Hagee Apologizes to Catholics

John Hagee has issued a written apology to Roman Catholics, addressed to Catholic League president Bill Donohue. From Washington Wire:

“Out of a desire to advance greater unity among Catholics and Evangelicals in promoting the common good, I want to express my deep regret for any comments that Catholics have found hurtful,” Hagee wrote, according to an advanced copy of the letter reviewed by Washington Wire. “After engaging in constructive dialogue with Catholic friends and leaders, I now have an improved understanding of the Catholic Church, its relation to the Jewish faith, and the history of anti-Catholicism.”

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Hagee’s letter explains some of the harsh words he has used when describing the Catholic Church. “I better understand that reference to the Roman Catholic Church as the ‘apostate church’ and the ‘great whore’ described in the book of Revelation” — both terms Hagee has employed — “is a rhetorical device long employed in anti-Catholic literature and commentary,” he wrote.

Follow this link for the full article from Washington Wire, and this link for the full text of Hagee’s apology (PDF).

How Will John McCain Balance the Federal Budget?

FactCheck.org discusses John McCain’s plan to balance the federal budget while extending the Bush tax cuts.

McCain’s big promise is that he can balance the budget while extending Bush’s tax cuts and adding a few of his own. He likes to leave the impression that this can be done painlessly, for example, by eliminating “wasteful” spending in the form of “earmarks” that lawmakers like to tuck into spending bills to finance home-state projects. We found that not only is this theory full of holes, it’s not even McCain’s actual plan. In this story we examine the spending-cut side of McCain’s budget program. In Part II, we’ll look at what McCain has said about taxes.

Follow this link for the full article.

McCain has said he can save $100 billion by cutting earmarks. But experts say earmarks don’t cost that much, meaning McCain will have make cuts in discretionary spending. What will he cut? No one knows, except it won’t be defense spending, which might increase under McCain. If it does increase, even more cuts will be required to make up for it. What programs will suffer?

All that’s left for John McCain to become the Republican nominee for President is the formality of the Republican convention. It’s time for McCain to provide a clear, detailed explanation of how he plans to balance the federal budget while preserving the Bush tax cuts. It’s also time for voters to hold him accountable. If McCain can’t explain himself on something as important as the federal budget, he doesn’t deserve your vote.

Has the Price of Oil Signaled the Fall of the United States?

At the History News Network (HNN), Michael Klare has penned a sobering assessment of America’s superpower status. Basically, we ain’t got it anymore. Klare’s thesis is that the United States’ ascendancy as a superpower was fueled by cheap, abundant oil. But with oil prices reaching record highs, our national addiction to oil has left us at the mercy of forces we cannot control. Klare sees the $110/barrel threshold as the equivalent of the Berlin Wall coming down. Just as the latter signaled the end of the Soviet Union’s superpower status, the former signals the end of our own.

On Proposed Solutions to High Gas Prices

FactCheck.org has a new article analyzing the two proposed solutions to high gas prices offered by presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and John McCain, and President Bush. The skinny: neither idea is going to work. Clinton and McCain’s suggestion of rescinding the federal gas tax will likely have no effect on the price at the pump, and could lead to gasoline shortages. Neither has a credible solution for how the Highway Trust Fund will be funded if the tax goes away. Bush’s suggestion of drilling for oil in Alaska misses two key points: at peak production, ANWR would supply only about 5% of current US oil consumption, not enough to have a large effect on gas prices; and peak production would not be realized for about fifteen years. More details below the fold.

The Separation of Church and State

Lauren Smith at Americans United [for Separation of Church and State] shares five lessons she learned while working for AU. She enters law school this year. Her observations are enlightening and illustrate why we need separation of church and state to protect our religious and civil liberties.

To me, her most important point is #3. Her full response appears below the fold. Further down, I address the “Christian Nation” theory.

3) Education is essential.
This is the most common e-mail AU receives:

“As you are well aware, the ‘separation of church and state” it is NOT in our Constitution. Your platform is un-Constitutional.”

Do Libertarians Have Any Moral Sense Whatsoever?

Mary Ruwart, a leading contender for the presidential nomination of the Libertarian Party, addressed child pornography in her book Short Answers to Tough Questions. The particular “tough question” she addressed: “How can a libertarian be against child pornography?” She writes,

“Children who willingly participate in sexual acts have the right to make that decision as well, even if it’s distasteful to us personally. Some children will make poor choices just as some adults do in smoking and drinking to excess. When we outlaw child pornography, the prices paid for child performers rise, increasing the incentives for parents to use children against their will.”

Perhaps Ruwart’s amazing answer prompted this response from the LP: Libertarains Call For Increased Communication to Combat Child Pornography. If Libertarians nominate Ruwart for President, they will brand themselves the party of moral idiocy.

HT: Ron Gunzberger, Politics 1.

Al Gore, Global Warming, and Two Questions for the Skeptics

Robert Parham at EthicsDaily.com has posted an article about Al Gore’s interview on “60 Minutes” last night (Sunday), discussing the “toxic partnership” between religious fundamentalists, who deny global warming in an effort to protect a hyper-literal reading of the Bible, and free-market ideologues, who deny it to protect their financial interests.

Gore compared global warming skeptics to those who deny that Apollo 11 actually reached the moon, or ever left the Earth.

Faculty Lean Left; Students Don’t Care

Scott Jaschik at InsideHigerEd.com writes about a soon to be published study of professors’ and students’ political views.

One of the key arguments made by David Horowitz and his supporters in recent years is that a left-wing orientation among faculty members results in a lack of curricular balance, which in turn leads to students being indoctrinated rather than educated. The argument is probably made most directly in a film much plugged by Horowitz: “Indoctrinate U.“

A study that will appear soon in the journal PS: Political Science and Politics accepts the first part of the critique of academe and says that it’s true that the professoriate leans left. But the study - notably by one Republican professor and one Democratic professor - finds no evidence of indoctrination. Despite students being educated by liberal professors, their politics change only marginally in their undergraduate years, and that deflates the idea that cadres of tenured radicals are somehow corrupting America’s youth - or scaring them into adopting new political views.

Britain Backed Down by Communist China?

The Daily Mail reports that British Olympic athletes are being forced to sign a contract prohibiting criticism of China’s communist government. If an athlete does not sign the contract, he or she does not compete in China. If one violates the contract while in China, he’ll be put on the next plane home.

FBI Turns Back the Clock 24 Years

Better late than never, 1984 is arriving in earnest in the United States: the FBI is initiating a massive effort to record the physical characteristics of every man, woman, and child in America. From a CNN.com article:

The FBI is gearing up to create a massive computer database of people’s physical characteristics, all part of an effort the bureau says to better identify criminals and terrorists. . . The bureau is expected to announce in coming days the awarding of a $1 billion, 10-year contract to help create the database that will compile an array of biometric information — from palm prints to eye scans.