Democracy, Dildos, and The Declaration of Independence

By Alexander Rai
03/31/2006

Etched in a parchment somewhere, sealed in dated ink, in cascading curled up calligraphy are the following inscribed words: “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”. Since the day that the fateful ink stained sentences into that piece of paper, in that single ‘Declaration of Independence’; the deepest, most visceral, most tremulous feelings of all men and most women have been articulated, if not in those words, certainly in other words.


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Seek first to understand

By Vivian Greentree
03/25/2006

My son turned two this month. When friends and family started to ask what they could give him for his birthday my mind immediately went to his 529 college fund. By the time he is in college who knows how much tuition, room, and board will cost, right? Besides the last present my mom sent him is sitting in the corner languishing, being thrown over for the present that was sent shortly afterward by his other grandmother. His attention span is that of, well, a two-year-old, and my husband and I are trying to plan for his future.


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Levels of analysis in student motivation

By Dennis Fox
03/12/2006

In a recent USA Today column, Virginia high school English teacher Patrick Welsh addresses a phenomenon much lamented by many teachers at all levels: the apparent unwillingness of American students to work as hard as their teachers think they should. Welsh makes some good points, but his title and main point -- For Once, Blame the Student -- is too simplistic for my taste, especially now that my social psychology class is discussing cognitive biases, attribution theory, and other topics related to how people think about the causes of individual behavior.


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Is South Dakota Abortion Bill the New Gay Marriage Amendment?

By John McDonald
03/02/2006

This past week, The South Dakota Legislature passed a new bill basically outlawing abortion in the state. And it is expected that South Dakota’s Governor will sign the new legislation. Many abortion opponents are overjoyed. Their hope is that the new legislation will result in the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the new and more conservative version of the Supreme Court.


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The New Sex

By Ann Weaver Hart
03/01/2006

Terror is the new sex.


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