Social Justice

Black White Human Like Me

How can that be? he asked. This tells what it is like to be black and you're white!

The Eyes of the Nation Should Be On Texas

Those who scream most for war don't serve?

Pig Fish

This is why we yell at people who drive Hummers. They are the pig fish in the mixed tank who will cause us all to perish.

Socialist Libertarianism: A Manifesto

I am often asked "What is a socialist libertarian?"....Libertarianism is never authoritarian by nature: it is inclusive.

FDR's Second Bill of Rights

This is the vision of prosperity which the Right has been striving to tear down with its Straussian lies and obfuscations ever since Reagan rode into office on the back of Iranian terrorists.

Cowbird Morals

Stealth is not nearly as important as brazen insertion.

Why the Poor are Fat

"Our poor are fat" is a way of exculpating the rich from responsibility for the worsening state of affairs in this country.

Economic Rambling

Can we let the red states pay for all of it?

Food off the Table

The machine moves on, oblivious to the people who it destroys as it grinds towards economic apocalypse.

Politics and Poetry

We who write political poetry can easily fall into the hackneyed and pustulous, foully cute, start to sound like a militant version of Hallmark Greeting Cards.

Feminism: Mahayana and Hinayana

Young women, be careful who you oppose.

Multiculturalism: Hinayana vs. Mahayana Ideologies

The kind of multi-culturalism that I celebrate begins with the individual.

Post-Modernism vs. Democracy

I agree that the motives of post-modernists are admirable, that they do rightly perceive biases that white male scientists often bring to the study of human behavior (in particular), and that there are other ways to knowledge; however, I do not like the way that they have opened the door to sloppy thinking and some very wrong takes on the nature of human life and the Universe that threaten to undermine and destroy all that our parents and grandparents struggled to establish for the good of all the children of this country of ours.

Neither Pro-Life nor Pro-Choice: Merely for noncriminalization

I support the Woman above both ideologies.

To Mike Golby

It's tiring as hell to do so and then hear that I am not doing enough, that because I am not hammering at this twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, I must be just "another American".

The Deserted Heartland

The culture that produced Sherwood Anderson, Willa Cather, and others is dying.

Letter about Abortion

Honor the woman and the problem of abortion will solve itself.

Abortion is Vile

You will not find me on the streets outside clinics, taunting and shaming women who come there because they have no other options. Nor will you find me on the inside of the clinic.

Low Expectations from the College Board

Why did the College Board choose A Tale of Two Cities over Great Expectations?

Eleven Days

Workers lost eleven days of wages and landlords charged a full month's rent.

The Poor and Rich

The poor are materialistic but the wealthy want power, not just to own objects but to own people, too.

Shooting P(h)easants

Tonight in the philosophy reading group that I attend, I advanced the idea (based on a reading of Iris Murdoch) that good was based on being aware of your place in the Universe and evil was a denial of that place.

Weekend Chills

For the sake of Valentine's Day -- that feast of love -- and because I don't like clouding my birthday, I kept my silence on political matters.

Mars and Venus

No amount of New Age synthesis of bad astronomy (astrology), bad corporate style mysticism (e.g. the Transcendental Meditation movement), and bad pop psychology is going to convince me that we're limited to being the paper mache idols that degree mill-made "Ph.d" Gray erects.

Morlocks and Eloi

The Morlock's underground exists today, in the full light of the sun.

The Perils of Ideology

Our nation is dying: what are a People to do when they have lost control of their government?

Argument and Assassination

The folly of arguing with extremists is similar to the folly of assassinating George W. Bush.

Serial Thoughts on Working

Those who work with their hands are busy fearing with their minds.

Chat Challenges

There are a couple of questions that I like to spring on folks in chat rooms when their eyes grow blurry and they say things like "Oh, the slaves were so well treated. So much better than the working people". Or "We need a free market, absolutely devoid of governmental inference.

Libertines: We Do Good for Society

We don't promote greed. What we do is take the money where it cannot be used by pressure groups for their own narrow purposes and give it to people who we can trust.

Hate the Parents

The theory I proposed was that two types of individuals came forward because of the publicity: those who actually suffered abuse and those who wanted the cachet of being a survivor

The New Holocaust

The decision as to what is necessary and unnecessary is a private one, to be made by the patient and the doctor, not by medically untrained outsiders.

Prejudiced against the Rich?

"The rich are not like you and me" F. Scott Fitzgerald says in The Great Gatsby.

Culture of Victimization

If the charity of the wealthy is to be taken seriously, there can be no returns on it.

Open Letter to Yule: Violence against Men

The trouble with the men who you describe is that their comments serve to close down debate, not present better solutions that cover all the cases.

Tragedy of the School Commons

We've changed as a society from one where older children took an active part in teaching the younger ones to this age segregation.

Double Standard

Right is for harsh penalties against addicts in the so-called "War on Drugs" until one of their own is revealed as chemically dependent. Then we're told that "this is a special case" and we should "show mercy".

Arnold Pretends and Poses

It is sinking in that while Gray Davis is heroically manning the helm of the ship of state during this crisis, Arnold is doing nothing but politicking.

Grocery Strike

Lynn and I endorse the grocery workers' strike now underway in California.

Ageism
Today, I had my first ever, live-and-in-public poetry reading. I've been wanting to do it for a while, but have...

Car Race
Gerald Gorman owns a Chrysler dealership in Chicago -- it's a DaimlerChrysler dealership -- and DaimlerChrysler toted Gorman's inventory of...

Not A Total Loss
While, unfortunately, Californians chose to elect Conan, (about which I don't even know where to begin...) Proposition 54 failed. If...

The Law and Morality

The logic is telling: if the law changes to allow a person to become legitimized, then that person is no longer illegal and therefore no longer morally suspect. The question which must follow is this: if the only thing that has changed is the status of the person under the law and not the behavior, why declare them morally reprehensible in the first place?

An Alabama Recall

Riley, who is a devout Christian and a man of conscience, read a theological paper that discussed the Christian's obligation to the poor. His tax reform would have shifted the tax burden off the backs of the working poor and onto the backs of the wealthy.

Another Hummer Dinger

All this and $50 plus a day fuel bills! Just from going to the office!

Tours in the Skin

I suggest that the solution is reinstate the capital gains and estate taxes for those in the uppermost income brackets.

Which Do You Choose?

We will be an egalitarian, race-blind society when the son of the President of the United States gets the job he deserves pumping gas instead of getting pushed up because of his connections.

Class Warfare

Talk about serving up a lie a'brochette!

Econo Eyes
Get these cool glasses and you, too, can see the total reality of the Economy!...

Mothering and Work Among the Futurists

What a future! Can't we think of another?

Aliso & Wood Canyons 2

Relativism is Not a Morality

Those who insist that cultural relativism demands that we declare two cultures to be "equally wrong" on any given issue are -- dare I say it? -- wrong.

American Psychopathology

To not feel depressed, to not feel anxious, to not feel concern about the way America carreens through the world is, I think, crazy.

Air Conditioner Insider

I wish I was an air conditioning industry insider.

How Atlas Got the Power to Shrug

In the beginning was a "me" and this me persuaded other people to make shovels and, starting at the river, dig canals and ditches.

California, I Love You

Many mock the state of my birth and yet they keep trying to own it. If they don't like the way we think and the way we do things out here, why not just leave us alone?

On Dangerous Ground

I'm for new voices and new perspectives. I just don't want my erstwhile allies acting like that Frenchman and getting good causes shot down by some frightened guy with a gun.

Bringing Astronomical Incomes to Earth

The moon is an apt emblem for this sterility that exists "up there beyond the clouds" of disinformation. It's a dead planet, lifeless. No rain falls from the moon, so where's the trickledown? It's not getting to us.

Fear of the Fruits of Loathing

If anyone from the DOJ is reading this, I've heard how they've screwed up your investigative powers so that you can't put a stop to terrorism. I'm with you, not against you on this.

The Future....

"I am sick and tired of you imposing your morals on the rest of us. Everyone should have the right to live the lifestyle he or she chooses."

Stacking the Deck Against Affirmative Action

The Bell Curve couldn't be allowed to have a kink in it.

Totalitarianism in Texas

Texas is a fine example of how the Right works.

In Defense of Quarantine

When I opened my eyes, my mother looked at me strangely and started unbuttoning my shirt. She gasped and buttoned it up again straight-away.

Patriot Act 2

If John Ashcroft doesn't like you, he will be able to strip you of your citizenship --provided you let him get his way and allow Congress to pass Patriot Act 2.

Which Thought is More Dangerous?

Fact: you are probably not in the top 1%. You are probably no where near to being there even if you are an millionaire.

Casa de los Amigos Earthquake Report

They don't have any special fund for earthquake relief, yet, but there's a chance that some of the indigenous communities that they assist will present them with needs in the near future.

Apathy or Want of a Purpose?

What good is a superficiality set against a superficiality?

King Canute

Canute, I suspect, was a master of persuasion and good judgement: his legend as a King may well rest on his abilities as a peacemaker (I do not recall any tales of him waging war.)

Bound for Absurdity

I know I am no where near the top 1% and won't be there unless there is a massive infusion of especially poor immigrants or the annexation of large portions of the poorest parts of Latin America or Africa.

But Who Are They Angry At?

Who are they blaming here? The news reports leave us no clue.

Menstruation Envy?

If you want to throw a slogan at him, say War is menstruation envy.

Not So Humane Society - Revisited

Some people seem to believe that whites only talk to whites and blacks to blacks.

Why they booed Lott

The Republicans at that gathering should have done the same and the toastmaster should have thrown him off the platform.

Should I be Insulted....?

I'm a white person who doesn't have a job. (And neither does my wife these days.) Of course I can't see things "as they are".

Not So Humane Society

Would they have rather that he do what many others who have homes do and dumped the cat and three dogs out in the country somewhere or maybe on a busy expressway?

Thomas the Child Redux

I don't believe that we should bomb and I don't believe that everything is OK, even as a tool for momentary solace. I believe that things can be OK if we work to effect them so.

Counter Suggestions to Thomas the Child

The problem is not anger, frustration, or despair: it is what we do with it. Do we shut it away and act as if it is not so? I think not.

Jeremiad

Yes, all is right in America as we throw billions into preparations for bombing Iraq and let the widows and orphans resort to begging and chasing after vague promises to stay alive.

Viva La Nonviolent Revolution!

...if you want to help a terrorist, the best thing you can do in his book is install more draconian measures.

Meeting Crazy Tracy's Challenge
The holy madwoman with the foul mouth has declared it to be Time -- Time to take back the phrase...

The Real Moral Decline

Tabloids seem to teach us two things: that we can never trust news claims of corruption and second that it isn't worth being good because you will be killed.

Pro-Life?

I've noted on channels that in many ways, some people who support abortion strike me as more pro-life -- if one tots up all the issues that count -- than the people who scream the longest and the loudest, usually.