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.
BILBO: Andrew Breitbart’s Post-Racial Racism
Tyler Bilbo, Columnist
The worst consequence of Andrew Breitbart’s attack on Shirley Sherrod is the gulf that it increases between an increasingly post-racial group of white Americans and the vast majority of black people who refuse to accept the realities of racial injustice.
BILBO: Robert Byrd and Racial Politics
Tyler Bilbo, Columnist
As we remember Senator Robert Byrd’s illustrious political career, let us celebrate the enlightenment of a once bigoted reactionary.
BILBO: A Teachable Downfall
Tyler Bilbo, Columnist
In 2007, Alabama Congressman Artur Davis became the first non-Illinois politician to publically endorse Barack Obama. Longtime friends from Harvard Law School, Davis and Obama share a lot in common. As youthful black politicians whose aspirations take them beyond majority-black constituencies, the two have de-emphasized traditional minority issues for the sake of building multi-racial and politically viable coalition.
CUEVAS: Race As Class
Jesse-Justin Cuevas, Columnist
How is race construed in society today? Does contemporary racial rhetoric actually address nationality and skin color, or does race actually imply class? And how do the cultural implications of race affect our relationships?
CUEVAS: Agencies of Alleviation?
Jesse-Justin Cuevas
As far as western civilization is concerned, adoption has been around since the beginning of time—the Pharaoh’s daughter adopted Moses, according to the Old Testament—or at least since Ancient Rome. International adoption, on the other hand, is a more recent practice.
PETERSON: Hispanics, Stand and Be Counted in the 2010 Census – As White
Tim Peterson, Independent
As it stands, the 2010 Census will further disenfranchise Hispanics by disallowing them proper representation. To count Hispanics as whites—who represent the affluent side of the achievement and economic gaps—ignores the persistent problems that hobble Hispanics’ socioeconomic growth.
BARON: A Dangerous Hypocrisy
Noah Baron, Religious Progressive
For some reason, many on the campus left appear to have an apologist affinity for radical Islam, countries which enforce Islamic law, and terrorist groups. This is unacceptable.
CUEVAS: Separate Isn’t Equal
Jesse-Justin Cuevas, Liberal
Theodore Olson and David Boies are challenging Proposition 8 as a civil rights issue in front of the Supreme Court in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, and they aren’t saying anything new. Or so they say.
HOLLINSHEAD: Apples and Oranges
Kevin Hollinshead, Progressive
The problem with our media’s coverage of potentially racist comments and actions is that people are too quick in calling for some kind of punishment similar to one handed out in the past, regardless of how dissimilar the two situations really are.
BILBO: Harry Reid and the “Political Race Card”
Tyler Bilbo, Yellow Dog Democrat
More than anything else, the Harry Reid controversy reveals the way in which the political arena debases our country’s understanding of race. Even as Republicans callously mischaracterize the nature of Reid’s comments, we must ultimately blame the cowardice of Harry Reid for this most recent degradation of America’s racial conscience.
BILBO: Post-Racial Cowardice
A nation of ideological cowards gives rise to a racist media.
PERNELL: Obama’s Beer Diplomacy
Staff writer Mallory Pernell provides her take on the controversey between Sgt. Crowley and Henry Gates and its seeming resolution bt President Obama.
BARON: Capitalism as Democracy? (Part I)
Associate Editor Noah Baron critiques neo-liberalism in the first installment in a series on economic rights. Noah Baron, Associate Editor Ideology: Religious Progressive | Writing From: New Jersey Recently, I’ve [...]
MEYER: President Obama “Acted Stupidly”
Staff Writer Cynthia Meyer explores the controversy surrounding President Obama’s poorly-chosen words regarding the Gates arrest. Cynthia Meyer, Staff Writer Ideology: Conservative | Writing from: Austin, Texas As President Obama [...]
BILBO: We’re All Affirmative Action Babies
Staff Writer Tyler Bilbo analyzes the politics of college admissions with regard to Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. Tyler Bilbo, Staff Writer Ideology: Partisan Democrat | Writing from: Tulsa, Oklahoma [...]