The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    Orlando's picture

    Horrific Gang Rape in India is a Symptom of Larger Societal Problems

    By Orlando on Sat, 12/29/2012 - 8:44am | Politics

     

    This morning, I heard the news that a 23-year-old medical student who was brutally gang raped in Delhi on December 16th had died. Another gang rape victim, in the state of Punjab, committed suicide this week after being pressed by police to drop the case and accept money or even marry one of the rapists. The girl, a teenager, and her family wanted police to open an investigation. 

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    Michael Maiello's picture

    The Overstated Importance Of Philanthrocapitalism

    By Michael Maiello on Thu, 12/27/2012 - 11:40am | Politics

    Apparently casting about for ideas for an Op-ed column this week, Nicholas Kristof has gone back to the "philanthrocapitalism" well with a column titled "How Giving Became Cool."  He credits Ted Turner's decision to funnel $1 billion for charitable causes through the United Nations a few years back, and then his agitating for more generosity from Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, who have since championed "The Giving Pledge,

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    Politics
    Doctor Cleveland's picture

    Fighting 'The Government' by Killing Your Neighbors

    By Doctor Cleveland on Thu, 12/27/2012 - 2:45am | Politics

    Before dawn on Christmas Eve a man set fire to his car and his house and waited for the firefighters to arrive so he could murder them. He shot four, killing two. They were volunteers. One of the men he killed was also a local police lieutenant. They died for going out on a winter morning to protect their neighbors.

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    Politics
    Michael Maiello's picture

    28 Days In November (also December and January)...

    By Michael Maiello on Wed, 12/26/2012 - 5:56pm | Politics

    ...Picture it.  It was the middle 1990s.  Kurt Cobain still breathed.  Courtney Love still made sense.  People wore flannel on top of their flannel.  Britney Spears was a Mouseketeer and a virgin.  Some people still carried pocket pagers, known as "beepers."  Well, only drug dealers.  Pay phones existed.  The rapper Ice-T was an unlikely candidate for starring in a Law and Order spin-off.

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    Politics
    Ramona's picture

    Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays. Make Joy, not War!

    By Ramona on Tue, 12/25/2012 - 7:28am | Personal
     

     Wishing you all a merry Christmas season, and all the joys it brings.  Happy holidays and peace to all, including those who wanted a war so badly they made one up.

    Will it spoil everything if I pass along this gentle reminder?  Christmas is a time of joy and good will for everyone; all ages, all regions, all religions.  Those scrooges who want to pretend there's a war going on over it, have, sadly, forgotten what it was like to be a child.

    Their loss.
     

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    Personal
    Michael Wolraich's picture

    What Should We Do to Stop Massacres?

    By Michael Wolraich on Sun, 12/23/2012 - 12:22pm | Politics

     

    Maybe Wayne LaPierre is onto something. So suggests DF in his latest blog, What Can We Do to Stop Massacres? Isn't it at least worth considering, he asks, LaPierre's proposal to station armed "responders" at our schools?

    It is worth considering. An armed officer presents a defense and a deterrent. It seems indisputable that LaPierre's proposal would help protect our schools against violent attacks.

    But would it stop massacres? Not unless we placed multiple armed responders at every park, playground, pool, day camp, playing field, Sunday school, daycare center, shopping mall, or any other place where children gather.

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    DF's picture

    "What Can We Do to Stop Massacres?"

    By DF on Sat, 12/22/2012 - 5:44pm | Politics, Social Justice

    UPDATE: This April 2010 report by the US DOJ states, "Moreover, nearly half of all public schools have assigned police officers."  Obviously, this statement does not make clear whether or how they are armed.

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    Politics
    Social Justice
    Michael Maiello's picture

    Chuck Hagel's A Fine Guy -- But Sign This Petition, Please

    By Michael Maiello on Sat, 12/22/2012 - 12:37pm | Politics

    Friends, please consider signing this petition urging President Obama to think harder and to come up with a qualified Democrat, rather than former Senator Chuck Hagel, as the next Secretary of Defense.

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    Politics
    Michael Maiello's picture

    I Think I Have The Gun Solution (Not Kidding)

    By Michael Maiello on Thu, 12/20/2012 - 5:06pm | Politics

    This might be* stupid, but hear me out.

    One of the problems with guns is that for all the fancy gadgets and accessories, they are pretty low tech.  You can put a laser site on a rifle.  It's still just an enhanced version of a very old technology.  It's a technology that is so old that it is not networked in any way.  It cannot be controlled from afar any more than a hammer or hacksaw can be.

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    Politics
    Doctor Cleveland's picture

    The Gun Hobby

    By Doctor Cleveland on Wed, 12/19/2012 - 7:08pm | Politics, Social Justice

    Our gun laws have been distorted to suit the needs of a single interest group. That small, privileged group’s desires outweigh the needs of nearly every other American, and have more influence with our elected leaders than the suffering of crime victims, the recommendations of law enforcement, or the common-sense demands of public safety. These privileged few are not hunters, or sportsmen, or homeowners concerned with self-defense. They are hobbyists. We live in a gun collector’s paradise, and it is very dangerous.

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    Social Justice

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