The iPINIONS Journal

Everyone had a theory for the low turnout [The Washington Post] It’s been 16 years since HM Queen Elizabeth II made her last state visit to the United States. Therefore, in light of this absence, her (PR) firm can be forgiven the impression that the American people were waiting in suspended animation to shower her… Read more.

The consensus opinion going into yesterday’s elections was that the two major Parties were so evenly matched that the outcome was very much in doubt. (See yesterday’s article below) And, unofficial results show why there was so much doubt. Because, according to government TV, the opposition FNM appears to have ousted the ruling PLP in… Read more.

Today is Election Day in my native country, The Bahamas. And even though it’s not an official holiday, interest in the outcome of this election is such that the only thing most people will do today is vote and then rave about their Party’s imminent victory. It is interesting to note, however, that despite there… Read more.

Over a year ago (on 10 April 2006 to be precise), I published an article exhorting all people of political conscience, especially black Americans, to take time off from work to join a national day of marches in support of illegal-immigrant rights. Unfortunately, the issues that compelled my exhortation then remain so unresolved that they’re… Read more.

Almost two months ago, I wrote an article about a DC madam, Deborah Jeane Palfrey, who had just been arrested and was threatening to sell “46 pounds of detailed and itemized phone records” – from 13 years of business transactions with over 10,000 “Johns”- to settle IRS tax liabilities and defend herself against an orgy… Read more.

Last week, Sheryl Crow set tongues wagging with her new environmental activism, which included accosting Karl Rove, President Bush’s political “architect”, with her concerns about global warming at a black-tie media event and issuing the following scatological press release a few days later: I have spent the better part of this tour trying to come… Read more.

Just this morning I appended the following note to my tribute to the death of Jack Valenti: Boris Yeltsin died on Monday. Valenti died yesterday. Therefore, I’m sure regular readers of this weblog are wondering if my voodoo hypothesis – namely, that “deaths of famous people come in threes” – will hold true; i.e., with… Read more.

Today Washington and Hollywood insiders are mourning the death of Jack Valenti: …the former White House aide and film industry lobbyist who instituted the modern movie ratings system and guided Hollywood from the censorship era to the digital age. Valenti died at his Washington, DC home yesterday of complications from a stroke he suffered in… Read more.

For months now, cable TV, tabloid newspapers and Internet-gossip sites have manufactured drama and made cash by fueling idle speculation about who is Anna Nicole’s baby-Daddy and about who would win custody of this purported million-dollar baby. But from the outset, I assured readers of this weblog that, in due course, Larry Birkhead would not… Read more.

It’s got the same climate as Earth, plus water and gravity. A newly discovered planet is the most stunning evidence that life – just like us – might be out there. Above a calm, dark ocean, a huge, bloated red sun rises in the sky – a full ten times the size of our Sun… Read more.