While Rhode Islanders scratch their heads when local lesbians or gay men slip over the line into Massachusets, two-by-two, to marry  (since the commonwealth allows that) Alberto Linero, 27 and Alberto Sanchez, 24, will soon celebrate their 4 year-anniversary. Sanchez and/… Read full post »

This Saturday, June 6th in Cyprus at the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East the Vatican's "Instrumentum Laboris" (Work Plan) will be released. The document challenges the usual pro-Israel chorus of US leaders and articulates the growing displeasure with Israel which Americans fearful… Read full post »

Responding to Gabby Abby's wonderful Open Call, I am reposting my Puglia "travelogue" of last year as I prepare for my next trip - this time to the Riviera del Brenta between Padua and Venice...stay tuned for more on that later this summer!

 The region of Puglia may be… Read full post »

www.usmemorialday.org  -- a  web site devoted entirely to Memorial Day  -- defines it  as, "Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service."

If we differ on the definition of "our… Read full post »

Just when you think the rampant sex scandals may have taught Catholic clergy not to throw stones from the front lawns of their glass houses, someone like Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix, Arizona decides he has to declare Sister of Mercy Margaret Mc Bride excommunicated.

W… Read full post »

Still "Sexy" After All These Years

The Open Call for movies where the actors were "Sexy with Their Clothes On" got some interesting responses!  So first of all, thanks to everyone who participated (by IM or by blog post!)

The top picks for sexy-while-clothed seem to be… Read full post »

(This is a reprint of my column this week in the Keene Sentinel)

                                       &n… Read full post »

On May 18th we reached the tragic milestone- 1000 dead US military in Afghanistan. This does not count the thousands of civilians killed and injured, and soldiers wounded and ruined for life.

Click on below to see their faces and read their stories from the NY Times of May 18, 2010. … Read full post »

  OPEN CALL ("Echo" of previous Greatest Movies Ever open call)

      Deadline for your posts on this: Midnight- Thurs. May 20th

Please notify me by message so I can include your post in the  final tally.

_______

OK, My friend Fay Paxton started all this w… Read full post »

Vintage ads from the legitimate" press that spoke  (and speak) for themselves...(In case you thought that "Basic Family Values" were stronger 50 or 60 years ago.)

And the absol… Read full post »

"ONE MAN, 5 WIVES, 46 CHILDREN" screamed the cover of the National Geographic magazine in the waiting room holding… Read full post »

Fay Paxton asked, so here's my list of my 12 favorites movies...Can't wait to see the top ones, Fay. You go girl!

12)  Roma, Citta' Aperta (Open City) - Rossellini's classic and a young Anna Magnani at her absolute height of beauty, great acting talent, and love of Italia.

11) Funny Face… Read full post »

Congressman Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) finally spoke to the press in his home state when they asked him about reports he had recently been shut off at the bar in the congressional lounge after downing 6 shots of vodka. Kennedy didn't respond directly to the allegations in the story which fi… Read full post »

            This post is from my book Abortion:The A Word  and I am reprinting it in honor of "Juanita" -- a good mother who probably didn't get remembered or honored on too many Mother's Days.

     &… Read full post »

Dear Mom, 

Since I was 9 years old, when Papa… Read full post »

Roll Call, a quasi-legitimate chronicle appealing mainly to politicos inside Washington DC’s beltway, reported on April 27th in its Heard on the Hill column that Congressman Patrick Kennedy was shut off by a bartender in the congressional lounge after 6 shots of vodk… Read full post »

As the print media makes its way down the skids, I-- like many of you-- have watched my daily newspaper (once ranked in the top 30 in the country) turn into something even the parakeet doesn't want to read on the floor of his birdcage. Shrinking advertising dollars and… Read full post »

Need a reminder of how distorted and perverted our priorities have become? Please focus, if you will, on what happened last Tuesday in Oklahoma.

There was a celebration at the State House. Not because that legislature found any remedies for those suffering from the recession. It wasn't… Read full post »

                                           &n… Read full post »

(An Open Thank-You Note to Emma Peel)

I wanted to wait until the dust settled after your recent post about OS "behavior" to thank you, in the hope that writing the post and seeing the many positive responses it received made the whole painful episode worthwhile. I also wanted to say how… Read full post »

A country of gardeners, England comes colorfully to life in spring, assisted by a climate rainy enough to annually reinvent endless shades of green. Britain’s trademark gentility lives on.

On crowded and steamy stairs at the Piccadilly underground exit, I see a young man in full, i… Read full post »

  The Meeting between Pope Leo the Great and Attila 
Fresco by Raffaello Sanzio  - 1514

Catholics are told to accept a number of what the Vatican calls "mysteries" (that Christ allegedly changed water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana, for example.) These are of… Read full post »

 I have no idea who came up with the so-called "new math" that seeped into our educational system several decades ago, but it has failed miserably if the young people struggling to give us the correct change at… Read full post »

1. Does anyone really care that Tiger came in fourth?

2. Is the possibility of having a Mormon president any less scary than having a Catholic one?

3. Once Tina Fay jump starts the Palin bits again, does she have to give other politicians equal time?

4. RE… Read full post »

I have been a feminist much of my adult life, so I have spent a lot of time lobbying for equal rights for women in those areas of daily life where men-- especially white men--have had a distinct advantage. I've written about, lobbied for, testified in favor of and demonstrated… Read full post »