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Archives for 2009

ANC win landslide reelection in South Africa. Hail Zuma … Big Dada!

Monday, April 27, 2009 at 5:44 AM
Written by Anthony L. Hall

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

Saturday, April 25, 2009 at 8:57 AM
Written by Anthony L. Hall

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…

Friday, April 24, 2009 at 10:20 AM
Written by Anthony L. Hall

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?

Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 10:53 AM
Written by Anthony L. Hall

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?!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 12:17 PM
Written by Anthony L. Hall

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.

Remembering Columbine…

Monday, April 20, 2009 at 8:12 AM
Written by Anthony L. Hall

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.

Fifth Summit of the Americas: managing expectations

Friday, April 17, 2009 at 12:15 PM
Written by Anthony L. Hall

Just days after Barack Obama was elected president of the United States, I previewed what this portended for the Caribbean as follows: I feel constrained to note that, racial pride aside, those in the Caribbean who are heralding Obama’s election as the dawn of a new day in our relations with the United States are… Read more.

Phil Spector, pioneering music impresario, Convicted of Murder

Thursday, April 16, 2009 at 12:11 PM
Written by Anthony L. Hall

Surreal celebrity Phil Spector was dealt a pretty devastating dose of reality this week.  But it’s a tossup whether he found it more devastating that he was convicted of murder or that nobody seemed to care. After all, his (first) murder trial began in 2003 with fanfare that rivaled that of O.J. Simpson.  But it… Read more.