The Compelled Birth Movement

I get email! A reader (Liz) took issue with my post “The Problem With Calling Abortion Murder“.

Andrew Sullivan: Shutting Down Discourse

If there is one thing I hate more than watching journalists cook up weak or phony examples of left wing wrong doing to “balance” their stories, its when those journalists use that nonsense to attempt to shut down discourse. Andrew Sullivan is a choice exemplar. He gives his Moore award to Sara Robinson [...]

Its Hard to Say Rape

Its hard to say rape, nevermind talk about it.  Yet talking about rape is the surest way to fight it.  Leaving rape as an unspeakable part of our discourse leaves victims and criminals out of the public consciousness, and only serves to aide rapists and rape-apologists.  The more we talk about rape, the less they [...]

Fighting Religious Tyranny

We need to step up our fight against religious tyranny, for there are surely those fighting as hard as they can on theocracy’s behalf.
The politically dominant expression (and face) of faith in this country is that of conservative Christianity.  And conservative Christians are in battle mode over their perceived right to force their religion on [...]

Brief Update and Two Recommended Posts

Shortly (I hope) I’ll be announcing a new education blog related to my nonprofit.  In the meantime I’d like to recommend two exceptionally insightful posts…

Movie Idea! A Proposal

Movie idea!  A man is about to be deported to Canada, and to keep his high powered job, orders his assistant to marry him, or he’ll fire her.  Afraid of losing her job, she complies, and through a series of endearing mishaps falls in love with her boss.
Switch the roles and its an instant romantic [...]

Invasion of Love and Privacy

The people who brought you prop hate have decided to go after existing gay marriages:
The sponsors of Proposition 8 asked the California Supreme Court on Friday to nullify the marriages of the estimated 18,000 same-sex couples who exchanged vows before voters approved the ballot initiative that outlawed gay unions.
The religious right is literally tearing families [...]

Not In Front of My Retarded Baby!

This photo from the Chicago Tribune appears to be channeling the Onion:
Could you please stop tearing apart my record so loudly? I just put my special needs child down for a nap. You remember my poor, Down syndrome baby, don’t you? The developmentally disabled child I carried to term despite knowing that he had special [...]

What is it about Political Thugs and Animals?

Is the press required to report on everything a political leader does?  Is there something of extra special news worthiness about a political thug like Putin playing with a lil’ tiger cub?  (Associated Press, emphasis mine):
As president and now prime minister, Putin is known for his tough talk and macho image. But children and animals [...]

GodTube: Sex Before Marriage

The video itself isn’t remarkable.  It compares marrying someone who has had pre-marital sex to getting an order in a restaurant a previous patron has already eaten.  Would that make marital sex like eating the same order over and over again?  While the endless cycle of regurgitation and ingestion hinted at does provide some mirthful [...]

The Audacity of Bravery

When you consider the risks Barack Obama is taking, just by being Black and running for President, and further by taking progressive political stands, it puts his earnestness front and center.  There is a reason people feel they can trust this man.
My friend Brad, (who when pressed is full of insightful yet cuttingly cynical remarks [...]

Slavery is OK: Republican 527 Attacks Obama

Context is a weak excuse.  Under what context is slavery ethical?  Under what context is stoning someone to death moral?  In a clip that drives home Obama’s fortitude standing up to theocrats who’d eagerly switch the bible for the constitution, Republican political consultant Stephen Marks accuses Obama of arrogantly mocking the bible:
[...]

Fox News: Corporate Rhetoric

The Right Wing media loves a chance to present protesters (read “far leftists”) as the dirty unruly mob to their clean authority figures.  Clucking their tongues and barely disguising the pleasure they take in their tacked on umbrage, I’m sure they’ll call the people literally marching in streets “latte-sipping liberal elites” without skipping a beat.  [...]

The Bible is Wrong: Part 1: Mercy, Suicide and Homosexuality

Religion is a political beast wherein spirituality plays a varying part.  It is therefore apt to go beyond discussing the role of religion in public life, to discussing the nature of religion itself.  It is essential to balance respect for beliefs and people’s freedom to have and express them, with one’s own freedom to express [...]

Immaculate Rape

Immaculate Rape (noun) – Rape in which there is no rapist, merely a victim who may be found culpable due to one or more of the following: ingestion of alchohol, wearing of revealing clothing, living in a society that permits sex outside of marriage, being near a male in the throes of the evolutionary perogative.
Immaculate [...]