Author Archives: David Hume

Seeing 2012

Posted on November 16, 2009 by David Hume

Daniel Larison on Palin’s Extremely Long Shot At The Nomination. Daniel’s argument is persuasive, but, I would add that the probabilities one projects are extremely conditional on local temporal circumstances. Even in the recent past John McCain’s candidacy went from … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, politics | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Fake fact: Catholics care about abortion more than non-Catholics

Posted on November 15, 2009 by David Hume

Political punditry is rife with “fake facts.” Basically, empirical assertions which are false but assumed to be true. Perhaps the readership of political journalism is stupid. Perhaps the writers of political journalism are stupid. Perhaps both. No idea. So a … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, data | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Creationism vs. Abortion, Left, Right, elites and the masses

Posted on November 14, 2009 by David Hume

As a follow up to the post below on Sarah Palin and Creationism, it strikes me that those on the Right & Republicans seem more divided and emotive on this issue than abortion. More specifically, libertarian and secular Rightists seem … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, data | Tagged , , | 22 Comments

Yes, Sarah Palin is a Creationist (not that there’s anything wrong with that)

Posted on November 14, 2009 by David Hume

Memoir Is Palin’s Payback to McCain Campaign: Elsewhere in this volume, she talks about creationism, saying she “didn’t believe in the theory that human beings — thinking, loving beings — originated from fish that sprouted legs and crawled out of … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, data | 49 Comments

Greater New England

Posted on November 11, 2009 by David Hume

To the left is a map which shows the 1856 election results for president by county. In the blue are counties where John C. Fremont, the Republican, received a majority of the votes. The more intense the blue, the higher … Continue reading →

Posted in culture | Tagged | 10 Comments

On that “Special Relationship”

Posted on November 11, 2009 by David Hume

When it comes to multiple loyalties we know about the issues which cropped up with Germans, Italians and Japanese during World War II, and the vociferous anti-German activism of World War I, the ambivalence which the Irish viewed intervention on … Continue reading →

Posted in culture | Tagged , | 12 Comments

The nation-state as idol

Posted on November 11, 2009 by David Hume

Rod Dreher & Daniel Larison discuss the intersection of religion and patriotism. The issue of course isn’t adherence to a higher law vs. the nation-state; even those without explicitly religious motivations can reject loyalty to a state whose actions they … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, data | Tagged , | 7 Comments

Dealing with the big colorful lie

Posted on November 10, 2009 by David Hume

The British ruling on “Who is a Jew” seems to have a lot of legs, see The Atlantic Wire for a link round-up. One of the problems with the intersection of religion and policy is that everyone has different standards … Continue reading →

Posted in culture | Tagged | 7 Comments

Is Britain establishing Protestantism as the state religion?

Posted on November 8, 2009 by David Hume

Who Is a Jew? Court Ruling in Britain Raises Question: By many standards, the JFS applicant, identified in court papers as “M,” is Jewish. But not in the eyes of the school, which defines Judaism under the Orthodox definition set … Continue reading →

Posted in culture | 23 Comments

In Congress sex matters on abortion

Posted on November 7, 2009 by David Hume

Below are the mean ratings from an abortion rights group for the year 2007-2008. The number of women in Congress at any given time is small, so the inclusion of two very moderate Republicans such as Olympia Snowe and Susan … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, data | Tagged | 3 Comments