Pew poll finds atheists know more about religion than believers

By Dan Brooks in Religion 10 Comments

Not my lawyer!

The Times reports today that atheists and agnostics outperformed believers in a recent survey conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. The survey posed a series of multiple-choice questions about the world religions, the Bible and religious history to randomly-selected respondents, only 8% of whom knew that Maimonides was Jewish. The Pew report is full of fun facts like that, including the news that 45% of Americans believe “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is one of the Ten Commandments and, from the control questions, “about six in ten Americans can name the vice president of the United States (59%) and understand that lasers do not work by focusing sound waves (60%).”

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Close Readings: The preamble to the Pledge to America

By Dan Brooks in Close Reading 3 Comments

Seen here obscuring the face of the only woman involved

Last week, the Republican Party released the full text of its Pledge to America, a document that explains the GOP’s plan for fixing what’s wrong with this country—most of which rhymes with “the hawk’s pajamas,” if you get their meaning. The content of the Pledge is not exactly a thunderbolt. It advocates the same policies that Republicans have been pushing for the last two to 74 years, as well as certain politically unlikely plans, such as eliminating the Environmental Protection Agency, that qualify less as a promise than a threat. The Republican Party’s pledge to America is that they will lower taxes and deregulate industry, plus repeal health care. While the notion of an America in which each session of Congress devotes itself to undoing the legislation passed by the previous session is exciting, most the Pledge itself is unremarkable. What is remarkable is its introduction—500 words of hyperbolic nationalism that are the subject of today’s Close Reading.

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Friday links! Four things even dumber than Harry Reid edition

By Dan Brooks in Friday Links 3 Comments

"Then, after taking some time off to travel with our families, we all become lobbyists..."

On Tuesday, as part of their Hold Absolutely Still And Hope Nothing Bad Happens strategy, Senate Democrats declined to vote on the defense appropriations bill that would have repealed Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Yesterday, Harry Reid kept the ball rolling by announcing that Congress would not seek a vote on extending the Bush tax cuts until after the November elections. That way, Republicans can make good on their threat to filibuster any tax relief package that doesn’t include cuts for the wealthiest 2% of Americans without hurting their chances in the midterms. The Majority Leader’s confidence that whatever Democrats do, the electorate won’t like it is inspiring, but it’s just one instance of the can’t-do spirit sweeping America. In preparation for a weekend sure to be characterized by questionable decision-making, today’s Link Roundup presents four things even dumber than Harry Reid’s political strategy.

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Dodge Challenger commercial marks final debasement of “freedom”

By Dan Brooks in advertising 9 Comments

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezk0e1VL80o&feature=player_embedded

Remember when you could say the word “freedom” without smirking ironically? Originally (1295—2001,) “freedom” had a relatively strict denotative meaning that corresponded to the range of things you were allowed to do. Then a bunch of church people in bathrobes who had never seen a girl’s twanger flew planes into the World Trade Center, and “freedom” became a marketing strategy.

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Don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t try, don’t do @#$%ing anything

By Dan Brooks in Politics versus Government 5 Comments

"Everybody calm down. We're going to wait until this whole opposition party thing blows over."

Lately, watching the Democratic senatorial caucus has been like watching your toddler take his first few tentative steps forward, only to see the cat, shriek in terror and sit down until someone tells him what to do. Yesterday, the Senate voted 56 to 43 to begin debate on the Pentagon spending bill that would have ended Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. If you’ve been unfamiliar with the last two years of Senate proceedings, 56 to 43 is a loss. Because of the threat of filibuster, Democrats need 60 votes to win anything, whereas the Republicans need 41. Never mind that the filibuster hasn’t actually been used since the Democrats won the Presidency and both houses of Congress. Republican senators might do it, and that’s why Democrats scrambled and compromised to get 60 votes to pass health care, 60 votes to pass financial reform, 60 votes to pass anything more significant than a renewal of Flag Day. So, having won the vote to move forward with a plan to repeal DADT supported by the President, the Secretary of Defense and the chairman of the Join Chiefs of Staff, Democrats in the Senate conceded defeat.

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