Fellow travellers, as we all know, language creates reality. And words can hurt and oppress, too. Even the most seemingly innocuous turns of phrase can be the cause of the most intense distress.

The word "moonbat", for example is becoming more and more offensive. It is getting to the point when it really is intolerable. Soon, I may even join with some of my fellow progressive bloggers to initiate a global class action against those on the more reactionary fringes of the blogosphere. We will ei...
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Fellow travellers, as you well know I care deeply about the welfare of animals - or as I call them, non-human people. That's why I have been both saddened and ultimately heartened by this story about a tropical fish swallowed whole by an appalling Brit called Chris Caswell. Not only was the poor gilled being treated barbarically by the hoon, but the journalist who reported the story couldn't even decide on its classification.

I mean, the article linked above refers to it as alternatively a gup...
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Championing the rights of animals (or as I Iike to think of them, non-human people) can be a frustrating and thankless task. I mean, it can be disappointing, to say the least, when after performing three hours of political street theatre raising awareness about our threatened indigenous bird-life, a pigeon decides to defecate on your head!

Then there is the pervasive speciesism that so many Homo sapiens are guilty of. It's bad enough that it's a societal norm. But sometimes this appalling atti...
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