Ed Brayton is a freelance writer and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of Michigan Citizens for Science and co-founder of The Panda's Thumb. He has written for such publications as The Bard, Skeptic and Reports of the National Center for Science Education, spoken in front of many organizations and conferences, and appeared on nationally syndicated radio shows and on C-SPAN. Ed is also a Fellow with the Center for Independent Media.(static)
Ed Brayton also blogs at Positive Liberty and The Panda's Thumb
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January 31, 2008
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The Secular Student Alliance reports: Social networking site, MySpace.com, panders to religious intolerants by deleting atheist users, groups and content. Early this month, MySpace again deleted the Atheist and Agnostic Group (35,000 members). This deletion, due largely to complaints from...
Posted by Ed Brayton at 9:30 AM • 47 Comments
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Politics being largely the art of saying the ridiculous with a straight face, it's not uncommon to watch the news and end up staring at the screen in disbelief as some official says something that your average 6 year old...
Posted by Ed Brayton at 9:23 AM • 17 Comments
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Mike Huckabee has the Nature Boy Ric Flair, John McCain has Sylvester Stallone and now Barack Obama has Hulk Hogan. Hogan declared on the Jimmy Kimmel show that he's supporting Obama. I'm all giddy. We're obviously one step closer to...
Posted by Ed Brayton at 9:16 AM • 17 Comments
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Conservative members of the Israeli Knesset have submitted legislation to ban gay pride events in Jerusalem. The proposed amendment to Basic Law: Jerusalem, would enable the Jerusalem Municipal Council to ban gay parades and rallies for considerations of disturbance to...
Posted by Ed Brayton at 9:09 AM • 12 Comments
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It appears that someone doesn't want anyone to know about our investigative report on Sovereign Deed. As of January 17th, there were links to 6 Michigan Messenger articles on the company. On January 20th, the external links were edited and...
Posted by Ed Brayton at 9:02 AM • 8 Comments
January 30, 2008
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I am a feminist. On most issues, like choice on abortion and equal pay for equal work, I'm likely to agree with the position of the National Organization of Women. At the same time, I am highly skeptical of identity...
Posted by Ed Brayton at 9:30 AM • 121 Comments
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Jack Lessenberry has responded to our investigative work on Sovereign Deed with an essay on his website. Key excerpt: Sovereign Deed's entire premise is this: In the event of a disaster, some lives are worth more than others, so we...
Posted by Ed Brayton at 9:23 AM • 11 Comments
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This could get really interesting. Blackwater has filed a legal malpractice suit against the Wiley Rein law firm, one of the real heavy hitters in Washington legal circles. Wiley Rein had represented Blackwater in a wrongful death suit filed by...
Posted by Ed Brayton at 9:16 AM • 9 Comments
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A 23 year old student and journalist has been sentenced to death in Afghanistan for blasphemy. Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh was arrested last fall for publishing on the internet an article critical of the treatment of women in the Quran. The...
Posted by Ed Brayton at 9:09 AM • 25 Comments
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My Talk2Action colleague Sarah Posner has a post at the American Prospect blog about Mike Huckabee's relationship with TV evangelist and con man Kenneth Copeland. Copeland is a mentor to Huckabee, who dropped out of divinity school to join Copeland's...
Posted by Ed Brayton at 9:02 AM • 9 Comments
January 29, 2008
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Today is the birthday of one of our most important and all too often overlooked founding fathers, Thomas Paine. He was born on Jan. 29, 1737. Paine was a truly remarkable man who had a major role in both the...
Posted by Ed Brayton at 12:05 PM • 23 Comments
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Gordon Hinckley, president of the Mormon church, has died at age 97. Bad news for Romney, as he will have to attend the funeral and that will bring his religion back into public view yet again. Interestingly, the Mormon leadership...
Posted by Ed Brayton at 9:30 AM • 8 Comments
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Anti-gay nut Peter LaBarbera is criticizing Hillary Clinton for pursuing Federal funding for the Gay Men's Health Crisis Center, the oldest organization in the country dedicated to AIDS education and prevention. Here's his absurd reason: "One of the recipients was...
Posted by Ed Brayton at 9:23 AM • 17 Comments
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The investigative reporting that we did at the Michigan Messenger last week on Barrett Moore and Sovereign Deed has gotten a fair amount of attention, but the story is still unfolding. The local paper for the area where the company...
Posted by Ed Brayton at 9:16 AM • 5 Comments
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The NY Times reports: With its international mandate in Iraq set to expire in 11 months, the Bush administration will insist that the government in Baghdad give the United States broad authority to conduct combat operations and guarantee civilian contractors...
Posted by Ed Brayton at 9:09 AM • 5 Comments
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We tried to do a live blog of the State of the Union address at the Michigan Messenger, but had some technical difficulties. As always when listening to such speeches, I am reminded of HL Mencken's brilliant description of the...
Posted by Ed Brayton at 9:02 AM • 13 Comments
