A couple of weeks ago, I was sitting in the Pipe Dream office at our weekly meeting. We were critiquing a different writer’s column, in terms of both substance and style, as we do each week. One column caught my eye. The columnist had written about the long-term health effects that come with just sitting around all day, such as gaining weight, increasing risk of heart disease, etc. The column made me subconsciously stand up as I read it. But it also made me think about something else. It made me think about the leading cause of excess weight, at…

Yet another year has passed and once again Veterans Day has gone unobserved for the most part at Binghamton University. As someone who has had many relatives, including both grandfathers, serve in the military, I can’t even begin to describe my disappointment and disgust with the University. I also recognize, however, that even if we were to have the day off, far too many of my peers would view it as just that — a day off. If we were actually to be given the day to honor the service of our fighting men and women, I can already predict…

I feel that much of the debates surrounding the issues of our time can be boiled down to an issue of patriotism and what it means to show one’s love of country. To me, patriotism means creating a health care system that delivers Americans’ medical care, based on the nature of their needs, not on their ability to pay for it. It means an educational system that doesn’t overcrowd our classrooms and hurt students and teachers alike. An educational system that is about something more than a standardized exam. Something that sparks students’ imaginations and catalyzes a new generation of…

The month of August brought with it not just a brighter sun, but also, unfortunately, a gloomier cynicism. Next to psychotic, cynical is perhaps the best word to describe the assault-rifle-wielding, swastika-bearing opponents of health care reform who have dominated town halls and newspapers across the country. Apart from the fact that drawing pictures of the president that liken him to Hitler and chanting about “death panels” kind of undermines one’s message, if we peel back the layers of ignorance on this onion of crazy, we find a deep-seated mistrust for all things government. These opponents of reform, armed to…

The Republicans have lost their collective (fill in the blank). I am not even saying that as a partisan Democrat. I am saying that as a thinking person, with all five senses intact and a complete set of firing neurons. Having been raised in a family of Republicans (my mother’s side) and a Reagan Democrat (my father), I might have become a Republican, as might many in my generation had it not been for the odious George W. Bush. Balancing the budget, turning deficits into surpluses (something Clinton accomplished), sharpening the edge of our military’s technology while seeking to blunt…

You would think that if you were fortunate enough to get away with murdering two people, let alone thousands (see Iraq War), and deceiving, manipulating and intimidating billions more, you would kind of, you know … lay low for a while. Apparently, O.J. Simpson was not the only one incapable of learning this lesson. After eight years of keeping us safe from the horrors of homosexuality and magically disappearing nuclear weapons, former Vice President Dick Cheney has finally emerged from that fiery, fear-inspiring subterranean chamber (aka “undisclosed location”) to attack President Obama. In a recent appearance on CNN, Mr. Cheney…

I was rather irritated when I heard the president announce his plans for “a renewable energy economy,” meaning solar, wind, ethanol, etc., in his address to Congress. OK, stay with me on this one. Every State of the Union/address to Congress, sees a president echo the same mindless refrain of “harnessing new technology,” “alternative fuels,” “solar, wind, ethanol.” Sound familiar? Maybe that’s because we’ve been hearing the same words spoken to us for the last 30 years! Politicians of every political stripe promise us “green-collar jobs,” and perpetual prosperity based on harnessing magical, mystical powers from corn, or some other…

Imagine a country sliding into deep economic turmoil (plagued by rising unemployment, declining home ownership), saddled with an unpopular president who’s beholden to religious conservatives, and whose harsh and provocative rhetoric has alienated the nation from the rest of the world and damaged its reputation. A country in desperate need of regime change. No, I’m not talking about America (circa October 2008). I am referring to Iran, present day. A little more than a week ago, Mohammad Khatami, a former president of Iran, declared his intentions to run against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the upcoming June election. The former president, long…

Last week the world witnessed the inauguration of a man who seems to possess the very qualities his predecessor lacked: integrity, intelligence, compassion, grace, class, empathy, etc. A man who, for so many across the country and around the world, has come to embody hope itself. Amidst all the festivities, the inaugural balls, the roaring crowds, it was easy to forget the man who is ultimately responsible for Obama’s victory: former President George W. Bush. This is not to say Obama did not “make it” on his own merits: charisma, intellect, extraordinary fundraising abilities, etc. However, this past election, which…

Last month, the Berlin Wall did not come down. We did not put a man on the moon. We did not defeat the Japanese. Yet for all the festivities and hearty celebrations, we might as well have done one of those things. We instead did something arguably more momentous: we elected the first African-American president of the United States. Think about that for a minute. A nation has come full circle from denying African Americans the right to vote to putting an African-American in the highest office in the land. Barack Obama has forever shattered a racial barrier as old…

I recently listened to a Sarah Palin rally on CNN before drifting off to sleep and the following nightmare of a President Palin press conference ensued. Team of reporters: Madame President! Madame President! (Sarah Palin walks to the podium with her infant in tow and daughter Piper beside her.) Palin: I am open to any questions ya have. What’s your question there, Tom? Reporter: Madame President, why did you appoint the ex C.E.O. of Exxon Mobile head of the EPA? Palin: Probably for the same reason I charged women for their own rape kits in Alaska. I felt the country…

OK, so he’s not saying, “Bring ‘em on,” or, “Dead or alive.” But McCain is coming out with a new album called “I’m Dreaming of a Nuclear Winter.” You’ll get such classics as “Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran,” “Maybe exporting cigarettes is a way of killing Iranians,” “Thanks for the question, you little jerk. You’re drafted,” and many more, all for $20.08! One of the many attributes it was thought Bush would bring with him to the White House was a cooperative spirit and respectful tone to governing. However, seven years into Bush’s presidency, one of the most prominent…

I remember where I was when it happened. I was in my living room with a glass of iced tea and a bowl of potato chips when I thought my ribs would burst with laughter. I had the TV on and was going to get some ice chips during the commercial break, when John McCain ran an ad comparing Barack Obama to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. I had to remind myself to breathe! I don’t think I was alone in this reaction. An op-ed in The New York Times the following day was entitled, “Is John McCain Losing It?”…

Enslavement of men, women and children, torture, frequent rape, rivers of blood flowing freely in the streets of villages. These are some of the horrific images of the current genocide in the Sudan. With Holocaust Remembrance Day upon us, it seems the world is on track for spending another day regretting the efforts it did not make. Of all the ways in which the Holocaust’s shameful stain is visible, none is more evident or more alarming than the continuous slaughter of millions of people in the Sudan. The Sudan’s geographic and cultural divisions have sparked a kind of civil war,…

Whenever I hear someone say, “we have the best government in the world,” I strive to suppress the seizures the phrase induces. I don’t think we have the best government in the world. Maybe it’s the most entertaining, but certainly not the best. For those of you smarting with media-driven, self-righteous indignation, mislabeled as “patriotism,” let me briefly remind you that I too have the image of the American flag being raised at Iwo Jima as deeply ingrained into my American psyche as you have in yours. I too have family members who served not just with courage, but with…