I thought this was a brilliant analysis and exchange by Dr. Zibignew Brezinski on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' the other morning.

Brezinski contextualized the anger on the part of many regarding executive compensation, bonuses and excessive wealth in our country.

It has been wealth not obtained by production and manufacturing, but built on a fiscal house of cards propped up just enough for you and I to be able to participate as consumers, with flat wages, more accessible credit and relatively low interest rates.

The most insidious part of the the culture has been perpetrated by representatives of the 5% of Americans in control of 85% of the country's wealth. They became highly skilled at getting themselves defended by those whom they deluded into believing that when 'their ship came in' they could be just like them! And that those who weren't benefiting were either lazy, incompetent, unlucky or unmotivated.

John Hope Franklin
1915 - 2009
Scholar, Author, Educator, Historian

As I was leaving a classroom in which I had just taken a test, moments ago, I was greeted by a rather routine phrase that I hear some version of on a daily basis on my college campus. It was a standard aside that most people hear throughout their day enough that it becomes just another part of the white noise that we deal with on a regular basis. However, this phrase has always sat wrong with me, and today was no exception. What was this phrase that has me up in arms?

The student that had just left the same test as me turned to his friend and said "Dude, that test was so gay!" Now, I can only assume that this young man was not discussing the sexual orientation of the test, as I had just taken the same thing and had not found such to be the case. No, he was, obviously, using the term "gay" pejoratively to mean "stupid" as has become commonplace in the American vernacular.

I can't even begin to express how much it distresses me that such phrases are the everyday occurrence on the campus of a respected liberal-arts university. I hear it said by people I respect, who should, and do, know better than to say something that can be that hurtful. Why is it hurtful, you ask? Let me attempt to answer that question.

While looking through some blogs today, I ran across this piece of garbage.

Take a look at it, and read my thoughts after the jump.

Today I stumbled across a piece at The Atlantic County Woman website that asks "Is This What A Feminist Looks Like?" in regards to the January 2009 cover of Ms. Magazine, which featured President Barack Obama tearing his shirt open, Superman-style, to reveal a black T-Shirt that proclaims "This is what a feminist looks like!" The article, which I highly recommend reading, raised a lot of questions for me, personally, as a self-identified feminist who happens to be a white, heterosexual male.

While I do recognize that the feminist movement was started by women, and is about gaining equality for the subjugated classes of society, I also believe that there is room for more than just women in the feminist movement. Granted, from my position as a member of one of the least subjugated classes, my opinion on this subject my be suspect, but if you will allow me to make my case, I think you may be convinced.

I'd say that, on average, about 60% of people who meet me for the first time think that I'm gay.

This assumption bothers me, not because I'm homophobic, but because of what it says about our social perceptions of "manhood" and "femininity". It bothers me because it means that a man who is interested in the theatre, has a unique fashion style, and doesn't play sports all that often must be a homosexual.

The public's idea of what it means to be a "true man" or a "real woman" hasn't changed as much as some would like you to believe, and these gender roles represent an even larger issue.

After reading this, I was trying to figure out whether I could have stated America's racial problem better. I can't!

Thanks to Alan Bean, a Baptist preacher and executive director of Friends of Justice for his courage. You can read the full text of his post here.

White people don’t talk about racial history. When we do we emphasize the great strides we have made. Our ancestors made some big mistakes, no doubt; but all wounds have now healed, all wrongs have been righted, every valley has been exalted, and all’s well in the world.

I posted the video of Meghan McCain's Maddow interview earlier this week and while she's probably an expert on the ways in which the GOP is hemorrhaging young people because the religious right is scaring people off... here is further evidence that the extremist points of view in a much more modern time are becoming more moderate and mainstream.

A good friend who is a very faithful man sent me a piece he saw on Alternet that talks about Equality Ride a project of Soulforce Q. They have young LGBTQ folks riding around the country on a bus visiting evangelical colleges in the south to bring a public face to issues often opposed by that community and "to cut off homophobia at its source - religious bigotry."

I just finished reading an article on feministing.com that infuriated me.

Why?

Because in this article, the author not only claims that sexual objectification is an appropriate way to sell things, but goes so far as to say that they are "split" on whether or not the the now infamous "gang rape" ad was something that folks should be upset about.

Let me be clear:

Rape, simulated rape, dramatized rape, or artistically rendered rape are never...never acceptable in advertising.

For those of you who didn't know, March 8th was International Women's Day. On such an occasion, one might expect major organizations to release statements lauding the accomplishments of women in various fields. The Vatican, however, took this as a chance to let us all know what truly liberated women in the last 100 years.

Was it work outside of the home? No no no...

Was it the further development of contraceptives? Certainly not.

No, by and large the most liberating invention of the last century had to have been the washing machine.