Hello everybody, I'm back (not that many of you stuck around for my ten-month hiatus :-)! I've been way too busy with school and my personal life to even consider writing anything for Modern Counterculture. It's a shame, but that's life, No? Anyway, from here on out, I aim to keep my comments short but sweet. So anyway, onto the world and its never-ending problems: I have a love hate relationship with conservatism. I'm love the movement but hate the leaders. Take Sarah Palin, Newt ... Read More

  On June 28, 2009, President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras was forcibly removed from power in an apparent coup. Unlike many coups, however, this one was relatively unique in that it was not driven by a would-be-dictators power lust but by a desire to stop just such a thing from happening. You see, Mr. Zelaya had for some time been pushing a referendum that would enable him to "reform" the Honduran constitution to allow for re-election. Unfortunately for Mr. Zelaya, the Honduran constitution has ... Read More

  MSNBC's Chuck Todd recently tried to ask Obama's Press Secretary Robert Gibbs how the administration could honestly attempt to portray its $17 billion budget cut, which amounts to less than a half a percent of the total budget, as a serious spending reduction. Todd asked, "1/2 of one percent, how is this truly a tough decision and a tightening of the belt?" Gibbs responded by making quips about the stock price of GE (NBC's and Chuck Todd's parent company) and how much ... Read More

  Photo by Madas and Sue Donneham    For those of you who have been living under a rock, Barack Obama's inauguration was Monday January 20, 2009. His speech pleasantly surprised me with its unprecedented inclusion of concrete policies and positions. I know many expected him to stick to his campaign standby of inspirational sound bites, but they seemed to be obviously disappointed. It was funny how you could hear the applause die down as the amount of concrete content went up. It's kind of ... Read More

Photo: FreeRepublic.com   In modern America and the western world as a whole, symbolism has lost much of its significance and cultural relevance. The press, in the past, has been quite happy to drop a title as stodgy and outmoded as Mr. President. Secularists relish the failing power of religious symbols and the frequency with which they are removed from government buildings. Likewise, while we offer prayers at important events, many of our countrymen fight to outlaw even these, taking temporary comfort in the ... Read More

If there is one thing I can say about the reaction to Barack Obama’s first 60 days in office, it’s that conservative media has been trying far too hard to make mountains out of mole hills. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that it’s very important for the press to expose government waste and abuse, but the conservative news outlets keep jumping the gun. Take the fairness doctrine for example. It had the potential to be a powerful, high profile piece of ... Read More

On March 9, 2009, President Obama overturned former President Bush’s executive order banning federal money from funding embryonic stem cell research. He cited his desire to make decisions “based on facts, not ideology.” While the pundits on both sides of the issue have criticized or lauded the move using the same tired old lines from the 90s cultural wars, few have considered the implications of divorcing science from ideology. Today, through science, we have an undisputed power of destruction, unprecedented mobility, near ... Read More

On Tuesday, President Barack Obama ordered an additional 17,000 U.S. troops into Afghanistan. I applaud him for sticking to his campaign promise despite the negative reaction this is generating among his most radical supporters. As a candidate, President Obama promised to remove troops from Iraq and ramp up efforts in Afghanistan, which he considered the battlefield where our troops were truly needed. At the time, I was not particular happy with Obama and his supporters because of their attempts to undermine the ... Read More