War began on my thirteenth birthday, alien blue tracer fire arcing over the minarets and round curving buildings of Baghdad. I sat cross-legged on the couch with an open notebook in my lap, not studying ...

To the Editors of BustedHalo: Like most people around the world, I saw the re-election of George W. Bush to the presidency of the United States as ...

The scandal moves to California The epicenter of the Catholic priest sex abuse scandal is poised to move west to California. That's because a new state law , effective Jan. 1, 2003, ...

March is nearly upon us, as is the brink of war. Usually when I think of March I tend to think of college basketball and March Madness, also known as the NCAA's ...

Yesterday, outside the Hogar de Cristo here in Arica, Chile, my mind boggled as I talked to a homeless, alcoholic, filthy and desperate man. ...

Jesus was all about non-violence as the way to transform your enemy?s heart. Modern warfare has other ideas about what to do with your enemy's heart. As the debate around pummeling Saddam ...

I was eight years old when on Jan. 22, 1973 , the U.S. Supreme Court made abortion legal throughout the country. Growing up in a post-Roe v. Wade world, I listened to friends who had chosen ...

Are you a good Catholic? As we begin 2003, we are surrounded by war and rumors of war. What do you think of the Bush administration's ...

Ever had a revelation? Ever, in the middle of everything ordinary, touched the depths of what is mystery ? Despite the post-New Year hangovers, this is just the time for revelations. According to ancient tradition, the 6th ...

Who will be the benefactors of any war on Iraq ? The winners are all about past relationships. And where President George W. Bush's administration is concerned, those past relationships are measured in barrels of crude ...

This morning in Rome it was announced that the pope had accepted the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law, the Archbishop of Boston. This brings to an end one part of the yearlong priest sex scandal ...

Remember the days before "super size"? Remember when the smallest size coffee you could order was—you won't believe this—a "small"? When was the last time you ate ...

What is a good deed? What's the point of trying to be good in a world that's clearly a mess? And how do you even begin to do that? These ...

Some people hate it, some people love it. Some people call it an evil in our society, while others revel in it. No, I am not talking about reality television. I am talking about ...

Oatmeal is not a favorite food of two-year-olds. Mine wasn't too thrilled to see it arrive on the breakfast table this morning. He ate grudgingly, intermittent spoonfuls hitting the table and floor. I cajoled it ...

Can a government honestly say it's an advocate for the public's health while siding with the auto industry against electric cars quotas? It's doubtful given the ill effects of smog and pollution from gas guzzling automobiles. ...

When I was about ten years old growing up in Havana, my friends and I made an awesome discovery. ...

Any cop will tell you it's the guilty who run at the scene of a crime. Believe that and you'll find Vice President Dick Cheney's disappearances during recent terrorist alerts puzzling. During ...

"Turbo props are ok. They won't hijack a turbo prop," my ex-boyfriend insisted as I squirmed and looked for more reasons not to fly to my upcoming family reunion four ...

A few weeks before she finished her pharmacy degree, my younger sister called to tell me she'd just been offered a job paying something like $60,000 a year. My mind sprouted dark, envious thoughts as ...