Welcome! This is an unapologetic, agenda-free zone. Just commentaries on current events that’ll move you to think, laugh, rage, and even cry.
Now that the herd-like American media have finished covering the debt-ceiling food fight between Republicans and Democrats, some news organizations are finally beginning to cover the drought and famine plaguing the Horn of Africa. I note especially the series of reports that NBC Nightly News has been airing this week. To welcome their belated attention, I have decided… Read more.
Unfortunately, negotiating with Republicans these days is rather like negotiating with suicide bombers. Yet, despite this kabuki dance (or game of chicken — complete with daily dueling press conferences), I have no doubt that the debt ceiling will be raised before the August 2 deadline. (Washington’s political food fight over debt ceiling, The iPINIONS Journal,… Read more.
Much is being said about the reputational damage the political game of chicken over raising its debt ceiling has caused the United States in the international arena. But far too little is being said about the reputational damage its double standards for humanitarian intervention have caused. Recall the categorical imperative President Obama cited when he… Read more.
Given the heat waves that have been smothering most of America in recent weeks, one can be forgiven for thinking that all of the alarmist warnings about global warming have finally come true. This, however, would require one to forget not only that there’s nothing new about summer heat waves, but that just a couple of months ago people were complaining about… Read more.
Related commentaries: Game of chicken over US debt ceiling Read more.
With all of the focus lately on sublime issues like African famine, celebrity deaths and brinkmanship over the U.S. debt ceiling, perhaps this commentary on the ridiculous trend of airbrushing images of women will provide a welcome diversion. A female friend sent me an airbrushed photo of herself a couple days ago and asked what I thought.… Read more.
I mentioned Amy Winehouse’s death yesterday, but only as an afterthought in my commentary on Lucian Freud’s death. The backlash was swift and furious. Her fans made me realize I had shown unwitting disrespect. However, my disrespect wasn’t in what I wrote but in treating it as an afterthought. I hope this commentary shows Winehouse the respect she deserves. Remembering… Read more.
In this age of pop music, hip hop, Twitter, Facebook and even Google doodles, I fully appreciate that the notion of an old portrait artist being a celebrity seems rather quaint. Yet there’s no denying that artist Lucian Freud was an A-list celebrity. Granted, the fact that he was the grandson of one of the most… Read more.
Last night President Obama (for the Democrats) and House Speaker John Boehner (for the Republicans) gave back-to-back, nationally televised addresses on the stalemate in negotiations to raise the government’s debt ceiling to avoid default as well as the economic Armageddon that would trigger. But anyone hoping to hear anything that would indicate a resolution to this looming… Read more.
I appreciate that many of you are surprised, if not disappointed, that I have not commented on the ongoing bickering between Republicans (led by House Speaker John Boehner) and Democrats (led by President Barack Obama) over raising the U.S. government’s debt ceiling. Truth be told, I’ve just been loath to dignify the sausage-making process these… Read more.
