh neatly with our individualistic society. You are entirely welcome to think I am strange. You’re even welcome to tell me that. I can handle it.
War is never good. It may be necessary. I may be a lesser evil. But good? Don’t believe it. Ari writes an elegant defense of bombing Libya for human rights. He may be right. I might even agree with him. But the bullshit-to-candor ratio is way off—so I thought I would offer Ari’s post interspersed with some thoughts of my own.
There is (still) no secular case against gay marriage
In which enlist my dog’s assistance in arguing against some conservative intellectuals with a remarkably impressive pedigreee.
May
I’m sort of cheating on this one by posting a tag linking a series of posts rather than choosing a single post.
Circumcision Bans, Religious Freedom, and State RFRAs
In the same sentence prohibiting the establishment of a state religion, the U.S. Constitution prohibits Congress from passing laws “prohibiting the free exercise” of religion. While we’d (nearly) unanimously agree that this the free exercise of religion is an extremely important right—the application of that practice is exceptionally tricky. Can Congress prohibit religious animal sacrifices? What if it does it as part of a public health law about slaughtering animals in cities? What if the “public health” bit is just a cover for religious discrimination?
Lack of guilt, innocence, and Dominique Strauss-Kahn
The case against Dominque Strauss-Kahn has just collapsed. He has been released without bail—which makes it sound an awful lot like the prosecutor does not think he can secure a guilty verdict…. This does not mean Dominique Strauss-Kahn is innocent—it just means that he’s highly unlikely to be found guilty. Not guilty is a large and hazy category.
To me, the bigger problem with Perry’s prayer gathering is that it appears to coopt religion passion for a political end. Because I do a lot of political things for (ultimately) religious reasons, I want to keep this criticism narrow. Religious values, like all values, should express themselves through political action. However, the relationship between church and state should always be an uncomfortable relationship.
A few facts about the foreclosure crisis
September was a busy month for me, which means there weren’t a lot of lengthy posts. However, it did give me a chance to write something on what I do professionally. (The post I chose in September was a follow-up of this post.)
If we allow our beliefs to be questioned and refined they become stronger. Faith is what we do while questioning. None of us has all the answers—but at some point, we’ve got to make some decisions about how we live our lives.
The most interesting thing, blogwise, that happened in November, was a series of short stories about the guy pushing through a line of OWS protesters. Everybody else’s contributions are listed here. I’m still a bit disappointed that that poor sucker didn’t become a minor internet celebrity.
Drone Strikes and the American Way
War means death. If you order a BLT sandwich, don’t act surprised when it comes with bacon in it. Bacon is an integral part of a BLT. You got exactly what you ordered. Support for war is support for death. You don’t get to choose who dies. Many of the dead will be non-combatants. Some will be children.
Did I miss anything good ones? Should I have swapped something out?
