Welcome! This is an unapologetic, agenda-free zone. Just commentaries on current events that’ll move you to think, laugh, rage, and even cry.
Like most people I got a good laugh at the way JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater went off after a difficult passenger spewed expletives in his face and another gashed his forehead while opening the overhead bin and then refused to apologize. This abuse proved to be the last straw. Because as soon as his flight (1052 from… Read more.
It smacks of the political tone-deafness that got Bush in trouble over Katrina that Obama sees nothing wrong with commissioning Air Force One (and all of the resources his presidential travel entails) just to fly him and his wife up to New York City for dinner and a play. (Obamas’ Marie-Antoinette faux pas, The iPINIONS… Read more.
For over 10 days now, floods of biblical proportions have been devastating many areas of Pakistan, including the perennially fertile Punjab as well as the Taliban safe haven in northwest Swat valley (Thank God for small favors…?). The floods have reportedly made a flowing and swirling stew of shanty homes, bridges, schools, health clinics, power… Read more.
Given the way opponents of the plan to build a Muslim cultural center near ground zero are being portrayed in the media, one can be forgiven the impression that they are all anti-Muslim bigots. And, alas, the way some right-wing nuts are crusading against it only reinforces this impression. Talk about giving al-Qaeda fodder for propaganda…. Mind you, this… Read more.
Here, in part, is how hip-hop star Wyclef Jean rationalized his decision to run for president of Haiti this November: If I can’t take five years out to serve my country as President, then everything I’ve been singing about, like equal rights, doesn’t mean anything. (TIME, August 4, 2010) But I suspect some Haitians will… Read more.
A tale of two drugs For over 25 years, many politicians, including the late Senator Ted Kennedy, fought to redress the imbalance between federally mandated sentences for possession of crack cocaine and the powder form of the drug. For example, a person convicted of possessing five grams of crack cocaine got the same mandatory sentence… Read more.
Here, in part, is how I marked the occasion when the house of cards upon which American Idol was built began to fall apart: [W]hen Paula was unceremoniously dumped a year ago, almost every TV critic said that the show would not only survive but thrive without her distracting and seemingly drug-induced ramblings. By contrast,… Read more.
There’s no denying that a number of politicians seemed hell-bent on making a career out of sounding alarms about the catastrophic and lasting impact of the BP oil spill. But a funny thing happened just days after BP managed to finally cap, though not kill, the well that was spewing an estimated 2.5 million gallons… Read more.
Republicans, and even some Democrats, are saying that Barack Obama demeaned the presidency by appearing on The View last week. But I don’t think this was any more demeaning than George W. Bush appearing on Dr. Phil in 2004. (Thanks for the reminder Jon….) More to the point, though, it smacks of the most absurd form of elitism (perhaps… Read more.
