RattleBag and Rhubarb

Personal Update. And Breaking News

My Wittgenstein project has entered a fallow phase but it is merely on furlough for a while and will be back. Meanwhile, I was invited to contribute to Intrepid Ed News – the online magazine of OESIS and they have published two of my pieces. Here is the first one if you want to take a look: Do No Harm:…

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Books, Poetry, Politics, RattleBag and Rhubarb, The Sex Wars

When Milton met Galileo

I chanced upon this painting of the meeting between Galileo and John Milton and had a flashback to undergraduate days and the anthology we were required to buy and lug around (and possibly read.) It was  American, very heavy, very expensive, and full of all kinds of interesting but rather dense texts. I remember the pages were flimsy thin, and…

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RattleBag and Rhubarb, The Sex Wars

Progress is a Myth: We Live in Regressive Times

I’ve chuntered about progress as a myth for years now. Mostly – it has to be said – out of a contrarian instinct not to get caught up in the mainstream notion of things are always getting better – when clearly – some things certainly are not. But it’s not something I’ve really given a lot of thought to or…

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RattleBag and Rhubarb, The Sex Wars

Affirmation Generation

Vimeo has taken down the video “Affirmation Generation” but you can see it here. Take the time to watch this well-made and important video. To read more about the movie go here. “Affirmation Generation: The Lies of Transgender Medicine,” was made by self-described “lifelong, West Coast Liberal Democrats”. The film includes interviews with therapists, mental health professionals, and medical doctors…

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Politics, RattleBag and Rhubarb, The Sex Wars

New York City and Free Speech Not Welcome

Yesterday I took my stickybeaking self downtown to City Hall Park where Standing for Women was holding an event. You can read more about it elsewhere, but the basic idea of these events is a public setup with loudspeakers and the opportunity for any woman who wants to say something about issues affecting women to take the mike. Because many…

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Politics, RattleBag and Rhubarb, The Sex Wars

The House of Cards

Coming out of the Irish government this week is a truly helpful definition of “gender”. So for all you folks out there who think gender is nonsense – educate yourselves and learn.  It’s from the CRIMINAL JUSTICE (INCITEMENT TO VIOLENCE OR HATRED AND HATE OFFENCES) BILL 2022. So now you know. Clear as a peat bog in an Irish mist. …

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Puberty Blockers

Puberty Blockers – a Blight on the Brain Puberty Blockers: A Blight on the Brain Puberty Suppression: Medicine or Malpractice Statement of Purpose In recent years, it has become standard practice for doctors in the United States and other countries to prescribe puberty-blocking drugs to adolescents who express dissatisfaction with their bodies or social roles. These drugs are often referred…

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Politics, RattleBag and Rhubarb, The Sex Wars

Put Out More Flags

My heart sinks down when I behold A rainbow in the street. With the end of June, in sight, I’m hoping for a break from the corporate waterboarding of the rainbow flag and its ever-morphing journey toward meaninglessness and cultural oblivion. With all this “pride”, eleven months of shame might be a relief. I realize that this is more than…

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Books, Politics, RattleBag and Rhubarb, The Sex Wars

Burning the Books and their Authors

This tweet about toasting marshmallows on a fire stoked with Harry Potters brought to mind an odd incident from my childhood. To the amusement of the world, my home town decided to ban a classic of medieval Italian literature as obscene and pornographic. The year was 1954 and book was Boccaccio’s Decameron. Until that point only three people in the…

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Politics, RattleBag and Rhubarb, The Sex Wars

What is a man?

Now that the odious Matt Walsh has given us the answer to “What is a Woman?” we must now turn to the male of the species and ask: What is a man? According to Walsh, by the way, a woman is someone who needs a man to open a pickle jar. This information comes right at the end of his…

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Education, RattleBag and Rhubarb

Make it Happen

There’s a useful and on-point critique of the Maker movement in The Atlantic magazine:  Why I am not a Maker by Debbie Chachra. And maker devotees and promoters would do well to read it as they out there talking up the maker culture as a panacea to all the ills of education. But – what is a maker? Just someone…

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