Religious freedom: a confined policy

Freedom of religion is an established right in the United States; the First Amendment of the Constitution guarantees it to every person.  In the U.S., no person may be discriminated against on the basis of religion, race, ethnicity, or gender.  Equal opportunity is among our most cherished tenets; it is the product of much national [...]

The difference is, we are all the same

From the rightfully honored pen of Thomas Paine, religious diversity is a natural and wonderful reality, and sounds like this (from Rights of Man, 1791): “If we suppose a large family of children, who, on any particular day, or particular circumstance, made it a custom to present to their parent some token of their affection [...]

Sifting through the crap

99.9% of everything you will ever hear from a U.S. politician or media pundit is total crap. I present to you five widely discussed issues that do not matter, so that next time you hear them on the radio or television, you can say to yourself “this is pointless conversation”: Energy policy: The energy industry [...]

The Iraq War, in the tradition of Jonathan Swift

Before reading: Read Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”. This will help you understand the title and the tone. http://www.uoregon.edu/~rbear/modest.html Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFptybbietQ Intellectuals will understand the nature of this piece without explanation, and those readers who do not will find themselves inspired to defend the Iraqi people, which the media has taught them are subhuman. It [...]

Islamofascism, are you kidding me?

It’s 2008. Theocracy is not about to take over the United States, and if it did, it would be a safe bet that it would not be Islamic. I do not understand the level of irrational fear in this country. If you are an American who fears Islamofascism, turn off the corporate media, and please [...]

Iran: the bait that could hook the world’s biggest shark

The rhetoric coming from Tehran, whether it be anti-American, anti-Israeli, Holocaust-denying, or ambiguously nuclear, is accompanied by a confidence that one would not expect from a nation that the United States could crunch like a cockroach. We may call Ahmedinejad evil, unscrupulous, radical, or unreasonable, but it would be a mistake to think of him [...]

Iraqis have a voice, “but nobody listened.” Will you?

I have written a book; and if it cannot be refuted, it cannot be condemned. But I do not consider the prosecution as particularly leveled against me, but against the general right, or the right of every man, of investigating systems and principles of government, and showing their several excellencies or defects.” – Thomas Paine [...]

Going hiking (05.16.08)

Yesterday we went to Zevat, a beautiful old city with a history of violence.  I bought a photograph (artistic double exposure) of a man praying at the Western Wall.  The drive north to Zevat was highlighted by the border fence between Jewish Israel and the Palestinian Authority.  There is a quiet but undeniable animosity between [...]

A Nation of Fences (05.23.08)

I have heard several Israeli residents complain of the unwanted attention their nation receives from the U.S. media.  The most hated countries in the world, they realize, are the ones to which America pays the most attention: Iran and their own.  They want sovereignty and independence–they want to be left alone–but they seem fairly disinterested [...]

Where is the “Promised Land?”

  “Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good.” – Thomas Paine The American principles of freedom disdain the notion of a religious state. Has it not always been the duty of Americans to [...]