I said this:

"Shannon,

Things are changing. People are declining paper bags, asking about where this or that particular item was made, and other such, much more than they used to. Part of this is owing to them being better informed; part of this is owing to their desire to help… Read full post »

alda: I believe you when you say you believe the power hungry are not monsters but rather amongst the sick who deserve our sympathy (which is how I believe you characterized them). But, from reading above, you tend to characterize them, government leaders, and the sheeple, in ways that make them… Read full post »

alda: I agree that wars are never motivated by the motivations we usually ascribe them to, and that the left is on the right track in resisting the conservative rule that, since life is complex, wars must be thought of as the result of a myriad of causes, and instead, push… Read full post »

Hi SharingIsGood,

The way to communicate with those who vote conservative, who believe the whole environment thing is overdone, who think those who would oppose the war in afghanistan are essentially traitors, etc., is to find a way to like them, to respect them.

How is this possible? The old way… Read full post »

Articles like this one do continue to prop up the idea that if only the centre-left would get a fair hearing, the Canadian populace would receive them well. Most of the left, it seems, still believe that the only way you could have an economic/political system exist which produces a country… Read full post »

Your reaction to Atonement is quite different from that of many of my friends. They found the book easy to get into, but boring after the 80th page or so. It kind of feels right, from my reading experience of the book, to say that the rest of the book after… Read full post »

It's a Wonderful Life is quite the depressing film and ought to be avoided. It's about putting a good spin on the depressing story of how the one guy with all the talent, never gets to see if he might not just have been happier if he explored the world some./… Read full post »

Margot said this:

"People are reviled for refusing to do the Santa dance with their children.

Santa is about training children to pretend to believe the preposterous in order to get a material reward, however destructive and brain-sucking the 'reward' may be."

In response, I said this:

"Well,… Read full post »

Vanessa,

Anyone who spends so many hours exploring popular culture probably not only enjoys it but genuinely learns something meaningful from it. Why not have written an article truly detailing the seven things you did learn, that changed you, in promising ways, from pop culture this year?

Such an ar… Read full post »

 Dorothy wrote (in reference to something I wrote):  

 "..the eat or be eaten "ethos" that was the only story the universe had to tell 'til that point."

- What point was that? This has changed?

Madoff/Enron/bcrail/Eron/etc.,etc.,etc.

Is there in fact more than one used planet in our c… Read full post »

Alda says: "Living the simple, good life - healthy gardening practices, close community, supported by local, renewable crafts and industry - doesn't have to be mediocre - but could be beautiful, inherently workable, and yes, small."

Sounds excellent, but can I bring my Xbox? I don't want to sp… Read full post »

Evolution, after a hideously long start, finally resulted in the emergence of a species--homo sapien sapiens--which is capable of doing something other than participate in the eat or be eaten "ethos" that was the only "story" the universe had to tell 'til that point. Nothing should be treated with di… Read full post »

In his article/chapter "Why Males are More Violent," Lloyd DeMause argues that 

the upbringing of boys is worse than that of girls.  He writes, for 

example:  "Mothers may dominate their little girls and expect them to 

share their troubles, but domination has been found to b… Read full post »