What issues change society's social order? Here we discuss social progress and the issues that impede that progress such as poverty, negative impacts upon the environment, and disparities among peoples.
This article was originally published in the Blue Street Journal. Since then the questions and misinformation about Obamacare haven’t faded and, in fact, there will be some changes as the law is implemented across the nation. Here’s an introductory primer:
There’s a lot of hype going around about ObamaCare, and by now you are probably getting mixed information about what the law actually is and how it will affect you. … [Read more]
Known throughout their centuries-long history as the Horse of Kings the Andalusian was prized for their kind, intelligent and courageous nature. They were war horses, tools of diplomacy and trusted companions of novice riders. Today they are the most elegant of dressagers. Now they are also known as dinner.
In the economic boom years of Spain breeders increased their herds as demand for this elegant horse skyrocketed.… [Read more]
Overstepping the values of good judgment and turning a deaf ear to public outcry, a Monroe County court in Michigan in December 2012 killed four boxers labeled “vicious” by the local animal control. The dogs were let out by strangers who opened the door to the house while the owner, Tim Iocoangeli, was away. The dogs, defensive over newborn pups in their home, bit a teenage girl who was reportedly trespassing on the property of the owner.… [Read more]
What follows is an open letter written on April 16, 1963, by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., American civil rights leader. At the time, King was being held in a Birmingham, Alabama jail after being arrested for a planned non-violent protest by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. This letter should be required reading for all to have more of an understanding of this nation’s history, and perhaps what we can do to move forward.… [Read more]
Dear Supreme Court Justices of the United States of America,
I consider myself to be a pretty average American mother of a typical American family. My husband and I are married and live in a small town in the Midwest. We have two small boys ages three and one. Both my husband and I have college degrees and we work outside the home.… [Read more]
The proponents of illiberality and oppression often peddle their own warped definitions of equality. For them, segregation was an egalitarian institution – prohibiting women’s voting rights was just an extension of treating the inherently unequal sexes appropriately, according to their own potential abilities.
But as we all realize today, segregation in any form and/or the denying of individual rights is never truly an equal enterprise, no matter how much social conservatives may pontificate on their outdated and morally backward views.… [Read more]
These days, violence is a frequent topic of discussion in the news. Recently, more often than not the issue is gun control, stop-and-frisk policies or even police training tactics gone horribly awry. What these subjects have in common is that they take into consideration the rights and background of the targets and the accused.
Not long ago, New York City’s police department announced that they will run criminal background checks on those who report instances of domestic violence.… [Read more]
On December 14, 2012, 26 lives were lost in one of the most horrendous acts of terrorism America has had to endure. The terrorist was not of a different nationality, nor did he speak with a foreign accent or have a ‘different sounding’ name, he was a home-grown, middle-class suburban white kid. He did not strap on a bomb and blow himself up or detonate a truck bomb.… [Read more]
One rationale for continuing stop and frisk practices is that it is a viable, proactive and productive way for law enforcement to combat crime. Personally, I beg to differ; in my opinion it’s like using a sledgehammer on a nail. You may get the desired result but what else are you smashing?
That’s how I feel about “Stop and Frisk.” We are well aware of the controversy surrounding the stop and frisk practices in New York City.… [Read more]
Over the past few months, the question of whether or not to build the Keystone XL pipeline (KXL) has become as divisive as the line its blueprints draw through the heartland of America. One side claims that the pipeline will be ‘game over for the climate,’ while the other asserts it will create jobs and give a much-needed boost to the American economy.… [Read more]
During oral arguments on a provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia likened congressional support for the Act to a “perpetuation of racial entitlement.” Just what was Scalia saying? Was he saying black people do not have a right to have their vote protected?
When I hear “racial entitlement” I think of the first 350 years in this land and the fact white people were entitled to everything — jobs, education, social mobility, protection, pride, land and status — and black people were entitled to nothing.… [Read more]
You know the saying: one is a coincidence, two is a pattern, three makes you a certified glutton for punishment.
For months I’ve watched Slate writer Matt Yglesias flail away, writing on education issues. First, he tried to pit teachers unions against taxpayers in a smug piece on the Chicago Teachers Union strike. Then he analyzed the phony StudentsFirst report card, treating it like an objective measure of state education policy rather than an ideological wish list of Michelle Rhee‘s pet priorities.… [Read more]
“Poverty” was not represented in the State of the Union address by President Barack Obama. As I watched and listened, I realized the address is not intended to speak to all Americans but just a select few. There were gun supporters, gun opponents, CEOs and many more in attendance when the President gave his speech, but not one person represented the 50 million Americans who live in poverty.… [Read more]
What were the chances, in this polarized political environment, that anything in the President’s State of the Union Address would receive accolades from conservatives and progressives. Turns out the odds were pretty good. One sentence, sandwiched between the minimum wage increase and Afghanistan.
“And we’ll work to strengthen families by removing the financial deterrents to marriage for low-income couples, and doing more to encourage fatherhood – because what makes you a man isn’t the ability to conceive a child; it’s having the courage to raise one.”
– President Barack Obama, SOTU, Feb.… [Read more]
In the wake of the Newtown tragedy, a steady stream of Republican lawmakers is rallying to arm teachers, volunteers and, in some cases, students to defend against would-be attackers. As I’ve written about before, the concept of arming teachers and others in schools as a primary strategy to prevent gun violence is driven by the fantasy that inexperienced civilians can be trained to deliver a kill shot.… [Read more]
Public education is a public good. This can’t be said often enough or stressed strongly enough. Like law enforcement and fire protection, public schools are offered free of charge on an even-handed basis. But it’s the one public good no one wants to pay for. Instead we come up with one silly scheme after another as the savior for cash-starved schools.… [Read more]
“The once athletic sport has degenerated into a contest that for brutality is little better than the gladiatorial combats in the arena in ancient Rome” Beaumont Express, 1904, when 18 US football players died on the playing field.
“I’m a big football fan but, I have to tell you, if I had a son, I’d have to think long and hard before I let him play football,” President Barack Obama, January, 2013.… [Read more]
In February 1995, a 13-year-old boy walked into Andy Pope’s classroom at Nebraska’s Chadron Middle School and shot the social studies teacher and basketball coach. Fortunately, the bullet hit a rib, missing his heart by an inch. He survived and returned to the classroom less than a week later. Later the same year, in what would become one of his more famous paranoid pronouncements, Wayne LaPierre referred to federal agents as “jackbooted government thugs” in a National Rifle Association fundraising letter.… [Read more]
Newt Gingrich recently announced that he has had a change of heart. No, no, not any new extramarital affair that I’m aware of. In an interview with Fox News recently, Gingrich came out with this remarkable statement:
“I think this is a very complicated human problem and Republicans need to take a deep breath and understand we need to deal with the human side of this equation…”
In the several months since the Republicans suffered a resounding defeat in the presidential election and lost seats in both the House and the Senate, there have been innumerable articles addressing why they lost and what they must do moving forward in order to avoid similar defeats in the future. Most of these articles emphasize the need for change by citing demographic statistics illustrating, quite convincingly, that trying to build the future of the GOP almost exclusively around the Caucasian portion of the electorate is not only a recipe for short-term failure, but a path towards irrelevancy and eventual extinction.… [Read more]
