Dear Conservatives: How to Stop Sharia Law in One Easy Step

Since 9-11, Christian Fundamentalists and other conservatives have warned America and the West of a frightening scenario: Muslims would slowly destroy the West by enforcing a form of Islamic law known as Sharia Law. By enforcing Sharia Law, the West would be subjected to a brutal theocracy where people would be forced to abide the most rigid dictates of the Koran: women's rights would evaporate over night, homosexuality would be punishable by death, religious freedom would die, and dancing would be outlawed. We would all have to follow Islam or else.

I would actually agree with conservatives that Sharia Law is an anathema to western values, but Christian Fundamentalists don't want to acknowledge why that is so. To those of us who have advocated for secularism, it is odd to hear Christian Fundamentalists complain about encroaching theocracy, as they have been the leading advocates for it.

What does "liberal" mean to you?

In the 1980s when I was a teenager, the GOP began orchestrating a campaign against the word "liberal." "He's too liberal," they would say about one candidate or the other. They would rail against liberals' attachment to civil liberties. If you believed the due process rights in our constitution were sacrosanct, conservatives would say that you were a "soft-on-crime-iberal." It would be just as well to respond by saying "I am strong for the constitution."

If the ACLU defended some miscreant's right of free speech, they were condemned for being "anything-goes-liberals." The same would be said of liberals who fougt against sodomy laws. Except they were usually condemned as "godless liberals." To conservatives liberals were against order, decency, respect. To conservatives liberals were unpatriotic, or worse treasonist because liberals believed even communists and other dissidents had free speech rights - a big no-no during an era of Cold War paranoia.

Conservatives invented a category of liberals called "tax-and-spend-liberals." This was purportedly worse than the borrow-and-spend policies of the Reagan and Bush administrations. The truth, as we know, is that conservatives aren't really opposed to big spending so long as that big spending comes in the form of corporate giveaways, our bloated military budget, or funding for prisons and law enforcement. As with everything, "tax-and-spend-liberal" was just code language for opposition to social welfare programs that aided the poor, elderly, and disabled.

Teaching 'The Learning Channel' About Sexual Orientation Change Efforts

The Learning Channel (TLC) will soon air a reality-based television show called "My Husband is Not Gay." It is based on the claim that gay people can change their sexual orientation. The claim is bunk. The American Psychological Association (APA) review of the peer-reviewed literature says that Sexual Orientation Change Efforts (SOCE) are unlikely to be successful and pose risk of harm. Some states have banned SOCE for minors. So one can imagine the outrage caused by TLC's decision to air a documentary, My Husband is not Gay, which gives support to SOCE advocates.

The show is associated with lots of anti-gay activists who insist that sexual orientation can and should be chaged because, purportedly, homosexuality is a mental illness. For its part the APA de-listed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders in 1974. To anti-gay activists that move was motivated by political pressure from the Gay Rights movement that, at the time, was in its infancy. While it is true that some activists led by the late great Frank Kameny pushed the APA to de-list homosexuality, the basis of its removal from the APA's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual was the clear science of the day.

What the Iowa Cubs Knew That Steve Scalise Claims He Didn't Know

So, news broke out over the last week about Congressman Steve Scalise's address at a white supremacist meeting in 2002. Scalise and his allies have gone in full-denial mode. Scalise, for his part, isn't denying addressing the David Duke lead European-American Unity and Rights Organization (EURO). Instead he is saying that he didn't know that EURO was a white supremacist organization. That turns out to be a very interesting claim.

A Call to Action: We cannot allow a foreign dictator to censor America's fillms #BoycottSony

Sony, behaving like sniveling cowards, succumbed to threats by North Korea and refused to release their movie 'The Interview.' Consumers should give Sony something far more important to fear than the airing of their dirty laundry by a third world dictator. Consumers should boycott all Sony products until they release 'The Interview."

Let me make this clear: I am not a fan of Seth Rogen's style of comedy. This film was not on my "must see" list. However, my unwavering passion for the rights of free speech and free expression requires me to take a stand even for a movie I might ordinarily find distasteful. Let's make clear: Sony has every right to not make films it finds distasteful. It has its own free speech right to not associate with any message it disagrees with.

But let's also make clear that Sony's decision here is not a manner of Sony disagreeing with the content of the movie. Sony reviewed the treatment for the film. It sought out professional opinion from the Rand Corporation. It approved the project, arranged for distribution, and marketed the film. Sony, we can conclude, did not pull the film as a matter of conscience. But then, we already knew that.

Why Doesn't the Media Give the Same Credit to AIDS Dissidents That They Give Climate Change Deniers?

Back in March of 2006 Harper's Magazine published a fifteen page article titled "Out of Control, AIDS and the Corruption of Medical Science (subscription)." The article by Celia Farber laid out the case of so-called "AIDS Dissidents" who posit the notion that HIV does not cause AIDS. She discussed research that purportedly backed up the claim, and even had a prominent researcher vouch for the theory. The New York Times covered the furor over the article here.

The case of AIDS dissidents is at least as strong as the case of climate change deniers. That is to say: not strong at all. We can say, without much consternation, and without provoking a media-made controversy, that HIV does, in fact, cause AIDS, and the "AIDS dissident" theory is a bunch of bunk.

But why does the mainstream media not treat the AIDS dissidents as though they have a legitimate gripe with the state of AIDS science? Why doesn't the mainstream media treat the dissenting scientists as though they have a valid point? Why aren't AIDS dissidents discussed in heroic terms with comparisons to Galileo like climate change deniers by politicians? Mind you, I am not suggesting that the media or politicians take up the cause of AIDS dissent. Such would pose a grave risk to public health, and it is good that, thus far, the media and politicians have ignored the AIDS dissidents.

Elizabeth Warren "Broken You Into Pieces" Speech Energizes Progressives

Last Wednesday we blogged about a provision in the so-called "cromnibus" bill that eradicated the "push-out rule" in Dodd-Frank, giving the big banks, lead by Citigroup a huge victory. Our meme demonstrated Elizabeth Warren's role in pushing back against the provision. Over the weekend she waged a valiant fight against the provision which puts American taxpayers on the hook if, and when, the banks gamble money and lose. Sadly, Warren's efforts failed. The big banks won. Warren did succeed, however, in rallying liberals to the cause. She did not go down without a fight. 

On Friday Night, Elizabeth Warren stepped to the Senate floor to challenge the Citi- provision. The speech she delivered rattled Washington, and some see it as historic. John Nichols at the Nation compared it to William Jennings Bryan's famous "Cross of Gold" speech. And it has Michael Tomasky calling Warren "the most powerful Democrat in America" saying "there's no other Democrat with that kind of following." The Huffington Post said her speech was a  barn-burner, and "electrifying," saying the speech could make her the next president.