test blog 3

After reading the New York Times editorial "Zealots at the Air Force Academy" , I found this story on Truthout (original from the L.A. Times no longer available). The Air Force Academy, still recovering from rape and sexual harassment scandals, [Ed note: The Academy is recovering?? How about the hundreds of female cadets who were raped, assaulted, harassed - and then intimidated (and sometimes raped again) when they reported??] is facing charges that some Christian cadets have bullied and berated Jews and students of other religious backgrounds. School officials said Tuesday they had received 55 complaints over the last few months and were requiring students - and eventually all employees - to attend a course on religious tolerance. "Some complaints had to do with people ... saying bad things about persons of other religions or proselytizing in inappropriate places," said academy spokesman Johnny Whitaker. "There have been cases of maliciousness, mean-spir...

Since we've been talking about health care in light of the recent Canadian Supreme Court decision, here is Paul Krugman's recent column about the state of the US non-system. Harry Truman tried to create a national health insurance system. Public opinion was initially on his side: Jill Quadagno's book "One Nation, Uninsured" tells us that in 1945, 75 percent of Americans favored national health insurance. If Truman had succeeded, universal coverage for everyone, not just the elderly, would today be an accepted part of the social contract. But Truman failed. Special interests, especially the American Medical Association and Southern politicians who feared that national insurance would lead to racially integrated hospitals, triumphed. Sixty years later, the patchwork system that evolved in the absence of national health insurance is unraveling. The cost of health care is exploding, the number of uninsured is growing, and corporations that still provide employee co...

Ron Kovic, who is a paraplegic as a result of his service in Vietnam, has organized both veterans against war and people with disabilities for greater equality. The following is an excerpt from the introduction to the new edition of his book, Born on the Fourth of July , published today on AlterNet . Many of us promised ourselves long ago that we would never allow what happened to us in Vietnam to happen again. We had an obligation, a responsibility as citizens, as Americans, as human beings, to raise our voices in protest. We could never forget the hospitals, the intensive care wards, the wounded all around us fighting for their lives, those long and painful years after we came home, those lonely nights. There were lives to save on both sides, young men and women who would be disfigured and maimed, mothers and fathers who would lose their sons and daughters, wives and loved ones who would suffer for decades to come if we did not do everything we could to stop the forward momentum of t...

From yesterday's Times (UK): Ministers were warned in July 2002 that Britain was committed to taking part in an American-led invasion of Iraq and they had no choice but to find a way of making it legal. The warning, in a leaked Cabinet Office briefing paper, said Tony Blair had already agreed to back military action to get rid of Saddam Hussein at a summit at the Texas ranch of President George W Bush three months earlier. The briefing paper, for participants at a meeting of Blair's inner circle on July 23, 2002, said that since regime change was illegal it was "necessary to create the conditions" which would make it legal. . . . The document said the only way the allies could justify military action was to place Saddam Hussein in a position where he ignored or rejected a United Nations ultimatum ordering him to co-operate with the weapons inspectors. But it warned this would be difficult. "It is just possible that an ultimatum could be cast in terms which Sadda...

Today is one of the four major holidays of the Laura & Allan household.* I have been alive on this earth 44 years today. You'll forgive me for announcing my birthday like a little kid when I don't know any of yours. I love my birthday, I love getting older (ok, not everything about it, but in general), and I'm really put off by all the whining about aging. I am happy to be alive. Life is short, and ridiculously fragile, and each one of us who draws breath can find things to appreciate in our lives. It may sound greeting-card corny, but I feel this most profoundly. I feel rich with the things that are most important in life, and I am very grateful. All my life people have been telling me, "You'll see, when you're older..." When I'm older I'll want children, when I'm older I'll dread birthdays, when I'm older I'll wish I had gone to law school, blah blah blah . You know what? I am older! And it turns out you had no imagination! I...

Hey Crabletta, I made it! Today I'm using my last use-it-or-lose-it vacation day to spend more time in the ancient world . (I actually have no benefits. My few paid days-off are a "gift" from my supervisor. Mighty white of her.) So on this rare Sunday off, I finally had the opportunity to visit the Poe Cottage in the Bronx. I documented my many attempts at this literary pilgrimage in this post . Today, I only had to take the subway. The Poe Cottage was the last home of Edgar Allan Poe, his wife Virginia and her mother Maria Clemm. It's a tiny farm cottage now standing at the intersection of two major Bronx thoroughfares. The incongruity alone makes it worth seeing. Poe had such a sad life. He was hugely talented, misunderstood, and poor (not just struggling, but impoverished). His literary criticism earned him many enemies and few friends. While he lived in the village of Fordham (now a section of the Bronx), he wrote one of my favorite works of his, Annabel Lee. It ...

The Star has a good story on Canadians' opinions on gay marriage. Now, I feel that same-sex marriages have to be legal regardless of public opinion. Equality can't be subject to popularity polls. Nevertheless, it's interesting to read a wide variety of opinions. Plus I was envious of the reporter's cross-Canada drive! Canada gets ready for gay marriage David Graham Staff Reporter For three weeks last month I went back in the closet. I disguised myself as a middle-aged straight man, rented a navy blue Saturn and drove from Vancouver to St. John's with frequent stops to talk with Canadians about same-sex marriage. If anyone asked if I was gay, I came clean. I didn't want to misrepresent myself. But I did want people to speak freely and from their hearts. One more thing. While I have strong convictions on the subject, I have no vested interest. I ain't the marrying kind. I took this cross-country trip to grasp the true voice of Canadians. I'd already hear...