Bill talks with and invites readings by renowned poet, novelist, and editor Philip Appleman, whose creativity spans a long life filled with verse, fiction, philosophy, and religion. The author of nine books of poetry, three novels, and six volumes of non-fiction, Appleman’s most acclaimed work includes explorations of the life and theories of Charles Darwin. A scholar of Darwin, Appleman edited the critical anthology Darwin, and wrote the poetry books Darwin’s Ark and Darwin’s Bestiary, earning him praise for illuminating the “overwhelming sanity” of Darwin’s thought with clarity and wit. Appleman’s latest poetry collection is Perfidious Proverbs.
Category Archives: Reason
ASTROPHYSICS / PHILOSOPHY: Neil deGrasse Tyson / “A Fascinatingly Disturbing Thought”
h/t: Planet Atheism
h/t: Our Daily Train
LOGIC: “The Burden of Proof”
ATHEISM: The Complete Idiots Guide to Atheism
PHILOSOPHY: George Carlin / “The End of America and Social Stratification” / “Religion and Consumerism”
Part 1: “The End of America and Social Stratification”
Part 2: “Religion and Consumerism”
COMMUNITY ACTIVISM: Bill Moyers / “How Citizen Power Can Save a Library”
In this web-exclusive Bill Moyers Essay, Bill professes his lifelong love for libraries and their strong cultural value, and points to a crisis in public library funding across the country. But he also shares a unique and controversial community effort in Troy, Michigan that kept its library from becoming a political casualty, and serves as “a reminder of what can happen when we act together.”
Watch the full video below that explains how the Tea Party put the library in jeopardy, and how the town — with the help ad agency Leo Burnett — successfully fought back.
POLITICAL SATIRE: “Less Is More”
h/t: truthdig.org
The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.
~ John F. Kennedy
XENOPHOBIC BIGOTRY: Robert Reich / “Excluding Outsiders or Coming Together for the Common Good: What’s the True Meaning of Patriotism?”
[R]egressives have no interest in preserving or protecting our system of government. To the contrary, they show every sign of wanting to be rid of it.
In fact, regressives in Congress have substituted partisanship for patriotism, placing party loyalty above loyalty to America.
The GOP’s highest-ranking member of Congress has said his “number one aim” is to unseat President Obama. For more than three years congressional Republicans have marched in lockstep, determined to do just that. They have brooked no compromise.
They couldn’t care less if they mangle our government in pursuit of their partisan aims. Senate Republicans have used the filibuster more frequently in this Congress than in any congress in history.
[…]
So when regressives talk about “preserving and protecting” the nation, be warned: They mean securing our borders, not securing our society.
INTELLECTUALISM: Thom Hartmann / Conversations with Great Minds: Susan Jacoby
REASON: George Carlin / “On Pride”
“Once again, respectfully I say to myself, what the fuck does that mean?”


