PINKO DAILY BRIEFS: Andrew sparked a little firestorm over his what-the-hell-Hillary-hatred. I'll have more on this later today but my quick take is maybe a little surprising: I think it's fine. Everything so far ... all the appointments and names floated etc. ... it's all fine, Hillary included. I'll get into that more later. First, a few great reads for your Sunday.
Who is Bush going to pardon? Dafna Linzer has a great rundown at Slate: Linzer rates everyone from Marion Jones to Martha Stewart with a rating sscale from zero to four "Get of Jail Free" cards.
Another piece from Slate but a friend flagged an article on an interesting topic: Does religion make you nice? We're all about nice at Pinko ... this piece might tell you the best way to get there.My friend Christine has outdone herself with this survey of writer George Stewart's career, focusing extensively on his book "Names on the Land: A Historical Account of Place Naming in the United States." I grew up on Greathead Court so the topic has always fascinated me. Read on for more and a very deft Donner Party joke.
In case you missed it and assuming you're obsessed with Barack Obama's logo, Steven Heller did an interview with the creator of the Obama "O." It's a great Q & A.
Finally: bad day to be a kid who just wanted to hug a panda.
More later on the Obama transition, the Green Festivals, and if we can get it in today a long-awaited gay marry it ... or abort it. Tell us in the comments if religion makes you nicer!
Oh! In case you missed it, here is Barack Obama's short but interesting "fireside chat" that looks towards some much-needed public works programs (sounds like a new new deal to me) to get the economy moving.
Thanks for the Slate article…that’s kind of the thesis of the book I just finished: community makes things better (it doesn’t have to be a religious community), though there’s a caveat.
The content of that community matters. This is where religion can play an important role as a set of organizing principles for a community based on one of the major premises of just about every religion: care for the other.
Of course, too often, religion plays the opposite role. The Taliban, Mormons, right-wing settlers in Hebron, they care for some, but they wield their religious code to write people out and to destroy empathy. Ultimately, why religion works, I think, has something to do with assisting us in practicing empathy, a capacity it is all too easy to neglect. Hitchens’ argument falls apart for me, because he has no comment on religion in itself, but on the failures of people to live up to it.
PINKO DAILY BRIEFS: Andrew sparked a little firestorm over his what-the-hell-Hillary-hatred. I'll have more on this later today but my quick take is maybe a little surprising: I think it's fine. Everything so far ... all the appointments and names floated etc. ... it's all fine, Hillary included. I'll get into that more later. First, a few great reads for your Sunday.
Who is Bush going to pardon? Dafna Linzer has a great rundown at Slate: Linzer rates everyone from Marion Jones to Martha Stewart with a rating sscale from zero to four "Get of Jail Free" cards.
Another piece from Slate but a friend flagged an article on an interesting topic: Does religion make you nice? We're all about nice at Pinko ... this piece might tell you the best way to get there.
My friend Christine has outdone herself with this survey of writer George Stewart's career, focusing extensively on his book "Names on the Land: A Historical Account of Place Naming in the United States." I grew up on Greathead Court so the topic has always fascinated me. Read on for more and a very deft Donner Party joke.
In case you missed it and assuming you're obsessed with Barack Obama's logo, Steven Heller did an interview with the creator of the Obama "O." It's a great Q & A. 
Finally: bad day to be a kid who just wanted to hug a panda.
More later on the Obama transition, the Green Festivals, and if we can get it in today a long-awaited gay marry it ... or abort it. Tell us in the comments if religion makes you nicer!
Oh! In case you missed it, here is Barack Obama's short but interesting "fireside chat" that looks towards some much-needed public works programs (sounds like a new new deal to me) to get the economy moving.
Thanks for the Slate article…that’s kind of the thesis of the book I just finished: community makes things better (it doesn’t have to be a religious community), though there’s a caveat.
The content of that community matters. This is where religion can play an important role as a set of organizing principles for a community based on one of the major premises of just about every religion: care for the other.
Of course, too often, religion plays the opposite role. The Taliban, Mormons, right-wing settlers in Hebron, they care for some, but they wield their religious code to write people out and to destroy empathy. Ultimately, why religion works, I think, has something to do with assisting us in practicing empathy, a capacity it is all too easy to neglect. Hitchens’ argument falls apart for me, because he has no comment on religion in itself, but on the failures of people to live up to it.
Oh Sandy you mean IT TAKES A VILLAGE. You are such a centrist clintonite.