| Jan 21, 2015 | Rights / DemocracyIn the first Crusade, armed Christians set out to “liberate” Jerusalem from Muslim rule. In addition to slaughtering thousands of Muslims between 1096 and 1099, the crusaders also launched pogroms against Jews, pagans, and even other Christians. What...
| | Environment / HealthMy social circle was shaken a few days into the new year with an upsetting blog post. A friend I will call Mary is seriously ill. The blogger requested loving messages to her to be sewn into a quilt. This bombshell began a flood of phone calls, emails, and Facebook...
| | Economy / BusinessHave you ever wondered what inequality costs the average American family? That is, what price do we pay — in actual dollars and cents — for tolerating an economy fixated on pumping our treasure to the top? That question has no simple answer. How much, for instance,...
| | Rights / DemocracyI recently addressed a rather odd topic for an audience of political progressives: “Who was your sports hero growing up?” Of course, sports today is very political — from billionaire team owners demanding that taxpayers build sports palaces for them, to...
| Jan 20, 2015 | Food / FarmingArmed with hefty grants from the Pentagon, squads of food technologists are on a mission to supplant nature with a great leap forward into the Brave New World of synthetic foodstuffs. Not satisfied merely to tinker with the genetic makeup of nature’s products,...
