Each summer our services are led by members and groups from First Parish, while our staff are on vacation. For the service following the two party conventions, Chris DiMeo asked me, Woody Kay, and Lois Fine to weigh in with our thoughts on how our UU faith influences our view of politics. We were asked not to be explicitly partisan and a disclaimer ( Read more... )

The proposed amendment to the Mississippi constitution that would have extended "personhood" to the moment of fertilization has been defeated by the voters.

Thanks, voters!

Somehow it came up twice today that I haven't talked about my boycott of Whole Foods, based on their fucked-up new employee discount programBasically, they have an optional program whereby employees willing to have their BMI and cholesterol levels measured can get increased employee discount. People with lower numbers get higher discounts ( Read more... )

I have sent the following email and thought I'd re-post it here in hopes of inspiring others to voice their concerns. Details about the proposed changes are available in this article.
_________________________________________________________

"Mayor Curtatone"
"Rebekah Gewirtz"
"Somerville Chamber of Commerce" Good afternoon ( Read more... )

On Slate today, Timothy Noah asks Why is Seward's Folly the "Real America" and the Aloha State Not?. And he does this without discussing race and ethnicity. No wonder he's confused.

I've found myself thinking a lot about Obama's decision to opt out of public financing for the general election. My reactions are fairly complex and ambivalent.

( Read more... )

I don't much enjoy talking about electoral politics online and I usually find that there are other people representing my point of view admirably in most of the forums I frequent. But this time around, I'm seeing a lot of people on my f-list excited about Obama and that leads me to make my choice more visible:

In tomorrow's primary election I ( Read more... )

Those of you not too bruised by the many political scandals of 2007 might enjoy the recap provided by Talking Points Memo's Golden Duke Awards.

I really love internet radio. RadioParadise and Pandora are two of my main music-listening resources. If this act doesn't pass, the net is going to be a much quieter place and our listening choices will be vastly reduced, without any benefit to a single musician. If you care about internet radio, please take a moment to read the following and ( Read more... )

This column in the LA Times details some of the experiences one of their reporters had while covering stories in Saudi Arabia. I've read a couple of books by women with similar stories to tell, but this is a nicely written piece.

She writes:
To me, the abaya implied that a woman's body is a distraction and an interruption, a thing that must be ( Read more... )