Daily Links: Politic Poles Edition
Schiavo, Beinart, Stem Cells, NOM, and CSW! Continue Reading →
Tag: john boehner
His Holiness the Dalai Lama Goes to Washington
Amy Levin talks to Robert Barnett about HHDL’s visit.
Prayer flags and American flags are flying side by side as His Holiness the Dalai Lama (HHDL) continues his second week of the Kalachakra, a festival for “world peace,” from July 6-16 in our nation’s capital. The calendar of events began with a celebration of the Dalai Lama’s 76th birthday, followed each day by prayers, dances, daily teachings, and various rituals. The main highlight and most populated event of the festival was a historic “Talk for World Peace,” given by the Lama himself. Sharing the microphone with emcee Whoopi Goldberg, the Dalai Lama addressed as many as 20,000 people who made the pilgrimage to Capitol Hill for the three-hour outdoor event complete with chanting, dancing, and music in addition to the hour and a half speech.
While most Kalachakra attendees spent their $500 to consume priceless messages of inner peace, liberation, and selflessness, there was another mantra brewing – this one given to a different crowd of devotees. On Thursday, July 7th, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R) and former speaker Nancy Pelosi (D) welcomed His Holiness to Capitol Hill to advise the US on how to spread values of peace and democracy to various nations.
Meetings of good faith between HHDL and US public officials, including presidents, are quite a ritual, but something was different this time around – during this visit, the Dalai Lama no longer holds any formal political power. Just this past March, His Holiness announced his decision to “relinquish his last remaining political powers.” Continue Reading →
Boehner's Progressive Catholic Problem
E.J. Dionne, Jr. on the non-scandal that was John Boehner’s address to Catholic University:
And the story broke from the stereotypical narrative the media like to impose on Christians in general, and Catholics in particular. If the headline is “Conservative Catholics Denounce Liberal Politician on Abortion,” all the boilerplate is at the ready. But when the headline is “Catholic Progressives Challenge Conservative Politician on Social Justice,” this is something new and complicated. It’s far easier to write the 10th story of the week about Newt Gingrich.
Boehner’s Progressive Catholic Problem
E.J. Dionne, Jr. on the non-scandal that was John Boehner’s address to Catholic University:
And the story broke from the stereotypical narrative the media like to impose on Christians in general, and Catholics in particular. If the headline is “Conservative Catholics Denounce Liberal Politician on Abortion,” all the boilerplate is at the ready. But when the headline is “Catholic Progressives Challenge Conservative Politician on Social Justice,” this is something new and complicated. It’s far easier to write the 10th story of the week about Newt Gingrich.
Boehner’s Progressive Catholic Problem
E.J. Dionne, Jr. on the non-scandal that was John Boehner’s address to Catholic University:
And the story broke from the stereotypical narrative the media like to impose on Christians in general, and Catholics in particular. If the headline is “Conservative Catholics Denounce Liberal Politician on Abortion,” all the boilerplate is at the ready. But when the headline is “Catholic Progressives Challenge Conservative Politician on Social Justice,” this is something new and complicated. It’s far easier to write the 10th story of the week about Newt Gingrich.
Give Us This Day Our Daily Links
Gingrich is in. How he’ll appeal to the social conservatives is anyone’s guess. || As Speaker Boehner plans his commencement speech for Catholic University of America, dozens of prominent Catholics have written him a letter that calls his policies “anti-life.” || Becky Garrison has pointed us to John Shore’s analysis of the Sojourner’s gay ad kerfuffle, “Mr. Wallis and His Big Gay Waffle.” || Today The Presbyterian Church (USA) joined the Episcopal Church (US), the United Church of Christ and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in permitting the ordination of gay ministers. At least one Baptist thinks they’re all crazy. || Speaking of Baptists…”But when it comes to disaster relief, the link between church and state has never been stronger than during the most recent storms in the South, say federal officials and the leaders of faith-based disaster relief work.” Continue Reading →
Merry F—ing Xmas
Abby Ohlheiser: Depending on your perspective, The National Portrait Gallery has either ruined Christmas or World AIDS Day (December 1) this year. On Wednesday, the institution caved in to “hours” of political pressure from conservative politicians and the Catholic League and removed a 4-minute excerpt of David Wojnarowotz’s piece, “Fire in my Belly” from its current exhibition “Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture.” Wojnarowotz, who died in 1992 from AIDS-related complications, created the work in response to the suffering and death of his friend and lover. The featured except contained 11 seconds of ants crawling on a crucifix. The Atlantic Wire has a round up of the coverage. There’s a different excerpt (containing the ants on Christ images) from the 30-minute work available on YouTube. (Text on the page reads the clip “may contain material flagged by YouTube’s user community that may be inappropriate for some users.”) Continue Reading →