True, but there are also a lot of "low-information voters" out there who don't know much about anything. And, in a special election like this one the voter turnout is generally quite low and those who do turn out tend to be fierce party loyalists.

No surprise if Sanford wins. It's South Carolina and he is a Republican. But before anyone gets all high and mighty and starts railing against ignorant voters below Mason-Dixon line, let's remember that there are lots of places in this country, even in big Northeastern cities (gasp!), where a candidate's political…

Meh. It's hard for me to get upset on behalf of a company that loaned an enormously overpriced dress to an overpaid star in exchange for free publicity.

#11) "I Never Read My E-Mail" — Yes, and that doesn't make you all cool and so much more laid back than the rest of us. It means that you never know what is going on!!!!!!!

Fair points, although I'm not sure that the writer has control over the headline, but that's a minor detail. I think that the fact that this is a London paper and that Londoners have had their own experiences with terror bombings makes the viewpoint one I find worthwhile reading.

Your points are all equally interesting. I will, however, disagree with you on your fourth point. If an industrial accident the size of the one which just occurred in West, TX were to have happened in a large-ish city it would have most definitely received tons of coverage outside of its local area and its own trade…

Well, if you haven't read the article I suggest you do that. But briefly, the comparison is not that bombing the Boston marathon was not heinous, but rather that deliberate safety standard violations, which resulted in death and injury to first responders and to people who were sitting quietly in their own homes, is…

There was an interesting op-ed piece in The Guardian/Observer yesterday which raised some very valid questions about the reaction to the bombings in Boston and the simultaneous seeming disregard for violence in other forms and in other places in the US. For example, "In 2002, Washington DC was terrorised by two…

Neil Diamond, the greatest songwriter of this or any generation...

Why is an American citizen who shoots 70 people at a movie theater in Colorado a criminal, but an American citizen who plants a bomb at the Boston Marathon is a terrorist?

Yes, I think you've got something there.

The slobbering press coverage ("He takes the bus! He paid his own hotel bill!") was always misplaced. Francis has had no history as a particular champion of women. I'm alternatively amused and puzzled by the recent embrace of women religious by progressive people in the US. I was educated by sisters, worked with…

When did being a bride morph into "it's my day which means I get to be as mean as I please?" I'm genuinely curious because I am old enough to remember when weddings, while still often stressful exercises in stupidity, were not treated as excuses to be deliberately cutting and rude. Is it the prevalence of all those…

Hey, maybe some people are trying to frame the argument that way, but I was only answering your question about federal funding. It does exist. Title I funding is to help poor kids, but Title II funding is not tied to poverty. I also received a fabulous K-12 Catholic school education and there are fabulous public…

Yes, they fire pregnant single women with regularity. In my local school they fired the woman and then they hired her back after she had the baby. She still teaches there, although why the hell she'd want anything to do with them I have no idea. They're more likely to let heterosexual couples "living in sin" slide…

I'm not defending the actions of the Catholic Church. I'm attempting to explain what's going on. My cynical self believes it has nothing to do with homophobia or religious doctrine. It has to do with the Church's fear of bad publicity and how that bad publicity may impact the collection on Sunday and the annual…

Catholic schools receive "title money" from the federal government. The most common type is Title I money which is used for remediation in math and language arts for students who live in Title I designated public school zones no matter what school they attend. They also receive Title II money which can be used for…

Catholic schools in the US absolutely can consider religion as a factor when hiring and when admitting students. It's perfectly legal. All churches and religious schools, whether Catholic or Baptist or whatever, can give preference to people of their own religious persuasion. If the school you work for is not in…

Of course, but somehow sexual "sins" are the only ones that get anybody's attention. I think Jesus might have been thinking along the same lines when he did the whole "throw the first stone" thing with the woman caught in adultery, but (once again) the message seems to have escaped many of his followers.

But it does matter because the courts have upheld the rights of religious organizations to require such things. I'm not arguing that it's correct or that it should be that way; I'm simply stating what is fact under current law.