News & Media

And so does Rogier Van Bakel over at Nobody’s Business. No sense in me writing about them when he covers every single base, here. Being greatly upset does not give you the higher moral ground. It does not earn you automatic respect. It’s exactly the opposite for me: Play the “I’m really upset” card as if it means anything — an attempted plea for sympathy usually made by hypocrites and weasels — and you will earn my enmity and scorn. Claiming that intemperate words can hurt just as much as bullets or blades is, after all, the same lame “argument”

Ariel Kaminer, The New York Times’ “Ethicist” throws down the gauntlet at carnivores — challenging us to come up with an ethical argument for eating animals. [Carnivores say] they love meat or that meat is deeply ingrained in our habit or culture or cuisine or that it’s nutritious or that it’s just part of the natural order. Some of the more conscientious carnivores have devoted themselves to enhancing the lives of livestock, by improving what those animals eat, how they live and how they are killed. But few have tried to answer the fundamental ethical issue: Whether it is right

Today is St. Joseph’s day. In Italy, they treat it like father’s day (naturally, as San Giuseppe is the patron saint of fatherhood). In my family, this day was another excuse to eat together. My sister tells me that during World War II, my Great-Grandmother made a deal with San Giuseppe that she would celebrate his day every year if all her boys came back safely. I think my sister mixed that up with the Mother of Grace Club, but all the boys came back nevertheless. I figured I would share the recipe for St. Joseph’s Day Beista (that’s Sicilian

“Too much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross national product … if we should judge America by that — counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for those who break them. It counts the destruction of our redwoods and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and the cost of a nuclear warhead, and armored cars for police who fight riots in

Irish is, without a doubt, the dominant immigrant culture in Massachusetts. Growing up there, in a town where Sicilians were the plurality, St. Patrick’s Day was always a little underwhelming. Instead, we celebrated St. Joseph’s day on March 19. Of course, every St. Joseph’s Day, someone would bring up the old story that St. Patrick’s day should be “our” day too — since St. Patrick was really Italian. We wanted to believe it, so we did. Every year, articles pop up repeating the story that St. Patrick was really Italian. Even GoErie.com repeats the tale. St. Patrick was born around

Dharun Ravi, the guy who videotaped his roommate hooking up with another guy, (who then committed suicide) is going to jail. (source) Elie Mystal over at Above the Law had this to say: Is that how we want our hate crime laws to work? Any time we feel we’re being singled out because of our race, religion, or sexual orientation, we’re victims of a hate crime, even if we’re not being singled out because of our race, religion, or orientation? We’ve moved beyond punishing what is in a person’s heart, and moved straight to punishing an assailant for what’s in

…as the dumbest state in the union? First Joe Arpaio, then their xenophobic anti-immigrant laws, and now Arizona is working on a law that will allow employers to question employees about their reasons for wanting birth control, and to fire them if it was for actual reproductive planning reasons. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 6-2 Monday to endorse a controversial bill that would allow Arizona employers the right to deny health insurance coverage for contraceptives based on religious objections. Arizona House Bill 2625, authored by Majority Whip Debbie Lesko, R-Glendale, would permit employers to ask their employees for proof of

U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer ruled that Chicago State University violated a former student newspaper adviser’s First Amendment rights when he was fired over articles that criticized the University.   The university’s interim president, Frank Pogue, fired him in October 2008, days after an article questioning the funding of a student-run fashion show was published, and following months of tensions between the newspaper and the administration over Tempo’s coverage. The university claimed Moore was fired for writing unsatisfactory press releases. (source)