Staff & Contributors

Liberals Want Happiness And Conservatives Want Power And Stuff

Ed Raymond

H.L. Mencken gave us another quotation that gives us something to think about: “Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable.”

A Pandemic of Toxoplasma Gondi Parasite

Ed Raymond

The American columnist H.L. Mencken had a way with words when it came to voters and politics. His theory of democracy is illuminating: “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”

An Evidentiary Hearing: Is Sex Between The Ears Or Between The Legs?

Ed Raymond

“I love you with all my heart!” doesn’t make biological and scientific sense anymore. The heart doesn’t think. It just pumps blood. That’s important to life, but it’s the brain that makes us human and drives all of our “functions.”

Of Cruise Ships and Homemade Rowboats

Ed Raymond

Because of the invasive investments of Silicon Valley billionaires it now has the most expensive real estate in the country. On the sidewalks, driveways, and lawns of this very expensive property are tent encampments and many rag-covered homeless

Euthanasia and Will Shakespeare

Ed Raymond

I have a feeling that Pope Francis and Shakespeare would have similar views about the power of love and sex. Shakespeare’s plays are loaded with eroticism, desire, ecstasy, and ballads made to eyebrows.

America – A For-Profit Democracy

Ed Raymond

The U.S. Treasury estimates that it would collect about $124 billion ($36 billion from individuals, $88 billion from multinational corporations) each year in additional taxes if we eliminated tax havens and other financial schemes to hide money

The Difference Between Tolerance of Ambiguity And Moral Purity

Ed Raymond

There is some evidence in the study that liberals have qualities which make them more creative than conservatives: “Liberalism, novelty-seeking, and creativity all share the tendency (or the ability) to think in ways that differ from established

How To Keep People From Voting? Let Me Count The Ways!

Ed Raymond

In 2013 in a 5-4 vote the five justices on the Supreme Court appointed by Republican presidents suddenly decided that we no longer had any racial discrimination or voting problems in this country

Does Money Unite Citizens? Some Say No

Ed Raymond

As an example, the Internal Revenue Service has approved Karl Rove’s creation, Crossroads GPS, as a nonprofit social welfare group, the same tax-standing as the American Red Cross, the Humane Society, and the Little Sisters of the Poor.

America: A Land of Warts

Ed Raymond

There are many unappealing jobs in society, whether it is picking up garbage or keeping the sewers flowing, but if people are paid well enough they will see that society values their jobs. There is no doubt that, if work is meaningful and worthwhile

Do You Live In An Iceberg?

Ed Raymond

In order to have safe bridges by 2028 we must spend $20.5 billion a year, but we are scheduled to spend only $12.5 billion. I haven’t heard any of the Waltons pledge to pay their fair share of taxes. Maybe it’s difficult when all of your U.S. profits

A Case of Confirmationus Interruptus

Ed Raymond

“He was a three-dimensional justice with an often two-dimensional worldview. History will remember him as someone who was gloriously, powerfully on the wrong side of so many important questions. But history will surely remember him.”

Shouldn’t Everyone Carry Blood Red Poppies?

Ed Raymond

“Blood red poppies sway over silent fields where birds no longer sing/ Once big guns roared and young men suffered terror in the mud/ Chaplains searched the carnage for God finding him gassed and bloody crucified upon the wire/ One poppy lost among

Gladiators In The Colosseums

Ed Raymond

Dr. Joseph Annibal, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst whose specialty is brain function, has been a life-long fan of football, but now believes football, particularly at the professional level, is unethical.

Of Elephants and Men

Ed Raymond

Some bankrupt elephant owners have sold their workers to Asian businesses, elephant shows around the world, and resorts touting elephant rides and “treks.” Many of the new owners do not have the experience or training to handle elephants.

Davos Union: Government of the Plutocrats, By the Elites, And for the Oligarchs

Ed Raymond

We now have 25 states that have passed right-to-work (for less!) laws which severely limit what unions can do in collective bargaining. Research indicates workers in right-to-work states earn an average of $1,500 less than workers in the same job

Living In The Promised Land

Ed Raymond

The line about Americans clinging to “backwardness out of sheer stubbornness” was particularly noticeable in the Republican debate after Obama’s “State of the Union” address.

Medical Miracles, Maladies, and Morality

Ed Raymond

Three drugs have been developed to treat age-related macular degeneration, a disease which causes blood vessels under the macula to leak or bleed, which destroys sight. These three drugs have been proven to treat this disease equally, but the prices

Are We Ever Satisfied With “Enough” or “More?

Ed Raymond

Somehow we have been captured by a culture of greed and consumption, so we demand larger servings and all-we-can-eat buffets, bigger boxes of popcorn at movies, bigger cups of coffee laced with chocolate, and 30-ounce sugary drinks with half pounders

A Perfect Political Fit

Ed Raymond

The Donald: On The March For God, Country, And The American Sheeple

Some Of These Economic Sinners Have Many Coats

Ed Raymond

The Social Security Administration just announced that over half of Americans make less than $30,000 a year. The Alliance for a Just Society has estimated that it would take both parents in a family of four, each making a living wage of $16.87

Evidence Says “Thoughts and Prayers” Won’t Cut It

Ed Raymond

Since Congress is as useless ( as my farmer dad used to say about politicians) as “teats on a boar,” and the Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Buddhists, and other mainliners indicate their prayers only remind us of Congress my last desperate attempt

Who Is In The Middle East Lineup Card?

Ed Raymond

But one could expect that somewhere in the bowels of the Pentagon some lowly Army colonel would have read a book about Arab tribes and cautioned his bosses about invading Iraq.

Of Toilets, Planned Parenthood, And Life-Saving Cell Research

Ed Raymond

About 95% of women who have had abortions say they made the right decision. By the way, the death rate from Viagra is about ten times the death rate suffered by women having abortions. Shouldn’t we also ban Viagra?

What Happens When A Woman “Sculpts Her Universe?”

Ed Raymond

About 95% of women who have had abortions say they made the right decision. By the way, the death rate from Viagra is about ten times the death rate suffered by women having abortions. Shouldn’t we also ban Viagra?

This Is The Way Our Empire Ends—Not With A Bang But A Whimper

Ed Raymond

Politicians such as Ted Cruz state the same-sex marriage decision “is some of the darkest 24 hours in our nation’s history.” Tell that to the 700,000 lesbian, gay, and bisexual millennial parents who are happily raising adopted children.

The Personal Question At 6 P.M.: “Are You Healthy Enough For Sex?”

Ed Raymond

Politicians such as Ted Cruz state the same-sex marriage decision “is some of the darkest 24 hours in our nation’s history.” Tell that to the 700,000 lesbian, gay, and bisexual millennial parents who are happily raising adopted children.

Can The Vatican Hold Up The Entire Sky?

Ed Raymond

“It is conservative men making damn sure women get punished for failing to keep our legs together… for daring to pursue intimacy and sexual pleasure on our own terms and without their permission…we don’t want to be pregnant and (they are) denying us

A Sex And Marriage Manual

Ed Raymond

Both the Bible and the Quran are loaded with heavy breathing sex, whether it is about the 1,000 wives and concubines of Solomon or the ISIS (Islamic State) interpretation of sharia law when it comes to rape and sexual intercourse with captives

Lower Animals Kill To Live, Uppermost Animals Kill To Dominate

Ed Raymond

And the savagery used by all sides is a reminder of all of the horrible things Uppermost Animals have used against each other for all time. The Middle East is now a Muslim holocaust. The question of who has the bigger God has not been answered yet.

Best of Times, Worst of Times

Ed Raymond

Many young people are waving goodbye at the passing American Dream because they can’t afford higher ed and crushing oppressive debt. Some politicians admit that many working graduates cannot afford to buy homes and cars and must live with parents

Animal Friends and Enemies

Ed Raymond

So out of our thousands of species, what is the mass killer of the humans that are killed each year by species on earth? Sorry to say, other humans kill 1.6 million of their own species in an average year, so we are the most dangerous to our friends

A Man For All Seasons

Ed Raymond

Many people felt that the election of a mulatto president in 2008 signaled that the problems of white on black racism was over. After living during Jim Crow days and before civil rights legislation for three years in the South, I knew it wasn’t

What We Have Accomplished In Six Million Years

Ed Raymond

Why does the VA have 41,500 medical personnel vacancies including 11,985 nursing positions? Ask one of the 535 members of The Best Congress Money Can Buy. His answer should be interesting.

Geez, Why Is The 99 Percent So Upset?

Ed Raymond

Why does the VA have 41,500 medical personnel vacancies including 11,985 nursing positions? Ask one of the 535 members of The Best Congress Money Can Buy. His answer should be interesting.

A Man Who Had Plenty Under His Hat

Ed Raymond

“Envision your brain, its billions of impulsive neurons, tendrils entwined, connected up in electrical circuits, elaborate glial scaffolds shoring up these circuits, like electrical tape.

Corporate Cultism

Ed Raymond

Corporate Cults And The Industrial Revolution: It Ain’t Over Until It’s Really Over

Whatever Happened To Wendell Berry’s Adage About Being Downstream Or Upstream?

Ed Raymond

Our Student Debt Is At $1.2 Trillion—And One-Third Of Our Student Debtors Are In Default—Welcome To Higher Education In The Richest Country In The World

Buffalo Bill and Death

Ed Raymond

We still don’t know specifically why we age. Over 200 years ago humans were lucky to see 30. The philosopher Montaigne wrote this in the 16th Century: “To die of age is a rare

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.