Author: Sheila Marler
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End the Government Shutdown: Fight Fire with Fire
Reading Time: < 1 minuteIn the government shutdown saga, righteous indignation is appropriate. However, it is also futile. Some people out there think the extortionists in the Republican Party are making sense. To make matters worse, it’s not clear whose side John Boehner is on. One of the weirdest parts of this drama is the…
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Speaking of Affordable Care: Big Ideas at the Town Hall
Reading Time: 3 minutesIf you were hoping for a debate over Affordable Care on September 25 in Phoenix, you would have been disappointed. What was clear at the town hall conducted by Mayo Clinic and ASU Foundation was the panelists’ exasperation with the political debate about who pays for medical care. Contestants are so wrapped…
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Obama’s Decision on Syria: Law and Order Carry the Day
Reading Time: 2 minutesSince Obama announced he would seek Congressional approval for intervention in Syria, some have gone on to speculate whether Congress will make the “right” decision. I think this illustrates the partisan politics behind most of the arguments, pro and con. For example, those on the left are against military action, possibly because…
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Egypt’s Coup
Reading Time: 3 minutesMany in the media may not be representing the most authoritative interpretation of what is happening in Egypt. The following is from an article in Ahram online published by Al-Ahram Establishment, which has since 1875, published the Middle East’s oldest newspaper, The Daily Al-Ahram. ((About the Daily Ahram. Availiable: http://english.ahram.org.eg/UI/Front/Aboutus.aspx)) This article…
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Propaganda in Turkey
Reading Time: 3 minutesThe problem with a conversation like this one is that it’s easy to get drawn into hit-and-miss analyses of foreign policy. You try to resist the temptation, but once in a while a headline comes along that’s impossible to ignore–like the one about ‘young Turks’ protesting in the streets of Ankara. https://www.gulf-times.com/story/356371/youths-seek-greater-liberty-not-revolution.…
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Onan and the Patriarchal Agenda
Reading Time: 8 minutesThis issue of women’s rights is at the center of any serious discussion about political reform. It can be argued that women’s rights are synonymous with human rights, or that the repression of women is the foundation of all repression. Every repressive regime in the world has developed a rationale for limiting…
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Labor Unions and the Importance of Community in a Divided World
Reading Time: 6 minutesIn the [intlink id=”985″ type=”post”]last post[/intlink] I said that the creation of self-governing communities should be one of the first steps toward the reorganization of society and I used the matrilineal clan as a model. I’ll defend this recommendation in the next few posts, but for now I’ll just say that while we…
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The American Diamond in the Rough
Reading Time: 6 minutes[intlink id=”348″ type=”post”]Previously,[/intlink] I’ve tried to explain why I don’t like to propose specific solutions–I hope people will use these ideas to develop their own unique solutions. Then a few days ago I got an unusual spam comment accusing me of spending all of my time “talking about things you can’t do anything…
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Nadya Suleman and the Dark Side of Reality
Reading Time: 4 minutesNadya Suleman’s story did not have to go in this direction. However, the headlines have chosen to paint a picture of Nadya Suleman and the Dark Side of Reality. In the last few years two diverse opinions were voiced. One was caring and the other was condemning. Condemnation has been the more…
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The Inhumanity of Patriarchy
Reading Time: 3 minutesIn the [intlink id=”904″ type=”post”]last post[/intlink] I talked about the controversial nature of the United States’ pro-natalist policies. Policymakers such as Phillip Longman have admitted that these policies will only be effective under the influence of patriarchal marriage. The implication is that patriarchal marriage eliminates a woman’s control of her own fertility. Patriarchal…