Barack Obama hasn’t even taken office yet, so It’s ridiculous to consider the 2012 presidential race. But Gallup’s new poll identifies the right’s current candidates of choice for the nomination and the results are interesting because they fail to support Kathleen Parker’s recent assertion that social conservatives are on the way out. So who do…
Author: marc
Marc is a software developer, writer, and part-time political know-it-all who currently resides in Texas in the good ol' U.S.A.
Sued, eHarmony Must Couple Gays
In 2005, eHarmony, a leading on-line matchmaking service, began to fight a discrimination lawsuit filed by a gay man in New Jersey. In 2007, the state’s attorney general found probable cause that eHarmony had violated N.J.’s Law Against Discrimination. Today the company gave in to legal pressure and agreed to pair homosexual couples. By strong-arming…
Re-Counting Votes
Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman’s race with the sharp-tongued Al Franken has gone into extra innings. Now the question becomes how recounting votes should be done and, perhaps more importantly, who will decide voters’ intent on bungled ballots. To help with the former, Minnesota Public Radio has an excellent interactive sample of what recount officials will…
Hating God and Republicans
Kathleen Parker hates Sarah Palin, that much we knew from her poison pen columns. Now the cat’s out of the bag as to why: it’s because Palin is a Christian. In Parker’s view, Palin’s religion – that of the most solid part of the Republican base – is responsible for the party’s failures at the…
Huckabee, Taxes, and Leadership
Mike Huckabee was my guy in the 2008 presidential election and it was pretty exciting to see him speak in person and to shake hands with the man afterward. It was also disappointing to see his chances end in Texas, a state that should have gone his way rather than ~60/40% McCain. Mike Huckabee’s new…
Gays’ Entitlement and Incivility
The aftermath of Proposition 8’s passage in California has put the spotlight on the glaring incivility of homosexual activists in the state. Understandably disappointed, they’ve gone too far by staging high-profile personal attacks on individuals who sided against their cause. It seems that everyone in America mistakenly believes that they are entitled to have their…
The Ultimate Programmer
Here’s the best programming joke from a recent StackOverflow list of good ones: Jesus and Satan have an argument as to who is the better programmer. This goes on for a few hours until they come to an agreement to hold a contest with God as the judge. They set themselves before their computers and…
Lightening Up!
Polimom says that it’s time to lighten up around here. I admit that my outlook has been a bit bleak lately, but darn it, that’s why this site is called **Black Shards**, after all! 🙂 Still, good advice. As it happens, I was contemplating the nature and depth of Barack Obama’s relationship to the country’s…
Washington D.C. Endorses Atheism
Washington D.C.’s Metro Transit Authority has decided to allow the American Humanist Association to put billboards reading "Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness’ sake" on its buses during the Christmas season. Sounds like an endorsement of a religious position to me. Odd how it’s A-OK to mock the faithful using public…
U.N. Faith Forum an Oxymoron
The United Nations ineffectiveness has been well-documented, as has its predilection for granting voice, credence, and credibility to some of the world’s worst leaders. Now comes perhaps the ultimate contradiction: Saudia Arabia will preside over the U.N.’s 2-day conference on religious tolerance. Yes, the same Saudis who not so long ago flogged a female rape…