Gov. Perry’s Anti- Gay Christianity Is Not My Christianity by Shay Dawkins Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s anti-gay “Strong” TV advertisement has been getting a lot of air time in Iowa in the run up to the Jan. 3 Republican caucus. It’s also getting some surprising reaction among his fellow conservatives. I, for one, am happy to see that his ad failed to win the endorsements of a couple of key anti-gay groups:...

I really cannot compete with the many recent and excellent TMV posts on this subject. I particularly enjoyed Walter Brasch’s post from yesterday confirming that anyone can guiltlessly embrace the many versions of this ancient holiday to which many cultures, religions, and people have contributed. I appreciate all the religious and secular aspects of Christmas. I feel sorry for those who wish to define it...

I can’t gift-wrap this, but it’s the closest thing to a Christmas treasure that I have to share. Decades ago, I published it twice in different magazines. Eric Sevareid was a gifted writer who spent most of his life as a radio and TV journalist working with Edward R. Murrow during World War II as part of “a band of brothers” and later at CBS-TV in its glory days. He was a hero and a role model to me...

by WALTER BRASCH I am a Jew. I don’t mind receiving Christmas cards or being wished a “Merry Christmas” from friends, clerks, or even in junk mail trying to sell me something no sane person should ever buy. My wife and I even send Christmas cards, with messages of peace and joy, to our friends who are Christians or who we don’t know their religion. I like Christmas music and Christmas carolers, even...

Is Newt Gingrich suited to be president of the United States? Trending negative on this question along with much of the rest of the world is columnist Patrik Eschemeyer of Switerland’s News. Eschemeyer labels the entire Republican field with the exception of John Huntsman as ‘madcap’ – and he regards Newt Gingrich as a ‘pig.’ For the News, Patrik Eschemeyer starts out this...

With my best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a joyous holiday season to our readers, especially our veterans and active duty military. Two Christmases ago, in a “Christmas wish for our troops serving in harm’s way,” I expressed my empathy and admiration for the tens of thousands of our brave men and women who were serving in hostile territory , away from their loved ones, attempting to, in some fashion,...

When scoring athletes look upward and thank God for His help, why don’t opponents ever shake their fists at the sky for being disfavored? Debate over piety displays by Denver’s Tim Tebow and a Barry Bonds conviction for using testosterone enhancers prompt broader questions about the definition of manhood today and its manifestations. We are a long way from the culture’s strong, silent heroes (Joe DiMaggio,...

Our Copy Editor, Holly Robinson, forwarded me an announcement for an upcoming (tomorrow!) documentary on the National Geographic Channel. Although I am preparing for travel shortly, I would be remiss if I were not to at least — using the text of the announcement — make our readers aware of what promises to be an astounding, eye-opening program about our American Jewish G.I.s who were held by the...

Now that U.S. forces are either out or about to leave, there is significant Iraqi hand-wringing over whether it was wise to force them to go now. For Sotal Iraq, columnist Amran Al-Obaidi writes that the decision-making process that has led to the American withdrawal was flawed, and that Iraqis who have demanded a complete U.S. pullout were more interested in scoring political points than the security and...

Christopher Hitchens seemed to some to have been born in a bad mood or under a bad moon on the right. He was, I think, more so a man who despised –as in George Orwell’s book, 1984 too, that there would ever be “The Party” run by the Big Brothers of the world, that would tell men and women what to think, when to think it and when to unthink it, or else. Christopher thereby took out after...

Newt Gingrich’s comment that Palestinians are an ‘invented people’ is proving to be one of the most globally devisive of the 2012 campaign season – particularly in the Muslim world and especially among Palestinians. For Samidoon in the Palestinian Territories, columnist Abd Al Bari Atwan expresses the frustration felt among Palestinians over the wider meaning of Gingrich’s comment,...

Not surprisingly, Arabs aren’t taking too kindly to Newt Gingrich’s recent comment that the Palestinians are an ‘invented people’ seeking little more than the destruction of Israel. For Algeria’s Le Quotidien d’Oran, K. Selim writes that if Gingrich makes his way into the White House, at least Arabs will be able to stop pretending that there is any hope of Washington being a...

About a week ago, a “Get a Life” post by Joe Gandelman discussing a bovine question by a reporter on a defense authorization bill that included a provision which repeals the military law on sodomy and the military ban on sex with animals, or bestiality, quickly (de)generated some heated comments on the issue. One person insisted that sodomy and other bizarre deviant sex acts should be illegal and was appalled...

Saudi officials have executed a woman for practicing witchcraft. According to this post it seems that they have a system for finding witches.

Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

As we have done for the past 16 years, my wife and I brave the unseasonably cold Austin, Texas weather to attend a ceremony that has now become a tradition, albeit a sad one, in our lives — the Tree of Angels ceremony at a local Church. Every year for the past 20 years, a wonderful organization, People Against Violent Crime, has provided a most reverent and appropriate forum for the families and friends...

Could it be that part of America’s plan for the Iraqi invasion was to undermine the Iraqi family by luring women and girls to work for the occupation? For Oman’s Al Watan in an article reminiscent of the type of content we published at the height of the war, columnist Walid Al Zubaydi writes that the way U.S. immigration officers insult Iraqis granted asylum in the U.S. is a consequence of the...

It’s been slightly more than three years since President George W. Bush signed the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) into law (October 2008). TARP authorized $700 billion to bail out the financial sector, a Congressional effort to forestall another Great Depression. Most American think TARP was too large and that the money was wasted. Unfortunately for President Obama, 1-in-2 Americans think TARP...

Oh, Benny, Benny, Benny: Benjamin Netanyahu’s government unveils an ad campaign urging expats to come home, and some Jews in the U.S. find the message insulting. DETAILS HERE. It sounds like B. N. is making the same mistake people often do with groups: not all ethnic groups — not even his own — are monolithic. And some are offended when its assumed in a highly public way that they are.

Is Iraq in for a re-eruption of the kind of ethnic and religious strife it experienced during the height of the U.S. occupation? For Iraq’s Al Iraq News, Dr. Fadhil Al Badrani warns his countrymen that unless Iraqi leaders ‘review their political inclinations and renounce their differences,’ those fearing a U.S. pullout – and those celebrating it – will end up as ‘wood’...

I’ve long contended that despite his blatant political flip-flops and turning himself into a virtual poster boy for craven political pandering former Massachusetts Gov Mitt Romney would have a far easier time of it — and in closing the political sale — if he was not a Mormon in today’s Republican Party. And a new poll seems to back me up: A new poll that gauges Americans’ views...

WASHINGTON – Any time the Obama administration touches issues related to the Roman Catholic Church, it seems to get itself caught in a rhetorical and moral crossfire that leaves all involved wounded and angry. This is what’s happening in the battle over how contraception should be covered under the new health care law. Partly because it mishandled the issue at the outset, the Obama team seems...

The religious right was not always about abortion and gays.  It was originally all about desegregation, that’s what Falwell and Robertson were preaching against.  Opposition to desegregation was becoming increasingly politically incorrect.  This was when Francis Schaeffer made his appearance and convinced the religious right they should concentrate on the issue of abortion.  But the...

British and German heads of state met this week to bridge the gap between them and “tried to paper over divergent views on European policy that have sparked a war of words between politicians and media in both countries.” For someone who lived through World War II, the picture of David Cameron entreating Angela Merkel conjures up Neville Chamberlain trying to appease Hitler—-and failing to stop the slaughter...

The juxtaposition on The New York Times homepage of a shocking story that the Census Bureau has found that 51 million Americans have incomes less than 50 percent above the poverty line and the latest frothings from Little Ricky Santorum was in all likelihood unintentional, but made a big point. Two, in fact. Point One is that the number of new near poor in the U.S. as the lingering effects of the Bush...