Muslim Humor

We spent a lot of time on the recent riots in the Middle East. There seemed to be a feeling that Muslims were different and were inclined to riot. But are Mulims just victims of how our popular media portrays them? Other ethnic groups had similar problems and fought against the stereotype with humor. Here are two TED Talks about the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour, by the founder and one of the comedians.

Drift Draft

We had an interesting discussion today on how the end of the military draft has made it easier for us to go to war. The story of how we as a nation has drifted to a perpetual state of war is the topic of Rachel Maddow's book "Drift".  This book was twice recommended by Ron in past meetings, and I also recommend it. But here is a talk about the book by Rachel Maddow that might be better than the reading book. This video is cued past the introductory speakers, so it takes a little while to start. Please be patient.

Tampa and Charlotte

For those that missed the RNC in Tampa or the DNC in Charlotte, here is a chance to listen to the speech. All the speeches are at the CSPAN Convention Hub. You can listen the speech without all the annoying commentary.

Here are directly links to some the most talked about speeches.

RNC
Clint Eastwood
Mitt Romney
Paul Ryan
Ann Romney

DNC
Bill Clinton
Barrack Obama
Joe Biden
Michelle Obama

My favorites
Julian Castro
Lilly Ledbetter
Emanuel Cleaver
Jennifer Granholm

Did I miss your favorite speech. Let me know and I will put up a link.