Autiello: Will True Christianity Please Stand Up?
Nick Autiello, Contributor
The notion that homosexuality is a sin and un-Christian is one that is less than a hundred years old. It is wrong, and has no basis in scriptural or historical reality.
SASSO: The Coming New Year
James Sasso, Associate Editor
As the tumultuous 2011 comes down to its final day, this column could contain an obnoxious summary of the year’s extraordinary events. Rather than once again discussing the protests around the world, the death of Osama Bin Laden, Fukushima, America’s political ineptitude, Europe’s demise or the increasingly frightful weather patterns, here I attempt to predict what 2012 holds in store.
SASSO: Kicking the Can
James Sasso, Associate Editor
For one of the first times in his tenure as Speaker, John Boehner has made a statement with which every American, Republican or Democrat, should fully agree; the two-month Senate bipartisan extension of the payroll tax cut fails to fix the nation’s problems sufficiently. Providing a short-term band-aid to a long-term dilemma contradicts what a responsible government should accomplish, but fits the pattern of contemporary American politicking.
CIOCCI: A Foolish Consistency
Mitt Romney is guilty of serial hypocrisy, Newt Gingrich is guilty of being a public intellectual constantly scrutinized by the media and others, and Ron Paul never ceases to remind me about one of my favorite quotes from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Essays: “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.”
AKMAN: Jon Huntsman’s Meaningless Campaign
Josh Akman, Columnist
Jon Huntsman did not participate in the CNN Debate in Las Vegas on Tuesday night. Short of his family and small (and getting smaller) campaign staff, no one really noticed. In a bizarre and counterproductive effort to impress New Hampshire voters Huntsman skipped the debate to protest Nevada moving its caucus ahead of New Hampshire’s, which has always been the nation’s first primary. It’s bizarre because no one else skipped the debate. It’s counterproductive because right now, Jon Huntsman is polling 6% in New Hampshire.
SASSO: The 99% Rising
James Sasso
Associate Editor
For the past month a movement has grown out of Zuccoti Park in New York with the potential to grab at the very heart of America’s problems. “We are the 99%” is not simply a catchy phrase used by frustrated jobless Americans , but a commentary on the disgraceful economic inequality that has arisen in the United States since the 1970s.
ROGERS: Ding, Dong – The Witch Is Dead!
Conor Rogers recounts the scene of the crowd at the White House after it was announced Osama Bin Laden was killed, and what it meant for many college students.
McCAFFREY: Fighting Industry with Bureaucracy
The arms race that characterized the Cold War of the 20th century seems like a mere vestige of history to those of us in the internet generation. In the post-Cold War world, news media tends to underplay that the knowledge and ability to transport nuclear arms is still central to the political climate of many countries as it was to the US and the USSR in the later half of the past century. Today, nuclear arms are a profitable business that require political maneuvers to circumvent regulations – which almost always fail to stop their proliferation.
ROGERS: The Problem of a Pro-American Dictator
Conor Rogers, Editor
We cannot ignore the irony of and American-funded leader silencing democratic protests. Egypt presents and opportunity for the United States to resurrect its efforts to promote democracy in the Middle East.
SIEFF: On Fear and Democracy
Adam Sieff, Columnist
The reasonable man cannot doubt that there are likely subversive foreign agents among us, but nor can he allow himself to be seduced by epic conspirational fantasies. The conspiracies promoted by the far right pollute the quality of discourse that is essential to maintaining a mature democracy.
CIOCCI: Hearings on American Islamic Radicalization Long Overdue
Chadwick Ciocci, Columnist
Congressman Peter King recently announced that in his new position as chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee he will hold hearings on the radicalization of American Muslims. The announcement has been met with outlandish cries of bigotry, racism and xenophobia. Home grown terrorism, however, is a serious and potentially deadly threat that must be understood before it is to be combated, and King’s hearings are a step in that direction.
AUTIELLO: Heed Holbrooke
Nick Autiello, Columnist
We need to start turning this country around, and correctly it needs to begin with the economy. But real economic recovery requires getting ourselves out of the longest war in American history and focusing all that attention on our failing public school system, not on tax cuts that aren’t actually tax cuts for people who are sitting on top of trillions of dollars.
NEUMANN: The Worst Person in the World
At the risk of betraying the slightest familiarity with Keith Olbermann, his is a useful epithet to describe the founder (sorry: ‘editor-in-chief’) of Wikileaks. After all, Julian Assange is a conspiratorial loon, a deluded and dangerous criminal, an egotistical hypocrite, and, to top it off, possibly a rapist. His rise to prominence has been rapid and much longed for; languishing in a London gaol, he may find solace in the thought that his mug might, as Hitler’s and Stalin’s (those other West-haters) did before him, grace the cover of Time.
AKMAN: Congress Can’t Even Do the Easy Stuff
Josh Akman, Columnist
A recent Rasmussen poll reported that 70% of the country felt that America was on the wrong track. If Congress can’t do something that is supported by the President, the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and more than 60 Senators, it raises an important question: What the hell are the other 30% thinking?
CUEVAS: The Full Monty
Jesse-Justin Cuevas, Associate Editor
As America wails over the privacy lost from full-body airport scanners, Cuevas takes a step back to ask, “Is it really so bad?”
RUSHFORD: Defensive on Defense Spending
Stephanie Rushford, Columnist
The libertarian undertones of the Tea Party may indicate that newly elected members of Congress are looking to flex their political muscle by taking a hard line against wasteful spending at the Pentagon. However, the culture in Washington DC, aptly nicknamed “the swamp,” may change and test these Freshmen Congressmen’s principles on fiscal responsibility and restraint.
NEUMANN: Missile Defense (Technically)
Jonathan Neumann, Columnist
The latest foreign policy fiasco from the Ostrich-in-chief finds us scrutinising the recent meeting of Turkey’s National Security Council. To appreciate why, we must recount, however briefly, a story pervaded by betrayal, pusillanimity, and a cringe-inducing irony worthy of serial drama.
MARIN: America’s Internet Is Safe — For Now
Paul Marin, Columnist
America is heavily reliant on the Internet for its public utilities, air and train traffic controls, financial operations, and military effectiveness. A group of well-trained hackers from China, Russia or anywhere in the world could shut down the country with a cyberattack. But would it be in their favor to do so?
MARIN & PETERSON: Recovering the Civil-Military Relationship
Paul Marin & Tim Peterson
To optimize the civil-military relationship is to reinforce its mutual incentive: victory. Both sides must uphold strategies of success over tactics of dominance to ensure a shared objective and recover trust.
ROGERS: Build the Mosque
Conor Rogers, Editor
Conor Rogers argues that religious freedom does not cease to exist in downtown New York, and that any argument against the ‘Ground-Zero’ mosque cannot escape inherent xenophobia.
ROGERS: Dude, Where’s My GOP?
Conor Rogers, Editor
The Republican party’s emerging hypocrisy on Constitutional issues poses a threat to future electoral viability. As opposition to immigration and Islam grows, the GOP is choosing short-term gain over long-term election strategy.