Monthly Archives: April 2009

Torture Shocker: Evangelicals Support It Most of All

Rod Dreher is shocked, shocked to discover that of all groups polled by the highly reputable Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, evangelicals are the most likely to be pro-torture, and the more often you go to church, the more likely you are to support torture. Dreher wonders what evangelicals are hearing from theContinue reading “Torture Shocker: Evangelicals Support It Most of All”

Swine Flu Exposes Media Weakness

As has been reported on Grist last week and in more detail today considerable evidence points to the possibility of a link between a ginormous Smithfield factory pig farm in the Vera Cruz area and the outbreak of the swine flu in Mexico. A couple of examples from Tom Philpott's post today in Grist: OnContinue reading “Swine Flu Exposes Media Weakness”

Big Chicken Equals Chesapeake Pollution

A memorable totem pole from the great Steve Brodner: Based on a Frontline documentary called Poisoned Waters. At a panel in the Festival of Books in Los Angeles over the weekend, Sharon Waxman, a NYTimes reporter now with The Wrap, made the interesting point that a lot of the best investigative reporting these days isContinue reading “Big Chicken Equals Chesapeake Pollution”

The Geography of Hope

Speaking of quotable enviros….from Wallace Stegner's famous "wilderness letter" of l961. Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed; if we permit the last virgin forest to be turned into comic books and plastic cigarettes cases; if we drive the few remaining members ofContinue reading “The Geography of Hope”

Why People Hate Conservatives

Devout Rod Dreher, a thoughtful man who posts from considerably to the right of the Catholic Church, hates it when the right sneers at environmentalists for caring about the planet. Interesting to hear this kind of disdain coming from one inclined to dislike environmentalists: This flopped over the transom this morning [he writes]: "The YoungContinue reading “Why People Hate Conservatives”

Link Between Factory Hog Farm and Swine Flu Outbreak?

Tom Philpott, Grist's agriculture writer, writes that media in Mexico has linked the outbreak of a new form of swine flu to a huge hog factory. He writes: Is Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork packer and hog producer, linked to the outbreak? Smithfield operates massive hog-raising operations Perote, Mexico, in the state of VeraContinue reading “Link Between Factory Hog Farm and Swine Flu Outbreak?”

All-Time Great Greens Recipe

Some recipes come along that are so great they must never get misfiled, lost, or generally overlooked…until they become embedded in the memory by sheer repetition. This is one that came via a friend, originally from Chez Panisse Vegetables by Alice Waters, but like all her best work, it's the essence of simplicity. It's especiallyContinue reading “All-Time Great Greens Recipe”

Recession Turns Post-Modern, Takes Brandi Chastain’s Bra

Okay, now it's getting crazy. One of the world's most famous bras has landed in bankruptcy court. A sports museum to which Brandi Chastain entrusted the immortal undergarment has failed, and the bra has ended up in the hands of a court. Maybe it could even could be sold, along with countless other items ofContinue reading “Recession Turns Post-Modern, Takes Brandi Chastain’s Bra”