Staff & Contributors

Bruce and Caitlyn and Friends

Ed Raymond

Esther Jenner, 89: “He’s A Very Good-Looking Woman. I Loved Him With All My Heart—And I Certainly Love Her With All My Heart.”

Blue and Red States

Ed Raymond

What’s Worse Than Being A Young Black Transgender Without Green In Red Religious Georgia?

Blue Crayon

Ed Raymond

From Black Space To Bright Blue Earth: A Fragile Thin Lin

Moral Capitalism

Ed Raymond

The World Slave Trade Was All About Money—And That Is What The Tobacco Industry Backed By The Chamber Is All About – Free Enterprise Green

Capitalist Fracketeering

Ed Raymond

The Shady Role Of The U.S. Chamber Of Commerce In The Business Of Fracketeering

Is This Why God Gave Us Fingers?

Ed Raymond

A Lifetime Of Prejudice, Discrimination, Religious Nonsense, And Scientific Ignorance

Climate and Sexuality

Ed Raymond

“The Earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth. In many parts of the planet, the elderly lament that once beautiful landscapes are now covered with rubbish.

We Live In Exciting Times….A Writer’s Dream

Ed Raymond

The Week’s Exciting News About Transplants And Dementia

American Medicine

Ed Raymond

Most people have been exposed to about ten viruses. This test may be used to determine at what age most children tend to get viruses so that vaccinations may be scheduled near that time.

Dreams and Nightmares

Ed Raymond

I have always been a faithful reader of Lloyd Omdal’s columns because he can pick a problem apart and submit a reasonable solution with a dollop of humor without preaching

Blood Moons and Blood Days At The National Rifle Association Corrals

Ed Raymond

What happens after our next four blood moons? Billy Graham’s daughter Anne Graham Lotz described what could happen after the next bloody eclipses: “Institutions will collapse. Banks will close. The Stock Market will plunge.

“If You Don’t Know Where You Are Going…”

Ed Raymond

Here’s a guy who can’t even find the road to the fork. This amendment had to be part of other “stoopid wimmin” bills sponsored by Republicans in almost every state. How did Schaefer get elected to anything? Only in Texas—and Wisconsin.

Hot And Cold Showers For The Dirty Hapless Homeless

Ed Raymond

“Look at the world today. Is there anything more pitiful? What madness there is! What blindness! What unintelligent leadership!

The Great Mystery

Ed Raymond

How Our Brain Is The Epicenter Of Our Universe

The Ugly Poor In Our Brave New World

Ed Raymond

Ten years ago a United Nations study reported that the United States had the highest rate of child poverty among all OECD (Organization for Economic and Cooperative Development) countries

The Planet’s Tower Of Babble

Ed Raymond

King George greeted Lindbergh and immediately pounced on him: “Now tell me Captain Lindbergh, There is one thing I long to know. How did you pee?”

Prisons Of The Mind And Body

Ed Raymond

A few years ago conservative Republic judges on the US Supreme Court chastised their liberal counterparts for citing foreign legal cases in their written opinions because courts in other countries had nothing intelligent to offer American jurispruden

Imagine Being Gay In Grassy Butte Or Willow City

Ed Raymond

How Do Religions Get From Genesis To Mortal Sin When God Has Created Everything?

Christian Taliban

Ed Raymond

Even the last holdouts for male domination in the Western Taliban, the Roman Catholics and some of the Protestants created by Vatican policies and myths, are beginning to crack.

It’s Time To Sharpen The Pitchfork Tines

Ed Raymond

“I don’t see democracy working./ I don’t see capitalism working./ I don’t see our culture working. I see the infighting and culture wars. I see continual fights on social issues. I see no hope for the unemployed. I see no hope for the middle class

Animal Speech

Ed Raymond

“If we could talk to the animals,/ learn all their languages/ I could take an animal degree/ I’d study elephant and eagle/ buffalo and beagle/ Alligator, guinea pig, and flea

Religion and Science

Ed Raymond

It has come to pass that when a minority religious group rules a majority religious group disaster will occur.

Truth: Do I Kill The Guy With The Rifle - Or Ask Him To Tea?

Ed Raymond

Americans do admire the military. Respect for every other major entity in modern life, the media and press, courts, particularly the Supreme Court, big business, organized religion, and The Best Congress Money Can Buy has gone below the charts.

Good Old Country Love

Ed Raymond

If you really want to find out what Republicans think about Obama, just Google “The Pretty Damn Exhaustive Obama Nickname List.” I’ve been collecting comments on Obama for the years he has been in office.

Soaking The Sands, Streets, And Oceans With Blood

Ed Raymond

President Obama said at the National Prayer Breakfast not long ago that ISIS is “a brutal, vicious death cult” but had no monopoly on violence. Then he seemed to upset a whole gaggle of politicians with these truths

Is Vulture Capitalism The IED That Blew Up Democratic Capitalism?

Ed Raymond

Winnie: “The Message Is That Rising Inequality Is Dangerous And Bad For Growth And Governance”

Animals - Our Cousins

Ed Raymond

Some religious leaders say that without God there would be no morality.

Horse Apples And Constant Watering

Ed Raymond

“If his IQ slips any lower, we’ll have to water him twice a day.”

Gitmo, The Salt People, The Yanomami, The Reindeer People, And Us

Ed Raymond

So far, paleontologists say our early ancestors learned how to control fire over a million years ago. Modern man took over from the Neanderthals about 40,000 years ago if the scientists are right

The Cacophonous Cauldron Of Common Core

Ed Raymond

The whole Common Core mess reminds me of the three witches in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” tossing strange ingredients into a boiling cauldron to place charms on a man who kills to become King of Scotland

Cuba 2015 It Cudda Been Our 51st State!

Ed Raymond

A political philosopher many years back dropped this gem about Washington: “You can lead a man to Congress but you can’t make him think.”

The Architect Of Iraq, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, And Dark Sites Around The World

Ed Raymond

President George W. Bush turned the “War on Terror” over to Vice President Dick Cheney, who actually had ended up picking himself as Bush’s vice president.

So This Is A “Culture”?

Ed Raymond

What is a culture? Right-wingers like to acclaim the myth that America is an “exceptional” country—the “shining city on a hill” and all those wonderful, marvelous cultural images.

To Congress: How Do You Control 21,415 Miles Of Our International Border?

Ed Raymond

But how did thousands of illegals from all over the world, but particularly Mexico and Latin America, find out about jobs in these six plants?

The Evils Of “Religious” Politicians And The To To Be—Or Not To Be—Is A Fascinating, Tough Question

Ed Raymond

Every day we learn more about death, whether it’s from old age, disease, accident, murder, war, religion, suicide, or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The Evils Of “Religious” Politicians And The Growth Of Human Savagery

Ed Raymond

The Guardian columnist John Gray has written a fascinating, provocative article, “The Truth About Evil.” He argues that leaders fail to accept the fact that brutality, cruelty, and conflict are basic human traits—and flaws.

How Well Has Our Ancestor The Ape Moved To Master Of The Planet?

Ed Raymond

The midterm elections were all about who voted “with black Obama 97 percent of the time” and “we have to take the country back.” No one exactly spelled out what they were taking it back from.

The WalMart Mentality And The Billionaire Sex Trade

Ed Raymond

This country is acting as if dementia is just around the corner–or maybe we haven’t been taking our Prozac lately. We have about 19 million underemployed and unemployed in this country

Democracy For Sale: Going Once… Going Twice… Sold To The Billionaires!

Ed Raymond

The Republican Supreme Court decided to dump parts of the Voting Rights laws passed almost 50 years ago, most states controlled by Republican legislatures & governors, including North Dakota, have attempted to pass hundreds of restrictive voting laws

The Universe Guys Aren’t Even Saying “10-4’’

Ed Raymond

I wonder if aliens have visited the International UFO Museum and Research Center in Roswell, NM. Corky loves the idea of UFOs, so we had to stop.

When Do The Bricks Start Flying?

Ed Raymond

Unemployed and under-employed, idle at a West Baltimore soup kitchen or dead-ended at some strip-mall cash register—these are the excess Americans. The economy staggers along without them, and without anyone in this society truly or sincerely regard

Of Chastity Belts, Coat Hangers, And Conception

Ed Raymond

One might think that after centuries of beheadings at Taliban prayers and wretched souls burning at stakes, humans would have figured out by now that sex and religion don’t mix at all.

Is This Country Really Going To The Dogs?

Ed Raymond

Dogs can be many things, so I was rather intrigued by new research by the University of Sydney that dogs can be “distinctly” pessimistic or optimistic.

The Removal Of Heads And Another War

Ed Raymond

So far the loss of four heads (as of 9/15/14) may involve us in another war. Two journalists and a British aid worker have been decapitated by a radical Islamic fundamentalist group under the acronym of ISIL.

Modern, Bold CEO Pirates

Ed Raymond

Greed is only good for psychopaths who fear the power of unions working together to further the interests of workers. If they have the power, they can take the limo to the bank unimpeded. To paraphrase Yaeger, there are old CEOs

XX Or XY Chromosomes And/Or X Chromosome Xq28 May Lead To Some Sex

Ed Raymond

Science inexorably continues to test and overrule conventional wisdom, often based on old wive’s tales, the selective musings from the Bible, and the patriarchal foolishness of old men with or without the collars and hats of churches.

The Great American Walk-About

Ed Raymond

We are currently having a battle royal about the implementation of Common Core education standards and interminable testing, promoted by Bill Gates’s money and the political desires of both Republican and Democratic governors to control something

Of Butterflies And Human Beings

Ed Raymond

Republican education “reformers” always state that if we got rid of our bad teachers all of our students could wear the Lake Wobegon logo of “above average.” Thus, we should get rid of tenure laws, seniority policies, salary schedules based on degree

Of Butterflies And Human Beings

Ed Raymond

Students have to learn that studying the past is the first step in controlling their future. Henry Ford said, “History is bunk.” It is not. It is our life’s blood. History, including the art, music, literature, architecture, and politics of the times

Better Lucky Than Good...Or Dead

Ed Raymond

But there are a lot of things we cannot control, like solar flares from our central heat, the sun. NASA didn’t tell us that maybe a couple of billion of Earth’s passengers might have died from the effects of the biggest solar flare, called a coronal