Lara M. Gardner

TIME magazine recently ran a cover story about long-term breastfeeding. It depicted a cover photo of a woman standing and staring into the distance, a 3-year-old boy standing on a chair in front of her, attached to her breast. Needless to say, the photo and article caused an uproar. Some...

Mexico is a house the US has set on fire, then covered its doors and windows with bars, allowing the people inside to burn alive. Fueled by easy access to weapons from their neighbors to the north, drug lords have infiltrated all sectors of society, and now Mexico is arguably...

Ah, elections. Of course the mainstream media presumes that the House takeover is evidence of a sea change. I disagree. Things really haven't changed as much as everyone would like to think. The Democratic majority wasn't accomplishing much; a Republican House isn't going to cause anything much different. If progressives...

It is movie awards time. The Golden Globes were just handed out and the Oscar race is nearly on. I could not believe Avatar won the Golden Globes award for best picture. Why is it that if a movie is filled with spectacular special effects it is considered a best...

Pat Robertson has been getting a lot of attention for his hateful, insensitive remarks about the victims of the earthquake in Haiti (and the victims of 9/11, and the Christmas Day tsunami, and Hurricane Katrina). This is understandable. Those of us with anything resembling a moral compass are shocked that...

I am a poster child for public health. Why do I say this? Because I live in a state where there is a low-income, public healthcare option. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I was able to utilize this option for my treatment. It worked, and it worked extremely...

I have seen several articles on 9/11 debating whether the US is safer now than then, particularly since we went to Iraq. That 9/11 is even connected to Iraq as somehow making us safer is laughable, especially considering the only relation between the two is that 9/11 was used as...

The human rights abuse in torture is inherent and obvious, but its implications to our society are ultimately worse. In the context of terror, when our country tortures those accused of terrorist crimes, we create a climate where others sympathize with the torture victim, taking the focus away from the...

Isn't it ironic that as we're congratulating ourselves on our ability to elect a black president while we are simultaneously lamenting the passage of Proposition 8? We Americans have been quite pleased with ourselves because we were able to elect a black man to the highest office in the land....

A couple of days ago I received several emails forwarding the video of Sarah Palin being booed at the hockey game. I watched as she stepped onto the ice with her children, boos resounding from the highest bleachers, fans waving thumbs down signs in her direction. While I shared their...

Out of curiosity, I made a small survey of job postings just to see what kinds of skills employers are requiring of potential employees. Among other things, one of the primary requirements of job seekers is that they possess the ability to multitask. Multitasking is a simple concept really. It...

Lowering the Glass Ceiling
by Lara M. Gardner

I would like to take you on a journey of the imagination. . . .

Imagine that Sarah Palin is not a woman, but a man. We'll call him Mr. Palin. Mr. Palin has been mayor of a small town in...