Archives for 2006

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At about 10 pm EST last night, Saddam Hussein stepped defiantly into the gallows and took the hangman’s noose with no hint of the fear his executioners hoped to see. And, after he allegedly damned America and an Iraq without him, Saddam was hanged with uncanny proficiency. It seems U.S. President George W. Bush has… Read more.

When Egyptian authorities threw political dissident Ayman Nour in prison last week, he became only the latest opponent of a benevolent despot to be jailed under dubious circumstances. Yet, except for reporting the event as just another news story, international media made little mention of the fact that Nour’s imprisonment confirmed Egypt’s notorious retreat from… Read more.

When news broke on Christmas Day that James Brown (73) had died of congestive heart failure, I did not think his passing was worthy of comment; except perhaps to note that he was probably the most famous and enduring one-hit wonder in entertainment history (ie. “I feel good”; I dare you to name another hit?).… Read more.

Today, John Edwards must be thinking that his 2008 U.S. presidential campaign is doomed to fail. After all, he chose what he thought was the slow news week between Christmas and New Year’s Day to maximize coverage of the announcement of his candidacy, only to have the deaths of James Brown and former president Gerald… Read more.

My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works! These are the memorable words President Gerald R. Ford uttered to signal the end of Richard Nixon’s scandalous presidency and the beginning of his ill-fated two and a half years as the 38th president of the United States. Ford passed away on Tuesday… Read more.

The latest? Body slams and uppercuts, instead of dunks and 3-pointers, provided “NBA-fantastic” moments at last Saturday’s Nuggets vs Knicks game at Madison Square Garden. NBA brawls Read more.

No, I’m not “too much of a snob to comment on the Miss USA thing” (as regular readers who have feasted on my Britney, Paris and Nicole commentaries can readily attest). So, here’s my two cents’ worth: Donald Trump is successful, in part, because he’s a shameless, irrepressible, self-promoting megalomaniac. And no one knows how… Read more.

Last September, when Pope Benedict XVI – Germany’s most famous native son – criticized tenets of Islam which incite Muslims to riot, Muslims reacted so violently, including issuing death threats against him, that the Pope was forced to perform a series of public apologies to quell their fury. But I promptly criticized him for being… Read more.

In a March 2005 column I predicted that the battle within the Anglican Church over the role of women and gays would eventually blow its worldwide communion asunder. Back then, some of the most influential dioceses in the United States and overseas – especially in Latin America and Africa where the Anglicans are competing with… Read more.