Welcome! This is an unapologetic, agenda-free zone. Just commentaries on current events that’ll move you to think, laugh, rage, and even cry.
I’ve been a devout viewer of 60 Minutes for as long as I can remember. And the highlight was often the segment entitled “A Few Minutes With Andy Rooney” at the end of each episode. Mind you, it wasn’t just his homespun delivery, which often made it seem like he was playing a Saturday Night Live spoof of himself.… Read more.
KKK imagery The top of the Washington Monument looks like the hood of a Ku Klux Klansman. This was thrown into stark relief last week. The media were covering workers repelling down the Monument. They were inspecting the damage caused by the recent earthquake. Most people seemed mesmerized by the workers’ Cirque-du-Soleil acrobatics. But I… Read more.
I have no doubt that Michael Jackson was the greatest entertainer of all time. But I also have no doubt that he was partly to blame for his own “timely” death. Of course, I appreciate that for most of his fans these two points are irreconcilable. Therefore, all I’m going to say about Michael’s blame is… Read more.
There was worldwide condemnation two years ago when South Africa denied the Dalai Lama a visa to join fellow Nobel Peace Laureates at an international peace conference in Johannesburg. The organizers ended up canceling the conference in protest. China just smiled…. But I’m on record – dating back to February 2005 in a commentary entitled… Read more.
Is it appropriate to sail into the idyllic port of Labadee, Haiti on a pleasure cruise when the dead remain unburied and the impoverished country writhes in chaos? (Cruise Law News, January 19, 2010) Labadee is an enclave that Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd carved out of the north coast of Haiti as a “private paradise”… Read more.
I’m a big fan of NFL football player Michael Vick. But four years ago, when he was in the dog house (no pun intended) and every sports writer was writing obituaries on his career, I wrote the following – more as one who understands the business of professional sports than as a fan: Let me hasten… Read more.
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia issued a decree on Sunday granting women the right to vote and run in local elections. He also announced that, for the first time, women will be appointed to the Majlis Al-Shura, the kingdom’s de facto (rubber-stamp) parliament. But Western pundits, across the political spectrum, are scoffing. They note, quite… Read more.
Saturday’s announcement of the scheme to restore Vladimir Putin as president of Russia was about as surprising as April’s announcement of the campaign to reelect Barack Obama as president of the United States. Actually, the only thing noteworthy about Putin’s announcement is the stupefaction pundits around the world are expressing about the way Russia’s incumbent president, Dmitry Medvedev,… Read more.
The media have been replete with complaints lately (most notably by talk-show host Tavis Smiley and Princeton Professor Cornel West) about President Obama governing in the interest of every other group except poor black folks. Therefore, many political pundits expected Obama to use the occasion of his keynote address at last night’s annual awards dinner… Read more.
