We don’t know a lot about St. Valentine, but thanks to hours of mind-numbing research and the ability to make up stuff,

By Rachel Birdsell I watched a documentary last night that explored what makes people happy. A man with a lot of letters after his name explained that our nervous system simply registers differences. So, without sadness we can’t have happiness. Without tapioca pudding we can’t have chocolate crème brûlée. This also means that without the…

“Because in Cathrynn’s head there’s no better way to punish a rapist than to make his victim carry his baby to full term. That’ll teach him, won’t it?” By Rachel Birdsell Although it’s difficult, I can vaguely remember a time when the Republican Party wasn’t quite as cuckoo as they are now. Their slide into…

By Rachel Birdsell The Polk County, Fla., Sheriff’s Department recently spent four days setting up a sting operation to nab people who were looking to pay or be paid for sex. Undercover officers posing as prostitutes and johns set up meetings with people on websites used for the solicitation of sex. Sheriff Grady Judd seemed…

By Rachel Birdsell As sick as I am that it’s taken too many killings to convince our government something has to be done about gun control, I am happy there is finally something happening. Vice President Joe Biden is heading up a task force that is looking into what steps we can take to not…

By Rachel Birdsell Last week, I wrote about what I’d learned in 2012. I’m afraid that you might not have been able to relate to it, though. This week, to make up for it, I’m going to share events that happened in 2012 that we all should be able to learn from. A Portland couple…

By Rachel Birdsell Another year is about to slip away again, and hopefully we are all ending 2012 a little wiser than when we started it. I know that I’ve learned a lot this year. Some of it is knowledge that I embrace and some is knowledge that I wish I didn’t know. But, whether…

By Rachel Birdsell I have seen the phrase “reason for the season” about 9,526 times this month. We are all being implored to please, for the love of all things holy, remember the reason for the season. But I’m not sure which one I’m supposed to remember. There are a number of reasons people celebrate…

By Rachel Birdsell The War on Christmas has revved back up and this year, it seems to be uglier than ever. I know that some of you may deny there is a war happening. You’ll throw out your silly anecdotes about how some logical people only want to keep nativity scenes off government property, but…

“It bothers me that the author takes it upon herself to criticize feminism but obviously doesn’t know much about it if she thinks that feminists didn’t pop up until the 1970s.” By Rachel Birdsell Author, Suzanne Venker, recently wrote an article for foxnews.com titled The War on Men. In the article, she writes that a…