Our winter holidays are a mishmash of many religions and historical events and thought of in general as celebrations of peace and love. Fancy that, given it’s often a time of anything but. Start with love—as in Barbara Love, a young denizen of Greenwich Village who morphed into a lifelong advocate for lesbians […]
Archive for the ‘Social Issues’ Category
Of Race, Rebels and Reprisal
October 17, 2011Three recent movies. And it is not my custom generally to say run, don’t walk, to see modern flicks. If you are as selective as I am regarding cinema and of what among it is a waste of time, you too are amazed at the way people enter theaters with such expectation and, sadly, […]
Posted in Race in America, Social Issues |
Tags: " "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", " "The Debt, "The Help, Animal abuse, Anti-racism programs, antisemitism, Golden Gate Bridge, Holocaust, Jews, Josef Mengele, Mid-20th century U.S., Nazi, Nazism, Racism
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The Emmys: Or, Where the Red Carpet Leads
September 20, 2011I am cynical to the max regarding the world of celebrity, and TV’s Emmys take no edge from my sarcasm. It is my missionary duty to convince others that it will rot mind and soul. Emmys night is the time to see all the TV actors and shows you didn’t know existed. Or […]
Posted in Pop Culture, Social Issues, Women and Society |
Tags: Emmy Award, Fareed Zakaria, Glee, Jane Lynch, Jon Hamm, Julie Bowen, Kate Winslet, Mad Men, Medal of Honor, Melissa McCarthy, Ricky Gervais, Rush Limbaugh, Steve Buscemi, Steve Carrel, The Good Wife, the Red Carpet, Ty Burrell, Zooey Deschanel
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Crime Pays: Imagine That
July 27, 2011There was a time, we thought, that the good guys got the bad guys. Justice, it seemed, was swift and fair. Punishment, we imagined, fit the crime. The cell door slammed and that was that. Where did it end? With corrupt or lenient judges? With the dumbing-down of jury panels? No, it had […]
Posted in Race in America, Social Issues |
Tags: Angelo Mozilo, Casey Anthony, Marcia Clark, Michael Jackson, O. J. Simpson, Ollie North, Rebekah Brooks, Roger Clemens, Rupert Murdoch, Whitey Bulger
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Of Weiners and Hooters
June 14, 2011If not sick of this story, we all should be. Too many sexual shenanigans among the famous surely have us jaded by now. I am here to add to the fascination, but as a concluding unscientific postscript. Certainly Anthony Weiner’s name lends itself to parody, given his particular fall from grace. But how […]
Posted in Politics, Social Issues |
Tags: Andrew Breitbart, Anthony Weiner, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Fox News, GQ magazine, Hooters, Jane Lynch, Megyn Kelly, Norbert Wiener, Playboy, Shirley Sharrod
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Other Memories for Memorial Day
May 27, 2011People die every day, and there is a scramble to give meaning to their lives. When the young die in war there are dignified rituals to acclaim that they were brave, courageous and sacrificed themselves for us all. Drums roll, guns roar and loved ones clasp folded flags as proof of the family’s […]
Posted in Pop Culture, Social Issues |
Tags: Auto safety, Bullying, Family, Memorial Day, Roadside memorials, Substance abuse, Teachers, Wartime deaths, Young deaths
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Of Floods and the End of the World
May 17, 2011For the umpteenth time, we’re told the Second Coming of Christ is imminent, this time on May 21 of this year. That’s the coming Saturday. So say some 1200 billboards nationwide, at a cost of $13 million. The ugly thing about this prospect is that certain people will be taken up to heaven while […]
Posted in Politics, Social Issues |
Tags: May 21 2011
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A Wedding and a Funeral
May 5, 2011We know there’s a god, or the death of Osama bin Laden would have come the day before the royal wedding. Imagine then the shrieking and screaming from all who still believe in fairy princes and princesses, were the best news about the world’s worst terrorist allowed to infringe on Happy Times in Britain’s […]
Posted in Pop Culture, Social Issues |
Tags: Charles and Diana, CNN, Fox News Channel, Geraldo Rivera, Glenn Beck, Groucho Marx, Kate Middleton, Osama BinLaden, Prince Philip, Will and Kate, Winston Churchill
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Bending It Like Beck
April 28, 2011Not, “Bend it like Beckham,” a film of both drama and good humor about a dude, David Beckham by name, and his skill at free-kicks that curve, or bend, past walls of soccer defenders. This is about Glenn Beck, he of rapidly receding fame while his infamy grows. Beck is good at bending […]
Posted in Social Issues |
Tags: Charlie Sheen, David Beckham, Dr. Phil, Fox Broadcasting Company, Glenn Beck, Jennifer Robins, Jon Stewart, Keith Ablow, Peter Wehner, Washington Post
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It Was A Most Un-Civil War
April 17, 2011It was a hundred and fifty years ago and we still aren’t over it. Less than a century after Independence to create a nation, we were at each other’s necks in a Civil War of “father against son and brother against brother.” Keep in mind that included mothers and daughters too. The accompanying graphic […]
Posted in Politics, Race in America, Social Issues |
Tags: American Civil War, Confederate States of America, Emancipation, Jim Crow, Lost Cause of the Confederacy, President Obama, Racism, Rhett Butler, Slavery, War
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Ichabod's Kin 