It’s really not very hard to be Rush Limbaugh [or at least on Rush Limbaugh’s Staff]. Just look at the news and find out what President Obama has done in the last 24 hours [if there’s not much there, move on to Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, or any other Democrat]. Now look at the list […]
I’ve been watching the coverage on the earthquake crisis in Haiti this evening, which makes one aware of the dire straits of the country even without this new disaster – poverty, disease, deforestation. It’s really a depressing state of affairs. It puts me in mind of something I’ve been thinking about more and more since […]
As the pictures keep coming in from Haiti, the amount of devastation becomes increasingly horrific. Looking on the USGS earthquake site, there were a number of major aftershocks, Richter 5.0 or greater. Those surely had something to do with the collapse of so many buildings. Another complicating factor was that the earthquake hit at 4:53 […]
The pictures of the devastation and human suffering from yesterday’s earthquake in Haiti are everywhere, and every article seems to have the phrase "Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world." The word Haiti itself conjures up the specter of Voodoo and squalor, obscuring the progress made there. For example, when the AIDS epidemic […]
Peter Robinson seems a person of integrity, even with the dire circumstances created by the scandal. In this interview, it hasn’t yet dawned on him that he’s not going to be able to finish his life’s work. It really is a tragedy… BBC Spotlight Program on the Iris Robinson Affair Part 1 Part 2 Part […]
Torture Advocate John Yoo Justifies Need For Radical Legal Paradigm By Citing Death Toll Of Terrorist Attacks ThinkProgress January 12, 2010 One of the most tragic legacies of the Bush administration was its endorsement of harsh and inhumane treatment of terrorism suspects. One of the chief advocates for these policies was former Justice Department official […]
I will admit to being in love with Ireland – not the kind of love that people with Irish Heritage have. It’s another kind. It’s a fascination with what Yeats called "a terrible beauty" in his poem Easter 1916 [about the cruel supression of the uprising of 1916 which burned much of Dublin]. There’s a […]
‘The Aughts’: The worst decade ever? Will "the decade from hell" still feel that way 10 years from now? The Week [subscription] January 7, 2010 “Good riddance to the Zeros!” said Mark Morford in the San Francisco Chronicle. “The decade from hell,” as it has been aptly dubbed, brought us the horrific 9/11 attacks, the […]
There were two articles summarized below in yesterday’s Washington Post that focued on al Qaeda’s strategies, but they both stuck to the "War on Terror" metaphor. I would never argue against the need for such a war, at least a war with al Qaeda and the Taliban – the current forces of Islamic/Arab Militant Fundamentlism […]