“As a society, we encourage girls and women to be emotionally accessible, and in touch with their feelings; we say that it’s an innately feminine trait. We say it, that is, until they have feelings that make us uncomfortable, at which point we recast them as melodramatic harpies, shrieking banshees, and basket cases.” – Tori Amos Call me a feminist. Go [...]
Did you know that George W. Bush, even as he was preparing to hawk the opening of his Presidential Library in Dallas, Texas, was convicted of war crimes? Just a month after his conviction, ribbon cutting ceremonies opened his Presidential Center. There is beauty – architectural with “Freedom Hall,” a 20-foot tall, 360-degree HD video wall, and natural with a [...]
We will have another financial meltdown and perhaps another taxpayer bailout of too-big-to-fail banks, banks even bigger than they were in 2008. Why another meltdown? The greedfest was hardly interrupted. Bonuses and casino capitalism continue. On the morning of July 21st, 2010, it was already evident. On that morning, Barack Obama triumphantly signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer [...]
By: Valarie Clark Why is it that over 40% of bisexual people have considered suicide? The answer is a complex one, and I do not intend to speak for all bisexuals when I tell you a little of my own story. I can speak to a few of the reasons that will resonate with folks who have been raised in a [...]
Sunday’s Sixty Minutes offered for us a needed, even hopeful story of good and selfless Americans striving to help their struggling fellow citizens, doing things that an obstructionist, do-nothing Congress will not do. Still fresh in my mind is the action of partisan, loathsome Senators, thwarting the will of over 90% of Americans who favor background checks in order to [...]
By: Ryan Kohlsdorf Recently I posted a picture containing a spiritual message about violence and strength, which included the caption, “The stronger we become the gentler we will be.” A day after it was posted, a reader responded with the adage, originally Roman but reclaimed and contextualized by Ronald Reagan, “Peace through Strength.” At first glance, this pseudo-conservative ideology seems [...]
Republicans are great at the fear game. Even recent history shows Republicans have a proven tradition of utilizing the human specter of primeval fear in achieving their objectives. Of course such tactics are coupled with the backlash caused by change and the fear that it engenders. Take Ronald Reagan about three decades back. Civil rights legislation and equal treatment of [...]
This will not be another typical piece on the tragedy in Boston. I think the incident had a much more profound effect on me than to spend time and type space telling you what you already know. Terror is horrible, be it foreign or domestic. You also clearly understand the people of Boston and New England are tough and resilient. [...]
We all read Voltaire’s “Candide” in our school days and the mantra still ricochets in our heads, “Oh yes, this is the best of all possible worlds” as the hero Dr. Pangloss goes about his series of misadventures. Voltaire was satirizing the words of an intellectual giant, a fellow by the name of Leibniz (co-inventor of the Calculus), and after [...]
Political use of the IRS by past presidents was much more problematic than any current use by the Obama administration. In many cases, Democrats and Republicans use the IRS against targets more personal and with a lot less moral justification. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s frequent use of the IRS as a weapon of political retribution is well-documented. He reportedly had [...]
James Schwartz is the author of The Literary Party: Growing up Gay and Amish In America, a work of poems and short stories. His poetry can also be found in Among the Leaves: Queer Male Poets On the Mid-Western Experience, Milk and Honey Siren: A Nostrovia! Poetry Anthology and All Poetry is Prayer: A Fire Anthology. He is currently at [...]
Most of you have all heard the saying or its paraphrase, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” words actually written by George Santayana. This concept has a special meaning now when special interests – those with an agenda – try to guide us in their direction. The special interests include plutocrats and their agents, principally [...]
Joseph Stalin, the Soviet Union’s ruthless ruler before WWII, said, “I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how, but what is extremely important is this – who will count the votes, and how.” Republicans have tried the voting angle, limiting voting for the opponents, for several elections with mixed success. They have tried polarization to [...]
As has predictably happened, the entire debate about gun control has spiralled into the realm of farce and lies, with the Sandy Hook massacre now long forgotten. The issue has shifted away from the murder of innocent children and the saturation of American society and culture with guns and violence and now onto a pretentious ‘argument’ about the Second Amendment, [...]
The word circumcise is defined as ‘the cutting off of the prepuce or clitoris’. This age-old practice of mutilating the genitals was originally thought to be a religious rite, but nothing could be further from the truth. The history of both male and female circumcision can be traced as far back as the early 1800’s. As myths and scant documentation [...]
What other reaction are we supposed to experience when learning of the atrocity committed in Connecticut on Friday? When an event occurs such as the one that took the lives of 27 people at an elementary school just after morning class had started, and when a situation exists that practically mandates for these massacres to happen, why are we surprised? The only [...]
Any man who beats up on a woman has a special place in Hell awaiting him. Any man who brutally beats a woman nearly to death because of her sexuality not only holds a reservation in Hell but also a warm spot at a penitentiary. Hopefully, for a long time. On Thanksgiving, Mallory Owens went to celebrate the holiday with [...]
(this is the second in a three-part series covering crystals, herbs, and rituals – to read the first article on crystals, click here) In this installation, I want to go over the different herbs (no, not that kind of herb) that are available for personal protection, and all the various ways you can use them. Some of this comes from [...]
Once upon a time in our America, an election was lost, but the power and voice of the people were heard. It was the majority of the people. The system worked, just as the founding fathers had intended. This angers a faction of the populace, the same populace that revived the image of the founding fathers and paraded them for [...]
(this is the second in a three-part series covering crystals, herbs, and rituals – to read the first article on crystals, click here) In this installation, I want to go over the different herbs (no, not that kind of herb) that are available for personal protection, and all the various ways you can use them. Some of this comes from [...]
“Oh, my God. Are we gonna die?” My good pal Jake (not his real name) and I had just consumed an entire package of Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies. We were hanging out in my dorm room, and, for some reason (being stoned as a wheat cracker), we got it into our heads that the cookies we’d just consumed, which were [...]
In the spring of 2012, I was hired as a middle school science teacher. The experience alternately elated and terrified me. One of the most terrifying moments came in March. I was discussing genetics with the 8th grade, trying to teach them the basics in time for the state’s standardized science test, which was only a couple of weeks away. [...]
By: Valarie Clark Why is it that over 40% of bisexual people have considered suicide? The answer is a complex one, and I do not intend to speak for all bisexuals when I tell you a little of my own story. I can speak to a few of the reasons that will resonate with folks who have been raised in a [...]
“As a society, we encourage girls and women to be emotionally accessible, and in touch with their feelings; we say that it’s an innately feminine trait. We say it, that is, until they have feelings that make us uncomfortable, at which point we recast them as melodramatic harpies, shrieking banshees, and basket cases.” – Tori Amos Call me a feminist. Go [...]
By: Valarie Clark Why is it that over 40% of bisexual people have considered suicide? The answer is a complex one, and I do not intend to speak for all bisexuals when I tell you a little of my own story. I can speak to a few of the reasons that will resonate with folks who have been raised in a [...]
By, The Messenger in Blue The path sits before me, so plain and wide I warily move on with the moon as my guide The eyes of the night are vigilant guards For their numbers seem even with that of the stars Aside from the wind, the Wolfwood is still Devoid of their songs, both beautiful and shrill They dislike [...]
Political use of the IRS by past presidents was much more problematic than any current use by the Obama administration. In many cases, Democrats and Republicans use the IRS against targets more personal and with a lot less moral justification. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s frequent use of the IRS as a weapon of political retribution is well-documented. He reportedly had [...]
We all read Voltaire’s “Candide” in our school days and the mantra still ricochets in our heads, “Oh yes, this is the best of all possible worlds” as the hero Dr. Pangloss goes about his series of misadventures. Voltaire was satirizing the words of an intellectual giant, a fellow by the name of Leibniz (co-inventor of the Calculus), and after [...]
Greg Palast, a bestselling author and a freelance journalist, has worked more than any other to uncover Republican election larceny, most likely leading to a George W. Bush victory in 2000 and 2004. His book, Billionaires and Ballot Bandits: How to Steal an Election in 9 Easy Steps speaks of the Republican blueprint for election thievery in 2012 … and [...]
