By Amina Rodriguez The number of people living with an eating disorder is steadily on the rise in the United States and our culture’s obsession with thinness and beauty is of no assistance. Although some may claim that the issue of obesity in the U.S. far outweighs the issue of eating disorders, it does not [...]
The Red Line that IS Syria
I remember when the internal strife in Syria first began back in the spring of 2011. Like most people, I considered it to be a continuation of the events that began in Tunisia and made their way through Egypt; another Middle East dictator swiftly ousted at the hands of the “Arab spring.” Yet two years [...]
Weaponry Before Welfare
In early summer, a small, heavily militarized country invaded its southern neighbor. The local conflict soon grew regional as other nations allied with both original participants began to support their respective friends, thereby making escalation a serious concern. Three years later, over 1 million people had died as a result of the disastrous war, yet [...]
Four Major Lies About Obamacare Taxes
There is an popular opinion piece on FoxNews.com right now by John Kartch of Americans for Tax Reform called “Five Major Obamacare Taxes that will hit your wallet in 2013.” Shockingly, it is very misleading on nearly every issue it discusses.
What is Obamacare?
There is a reason that presidents have been fighting for a better health care system for 100 years. In 2010, over 50 million Americans went about their daily lives with no health insurance. If they got sick, odds are they went bankrupt and you had to foot the bill. Insurance companies could look at an application of a newborn infant, born with a defect, and deny the child coverage. A man who had diligently paid for his own health insurance for his entire life, could get cancer, and the insurance company could drop him. Insurance companies would set annual or lifetime dollar limits on needed care, leaving patients who thought they had coverage with massive medical bills and no hope.
Producers and Roasters Seek Fair Trade Beyond Certification
Whether or not to allow plantations into the fair trade model is not the only debate raging within the specialty coffee industry. Another, and more wide-reaching debate, is whether certification schemes benefit producers, or if they are in fact barriers to trade. While millions of small-scale coffee producers have benefited from certification systems like Fair [...]
Books about Modernity and Liaisons With Technology, Social Interactions, and the Mind
It is a reasonable assumption that many readers of the Conducive Chronicle or students around the world enrolled in some type of college social science class featuring elements of post modernism are familiar with the concept of modernity. Modernity has been both categorically and lexically challenging to define since the term is immensely expansive. Subsequently, [...]
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Current Events, Politics & Economy
Darkness Falls for Florida Teens Killed by Train
The days are getting longer.
But not for three local teen girls killed by a southbound train while crossing the Crane Creek trestle.
Culture & History
Caging the Khosian Woman
Welcome back to the freak show! Today you’ll be delighted to see the unusually large rear, bosom and other “secret splendors” of the Hottentot Venus! For the past few days of Black History Month, I have reviewed movements in science that endeavored to “prove” that blacks were inferior to all other races and were in fact a [...]
Current Events, Politics & Economy
Social Networking Sites’ Popularity Poses Problem for Users
If you’ve ever stared blankly at your “status update” window, wondering what you could possibly write that would be both clever and appropriate for all of your 267 friends, including Mom, you are not alone. Many sites, like Facebook, which began as a way for college-age kids to keep in touch and post photos of [...]
Current Events, Politics & Economy
People’s World Conference on Climate Change
So, everything didn’t go exactly as planned in Copenhagen. At the climate summit, commonly known as COP15 (the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change-in case you were curious), prominent nonprofits were locked out of the debate, and more than a few accusations surfaced that [...]
Mind & Body
Souljourn for the Mind, Spirit and Earth: Days 2 – 5 of Minimizing Clutter and Manifesting Abundance
I believe that people manifest their realities everyday – whether it is abundance, deprivation or something neutral. Abundance comes from positive intentions and actions whereas deprivation comes from maladaptive intentions– resisting thoughts and their coinciding actions. Abundance exists all around us if we take a moment to notice it – in nature, in our homes, in our hearts. By minimizing clutter (both the internal and external kind), you free up some space and have a greater chance of maximizing on manifesting abundance.
Culture & History
Remembering the Past with Today’s Tea Party
By Mark Portuondo I was like most other progressives when I heard about and saw the Tea Party movement flash across the major media outlets early last year. As I watched hundreds of men and women, awash in American flags and hanging tea bags, harass their elected leaders and hold court in city parks and [...]
Current Events, Politics & Economy
Shocking New Estimate of Wind Energy Potential in US
Wired Magazine has a fascinating article on the wind energy potential in the United States. The article sites a US Dept. of Energy report stating that the wind energy generating potential in our country is 3 times the previous estimate. So how much energy could we really harvest from the wind? (Hint: A LOT!)
Current Events, Politics & Economy
Wal-mart posts $14.34 billion in profits for 2009, why do workers still have to organize for a livable wages and health care?
Mentioning a union creates hysteria in Wal-mart, best explained by Wal-mart’s former CEO Lee Scott, “We like driving the car and we’re not going to give the steering wheel to anybody but us.”
Culture & History
I don’t date outside my species!
Yesterday’s article in the Black History Month series discussed the caging of the Mbuti Congolese man named Ota Benga. Today, I will discuss how the zeitgeist, or intellectual feel of the times, may have played a role in this atrocity against humanity. Often times, when one thinks of racism and inequality, a vision of “rednecks” [...]
Food & Drink
MSG by Any Other Name
I am writing this because I had a whopper of a headache after eating some seemingly innocent “all natural” onion ring snacks. Man were they tasty! Sure, I probably ate more than I should have, but they were soooo good. Shortly thereafter, my migraine set in which prompted me to look at the ingredients on [...]
Environment
Do We Really Need to Put All Those Chemicals on our Lawns?
You know who I’m talking about, the neighbor who obsessively preens his lawn as though it were a work of art. Out comes the mower at least once, maybe twice a week, to maintain the perfect length. The lawn looks so green and lush as to be almost unnatural. You just know this guy faithfully applies [...]
Culture & History
Caging the Monkey Man
Welcome to the Freak Show! Come one, come all see the man 8 inches and four feet tall! I imagine that the propaganda used to advertise the caged Ota Benga was similar to the text above. Ota Benga was a pygmy from the Mbuti tribe of Congo that was put on display in the 1904 St. [...]
Current Events, Politics & Economy
Senator Johnny M
He’s got the truck, the ‘tude and the charisma Scott Brown can only dream about.
And he was born in a small town.
Culture & History
Too black to be white, too white to be black
As I continue to investigate the culture and history of blacks, today I will look at the existing division within the black community based on skin tone. It’s a touchy topic and hence its need for discussion. The word “black” isn’t an accurate word to describe Afro-Americans in the U.S. There is a fusion of [...]
Mind & Body
Souljourn for the Mind, Spirit and Earth: Day 1 of Minimizing Clutter and Manifesting Abundance
I believe that people manifest their realities everyday – whether it is abundance, deprivation or something neutral. Abundance comes from positive intentions and actions whereas deprivation comes from maladaptive intentions– resisting thoughts and their coinciding actions. Abundance exists all around us if we take a moment to notice it – in nature, in our homes, in our hearts.
Culture & History
Where’s My Forty Acres and a Mule?
History instructors will teach their students that the Civil War was fought to end slavery. They will continue to teach that black slaves were freed by Abraham Lincolns’ signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862. These students will believe it. They will think that blacks were freed in 1862 and have had 145 years to become [...]
Current Events, Politics & Economy
Fuel From Algae
I recently wrote an article on the US Government’s goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions. In it, I mentioned that jet fuel accounted for a huge portion of the entire government’s total carbon footprint (and also its addiction to foreign oil). Well, it turns out the Pentagon has been hard at work on finding a [...]
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