Truth (Plus Lies)

Lovely:

via Andrew Sullivan

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Focus on the Family has to lay people off after spending all their money on Prop 8. Which will make repealing it in two years feel all the better.

Sadly, a little surprisingly, Prince is a homophobe.

Obama’s radio addresses will also be YouTube addresses.

Iran has responded to President-elect Obama’s willingness to negotiate without preconditions by adding preconditions to any potential negotiations.

In recent interviews, advisers to Ahmadinejad said the new U.S. administration would have to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq, show respect for Iran's system of rule by a supreme religious leader, and withdraw its objections to Iran's nuclear program before it can enter into negotiations with the Iranian government.

via Andrew Sullivan

Barack Obama and Joe Biden were both named after their fathers. John McCain was named after his father (who was named after his own father). George Bush was (obviously) named after his father. Even Bill Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III.

Why are American atheists unhappy and mean? Suprise! It might be religion’s fault.

American atheists, by contrast, are often left out of community life. The studies that Brooks cites in Gross National Happiness, which find that the religious are happier and more generous then the secular, do not define religious and secular in terms of belief. They define it in terms of religious attendance. It is not hard to see how being left out of one of the dominant modes of American togetherness can have a corrosive effect on morality. As P.Z. Myers, the biologist and prominent atheist, puts it, “[S]cattered individuals who are excluded from communities do not receive the benefits of community, nor do they feel willing to contribute to the communities that exclude them.”

This fucking election is almost over.

Here’s why the polls might be wrong and why they are probably not.

Of course, if the trustworthy polls continue showing Obama ahead and McCain wins, it would be a monumental failure for political scientists, reporters and pollsters alike — an indictment worse than New Hampshire, worse even than 1948. I think the quality pollsters have done a good, professional job this year. I dont think well get bitten. Even so, Ill be a little worried until its all over. Im not sure what kind of night Ill have on Tuesday. But Im sure Im going to have a nervous one on Monday.

via Real Clear Politics