Rap Sheet
Links on R&P from around the web
Why Muslims Hate America
posted on September 24, 2012At The Washington Post, Qasim Rashid suggests that instead of “why do Muslims hate [Americans]?,” the more important question to ask in the wake of the uproar surrounding the anti-Muslim film produced in the U.S. is “why don’t we get it.” “Our image in many Muslim majority nations,” explains Rashid, “is that of a people who support dictators when convenient for oil and economic gain and overthrow them when not—all the while preaching the free speech, democracy, and freedom that we don’t practice.”
Joel Osteen Says Being Straight Is ‘Not A Choice’
posted on September 24, 2012On CNN’s Starting Point with Soledad O’Brien, televangelist leader Joel Osteen, who opposes gay marriage, maintained that being gay is a sin. Yet he also acknowledged that human sexuality is not a choice. “I know I have not chosen to be straight, I just feel like that’s who I am,” said Osteen.
Ryan at the AARP
posted on September 24, 2012At The National Review, Yuval Levin writes about Paul Ryan’s cold reception at the national convention of the AARP. It is “hardly surprising,” writes Levin, that during Ryan’s speech “boos could be heard at various points—particularly during his criticisms of Obamacare.” “But as Ryan went into detail and laid out the disaster that Obamacare spells for seniors and for the nation, the boos grew fewer and further between,” writes Levin.
Mitt’s Tax Info Undermines Dem Smears
posted on September 24, 2012Commentary’s Jonathan Toobin writes that Mitt Romney’s 2011 tax returns, which he released late last week, will “give voters another reason to think well of the Republican.” The returns show that the Romneys gave millions of dollars to charity, twice as much as their almost $ 2 million dollar tax bill for 2011. “This paints a picture of a man who is not only paying his fair share of taxes,” writes Toobin, “but is also a model of civic virtue in his dedication to sharing his bounty with those who are less fortunate.”
Church Official Pushes Mormon Voter Registration in Key Swing State
posted on September 24, 2012Matthew Mosk, Brian Ross and Lynn Packer report for ABC News that unnamed officials from the LDS Church have directed regional church leaders in Nevada to encourage Mormons to register to vote. In a powerpoint presentation, church leaders ask Mormons to speak “with one voice” in the presidential election between Mitt Romney, who is a Mormon, and President Barack Obama. Dartmouth religion professor Randall Balmer says, “Any Mormon would understand exactly what’s being said there … This is very thinly coded language.”
Editor of Web Site May Face Mormon Excommunication
posted on September 24, 2012Laurie Goodstein reports for The New York Times that David Twede, the managing editor of the popular website, mormonthink.com, where “active and former Mormons debate church teaching,” may face excommunication from the LDS Church. Mr. Twede said that local Mormon officials in Florida described him as “a spy and a wolf in sheep’s clothing … [the Mormon officials] said that they need to protect the flock from the Antichrist, from an apostate.”
Blood Ivory
posted on September 21, 2012For National Geographic, Bryan Christy investigates the re-emergence of the ivory trade around the globe. Christy discovers that ivory’s ceremonial religious uses are the main cause of this recent uptick. “Because this is about faith,” explains Christy, “and because faith requires suspension of disbelief, ivory traded for religious purposes doesn’t garner the aggressive scrutiny it might if it were carved into, say, chess pieces. God’s ivory has its own loophole.”
Why We Criticize Mitt
posted on September 21, 2012At The American Conservative, Daniel McCarthy explains the need for an examination and reapplication of core conservative principles in the context of the upcoming presidential election. McCarthy believes that conservatives have lost their core ideologies, and suggests that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will not help change this. “Conservatives,” McCarthy suggests, “have to take the painful separation of philosophy from partisanship.”
Read at The American Conservative
Romney with Fortune Missed Private Equity Boom Worth Billions
posted on September 21, 2012Margaret Collins and Richard Rubin of Bloomberg investigate the finances of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Despite constant scrutiny about Romney’s wealth, Collins and Rubin report that Romney had the possibility to make upwards of $1 billion, had he stayed at Bain Capital. The reporters also find that Romneys are very active in charities, particularly in their donations to religious organizations. “Though Romney’s net worth is more than 20 times what it would take to put him in the top 1 percent of U.S. household wealth, he’s a relative pauper among founders of buyout firms,” write Collins and Rubin.
Voting Wrongs
posted on September 21, 2012At The New York Review of Books, Elizabeth Drew writes, “The Republicans’ plan is that if they can’t buy the 2012 election they will steal it.” Drew is critical of Republican efforts to institute laws requiring government issued IDs to vote. “They would … place obstacles in the way of large swaths of citizens who traditionally support the Democrats and want to exercise their right to vote,” writes Drew.
Read at The New York Review of Books