Welcome! This is an unapologetic, agenda-free zone. Just commentaries on current events that’ll move you to think, laugh, rage, and even cry.
Yesterday, during a visit with U.S. Patrol at the Mexican border, President Bush previewed the big speech on Iraq that he plans to deliver this morning at the U.S. Naval Academy. He declared his intent to reinforce border controls as part of his new (get tough) immigration policy and accelerate the training of Iraqi security… Read more.
Six months ago, when political pundits were predicting that a no-confidence vote would bring down the government of Canadian Prime Minster Paul Martin, I predicted in this article that he would, in fact, prevail. And, so he did. Unfortunately, the corruption scandals that precipitated that vote have dogged Martin and his Liberal Party ever since.… Read more.
Leaders from 52 nations (primarily former British colonies in Africa and the Caribbean) met in Malta last weekend for the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOG) Summit – under the auspices of HM Queen Elizabeth II (seen here addressing them in her trademark hat). Their agenda was dominated by trade issues. But talks amounted to… Read more.
Advocates for capital punishment often argue, in exasperation, that if a child molester, serial killer or anyone deemed sufficiently evil (in the eye of the beholder) does not deserve the death penalty, then who does? And this is an eminently sensible argument; but it arises from a misguided premise. Because, the question is not who… Read more.
What bird flu scare? Read more.
Ahmad Chalabi, former Iraqi exile (and dictator-in-waiting), is the man senior officials in the Bush administration have accused, on the record, of deliberately fooling the Pentagon, CIA and other international intelligence agencies with bogus information about stockpiles of WMDs that led to the invasion of Iraq. In fact, once the Americans realised that there were… Read more.
Reports about female school teachers getting arrested for sexually assaulting their students abounded last summer. I commented by publishing instructive guidelines for dealing with these misguided “sex-ed” teachers. Punishment for predatory school teachers This week, the courts handed down sentences against two of them. And I am heartened that the judge followed my sentencing guidelines in each case. Sandra Beth Geisel got six months in… Read more.
Angela Merkel, yesterday, looking more like a person just convicted of fraud than as the person just affirmed as Germany’s first female Chancellor. But, given the fractious nature of the election campaign and the uneasy coalition she has forged to govern the county, perhaps Merkel is already fearing the ides of March… In this recent… Read more.
Ahmed Omar Abu Ali – the al Qaeda suspect who confessed to being ordered by Osama bin Laden to assassinate President Bush – was convicted yesterday by a federal jury in Alexandria, Virginia. Perhaps this conviction will prove to Bush and his trials-be-damned Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, that U.S. courts are fully capable of… Read more.
My idea of a good TV drama series is 24 (on FOX) starring Kiefer Sutherland. And, for a good TV comedy series, Curb Your Enthusiasm (on HBO) starring Larry David gets my vote. Therefore, this commentary on Desperate Housewives (on ABC) is admittedly suffused with bias, if not condescension. But the fact that I could… Read more.
