Would You Limit Abortion Rights?

A few days ago Bond of Dear Diaspora published her responses to this pro-choice values survey. The questions were thought-provoking enough that I decided to follow suit. I’d be interested in any dissenting opinions, so please drop them in the comments – or include a link to your own blog if you want to respond [...]

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Sue Lowden? Meet My Grandpa, the Chicken Doctor

So Sue Lowden – the Republican challenger to Harry Reid – is waxing nostalgic for the days when we could barter for health care, instead of having to mess with all that expensive, bureaucratic health insurance. Here’s the money quote (or the bartered-chicken quote?) at Big Think: “You know, before we all started having health [...]

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Economic History Fit for Teabaggers

Every so often, history serves up an analogy that’s misleading, highly distracting, and only indirectly relevant. Oops. That’s not what David Leonhardt wrote at the New York Times. Here’s what he actually said: Every so often, history serves up an analogy that’s uncomfortable, a little distracting and yet still very relevant. In the summer of [...]

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When Is a Penis Just a Penis? Jesus, Sexuality, and the Incarnation

In the shadow of the Catholic Church’s sexual abuses, Melissa McEwan of Shakesville wonders about the appropriateness of this image of Jesus in an Oklahoma church, while Andrew Sullivan simply comments, “Oh dear”: (Image via Andrew Sullivan at the Daily Dish.) In case it’s not obvious, the controversy is about the holy abdominal muscles, which [...]

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Caturday: Basement Cat’s Inferno

A couple of days ago, Historiann linked to a hilarious quiz, “Dante’s Inferno Test.” It’s definitely a cut above the average Hello Quizzy offering, and I was tickled to see her seriously edumacated commentariat parsing the second circle of hell (for sins of the flesh) versus the third (gluttony!). In light of yesterday’s post, I can’t [...]

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Is Sex Fungible?

This is a post about exercise, sex, and pleasure, but I wouldn’t be writing it if I hadn’t once worked on regulatory policy for trucking. In that former life of mine, my trucking project made me intimately acquainted with the concept of fungibility – the idea that certain goods are equivalent enough that they can [...]

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On the Ferocity of Parenting

Wasps have taken up residence on my front porch. I am not at one with them. In fact, while I love bees, I fear wasps. Even more, they make my kids nervous, and for good reason. These wasps – or “wasp-ezz,” as the Tiger used to call them – like to fly right in your [...]

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A Stand-up Caturday

The Standing Cat! What’s next – an opposable thumb? And is kitteh evolution exciting or terrifying? I post, you decide. (with apologies for the odd and potentially annoying music) Video’s here if you can’t see it.

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“Rape” as Slang?

I’m fond of saying I learn something new from my students each quarter. It’s happened again, though I half wish I were still ignorant. For the second day of class, I asked my intro to WGS students to check out Jeff Fecke’s post on that appalling “political cartoon” depicting Obama as having raped Lady Liberty. [...]

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