Former MN Gov. Tim Pawlenty announces 2012 bid

Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty has announced of the formation of an exploratory committee. Like most candidate propaganda, it’s comically self-congratulating. Tim Pawlenty has been to almost all of the states! Tim Pawlenty put on a jumpsuit and talked to factory people! Tim Pawlenty plays touch football with small children, and his team probably won, because Tim Pawlenty is strong, [...]

“I have lots of options for the future”

Sharron Angle, the failed 2010 GOP nominee for Harry Reid’s Senate seat, who suggested “second amendment remedies” to Obama’s policies, used air quotes around the word “autism,” mocked the concept of paid maternity leave because ”I’m not gonna have any more babies,”  who told a roomful of Latino students “ look a little more Asian to me”, who once belonged [...]

Christian leaders lobby for net neutrality

Via Ars Technica: On January 18, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops sent a letter to lawmakers outlining top Catholic legislative priorities. The letter features well-known Catholic positions, including concerns on abortion and marriage law, support for universal healthcare, advocacy for “poor families and vulnerable workers”—but it also stresses the bishops’ robust support for net [...]

Today is Martin Luther King Day

Ratzinger urges repeal of Pakistani blasphemy law

Via the BBC: Pope Benedict XVI has called on Pakistan to repeal its blasphemy laws, which can carry a death sentence for insulting the Prophet Muhammad. He said the laws served as a pretext for acts of injustice and violence against religious minorities. The Pope referred to Pakistani governor Salman Taseer, whose assassination last week [...]

Pew: Congressional religious makeup unrepresentative of populace

Based on a poll of the 112th Congress: A few of the country’s smaller religious groups, including Episcopalians, Presbyterians and Jews, have greater numerical representation in Congress than in the general population. Some others, including Buddhists and Muslims, are represented in Congress in roughly equal proportion to their numbers in the adult U.S. population. And some [...]