Monthly Archives: June 2022

One more Supreme Court shoe to drop?

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In this session the Supreme Court has clearly felt its oats and dropped its fear of appearing too partisan and ideological. The overturning of Roe v. Wade was the big win, imposing minority-held sectarian religious dogma on the female citizens of Republican-controlled states. However, the Court has one more far-reaching case on which to rule this session, and it requires… Read more »

Binary morality meets a complex abortion reality

Jimmy Swaggart: "I have sinned!"

We await the Supreme Court likely undoing decades of jurisprudence on the topic of women’s reproductive rights and we simultaneously see new state-by-state battles over LGBTQ+ rights. It has become obvious to me that our culture’s long insistence on binary choices on morality issues does not help us navigate Mother Nature’s (and democracy’s) love of continuum and complexity. Even among… Read more »

The strong dollar comes to Bitcoin-istan

money-changers-Jesus

Although the U.S. dollar is worth significantly less today than a year ago if you are buying gasoline in Des Moines, American currency looks a lot different if you are living in Europe or Japan. They, as well as us, have seen their own domestic prices for staples shoot up (which, Republicans insist, must somehow be Joe Biden’s fault as… Read more »

The “Nixonian fate” 50 years on

Nixon-resigns

It always helps when your wedding anniversary coincides to an historic event that the news media will remind you of in advance. A big 50th anniversary is coming up. On the pleasant Saturday afternoon of June 17, 1972, I got married in a short ceremony followed by ham sandwiches in a Grand Rapids church basement, and then the two of… Read more »