In the July 2012 issue of Yes! magazine, Peter Dreier writes about “The Radical Dissent of Helen Keller”: “In her investigations into the causes of blindness, she discovered that poor people were more likely than the rich to be blind, and soon connected the mistreatment of the blind to the oppression of workers, women, and other groups, leading her to embrace socialism, feminism, and pacifism.” We all know the story of the deaf and blind girl who was “miraculously” transformed… Read more

In Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, the atheist brother Ivan refuses to believe in a God who allows the suffering of children, and says that even if there is some inexplicable benefit to be derived from this, he will not have it. “I respectfully return the ticket” he says. I sympathize. Read more

Crews are working to clean up over 88,000 gallons of oil that spilled into the Gulf of Mexico as a result of a leak in a flow line connecting four wells owned and operated by Shell. The leak was discovered on May 13, when a two by thirteen mile sheen on the water was spotted by helicopter; since then has been contained, and drilling stopped at the site. By the 15th, the Coast Guard reported that over 50,000 gallons had… Read more