There’s no denying that President Barack Obama is off to a flying start. And, nothing demonstrates this quite like the way he has engendered goodwill and transformed the image of America abroad. At home, where his presidency seems beset by the perils of Pauline, Obama has inspired such confidence and hope that even those who… Read more.
Archives for April 2009
Tribute to Sojourner Truth
There’s no denying that the only reason the media are doing all they can to turn a few cases of the flu into a pandemic is that scaring people generates super ratings. Unfortunately, the 24/7 coverage being dedicated to this open conspiracy means that truly important stories are being virtually ignored. Such was the case yesterday… Read more.
Swine flu causing more panic than pandemic
If we are indeed facing a pandemic, we need to demonstrate global solidarity. In our interconnected world, no nation can deal with threats of such dimension on its own. This was the appropriately cautious admonition UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon issued yesterday after the World Health Organisation (WHO) raised its alert level for a global flu pandemic… Read more.
ANC win landslide reelection in South Africa. Hail Zuma … Big Dada!
Congratulations to all South Africans on what was by all accounts “a well-run and highly successful election.” Especially since this stands in stark contrast to national elections on the continent – in places like Kenya, Congo and Zimbabwe – where post-election violence nullified results and forced untenable and unsustainable power-sharing governments on the electorate. Of course, there was… Read more.
Obama acting like Bush by boycotting UN summit on racism
I chastized the president of Columbia University for inviting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on campus to speak only to hurl political insults at him. I did so because, even though I agreed with everything the president said, I thought his ambush of Ahmadinejad was impolitic and impolite. Having invited him, the president should have been a gracious host and left it… Read more.
Commission extension gives TCI government a reprieve…
Like most TCIslanders, I am profoundly disappointed by the latest extension in the deadline (from 30 April to 31 May 2009) for the submission of Sir Robin’s final report on the Commission of Inquiry into corruption in the TCI. I believe I can assert without fear of contradiction, however, that our disappointment stems entirely from… Read more.
CIA Memogate: protecting the American people or betraying American values?
President Obama made an extraordinary appearance at CIA headquarters on Monday to explain why he ordered the release of secret CIA memos, which outline the Bush administration’s legal justification for “torturing” terror suspects: I acted primarily because of the exceptional circumstances that surrounded these memos, particularly the fact that so much of the information was public. He added… Read more.
Miss USA 2009: more about politics than beauty?!
I have always found it ironic, if not hypocritical, that feminists champion prostitutes but condemn beauty queens. Because I think a liberated woman should feel free to be either one. Frankly, that feminists identify more with prostitutes suggests that they may have more psycho-social and sexual issues (of repression) to deal with than women who… Read more.
Despite his attention-grabbing tantrums, which included launching missiles and expelling inspectors, Kim will return to six-party talks … on his terms
Related commentaries: North Korea’s missile diplomacy… Read more.
Remembering Columbine…
Massacres at Virginia Tech and other institutions in recent years make deadly violence at school seem almost routine today. Therefore, it’s hard to imagine the impact the massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, which killed 13 and injured many others, had on the nation 10 years ago today. But instead of trying to conjure up grief… Read more.