Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain: The Monsanto Protection Act and Government For Sale

By Duke Albert Van Carter

"Sir, you banana appears to have a rash...oh it's supposed to be like that? What the fuck?"

On Tuesday March 26^th as much of the nation dawdled in the limelight of the beginning of the Supreme Court proceedings regarding same sex marriage, an already legal marriage of corporate America and the federal government colluded once again to put profit over people.

HR 933, a mundane sounding spending bill characterized under the tired rhetoric of being “necessary to keep the government running and allow the United States to pay its bills”, contains a startling perversion of the American justice system. Known by opponents as the “Monsanto Protection Act”, section 735 of HR 933 is being labeled a “biotech rider”, one that slipped quietly and anonymously into the bill as it moved through Congress, the provisions contained within section 735 of HR 933 protect the manufacturers of genetically modified seeds from potential litigation stemming from potential future health risks. “Biotech rider” then translates to “We hope you like genetically modified plants, and have fun trying to sue us”.

Does My Pursuit of Happiness Mean the Betrayal of Feminism?

 By Allie Lane

If I reject career opportunities, am I betraying the movement?

            It was a few weeks ago now that The Atlantic published an article online with the rather ponderous title Women in Their Twenties Shouldn’t Feel Bad About Wanting a Boyfriend. In it, Berkeley based sociologist Leslie C. Bell explains a trend of young women feeling guilty about pursuing serious relationships, fearing that it will cause them to compromise their careers. The article unpacks the issue with a few personal quotes, anecdotes, and a description of a plotline from Girls (citing this show like it’s real life is my new pet peeve) before somewhat weakly encouraging young women to abandon this guilt. Being in full agreement with Bell’s final point—that women should pursue personal and professional satisfaction together and without guilt—I wrote something about it. I wrote how I understood what these young women were feeling. I internalized the “you can do anything” attitude that was drummed into my generation of girls to mean that I couldn’t be just anything. I had to be extraordinary!  

             Most of my twenty-two years have been spent in a rigorous pursuit of academic glory with me declaring that nothing was more important than preparing for future professional achievement. I spent two years at a prestigious women’s school and listened to everyone scoff at old friends who had followed their boyfriends to mediocre institutions. I wrote about this life I had, and how, for all the 4.0s and awards I achieved, it was lonely and empty. Then I fell in love. I wrote that my current relationship had helped me realize that these achievements and ambitions are not truly fulfilling with no one to share in your joy for them. I declared that, at twenty-two, I had overcome this guilt Bell identified.

            So I wrote that and it wasn’t bad. Then Thursday happened.

The Word of God is perishable

 By

Sean Ewart

North Korean guards > the Word of God.

When Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life,” he was putting an awful lot of faith in people’s ability to learn about him. When he added, “No one comes to the Father except through me,” he further excluded all those billions of humans who might never hear about some guy living in Roman-occupied Palestine. Let’s face it; there really aren’t that many records of Jesus beyond the Bible – and none of the external sources say anything about the magic the Biblical sources claim he performed. In order to come to the Father we must come through Jesus, and the only way to come to Jesus is to read the Bible. 

New pope, same story.

By
Duke Albert Van Carter

Way to totally own your intro bro. 

                                                               
The world was abuzz following the election of Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, the first Jesuit and Latin American to lead the Catholic Church in modern times; yet what seemed to be lost in the buzz and jubilation of the 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide was the colossal missed opportunity that was this papal election. 

8 reasons Pope Francis isn't "precedent shattering." Or even really interesting.

 By

Sean Ewart

"The Most Stunning."

CNN is calling his election “the most stunning” choice and “precedent shattering.” Reading that description you’d think Oprah had been elected Pope; her first public address used to invite paranormal investigators to the Vatican (“we’ll find this so-called ‘Holy Ghost’ once and for all"). 

Nope! Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, a white dude from Argentina, has been renamed Pope Francis and is the first non-European guy not born in Europe elected Pope for roughly 1,300 years.

That’s it. That’s where the exciting bit ends. 

Here’s a quick guide to all the things that are staying the same with the election of Pope Francis: 

God Hates Baby-Killers: The real reason abortion access is being restricted

By

Sean Ewart

Aborted babies are "dying for our sins" now?

Outlawing abortion isn’t a “conservative” issue. Following Roe v. Wade in 1973, fewer children grew up in poverty, in single parent households, and receiving welfare. There was a drop in America’s crime rate and the children that were born after 1973 were less likely to rely on welfare as they grew up and more likely to graduate college. The social “benefits” of abortion form a veritable checklist of conservative values. 

That’s why explanations citing today’s wave of states attempting to ban abortion – a constitutionally guaranteed right – by saying it stems from Republican and Tea Party electoral victories are meaningless. Republicans are not born hating abortion. The important question, and the one seemingly left unasked, is why do Republicans hate abortion?

Between Reality and Perception; Faith and Insanity

 By

Anonymous Submission

Tripping?

If I sit for a minute I'll go insane. It's not that I'm unique or even really crazy. I see it in others: the inability to sit quietly. I watch my son who is constantly playing video games, eating, or crapping, or even making funny faces until suddenly he's asleep and up again at the crack of dawn doing it all over. My daughter is a Rube Goldberg machine as well, dancing running, cutting the hair off her Barbies, drawing on the walls, painting her nails... My wife fidgets when she reads, watches TV, she's constantly in motion. Imagine what goes on behind their eyebrows.

If Earth was Gotham City, god would be the Joker

Four ways the Joker and the god of the Bible are the same character.

 By

Sean Ewart

Why so serious?

I keep hearing how good god is and maybe that’s the case. I’m not willing to rule out a good god any more than I’m willing to say, categorically, that god is evil. This is easy for me because I’m entirely unimpressed with the evidence for god’s existence. Maybe god is real, maybe god isn’t. Maybe god is good, maybe god isn’t. 

I'm an Atheist, not an Adeist - god is "possible"

 By

Sean Ewart

It's plausible... but unlikely.

The conversation has reached that inevitable point at which my sparring partner cannot give evidence, outside of the Bible, for the existence of her conception of god. We've already shot down experiential claims as being too subjective for consideration. We need something concrete to lay our hands upon.

If you like Abstinence: five bills the GOP should introduce

By

Sean Ewart

We're not falling for that routine again...

Not to sound flippant, but abstinence technically is the safest route for anyone (not just teens) looking to avoid sexually transmitted diseases like AIDS, gonorrhea and pregnancy. It just is. No amount of liberal spin can change that (I’m looking at you Rachel Maddow).

God probably didn't hurl lightning bolts at the Vatican

 By

Sean Ewart

What are the odds? 1 in 112.

I hate applauding the BBC because sincerity makes me uncomfortable.

The Need for Sober-Minded Radicalism

 By

Sean Ewart

This article is written in response to the March 4, 2013 article titled "The Folly of Sober-Minded Cynicism" on The Atlantic. You should read that article.

Millions of drum circles later...

Let us not forget that on March 20, 2003, despite the largest anti-war protest in the history of humanity, the United States of America invaded Iraq. 

The History Channel ruined "The Bible"

 By

Sean Ewart

"After this wanna grab a coffee and watch TED?"
"Oh, Jesus, you're so white."

Like a member of Opus Dei I participated in a ritual of brutal self punishment tonight. Not having a television of my own (because I have The Internet), I went to the home of a family friend and watched part one of the History Channel's miniseries called “The Bible.”

Why is nobody protesting Sequestration?

 By

Erik Pikas

It's going to be fine...

Last week thousands of people protested in Albany, New York, over new gun regulations.

Meanwhile, no one seems to be protesting the evisceration of our government by massive budget cuts foisted on the public under the Orwellian name 'sequestration.'