2012 May

In Defense of Reason Part 4: Sticks and Stones and Concentration Camps

May 31, 2012 by Chauncey Dennie 4 Comments

On May 13, 2012 in North Carolina‘s Providence Road Baptist Church, Pastor Charles L. Worley publicly advocated the forced relocation, imprisonment, and subsequent death of gays and lesbians. Apparently not only does pastor Worley believe that a 100-mile-long electrified fence would be adequate to hold the entire gay population, but also that such an act of Christian charity would cause the species known as homo queer-ius to become extinct, due to the hereditary nature of sexual preferences.… [Read more]

Filed Under: We Say This Tagged With: Charles Worley, Free Speech, Liberals, Religion

Not the Zombie Apocalypse

May 31, 2012 by Robert Rapplean 4 Comments

An interesting thing happened the other day. Some guy decided to eat some other guy’s face. The details are a bit sketchy, but you can imagine that a lot of people were horrified. There were also a few people who were jubilant. You see, horrified people are really easy to manipulate, and a properly executed bit of misdirection can take good advantage of a properly horrified populace.… [Read more]

Filed Under: We Say This Tagged With: Bath Salts, Ritalin, War on Drugs, Zombie

East vs. West in the Great North

May 31, 2012 by Lucas Zachary 4 Comments

It seems bizarre that one industry, centered exclusively in one region, could drive national policy – economic, environmental, and social – in a country as large and regionally diverse as Canada. But that is exactly what is happening. If there is one unifying theme to the Harper Government’s ‘Omnibus Budget Bill’ C-38, it is the expansion of the Alberta tar sands (please don’t be fooled by their misleading re-branding as oil sands – the resource is thick, dirty bitumen, not like crude oil from conventional oil wells).… [Read more]

Filed Under: We Say This Tagged With: Alberta, Keystone Pipeline, Tar Sands

Mitt Romney the Woman Magnet?

May 31, 2012 by Julie Driscoll 3 Comments

Woah woah woah, wait wait wait . . . How in all that is unholy is Mitt Romney narrowing the gender gap with women – and unmarried women, to be specific? Has to be true; I read it just today on the Huffington Post.

According to the newest ABC News/Washington Post poll, Romney has risen 13% in the ranks, primarily due to a rise in support from women.… [Read more]

Filed Under: We Say This Tagged With: Birth Control, Mitt Romney, Planned Parenthood, War on Women

Afghanistan: No Easy Way Forward

May 30, 2012 by Bill Rice 9 Comments

President Barack Obama converses with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan at the White House in Washington, D.C. [White House Photo]

The future of the war-torn and decentralized Afghanistan has always been unclear. And after the recent NATO summit where member nations reiterated a strong commitment to having most combat troops out of the country by 2014, the fate of the turbulent nation appears even more uncertain. Yet there are two truths that appear unchallengeable: first, that the continued occupation of the country is unsustainable (especially financially) and second, that all of the most likely outcomes appear bleak.… [Read more]

Filed Under: We Say This Tagged With: Afghanistan, NATO

Gun Control: Coming to a Reasonable Solution

May 30, 2012 by Harry Deshpande 5 Comments

I need your help here for I am completely lost. There is one argument made by gun rights activists that I cannot counter. This particular argument has been troubling me for a long time. Today I decided to write about it after reading in the newspapers about another random death caused by a stray bullet in Seattle.… [Read more]

Filed Under: We Say This Tagged With: Gun Control, Guns, Second Amendment, Violence

Bashing Smokers

May 30, 2012 by Leftside Annie 4 Comments

Yep. I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna bash cigarette smokers.

Now, what brought this on is an exchange I had with someone on Twitter. I tweeted something to the effect that if the big tobacco companies were against California’s Proposition 29, then I’m for it. I’ve been seeing tons of anti-Prop. 29 ads on the teevee, all of which use rightwing buzzwords like “taxes” and “out-of-control-spending” and “doesn’t create jobs” etc.… [Read more]

Filed Under: We Say This Tagged With: Cancer, Health, Proposition 29, Tobacco

Quid pro Quo (or is it Quid pro Ho?)

May 30, 2012 by Mia Imani and Barbara Broido 6 Comments

“Quid pro Quo” is defined as “This for That” or “Something for Something.” So…is that what’s behind Mitt Romney’s association with Donald “still-on-that-birther-bullshit” Trump? What does Mitt hope to obtain from this dubious alliance — votes? Mitt, you are already your party’s “Rominee,” (or is that ‘R-Money,’ my Republican homie?) and everyone knows extreme, fringe issues like Birtherism aren’t likely to garner independent or undecided votes in the general election.… [Read more]

Filed Under: Art-itorials Tagged With: Donald Trump, Mitt Romney

The Holy Uncle Asks (and answers) ‘What ARE Republicans Good At?’

May 29, 2012 by Bill Schmalfeldt - Satire for the People 5 Comments

Last week, Pope William I, the Supreme Pontiff of the Church of Self Actualization revealed how he came to possess the sacred text that shows you CAN be a Tea Party Member and STILL call yourself Christian. In his last encyclical, The Holy Uncle outlined the problem as he sees it. This week, he begins to share…THE SOLUTION!!!… [Read more]

Filed Under: In the Spotlight Tagged With: hypocrisy, Religion, Repubilcans, Satire

Coffee Break: Health Benefits and Dangers

May 29, 2012 by Michelle Quevedo 2 Comments

Espresso Latte With Leaf Design by the Barista

A man quietly observes birds consuming berries from a plant and concludes that the berries made the birds ‘spirited’ after consumption. Eventually, the observer decides to eat the berries and he finds that they have indeed had an energizing effect on him, so he sets out to find new ways to consume the berries.… [Read more]

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: Coffee, Drip System, French Press

Vouching for Public Schools

May 29, 2012 by Katie Sluiter 7 Comments

Recently Mitt Romney has decided to promote school vouchers as a way to help fix the “education emergency” we have here in America.

I guess this is ok if his end goal is to get rid of public education.

School vouchers are certificates, issued by the government, that parents can use toward tuition to a private school for their child(ren). … [Read more]

Filed Under: We Say This Tagged With: education crisis, education reform, Public School, School Voucher

In Remembrance of JFK

May 29, 2012 by Brooklyn Dame 11 Comments

Today would have been John F. Kennedy’s 95th birthday. Given that his term as the 35th President of the United States was cut short by an assassin’s bullet, we will never know what this nation would have been during, and could have been after, his presidency.

Much took place during his shortened time in office. Among other issues, the nation came face to face with a serious nuclear threat from the (then) Soviet Union during the Cuban Missile Crisis.… [Read more]

Filed Under: The BK Dame Says Tagged With: Assassination, Civil Rights, JFK, John F. Kennedy, Peace Corps

Charles Worley: Never Again

May 29, 2012 by Barbara Broido and Brooklyn Dame 2 Comments

North Carolina‘s “Reverend” Charles Worley is the horse’s arse who wants to confine homesexual human beings in concentration camps — behind electric fences, with food air-dropped so that, over time gays will “die out because they can’t reproduce.” Ah…you men of the cloth!

We suppose he thinks that is what Jesus would want us to do…

… [Read more]

Filed Under: Art-itorials Tagged With: Charles Worley, Gay Rights, LGBT, North Carolina, Religion

Honoring Our Military

May 29, 2012 by The Progressive Latino 1 Comment

Hopefully, all of you enjoyed this Memorial Day weekend. It is appropriate to take a moment to give thanks and honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice so that we as a nation can pursue liberty as we know it today. It may not be perfect but we have is due, in great measure, to our military.… [Read more]

Filed Under: We Say This Tagged With: Afghanistan, Congress, Iraq, Memorial Day, Soldier

A World Without War. Is it Desirable? Is it Feasible? YES! If only we ask questions…

May 28, 2012 by Angelle Petta 2 Comments

“In the title of my talk on a world without war, I have posed two questions: is it desirable? And, is it feasible? After the many millions of lives lost in the two World Wars of the last century, a world without war is assuredly most desirable…not only is a war-free world desirable; it is now necessary, it is essential, if humankind is to survive…humankind has acquired the technical means to destroy its own species and to accomplish this, deliberately or inadvertently, in a single action.… [Read more]

Filed Under: We Say This Tagged With: Afghanistan, Iraq, Memorial Day, US soldiers in Afghanistan, war

Haunting Memories

May 28, 2012 by Mia Imani 1 Comment

Memorial Day is upon us. Today, countless ceremonies will take place honoring the men and women in uniform who have served this country in past and current wars. We pay special tribute honoring the memory of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice of their lives. Memorial Day, for most of us, comes once a year.… [Read more]

Filed Under: In the Spotlight Tagged With: George Carlin, Memorial Day, NATO, Troops

The Dumbing Down of the GOP

May 28, 2012 by Rich Abete 10 Comments

The following post originally appeared on jesuswasademocrat.org (now http://jesuswasnotarepublican.org/, which will be launched on Tuesday) on January 14, 2012. Although it was acutely relevant during the Republican primary, it remains as relevant today. I hope you enjoy it!

The anti-intellectual bent of the Republican Party is really nothing new. … [Read more]

Filed Under: WTLF*?!? Tagged With: Climate Change, Democrats, evolution, GOP, intellectuals, Republican, US Politics

Saudi Arabia Banning English and Gregorian Calendar?

May 28, 2012 by Ernest Dempsey 2 Comments

Last month, a four-year-old boy in Saudi Arabia made news by shooting his father to death with the man’s pistol. Reading the news online, one must have felt the father was thoughtless to put a loaded gun on the table and start changing his shirt while his young son was around. In fact, the question should have been: what exactly was the father doing with a gun to get to shopping in a so-called peaceful country when his child was accompanying him?… [Read more]

Filed Under: Transcending Borders Tagged With: Ban, English Language, Gregorian Calendar, Hijri, Hijri Calender, Saudi Arabia

Memorial Day

May 28, 2012 by Brooklyn Dame 3 Comments

May all of us remember…

.Peace to us all…… [Read more]

Filed Under: The BK Dame Says Tagged With: Arlington National Cemetary, Memorial Day, Soldier, war