A Timid Observer
Few issues today are as divisive as the issue of gay marriage.  It arouses intense passions on both sides of the debate that make it seem doomed to never actually getting anywhere.  One side claims that homosexual marriage will threaten the institution of marriage; the other side claims that this is not the case.  But what if there was a solution that could change the debate in a way that makes progress actually possible?  I propose accomplishing this goal by dropping the term “marriage” from the legal side …

Ah, the tired and true (and trite) subject of abortion…

We’ve all heard the arguments from pro-lifers, so I won’t waste your time or brain cells rehashing them. What does concern me, however, is the question of whether or not pro-lifers really understand the implications of what they are arguing for. Do they really realize what would happen if having an abortion was banned in the United States?

A Timid Observer

Until rather recently, I’ve been feeling pessimistic about whether Congress would manage to pass meaningful heath care reform this year. My opinion is changing, and for the better.

Barely a few weeks ago health care reform seemed all but dead. In the House, progressive Democrats staunchly held their ground in support of a robust public option to be included in the House bill, vowing to kill any bill that did not include one.

A Timid Observer
It’s quite amazing to see, especially nowadays in our current political climate, how easily people take very vital thing for granted.  I’m talking specifically about government.
It seems that a good number of Americans don’t understand anything about government, nor how broadly dependent they are on it, even while saying things like “Keep your government hands off of my Medicare!” 

A Timid Observer

I’ve just spent the last nearly two weeks studying abroad in Rabat, Morocco – how the hell did I end up here in the first place? A few months ago, Morocco was just another country on a map to me. Well, my honors thesis adviser suggested that I begin learning Arabic if I wanted to continue in my field of religious studies. Add to that the potential six-figure salary for Ph.D holders who are fluent in Arabic at the State Department and I’m in. He recommended …

A Timid Observer
To Speaker Pelosi:

I don’t know whether I should be satisfied or not with the job you’ve been doing as Speaker of the House since 2006.

A Timid Observer
I remember a few years ago, while I was working at a drycleaners back home, I had a conversation with a customer about the media. He claimed that The New York Times was a “liberal rag” (I’ll admit that the editorial pages tends to drift to the left, but that’s about it). I have another conservative friend who claimed that Fox News was a more credible news source than al-Jazeera (yes, you heard me correctly just then).

A Timid Observer

The other day, the White House finally made public the so-called “Torture Memos”, as part of a deal with the CIA not to prosecute anyone who conducted said actions. While lacking the cojones that I was hoping for (prosecutions, prison terms, you know the deal) the top-secret memos that justified waterboarding, sleep deprivation, and other “enhanced interrogation techniques” have finally been made public