JedWheeler.com

Tag: politics

  • The Clearances and the Commonweal

    Many people don’t know early Scottish immigration to the British colonies in North America (which was huge, we’re the second largest ethnic group) was largely driven by the Clearances – campaigns of genocidal ethnic cleansing waged for profit by the British ruling class between 1750 and 1860. These clearances were part of the enclosure movement,…

  • None of the Above

    None of the Above

    After writing in “None of the Above” on every presidential ballot of my life up to this point, Bernie Sanders was the first presidential candidate I’ve ever donated to or knocked on doors for.  Unfortunately, he’s out of the race. So am I Bernie or Bust?  No.  My refusal to vote for a kleptocrat who ran…

  • A bag of Avocados

    A bag of Avocados

    I was working on an article on the US presidential elections for another website earlier today and made an offhand remark that if the Democrats nominated a bag of Avocados for the presidency that California would faithfully line up and vote for it.  And then it hit me – a bag of Avocados would actually be…

  • To be a man

    I’ve self-identified as a feminist since my late teens and have been very vocal about it, sometimes to my own detriment.  Not that I’m some sort of knight in shining armor, I’ve made my share of mistakes along the way despite my best intentions and I can’t claim to be motivated entirely by altruism.  While…

  • For God and Country

    The sound of artillery was thunder, earthquakes, and every bad dream he had ever had as a child rolled into one.  A sound more felt than heard, it made his bones ache as the vibrations poured through him.  He had never particularly wanted to be a soldier, but when you are a young man with…

  • Opportunity Cost

    I’ve been looking to buy a house here in Oakland and the whole experience is a bit surreal.  I’ll save you the blow by blow, but looking at home values, school rankings, and the OPD’s crime map; a few things jump out at me. Firstly, people talk a lot about crime in Oakland but looking…

  • Keep your God out of my Marriage.

    The issue of whether Marriage is a civic institution which should be available to all consenting adult or a religious institution with theological restrictions is one of those debates that just won’t go away, no matter how bizarre it might seem.  It’s been a major source of stress in my family and in many others. …

  • Science, Jazz, and Education

    So I’ve been in New Orleans for the last 5 days for a mini-vacation and for the most part I’m in love with this city.   The food is amazing, there’s live music everywhere, and I haven’t had this much fun in ages.  It got me wishing that there was a way I could be based…

  • The Race Game

    This is one of those things that’s been rattling around in my head for years – why is it that video game manufacturer’s – especially makers of MMO’s – are so enamored with using “race” as a defining criteria for their character creation?  Species makes sense in many fantasy and SciFi settings, so does faction,…

  • Is Twitter Censoring the Revolution?

    (Originally posted on the Involver blog at http://blog.involver.com/2011/09/29/is-twitter-censoring-the-revolution/) At this point pretty much everyone who works in Social Media has read at least a couple articles talking about the role played by Twitter and other social media sites in coordinating and publicizing protest movements around the world. Social media has been alternately credited and blamed for…