Growing up American feels like the old metaphor of a fish being removed from the river. The fish has no concept of water itself because the liquid home is all it has ever known. Once it is yanked from the stream, its worldview is shattered. A new world has been discovered and the fish […]
Political Philosophy
The Meaning of Life part 4: No Gods, No Masters
In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, we learn from a computer named Deep Thought that the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything is “42”. In The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, we learn that the Ultimate Question that produces that Answer is “What do you get if you multiply six by […]
The Frontlines of Rust Belt America
My father is one of the most hardworking people I know. He works as a university administrator in the provost’s office of the school he taught at for nearly two decades. He served as Chair of the Faculty Senate with no additional pay prior to accepting that position. He maintained his duties in the provost’s […]
The Meaning of Life part 3 – The Endless Struggle
“Every generation must fight the same battles again and again and again,” said Tony Benn in one of his more memorable speeches. “There is no final victory, and there is no final defeat.” Those who buy into what those trying to shift power from the ballot box to the market-place with austerity, balanced budgets, so-called […]
The Meaning of Life, Part 2: Ain’t No Power in the ‘Verse
Yes, that’s a reference to Joss Wheddon’s space western Firefly. Under Ireland’s 2009 Defamation Act, “A person who publishes or utters blasphemous matter shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable upon conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding €25,000.” Seriously, Dail Eireann, what the fuck? Have you even HEARD of the […]
The Meaning of Life, Part 1: Cosmic Perspective
This trilogy is not like the Monty Python version, there will actually be more parts. Lots of folks say we need to abandon American exceptionalism. Some, like my Dear Uncle Napoleon, prattle on about British exceptionalism. Today, rather than taking on either of those two comparitively minor annoyances, I hope to kick the shit out […]
On Liberty and Dissent
No one talks of liberty anymore. No one seems to even think that the notion of liberty is important or even relevant to their daily lives, just mention the word and observe their eyes glass over. It has become an abstract too tiresome to decode, let alone interact with, and the libertarian writings of John […]
Jesus – Guilty as Charged
Jesus Christ did not come to rescue Wall Street like President Obama. He did not come to save the American Chamber of Commerce. He did not come to free corporations, regardless of how many courts claim that they are, contrary to all rational thought, “persons”. And he would not have agreed with that money is […]
The Door And The Handle
The Door and the Handle In someone’s imagination is a Universe. In this Universe is one solitary planet. On this one solitary planet is one tiny island and on this tiny Island is a tiny cottage. This tiny cottage consists of one room which has one door in and that same door in is the […]