Is religion a force for good? The evidence of history and the evidence of current events cast doubt on the truism.
I think we have a very critical role to play, within the spectrum of international law and human rights.
The Obama Administration has embraced the policies of George W. Bush, and then gone much further. Wall Street bailouts went ballistic under Obama-$700 billion under Bush, but $4. 5 trillion under Obama, plus another $16 trillion in zero-interest loans for Wall Street.
We call for cancelling student debt, for bailing out young people like Wall Street was bailed out to the tune of $16 trillion.
We need a broad commitment to human rights across the board. We cannot attain that simply by protecting one oppressed group or the other.
We also call for free public education going forward. We know it pays for itself.
The other piece of this is that we call for cutting our bloated and dangerous military budget. And this is something that is made possible by moving to 100% clean renewable energy, where we cannot justify wars for oil, and where we cannot justify having some 700, 800 bases gathered around the world in something like 100 countries in significant measure protecting either access to fossil fuels or protecting routes of transportation.
I have certain things that I stand for, certain things that I believe in, and if you don't like it and you tell me to go to hell, I think that's your God-given right as a fan. It's one of those deals where I'm that one guy who is outside of that realm of good guy, bad guy. I'm just me, and it elicits a response both positive and negative.
Michael and I talk at least every two weeks. He understands why I've done the things I have.
In order for a long piece of work to engage a novelist over an extended period of time, it has to deal with questions that you find very important, that you're trying to work out.
Singing is easy. The proof is always in the living.