Gadfly

Culture?

December 17th, 2014

So This Is A “Culture?”

What is a culture? Right-wingers like to acclaim the myth that America is an “exceptional” country—the “shining city on a hill” and all those wonderful, marvelous cultural images. Dictionary definitions of culture include these statements: “The sum of attitudes, customs, and beliefs that distinguishes one group of people from another. Culture is transmitted, through language, material objects, ritual, institutions, a way of thinking, and art, from…

Immigration and Borders

December 10th, 2014

To Congress: How Do You Control 21,415 Miles Of Our International Border?

At our Pelican Lake home we have about 30 wild turkeys show up occasionally to spend a half-hour or so cleaning up under our bird feeders. Blue jays and marauding squirrels have terrible table manners, spilling sunflower seeds, millet, and corn all over the place. If we let the dogs out while they are feeding, helter-skelter results. Some fly 70 feet to the top of trees, some run for the woods and bushes while…

Mutilation

December 5th, 2014

Is There A Difference Between Genital Mutilation And Mental Mutilation In The World Talibans Ruling Women?

The Egyptian government estimates that 91% of Egyptian women between the ages of 15 and 49 have had their genitals operated on for physical, mental, and cultural reasons. Among young teenagers 15 to 17 the rate is 74%. The practice of cutting off external parts of genitalia of both males and females probably started in Egypt in the time of the pharaohs according to historians.…

To be, or not to be

November 25th, 2014

To Be – Or Not To Be – Is A Fascinating Tough Question

Every day we learn more about death, whether its from old age, disease, accident, murder, war, religion, suicide, or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. We don’t seem to handle death very well in most instances, although it is inevitable. In Shakespeare’s epic, Hamlet is debating whether he should kill Claudius, the killer of his father who has married his mother, or whether he should avoid the whole mess by…

Religion and Politics

November 19th, 2014

The Evils Of “Religious” Politicians And The Growth Of Human Savagery

As Syrian children go to schools and playgrounds in Raqqa, a provincial capital now controlled by the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq (commonly known as ISIS), they walk by spiked fences topped by the decapitated heads of the followers of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Many heads belong to relatives of the children. The headless corpses were left on Raqqa streets as further warnings to Shias and Alawites,…

From Ape to Master

November 12th, 2014

How Well Has Our Ancestor The Ape Moved To Master Of The Planet?

This world is getting discombobulated again. Here we have the deadly disease ebola circulating in three central African countries and around the world, killing thousands of people. One touch may give a person a death sentence. But here in the United States we are also deluged with ads for the cure of toenail fungus. I have never heard of anyone dying of toenail fungus. No one in our large extended family has ever had it to…

The WalMart Mentality

November 5th, 2014

The WalMart Mentality And The Billionaire Sex Trade

This country is acting as if dementia is just around the corner – or maybe we haven’t been taking our Prozac lately. We have about 19 million underemployed and unemployed in this country but the Polaris Company of Roseau is flying low-paid Mexican skilled workers from their Mexico plant to Roseau so they can continue to sell small recreational and work vehicles at a “double-digit” rate. What is going on? Have we succumbed to…

Democracy for sale

October 29th, 2014

Democracy For Sale: Going Once … Going Twice … Sold To The Billionaires!

Since the Republican Supreme Court decided to dump parts of the Voters Rights laws passed almost 50 years ago, most states controlled by Republican legislatures and governors, including North Dakota, have attempted to pass hundreds of restrictive voting laws, particularly the requirement to have a photo voter ID. Some have been successful. After all, a great deal of fraud has been committed in voting precincts!…

The Universe Guys

October 22nd, 2014

The Universe Guys Aren’t Even Saying “10-4’’

Astronomers have discovered about 600 planets swirling around the stars that could possibly have more intelligent beings than us roaming in their confines. Ten of them are about earth’s size and receive about the same amount or sunlight. Since 1955 we have spent billions of dollars attempting to contact extraterrestrials on these other planets. The program Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) started in earnest in 1960…

Bricks are flying

October 16th, 2014

When Do The Bricks Start Flying?

The most dysfunctional part of government is Congress, put in that position by two 5-4 Supreme Court decisions about “free” expensive speech named Citizens United and McCutcheon. A reader sent me a copy of Stephen Pastis’s “comic” strip called “Pearls Before Swine.” The subject of the strip is titled “The World According To The Supreme Court” with a statement from the McCutcheon decision: “Spending large suns of money in connection…