Christmas Wars
It happens every year, you and I both know it, we often dread it, but bite our tongues when forced into conversation about it. It’s the annual war on Christmas! For those of us who have been brought up...
View ArticleMarx and the Present: An Introduction
(crossposted to Progressive Historians) Plenty of discursive forces have arisen in the present, leading to a diary on Marx. I’ve had discussions with people on DKos who wish to contest what they see...
View ArticleLess
Madonna wrote a song called More. One of the key lines is Nothing's better than more . Well, sometimes not. Sometimes, nothing is better than LESS. Less stuff. Less work to get the less stuff. Less...
View ArticleCulture of Violence, Part 4: Who are we?
Part 1: Searching for a Future Part 2: Cooperation Part 3: Is Positivism the Cure? Order: The Search for a Nonviolent Future
View ArticleLessons From Burma: Religious Right's War on Spirituality in the US
Today in Burma, there are reports that soldiers have mutinied against the leaders of the junta. This was inevitable. Almost everyone in that country is a Buddhist, and the dictators ordered their...
View ArticleWe were not meant to live this way
We were not meant to live the way we do in America and increasingly many other parts of the world. I am not happy and I have a feeling there are millions of other people who are not happy either....
View ArticleA New Way?
Future. It is a word with many meanings and feelings attached. We all want a better future, but what do we really mean? Do we want a better future for ourselves? Our families? Our country? The...
View ArticleChristmas Materialism
There are great many things I still do not understand about American culture. I'm not opposed to having things, or buying necessary items, or a few indulgences once in awhile. However, at least in this...
View ArticleAs We Approach ChrismaHanuKwanzaakah.....
Somehow this year has fast-forwarded itself and it is already the middle of November. The Macy's Day parade is next week and then the holiday season will be in full swing. Forget about the chestnuts on...
View ArticleNYT: refusing xmas gifts emotionally damages the giver
I'm a lurker and don't ever post diaries here, but I'm feeling excessively snarky at the moment and figure maybe I'll feel a little less peevish if I put this rant out there. I read an article in The...
View ArticleHipness ≠ Happiness
Why our increasingly material culture has directly led to a magnified economic downturn. *Disclaimer: I am not, nor have ever been, a hipster, nor a hippie. It is clear that our current economic...
View ArticleThe Voluntary Simplicity Movement.
With the continuing rapid rise in gas prices, more and more people are joining the Voluntary Simplicity Movement, where they sell all they have and live a simple life. This suggests that people are...
View ArticleRetroVision Media: America Once Dined On Porterhouse Will Settle for Scrapple
Once again , we are torn between which is the most compelling story or grouping of stories on this day to highlight for posterity, historians, political junkies, pundits and those that simply want an...
View ArticleThe Real War on Christmas: A $400 TV or a Human Life? (Updated)
This is too long for a comment in the great other thread. Anyway, I feel like ranting.
View ArticleThere Is No One Factor Responsible For This Morning's Horror
I'm originally a New Yorker, my family is still on Long Island and my folks live about 20 minutes or so away from Valley Stream. I was curious about what the New York Papers would have to say about...
View ArticleEscape from Commodity Fetishism this Season Guilt Free! (updated)
Right now two diaries on the Rec list would seem to be at war with each other. TeacherKen is feeling some kind of guilt for the people who will be put out of work in the retail and insurance sectors...
View ArticleDKos present roundup!
Well, it's Friday, the second day of 2009. Most of you got some presents and are now finished with the returns. Maybe you've spent some money on yourself, or cashed in a gift certificate for something...
View ArticleThe Blessedness of the Poor and Our Christian Responsibility to Them
(Part 6 of "The Primer on Scripture and the Budget for 2009") An underlying assumption in many Republican policies is that poor people deserve what they get and that they are poor because of some...
View ArticleWealth, Materialism, and the Bible's View of an "Ownership Society"
(Part 7 of "The Primer on Scripture and the Budget for 2009") One would think that those who supposedly care so much for the moral and spiritual well-being of their fellow Americans would not be so...
View ArticlePhilosophy for Kossacks: Minds and bodies
Despite the textbook-like character of the title, I make no pretense of impartiality. I will, in the course of this diary, demonstrate that the facile naturalism that permeates much of philosophy as...
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