The early states—Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, for example—disproportionately influence the primaries. Win in these states and you look more “winnable” in the November election, so you are more likely in other states to get votes. But this is causing a problem: politicians only campaign in these states, ignoring the others. If the primary race is decided early, most of the country is totally left out. So South Carolina moved its Republican primary up to January 19th, Florida is probably going to go even further back, and before you know it, we will have election campaigns lasting two to three years. Already, many candidates appear to be in perpetual campaign mode; everything is a glory train of publicity for the next run for office, no matter what year it is.
There is a simple, easy solution to this Read on…
Mauritania yesterday announced a new law against slavery—the third time such a law has been passed. However, this time (unlike the other times) you can go to jail for keeping slaves—and you can also be charged with a crime for knowing about a situation of 
enslavement and not reporting it. Read on…
There has been an ongoing battle in Sri Lanka between the LTTE (the “Tamil Tigers”) and the government. Apparently, the conflict has worn on for so long that even Buddhist organizations are calling for a military solution. Read on…
I live in Massachusetts, USA—presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s home state, and I work in the health care industry. So when I heard that Mitt Romney spoke out against Hillary Clinton’s proposals for a more coherent health care system, I paid attention:
Hillary Clinton just gave a speech the other day about her view on the economy. She said we have been an on-your-own society. She said it’s time to get rid of that and replace that with shared responsibility and we’re-in-it-together society…. That’s out with Adam Smith and in with Karl Marx….
That’s a bit of a leap, don’t you think? Is advocating a pullout of Iraq “out with Churchill and in with Neville Chamberlain”? Read on…
I had the pleasure of watching the Live Earth concerts on NBC tonight. It was pretty cool to see three hours of TV in which the majority of the material was pro-Earth, pro-environment, pro-love, and highlighting problems and showing possible solutions without resorting to violence or sex to make it “entertaining.” Read on…
(Continued from the previous post)
Congruent living is best explained as a way of life in which everything is aimed in the same direction. Read on…
Let me first start off by saying that I am not a Muslim nor was I raised in an Islamic environment. That said, I recently read two totally unrelated articles that really clarified the Islamic perspective for me. What is it about Islam that is so powerful and draws so many people to it? Is it that Islam imposes itself on people and shuts out everything else so people have no choice? Read on…
WWE is well known for its stage matches, contrived rivalries, and sensational storylines. But Chris Benoit murdering has family and then committing suicide forced WWE to go easy on the melodrama for a week. It also gives some clear insight into the psychology of why such chest-beating, body-slamming, rage-filled theatrics are so popular. Read on…
Just now I read a post on the Social Networking Blog about racial segregation online. The post talks about two social networking sites aimed at specific groups, New Saxon and NiggaSpace, and claims that these sites are representative of racial hatred. Read on…
