The Cartagena Summit on a Mine-Free World is taking place this week in Columbia.  This is the second review conference of the 1997 Ottawa Convention on the banning of anti-personnel landmines. The Ottawa Landmine Ban Treaty has been signed by 156 nations.  However, a fe/… Read full post »

US Healthcare Costs

by the insurers because the US private healthcare insurance industry is programmed to include ever-increasing healthcare costs. 

Cost containment is one of the key features that everyone is looking for in the healthcare reform bill.  What isn’t b/… Read full post »

Senator Jon  “K Street”  Kyl

They Walk Their Talk.

Keith Olbermann, of MSNBC’s Countdown, and Rich Stockwell, his senior producer, have proven to be good citizens when it comes to their active promotion of the National Association of Free Clinics.  It’s refreshing to see that media political p/… Read full post »

Victory

McClatchy wire service was abuzz this morning with the “leaked” information on Obama’s plan to increase the troop strength in Afghanistan by 34,000 soldiers.  The report stated that the “leakers” want to emphasize tha/… Read full post »

“The Obama healthcare plan will increase women’s cancer risks.” 

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The GOP playbook includes an entire section on creating false realities.  The way this is done is by linking snippets of truth together t/… Read full post »

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“The long-hoped-for bullet was entering his brain. 

He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark mustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the lov… Read full post »

Yesterday, Israel’s interior ministry okayed the building of 900 new housing units in annexed east Jerusalem.  This was a major move by Israel (especially in the light of Ambassador Mitchell’s recent request to halt construction), and it was one of the top news stories… Read full post »

It was Curtis LeMay who coined this phrase during the war in Vietnam.  This was tough talk back then.  But regardless of how we felt about this subject at the time, we had to listen to General LeMay since he was a decorated commanding officer in our military. … Read full post »

In business school we learned that “what people want” is really “what we can successfully convince them that they want”. A basic principle of Marketing 101 is that the consumer is a blank slate. The purpose of our corporate leadership is to fill in th… Read full post »

The Senate Kabuki Dance is about to begin.

The Senate floor debate on the healthcare bill will soon take place.  If it is anything like other Corporate Elite v. The People debates, it should make for some very interesting theatre.  

The anti Public Option senators have al… Read full post »

The Distinguished Senator from Cigna Connecticut

“If the public option plan is in there, as a matter of conscience, I will not allow this bill to come to a final vote…”

I find the impertinence of Joe’s recent talk-show remarks to be rath… Read full post »

Meet Bob

I don’t know about you, but I come close to hurling every time I see a TV ad for erectile dysfunction (ED).  The immoral insensitivity of these ads has increased considerably since the days when Bob Dole would discretely tell us to contact our doctor for details.&nbs… Read full post »

 

Yes - Baseball

Every year at this time I suffer from post-series depression.  Though my wife and daughters always welcome me back into the family, I find myself lost in a world where I'm unable to watch my home town team, catch up on the latest scores, or listen t/… Read full post »

Speaking of unrealistic fantasies, let’s talk about the new Republican healthcare proposal. 

Somehow, they think that their plan will appeal to the masses when, in fact, it’s just another hand-out to the health insurance industry.&nbs… Read full post »

Actually, napalm is not the incendiary weapon of choice for the Israeli military.  In the Gaza War, they chose to use white phosphorus and cluster bombs. 

The use of any of these incendiary weapons on civilian populations is prohibited under the United Nations Convention on Certai… Read full post »

   

This is an Orwellian principle that has reached a monumental level of importance in our modern-day media. 

On an operating level, it is evidenced by the O’Reilly-types talking over dissenting views (or simply cutting off the mic of the f… Read full post »

  

The US Extraordinary Rendition Program has finally been tested in court.  Unfortunately, it happened in an Italian court.  As the BBC reported today:

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The defendants were accused of abducting the cleric, known as Abu Omar, from Milan… Read full post »

  

The nation can breathe a sigh of relief.  Unfortunately, the aftermath of his evil deeds will live on for quite some time, at least until the nation is able to come to terms with the US Torture Doctrine created within the Bush White House by David Addington, Dick… Read full post »

 

Human beings are unique when it comes to the act of killing.  All other carnivorous creatures will kill for food, or to protect their mating rights, or to protect their hunting territory.  Only humans commit suicide, kill for differences in tho… Read full post »

I know!  I know!  My liberal compatriots will equate this to me “dancing with the devil”, but I couldn’t help myself.  It happened during the early '60s.  I was in my freshman year at a conserv… Read full post »

 

This is the type of question being asked in many of the political polls being conducted these days.  It’s difficult to give a serious answer to an unserious question. 

Take, for example, a recent poll conducted by the Republican National Committee (RNC).  T… Read full post »

I spent quite some time looking for a decent bottle of wine last night at Trader Joe’s.  It made me think of the ease of finding a good wine when I was living in Italy.  During my two years there in the early ‘80s, I simply… Read full post »