Godless Rachel

You have to love it when hundreds of simple minded people show up to protest being forced to pay for birth control on insurance plans. The irony is so off the chart, I simply don't know where to begin. So I will just break it down for you. The average birth costs around five thousand dollars, and that is if everything goes great. If it doesn't and you have to have a c-section then the cost goes up to about twenty thousand. If the child is born early, by c-section or regular birth the cost can be as much as two hundred thousand dollars. (I know this because it happened to a friend of mine) yet no one was offended when insurance rates went up the next year for the whole company. No one turned to the mother of this child and said, "Thanks." Instead they attributed it to the higher risk and climbing costs of insurance and inflation. So birthing kids gets a pass, when it is horribly expensive. The average doctor visit is around two hundred dollars for a woman seekin...

A recent article in The New York Times highlighted the new wave of suicides taking place. While men seem satisfied with their part of the marriage, the women are saddened by their life sentence of marriage. While the blame is being placed on a new show coming from Turkey, clearly there is more to it than that. Young girls are taking their lives, and their doing it with guns. One girl shot herself in the abdomen with her brothers gun, in a serious suicide attempt. She tried to lie to her father about knowing if the gun was loaded, but he knew the truth. Now he promises he will not force her to go back to her husband, but hopes she will. It may seem less than shocking to some people used to this culture , but even a sociologist will explain this is extreme behavior for women to be using guns to kill themselves. Many women normally use pills as a method of suicide, since they would rather be left with their beauty, even in death, so when the guns come out, something has gone terribly...

I was speaking on this topic in an article the other day. We as a society tend to follow trends. Even if our initial thinking was to avoid or abstain from one trend or another, it quickly becomes difficult. Society is built on the very basis of conformity. We can all get along better if we agree. This same mentality that works towards our aid and comfort can be destructive when perpetuated on the masses as an ideological doctrine. Questioning and defiance have their place in society, even if we tend to look down upon it. Some of the greatest changes in our history have come from men and women who did not conform. When Galileo said the earth was not the center of the universe and that it rotated around the sun, the church was enraged by this. He dared to challenge the idea that everything was set in motion with the aid and comfort of man in mind. He is just one example. When the Internet was created it shocked the world. Suddenly you could talk to people close by without a phone,...

There is a wide spread trend in Islam, and among Muslims alike. It is the mindset of divide, conquer and convert. It is a tactic all religions use, but in Islam it is the hand feeding of false information is a course in conversion tactics not even used by the Christians. So why is this so dangerous? Many young people seeking comfort can be easily swayed to follow the group, if it means they will no longer be alone. It is the group think, or group mentality. This is essential for Muslims and Islam, appealing depressed youth who are in danger of substance abuse, or suicide. These are easy targets for the mental games that are played in the religious world. It utilizes the weakness and needy nature of confused teens, and youth alike searching for comfort. This type of programming appeals to the need for power and change in their lives, and can be as equally destructive as any drug or gang. The reason it is such a tremendous threat is that clinging to the dogma, while suffering from...

I have met so many guys, battered and bruised egos and all. Men who are desperately seeking, anyone. As long as she is kind and giving, and willing to be a little naughty. But what I find is women reaching an age of disinterest. There comes a point in her late thirties when women start feeling the glow is leaving, and the years are coming. Somehow we equate an age of fertility with our sexuality. This is beyond wrong. Women have spent the last fifty years trying to be defined by more than ovaries, yet I can clearly see men are not alone in doing it, we do it to our selves. While I don't want to advocate that women behave a certain way, or dress a certain way, I must imply that loving your self does wonders for someone loving you. That is not just some lame metaphor, it is a reality. I used to hear women say that a lot, and I often thought, okay, sounds good, but what else. The what else is getting off the couch and back into life. Remember the teen years when you ran around,...

No form of evolution ever made a wing overnight. But if you start with just a tiny bit of fuzz, and give about a thousand generations, you might be right there. Micro and macro evolution can be difficult to understand if you think one means that a dog becomes a bear in one generation. That is not only impossible but improbable as well. So how do the scales run over time? The vital difference between macro and micro evolution are the scales of time in biology. A species can have inter, but not intra, generational mutations. Simple effects such as mutations in pigment genes can create a species which better suits the environment. These happen all the time. If the effect is not beneficial, and predators take note then the mutation will not survive to the next generation, since mutations occur in offspring and show in the juvenile form of the species. When benefits help the prey or predator species in their environment it is passed on to the next generation. Now mutations like this ...

Okay so the whole world has probably seen the image of a mom nursing her three year old son. I thought at first the cover was just a image to shock the audience into paying to see the article inside. Then I tuned in to see it was about extended breast feeding. It seemed to me there was something about this that tweaked my nerves. I am a woman and well aware of the benefits of breastfeeding. It can make your baby more healthy, and help you lose a few pounds in the process. But how long of an extension should breastfeeding get? It seems to me there is a line, and some people are willing to push it back as far as it can go, but what are the drawbacks and benefits here? For a baby who is breast feeding they are getting antibodies, which can last up to six months of age, and that helps a lot when it comes to children and illness. Plus breast feeding means less milk will run down their face into their ears, like formula and bottles can. So it can save you trips to the doctor. It helps...