Salem-News.com Culture articles Page 14

The Pledge Of Allegiance`s, `One Nation Under God`

I remember reciting the Pledge while Rosa Parks was sent to jail, DNA exonerates unjustly convicted where the system would fail...

(CLEVELAND) - Okay! Americans are in an uproar, “One Nation Under God,”
And yet just like, “In God We Trust” on money I find this odd,
Since so many had much to say about the Trayvon Martin case,
3 Blacks give 1 White kid 2 black eyes then shoe print his face.

Nada! Those who were vocal in retaliation, “boycott the state,”
Australian Baseball Player Christopher Lane killed due to hate,
Likewise, Delbert Belton 88, beaten to death by 2 Black teens,
Chris was only 22 as racism by gunshot snuffed out his dreams.

Man of Letter and Spirit

As every Pakistani knows damned well, Christians are among the most downtrodden and vulnerable people in Pakistan, especially since the passage of the despicable blasphemy law during the Zia ul Haq dictatorship.

(ISLAMABAD) - The life of the slum settlers is perhaps the most heart-wrenching thing that I have ever encountered...

I have had the privilege of traveling to many places, but in all of my visits, I have never encountered poverty like this – streets flowing with open sewage, garbage rotting everywhere.

Investigative Void: Sex Assault in the News

This writer is fascinated by TV shows like "Criminal Minds" and likes to connect those dots in a meaningful way. By propagating the notion that loose libidos are the norm, we do ourselves a very terrible disservice.

(SALEM) - Over the last 50 years, this one-time reporter has carefully followed current events. Reading the daily paper has been a staple. In recent years, the media has taken to focus on sexual assaults of both adults and children.

Maybe the media think that giving the bare-bones information and passing it along as an eveyday event is adequate for public consumption. I hasten to ardently disagree.

Don`t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Football Players

Dozens of former players — including 34 who played in the NFL — have been diagnosed with CTE, a neurodegenerative disease linked to dementia, memory loss and depression.

(SAN FRANCISCO) - Another football season is upon us. It is time for the National Football League (NFL), college and university officials, and even high schools to seriously address the safety, or lack thereof, of playing football.

As the season progresses, the chance of injury increases.

Constitution Avenue Will Remain Quiet Until you Sleep

Let us face the realities that haunt Pakistan in real time.

(ISLAMABAD) - The distribution is not absolutely equal among the whole population, thus, demarcate among various socioeconomic groups of a country.

One of the worst outcomes of income inequality is poverty, considered to be fatal for any nation’s development because poverty breeds more poverty which engulfs the whole nation.

Pakistan: Renew Death Penalty Moratorium, Then Abolish Capital Punishment

According to official figures, Pakistan has more than 7,000 prisoners on death row, one of the largest populations of prisoners facing execution in the world.

(YORK, UK) - Pakistan’s government should revoke its decision to resume executions and renew its moratorium on the death penalty, Human Rights Ambassador for Salem-News.com said in a letter to the Pakistani government today.

Pakistan has had a moratorium on the death penalty since June 2008, with only the execution of Muhammad Hussain in November 2012 following a court martial.

Insensitivity of Pakistani Christian Politicians and Civil Society Leaders

There have been many wake-up calls, but Pakistani Christian politicians/religious leaders have gone into a long snooze.

(ISLAMABAD) - The PPP government had declared August 11 as minorities’ day in 2009 by the effort of then minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, who was assassinated in the country’s capital in 2011.

The day signifies Quaid-e-Azam’s speech to the Constituent Assembly on August 11, 1947 in which he had said, “You may belong to any religion, caste or creed – that has nothing to do with business of the State.”

New Slant on Social Studies Can Both Entertain and Educate

In encouraging student interaction on the process, we reinforce facts. We offer a bit of entertainment. No longer are we preoccupied by data alone. We give vivid meaning to the words of the textbook.

(SALEM) - By any other name, it's still called "boredom".

Attempting to spoon-feed middle schoolers in Social Studies can prove toxic if the emphasis is on absorbing and repeating dates and places. The conceptual part of human cause-and-effect is sometimes presented as an afterthought.

US: Ratify Disability Rights Treaty

Parties to the Convention are required to promote, protect, and ensure the full enjoyment of human rights by persons with disabilities and ensure that they enjoy full equality under the law.

(YORK, UK) - Human Rights Ambassador William Nicholas Gomes Has sent a letter to US senators, urging them to mark the 23rd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act by ratifying the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is an international human rights instrument of the United Nations intended to protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities.

The Fallacy of Celibacy

When we humans attempt to ignore our basic instincts we often suffer irreparable damage to ourselves and to those around us.

(PORTLAND, OR) - All creatures are controlled by urges and instincts. A spider is born knowing just how to create the complicated geometric pattern we call a web. Can you imagine having to teach a baby spider how to build a web? Go this way, now anchor it here, then go back over there, no, this way!”

Can you imagine having to teach a duck to fly south? They just jump up into the air and go and they somehow know when they arrive there.