A Call for an Immediate Withdrawal from Iraq
Last November, many Americans were celebrating the new Democratic majority in the House and Senate. Outrage and concern over the Iraq War had forced Democratic and Republican candidates to address not only the government’s decision to go to war, but also the handling of the war since 2003. More often than not, candidates who advocated a change in course were elected. These results clearly challenged the Bush administration policy of “staying the course.”
But rather than heeding the voice of the people, on Jan. 11 President Bush dismissed overwhelming disapproval of the war, ignored military advisors’ skepticism over a “surge” in forces, and announced an increase of 21,500 troops in Iraq.[...]
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Tags: Current Events · Antiwar · Protest · War
How American “culture of life” policies are helping balloon the world population
The world is changing.
Sociologists are already writing epitaphs for many of Earth’s declining industrialized nations on one hand, while scratching their heads over how to curb ballooning populations in the third world with the other.
It took 200 years to go from one billion to six billion people worldwide and it may only take 50 years to double that figure. [...]
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Tags: Nonfiction · Birth Control · Overpopulation
As we race into the 21st Century, music — like much else — seems sadly lacking in originality. Everything has roots and nearly every new avenue somewhat retraces the steps of a bygone era. Just in the last fifteen years of music, we’ve witnessed several sonic rebirths that have faded as quickly as they had become sensations. [...]
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Tags: Features · Music · Protest
Female Genital Surgeries and the Illegitimacy of Universal Human Rights
In order to protect certain inalienable, universal human rights, a just society must place a limit on its tolerance of the practices of other, less just societies. This statement seems innocuous enough, and repeated aloud in most social circles in the U.S. or Europe it is unlikely to draw harsh opposition. Some may even deride it as being a statement of the obvious. Considering, however, that the West is scarcely more than a century removed from the age of colonialism and slavery, perhaps we should be a little shy about affirming any ideology that alludes to concepts like inalienable, universal, or just. [...]
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Tags: Essays · Cultural Diversity
How Technology is Saving the Rainforest
To some, the technological prowess of our culture is seen as the ultimate destructive mechanization – responsible for everything from our current global ecological crisis to the general feelings of isolation and loneliness afflicting the modern world.
But is this necessarily the case? [...]
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Tags: Current Events · Cultural Diversity · Indigenous · Internet · Technology
