There is data from several sources that suggests younger Christians are not as opposed to gay marriage as older Christians. Relevant suggests some reasons why this is the case.
Category Archives: Politics
One growing political metaphor: the car
Politico examines President Obama’s usage of the metaphor of driving a car to describe the national political scene and handling of the economy. The metaphor has grown over the months and recently included the first mention of “Slurpee” by a President in a speech.
Politicians commonly use metaphors and symbols in speeches. The car is such a part of American life that people can instantly grab onto the implications. What would be the metaphorical response from Obama’s opponents?
Blagojevich wins round 1
While sitting in the Atlanta airport waiting to return to Chicago, I saw the big news of today live on CNN: Rod Blagojevich wins round 1 as he is convicted on only 1 of 24 counts brought against him by the federal government.
Amazing.
The jurors started speaking tonight. According to the foreman:
But in the end, he said, the “lack of a smoking gun” was too much of a hurdle for jurors to reach more than the one unanimous decision.
And the charge of trying to selling the Senate seat might have been held up by one juror:
[A young juror] said a female juror who was the lone holdout on convicting Blagojevich of attempting to sell the Senate seat “wanted clear-cut evidence, and not everything was clear-cut.”
The court proceedings will continue.
And what does this mean for the State of Illinois, politics, and U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald?
Deciding who is really rich
As the American government considers changes to the tax brackets, James Surowiecki of the New Yorker says this involves an important question: how much money does one have to make to be rich?
While the administration has suggested being rich starts at $200,000 income per year, Surowiecki describes why it is not so simple:
Judging from surveys of how Americans describe themselves, most of the privileged don’t feel all that privileged. Why is that? One reason is the American mythology of middle-classness. Another is geography: in a place like Manhattan, where the average apartment sells for nine hundred thousand dollars, your money doesn’t go as far. And then there’s a larger truth about how wealth is getting concentrated in this country. As the economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez have documented, people who earn a few hundred thousand dollars a year have done much worse than people at the very top of the ladder.
Indeed, wealth and income is often relative: if you made $150,000 a year but lived in a neighborhood and mainly associated with people who made around $1,000,000 a year, you might feel poor. The same concept is used to describe various levels of poverty: the relative poverty of the United States versus the absolute poverty experienced in Third World nations. Americans are notorious for feeling like they are middle-class, even if they clearly are not.
At the same time, I find it slightly difficult to believe that $200,000 doesn’t make one rich. Of course, one has choices about how to spend that money. Making $200,000 in Manhattan is not the same as the making that money in Nebraska. However, it should cover all of one’s expenses. Those making over $200,000 are still part of a small and elite group: according to the Census Bureau, in 2006 3.5% of American households made over $200,000 a year.
Surowiecki suggests the solution is to create separate tax brackets for the rich and “super-rich.” If the tax rates are changed, this seems reasonable to me – though it complicates the tax code.
Trackers looking to trip up politicians
Hand-held cameras are cheap and plentiful today and they have become an important weapon in political campaigns.
A question: does using these cameras really enhance political campaigns or help voters end up with better politicians in office? There is little doubt they are effective but at what cost? Politicians are human – they are going to make mistakes on the campaign trail. Indeed, a politician who never makes a mistake in public is not being real in public. There are legitimate pieces of information that can emerge from such videos but at the same time, they often simply reveal unguarded moments that we all would have if we were constantly in the public eye.
Perhaps we have lost the capacity to show grace in the realm of politics. Some would argue this disappeared a long time ago.
Getting a new passport to avoid taxes (and other reasons)
The Financial Times reports an increased number of Americans are looking to turn in their American passports at the UK embassy. The waiting list is growing apparently because Americans are looking to avoid paying taxes on worldwide income and capital gains. As the article notes, the main disadvantage is that a person may not be able to reverse their choice.
It would be interesting to know how many people do this each year. Switching allegiances from one particular country to another seems like a weighty decision.
Saving the auto industry in Detroit?
President Obama spoke in Detroit on Friday and The Atlantic examines four viewpoints about whether recent policies helped save the auto industry. Opinions are mixed.
The two more negative opinions are from Detroit journalists.
Add ‘The Pond’ to the list of US intelligence agencies
According to the AP, papers have recently been released that tell about another American intelligence agency that operated in the 1940s and 1950s:
Created during World War II as a purely U.S. operation free of the perceived taint of European allies, the Pond existed for 13 years and was shrouded in secrecy for more than 50 years. It used sources that ranged from Nazi officials to Stalinists and, at one point, a French serial killer.
It operated under the cover of multinational corporations, including American Express, Chase National Bank and Philips, the Dutch-based electronic giant. One of its top agents was a female American journalist.
The rest of the article contains information on some of the exploits of the organization, how it was founded, and how it ended.
While leaked emails about Journolist or leaked documents through WikiLeaks may be interesting, the information contained in the archives of the United States government and all its agencies would be fascinating.
Asking politicians the important questions
According to Entertainment Weekly, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was asked about all the important issues over the weekend:
ABC’s Jake Tapper asked Christie on The Week yesterday whether Situation, Snooki, and the gang are “positive for New Jersey or negative.” Christie answered “negative” without batting an eyelash.
The story also has a YouTube link where you can see the question about Jersey Shore follows inquiries about more typical political topics.
On the other hand, perhaps many Americans learn important facts about reality shows?
Assessing the government response to 9/11
The Washington Post has unveiled a two-year investigation into what the US government has built and developed since September 11, 2001 to counter terrorism and other threats. The overall theme of the investigation (stated here by a retired Army Lt. General): “The result, he added, is that it’s impossible to tell whether the country is safer because of all this spending and all these activities.”
So it appears there is a lot of work being done by lots of people – and the payoff of all of this is unknown.
This is a great issue for someone to solve: how to bring together all kinds of related information (brought in by many people) and make it interpretable and useful.
Legally Sociable 