Scandal Tour of Washington DC
Compliments of Dana Milbank. For those who'd like to reminisce.
Does the universe has a “purpose”? Say what?
The Templeton Foundation is promulgating a set of short essays by twelve prominent thinkers and writers. I’ve recently noticed these essays in several magazines. Templeton asked the following question to its panel: “Does the Universe Have a Purpose?” The answers ranged from “yes” to “not sure” to “unlikely” to “no.” …
In God We Trust
Four familiar words. Four words not even found in this form in the bible, at that. Why should we even pay attention to this ancient and revered phrase?
Actually, it dates back to a Christian political activist in the 19th century pushing the treasury to make sure that future archaeologists (on finding no evidence of our civilization but our coins) know that we were a Christian nation. It was thus briefly seen on the U.S. 2-cent piece at the end of the civil war. And then retired, not to be seen again for over a generation.
Then came the morality movement backlash from “The Gay 90’s”. Picture a disco era for your great-great-grandparents. This post-Victorian backlash eventually led to the 18th and 21st amendments (prohibition and its repeal). Meanwhile, this slogan started appearing on coins in 1908. There is nothing like the fear of pleasure to get politicians who need to appear churchy to move on a moral issue.
I just read an article “IN GOD WE TRUST” — STAMPING OUT RELIGION ON NATIONAL CURRENCY that suggests protest in the form of marking out the offending theist sentiment on any folding money that passes through our hands. Although it is petty vandalism, it is not a federal offense. As long as an alteration you make to money does not change its value in any way, it isn’t illegal.
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Bike trail photo
Three weeks ago, I took a 50-mile bike ride through Illinois, heading toward Pere Marquette State Park. I kept thinking about the blog, however . . .
A letter to a journalist at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Remember when you were a college student who had just decided to attend journalism school “to make a difference?” You wanted to change the world in a big way back then and the reasons were many. You wanted to become a proud member of the Fourth Estate. You understood that The Media had the power to change the world. You knew that the flow of accurate information was the pulsing blood of our democracy. Perhaps you were inspired by reading the platform Joseph Pulitzer wrote in 1907:
I know that my retirement will make no difference in its cardinal principles, that it will always fight for progress and reform, never tolerate injustice or corruption, always fight demagogues of all parties, never belong to any party, always oppose privileged classes and public plunderers, never lack sympathy with the poor, always remain devoted to the public welfare, never be satisfied with merely printing news, always be drastically independent, never be afraid to attack wrong, whether by predatory plutocracy or predatory poverty.
That was long ago, however, and you now realize you had those idealistic thoughts when you were young and naïve. Now you realize that we all need to make compromises in order to get paid. That’s why you are one of the proud creators of the various “Black Friday” articles in today’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Now that you are entrenched in a real job, you understand that working for The Media is all about printing the happy type of …