Welcome! This is an unapologetic, agenda-free zone. Just commentaries on current events that’ll move you to think, laugh, rage, and even cry.
You’d be wrong if you think American Idol had its largest TV audience of the season last night because it was the finale or because it was Simon Cowell’s farewell show. Because the only reason for this spike in viewership (in what has been a season of plummeting ratings) was the duly hyped special appearance by former judge Paula… Read more.
Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, has been little more than a public embarrassment for the British Royal family ever since she married Prince Andrew in 1986, notwithstanding the popular myth about her injecting a bit of life into the moribund monarchy. And, frankly, this stemmed far more from her own insecurities, which compelled her to… Read more.
Given the way Jamaican celebrities like Bob Marley have glorified ganja (marijuana), foreigners can be forgiven for thinking that it is the national crop of Jamaica. And Jamaicans can be forgiven for making folk heroes of men who defiantly use marijuana, or even profit from the sale of it. After all, it has undisputed medicinal… Read more.
Ever since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20 there has been a surreal vigil for the beaches and marshlands along the Gulf Coast. Well, the oil has landed. And it is giving a new ecological meaning to the dreaded term,” Black Death;” because the environmental damage will be catastrophic. … Read more.
For six seasons I was convinced that Lost was just like Seinfeld: a very entertaining series about nothing (or everything depending on how much you’re into surreal ideations about life, death and all things in between). And last night’s finale only confirmed this. No doubt much to the chagrin of the suckers who were expecting nirvana-like revelations. Instead,… Read more.
For over seven weeks about 100,000 poor farmers – calling themselves the Red Shirts – held Thailand practically hostage. They barricaded themselves in encampments in the middle of downtown Bangkok where they held daily rallies demanding dissolution of parliament, early elections, and a battery of democratic reforms. And most of them were clearly motivated by… Read more.
I was surprised at the number of friends and colleagues who knew nothing about Malawi until Madonna stirred international controversy by going there in 2006 to adopt the first of two Malawian babies. (She adopted the second one last year.) But now Malawi is stirring international controversy on its own. For, according to a report… Read more.
Most political pundits would have you believe that yesterday’s primary contests were critical in determining the fate not only of the Democratic-controlled Congress but also of President Obama’s presidency. But nothing could be further from the truth. Remember all of the consequential extrapolations these same pundits made right after Scott Brown won a special election… Read more.
Donald Trump is the owner of the Miss Universe Organization, which includes Miss USA but not Miss America. And reports abound that he handpicks the winners in his pageants: TMZ obtained an audio tape recorded during the pre-show screening portion of the 2009 [Miss USA] pageant, in which Trump can clearly be heard exercising “The… Read more.
