The single idea that recurs again and again in the rhetoric of religious reactionaries is the notion that something is against nature. Prophylactic devices should not be used because they do violence to nature. People of the same sex should not be allowed to wed because their lifestyle is unnatural. These people claim to own a trademark on the ( Read more... )

Pro-life groups have promoted the notion that Planned Parenthood is a racist organization dedicated to the genocide of African Americans and other marginalized peoples of color. Their case is based on a few flawed assumptions and some deliberate misrepresentations. They attack Margaret Sanger with fury in such a way that exposes the deceptive ( Read more... )

Two of my personal favorite works of politics in entertainment involve a single character portrayed in two separate imperial venues: London and Washington. The American version of "House of Games" portrays the political gamer as a social climber of the nouveaux riche who mirrors the original British character, a Tory "aristocrat." It is fitting ( Read more... )

From a Christian perspective Christianity is good and Paganism is evil. From a Pagan perspective Paganism is good and Christianity is evil. Christians deride the institutions that existed in the ancient world as primitive and barbarous. Pagans deride medieval institutions as primitive and barbarous. Are both sides wrong, or is one side right ( Read more... )

Americans who participate in the national cult of major league baseball, albeit from the sidelines, might be aware that the colors of the San Francisco team match the colors of the all-hallows eve festival. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the American cult, it is a game of skill and chance with roots in the British sport of cricket. Many ( Read more... )

The movie Kill the Messenger dramatizes the story of Gary Webb's encounter with CIA media spin control. It is a rather moderate film compared to the work of Oliver Stone, but it clearly depicts a level of thought control and complicity on the part of American mainstream media outlets. It is worth seeing in theaters for the benefit of some of the ( Read more... )

Yesterday was world mental health day. One of the things that its founders advocate is the "proper" treatment and care of those considered mentally unwell. The state of best practices in the mental health profession is pretty damned abysmal. Those who advocate "best" practices tend to overlook the inadequacies of such practices and the need for ( Read more... )

I saw a sign outside someone's house that said, "Jesus: the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow." This prompted me to think of Jesus as the guy who opposed, opposes, and will oppose birth control and marriage equality. (I do not actually think Jesus would side with the Catholic position, but the sign was in a Catholic neighborhood.) I mentioned ( Read more... )

I have had a privileged education, not because I had rich parents who sent me to the most expensive schools, but because I had wise parents who did not send me to Sunday school. My exposure to biblical literature did not begin until I had graduated from college. This means that I was not indoctrinated into a rigid interpretation of what appears ( Read more... )

The recent tragedy in the sky over the Ukraine has shined an unexpected spotlight on the most secret of enclaves, the American military intelligence machine. Those of us who have studied that machine from the outside and from within know that it is far better at contriving information than in delivering it. This can be seen again in the reports ( Read more... )