The Constitution Applies to Disaster Relief: Federal Funds Are Not Appropriate Resources for Rebuilding Damaged Churches

By Donald B. Ardell - 02.10.13

You probably know by now that Congress is about to grant an additional $50.5 billion to the $9.7 billion in federal recovery aid for Hurricane Sandy. FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) and HUD will determine how the aid is distributed.

Can you anticipate a church/state conflict in this? Would it surprise you to learn that religious interests are pressuring Congress to force taxpayers, millions of whom are not religious, to contribute to the rebuilding of churches, temples and...

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Why Creationism?

By Steven Jonas, MD, MPH – January 31, 2012

The term “Creationism” describes one theist position on the history of Earth. It holds that Earth is about 6000 (maybe 8000) years old, and that the “God” of the Judeo-Christian Bible created it out of nothingness, exactly as that series of events is described in (a variety of versions of) the Book of Genesis. In this regard there are folks, for example, who regard as factual the presentations at the “Creation Museum” in Petersburg, KY, where, to quote ...

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Government Lies: Selected Red Herrings to Keep Us Happy and Our Eye off the Ball

By Mickey Walker - 02.10.13

I used to think it was most like the Republican Party to lie to the people while picking our pocket.  But as I age I see the Democrats doing the same thing:  not restoring habeas corpus, not closing down Guantanamo, wire-tapping us with enhanced use of the Patriot Act to spy on us, you know the drill.  Uncle Sam no longer has to hold our hand and soothe our fears mainly because we do not know the things to be afraid of...

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Revisiting Julian Assange

By Iris Vander Pluym - 02.10.13

A piece by Julian Assange published last November catalogs the malevolent machinations of the U.S. government as revealed by thousands of U.S. State Department cables released by Wikileaks.  Reading it, one cannot help but discern whose interests U.S. foreign policy actually serves.  (SPOILER ALERT!  It is not We the People.) 

Yet a curious thing often happens when I mention Wikileaks:  people express a visceral disgust for Julian Assange, even though in context he is personally irrelevant.  Why?  Well, the press campaign to smear him has been relentless and...

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Four More Years: Militarizing Latin America | Foreign Policy In Focus

By Conn Hallinan on 02.10.13

This past December marked the 190th anniversary of the Monroe Doctrine, the 1823 policy declaration by President James Monroe that essentially made Latin America the exclusive reserve of the United States. And if anyone has any doubts about what lay at the heart of that Doctrine, consider that since 1843 the U.S. has intervened in Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Haiti, Nicaragua, Panama, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Uruguay, Granada, Bolivia, and Venezuela. In the case of Nicaragua, nine times, and Honduras, eight.

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Public Health and Personal Freedom: A Delicate Balance

By Donald B. Ardell on 02.03.13

There are some situations in democratic societies wherein the “public interest” requires restrictions on individual freedoms. We have laws designed to protect people thought to be a danger to themselves, laws that quarantine people thought to a danger to others owing to evidence that they are harboring transmittable toxins and so on. Not everyone is pleased with...

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