Gadfly

Happiness versus power and stuff

May 25th, 2016

Have we reached a brave new world where ignorance might count?

I was shocked to read that 64 people in Bangladesh died from lightning strikes in two days of tropical monsoon storms, most of them farmers harvesting crops in rural areas. Experts said that exposure to metal equipment, and particularly cell phones, contributed to the large number. They added that deforestation practices had removed tall trees which normally take a large number of lightning strikes. I wonder if the farmers…

A Pandemic of Toxoplasma Gondi Parasite

May 18th, 2016

Avoid Cat Poo—It’s The Black Plague Of Politics

I think I may have discovered why so many people voted for Donald Trump this spring. They probably have been attacked by Toxoplasma gondi spores, a protozoan parasite which is found in large numbers in cat poo. The spores are often transferred from vegetable gardens to food we eat, particularly in herbs, vegetables, and lettuce. Both tame and feral cats like to bury their poo in soft soils. Humans are very susceptible to these spores and…

Science, Religion, And Peeing In The Right (Wing) Bathroom

May 11th, 2016

Is Sex between the ears or between the legs?

So now we are battling over which humans will use which bathrooms. At least a majority of us have accepted same-sex marriage, gays in the military, and that we have a number of distinctive sexes beyond just male and female. The scientific and anecdotal evidence is becoming overwhelming that humans have quite a wide range of “sexuality.”

The religious forces in the world who believe that God created only straight males and females and that…

Of Cruise Ships and Homemade Rowboats

May 6th, 2016

From havens to havens

I take the New Yorker for the cartoons and the occasional informative article. I thought two cartoons in the latest issue explored the conditions in the world and the United States as well as several thousand words could.

Through the portals of animal cages by the floor of the Roman Colosseum one can see five cowering prisoners waiting in line. In the lion cage four lions are lounging on the floor while the leader of the pride was hectoring them from the open gate:…

EUTHANASIA AND WILL SHAKESPEARE

April 27th, 2016

To be, or not to be

Two very important issues were presented to the world on the 400th anniversary of the death of the world’s greatest playwright and poet, William Shakespeare. Pope Francis, in his “Amoris Laetitia” (The Joy of Love), struggled to answer some of the questions about sex and all that that the Roman Catholic Church has been struggling to answer for many centuries.

Justin Trudeau, the newly elected prime minister of Canada, promised the Canadian people he will…

America—A For-Profit Democracy

April 20th, 2016

Well, Folks, It’s Time To Sharpen The Pitchforks

Now we really know the ultrarich in the world are very serious about keeping their money. The Panama Papers prove it. The British Virgin Islands, a tax haven in the Caribbean, has a population of 30,659 in 2016, but, amazingly, it might have over three thriving profitable shell companies hiding under the beds of each citizen of any age. It’s one of those popular tax havens filled with 113,000 shell companies incorporated there. Some…

CUBAN DEFECTOR

April 13th, 2016

None of us made it on our own

In 1949 a poor, tall, gangly black sophomore kid in Oakland, California was cut from his junior varsity basketball team by the coach after just one tryout. After the cut, one of the coaches told him he should try for the varsity team when he was a junior. The coach then drove him to the local Boys & Girls Club, told him he wanted him to play basketball every day at the club, and then paid his membership fee.

The tall kid played every day, and later he was…

HOW TO KEEP PEOPLE FROM VOTING? LET ME COUNT THE WAYS!

April 6th, 2016

Voter fraud in Texas and Wisconsin

In the last ten years over 20 million votes have been cast in Texas state elections. Only two cases of voter fraud in that span of time have been prosecuted to conviction.

Because of a lawsuit in Wisconsin, a district judge and aides prepared a 90-page study on 2004 voter fraud in Wisconsin and determined that there were only seven invalid votes made by individuals. Those ballots represented 0.0002 percent of the total votes cast in the state, and all of…

DOES MONEY UNITE CITIZENS? SOME SAY NO

March 31st, 2016

Expensive “free speech” doesn’t mean anything

Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the Earth Institute at Columbia University has surveyed 157 countries to find the “world’s happiest place” based on such facts as Gross Domestic Product per capita (GDP), social support, healthy life expectancy , freedom to make life choices, generosity, and income. All of the top ten “happiest” are countries that have some form of Democratic Socialism government, led by…

America: A land of warts

March 24th, 2016

The battle between Republican crony-casino capitalism and Democratic socialism

After listening to Republican candidates for the 2016 presidential nomination claim “America is going to hell” and other undesirable places, President Barack Obama in a recent magazine article counterclaimed: “For all of our warts, the United States has clearly been a force for good in the world.”

“Warts?” My God! “Treason!” Admitting we have warts before the entire world? “Un-American!”…

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