High-quality English language analysis and editorial writing on the news.
Last week, six planes coming in to land at Sydney airport have had green lasers pointed at their cockpits in what seems to be a coordinated attack, in which three or four different lasers were pointed at airplanes landing at that airport. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the attack was bad enough that they […]
By Jefferson Flanders Was that really David Mamet, playwright of the profane, announcing in the Village Voice, of all places, “Why I Am No Longer a Brain-Dead Liberal“? Apparently so. Mamet’s political epiphany came, he announced in March, as he wrote his recent play “November” and found himself contrasting the conservative tragic view of life […]
While the fact that the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) computers were exposed to badware because an employee was doing some “unauthorized surfing” makes good press — it highlights what can happen to any business, or government system when human beings use them to go to the murkier waters of the Internet. Trust me, the […]
Lori Drew has denied any involvement in Megan Meier’s death. Her former employee, Ashley Grill told a LA Grand Jury a different story. Federal prosecutors in California questioned Ashley Grill, an employee of the woman who allegedly was behind a cruel hoax which led to the suicide of 13-year-old Megan Meier. Grill was questioned […]
Illinois voters will be presented with an historical opportunity to fix the structural problems that plague Illinois government and fix deficiencies and loopholes in our current constitution. There are problems that can only be fixed in a constitution but the entrenched interests have come out saying a convention is unnecessary. Here is why they are […]
When Justice H. Walter Croskey ruled that “California courts have held that … parents do not have a constitutional right to homeschool their children,” he set off a firestorm of protests from homeschooling parents and organizations, not only throughout the state but throughout the country — and rightly so. What right has any court or […]
“The fact that women travel less than men – measured in person- kilometers per car, plane, boat and motorcycle – means that women cause considerably fewer CO2 emissions than men and thus considerable less climate change. “If women’s consumption levels were to be the norm, both emissions and climate change would be significantly less than […]
Nella Last, the ‘housewife, 49’ of the title of this much acclaimed drama was exactly that; a working-class housewife in Barrow-in-Furness, aged forty-nine at the start of World War Two, when she volunteered to keep a diary as part of Mass-Observation. This was a long term social research project which ran for over twenty years […]
Gloria doesn’t understand why Michael and Lauren are turning their back on her. He tells her if she doesn’t want to go home to the mansion to go get a room at a hotel. She says she just needs her family tonight. Lauren gives in and says ok but just tonight, not two nights. Gloria […]
Emma announces to Holden and Lily that she doesn’t want to run the farm alone anymore and she has decided that she wants to sell the farm. She explains that she would like to keep the house and a small portion of the land and the pond. She says if she sells the rest then […]
John walks in and hears Rolf practicing with his speech trying to lose his accent. John tells him he doesn’t care what he does he just wants him to lose the accent because it gets on his nerves. Marlena comes in and John asks her to what does he owe this pleasure. Marlena just smiles. […]
A new poll by the non-partisan think tank the Center for Immigration Studies found that the majority of voters know very little about the three remaining presidential candidates’ positions on immigration. All three candidates favor eventual citizenship for illegal immigrants who meet certain requirements, but only 34% of McCain voters, 42% of Clinton voters, and 52% of Obama voters could correctly identify their candidate’s position.
Mend Your Misery is a collection of twelve poems largely focused on love and heartbreak. Kristofer Dommin seems to have channeled that spotty teen-angst phase that drives people to poetry, and honed it to its core. While the themes are overall pedestrian and the language commonplace, where Kristoff shines is his attention to the rhythm of the words.
Yesterday Offstumped took a serious view of the parochial water war that has errupted in Karnataka over the Hogenakkal project. Offstumped’s criticism of the Karnataka BJP fanning the fires has not been receieved with equal enthusiasm with some of Offstumped’s regular readers. The Hogenakkal issue may have a history here that needs to be factored. […]
A school building reopened at the end of last week following an asbestos scare earlier in the week. A block at the school, Wick High in the UK , closed on Tuesday of last week following concerns about possible asbestos contamination. However, the building reopened again on Friday. There were fears earlier in the week […]
This is a meticulous and carefully researched novel of a very specific time, place and circumstances, of belief and prejudice and conflicting obedience to conscience and the law. It follows in plain and unvarnished prose, the journey of an innocent and honest young man of strong ethical purpose, wandering Candide-like through an often violent, sometimes […]
During a speech in Philadelphia, PA in front of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, Hillary Clinton unveiled her plan to create 3 million new jobs by investing in infrastructure. “Today, I am announcing an aggressive infrastructure agenda will create at least 3 million jobs over the next decade. After the failed levees in New Orleans, the tragic bridge collapse in Minnesota, we don’t need any more devastating wake up calls. And you don’t have to look any further than the problems you had with I-95 to know that we have to take action now. We’re trying to run today’s economy on yesterday’s infrastructure – our bridges, our tunnels, our roads, our water systems and so much else – and we are jeopardizing American prosperity. So I will rebuild America by rebuilding, repairing and modernizing our infrastructure,†Clinton said.
A favorite of director Eli Roth (Cabin Fever, the Hostel films) and the Broken Lizard comedy troupe (Beerfest, Club Dread), composer Nathan Barr has been working steadily since his first film, the relatively unknown Hairshirt in 1998. What makes Barr’s work on Shutter most relevant, though, is that he actually started studying music in Tokyo… when he […]
 One of the most fascinating aspects of music is the power it has to transport the listener to another place. Some pieces remind us of troubled times, others bring up powerfully nostalgic feelings and still others conjure up memories of certain places. As I listened to Conchita Campos’ new EP release “So It Goes†I […]
The Sundance Channel premiers season two of their eco-friendly series Big Ideas For A Small Planet tonight (April 1) at 9pm. This season will feature 13 episodes, and if it is as good as last season, this is must watch television. Tonight’s episode looks at alternative energy sources, and the people behind the technology. The phrase […]
On Wednesday of this week, we will remember Pope John Paul II and the third anniversary of his returning “To the house of the Father†as phrased by then dean of the College of Cardinals, Joseph Ratzinger. In the three years since the death of John Paul there has been a constant and growing movement […]
From The Gathering Storm Blog Those in the peace movement suffer under a major misunderstanding about peace. In an article in Dissident Voices, the writer states: Men keep going to war. They go for many reasons. The only defensible reason, however, is self-defense – of one’s family, one’s community, one’s country. Typical of a liberal […]
European carbon traders are eagerly awaiting benchmark numbers on European greenhouse gas emissions during 2007. European countries ought to have submitted the data in a central system yesterday but many failed to meet the deadline. That is why the Brussels authorities in charge of the central system have not yet released the information on the […]
There’s a lot of stuff on the internet about the Pope coming to the US. A lot of the reporting is slightly absurd, leading Peter Steinfels at the NYTimes to predict how the media will spin the story when they discover the Pope is Catholic… Flannery O’Connor once explained the Catholics as “Here comes everybody”, […]
Yesterday (3/31/08) one dream of many Cubans came true when Raul Castro did away with the laws that forbade Cuban citizens from staying in, or even entering, the island’s luxury hotels and resorts. Today more dreams are coming true! Starting on April 1st Cubans can now purchase things like computers, plasma TVs, electric powered bicycles […]
We are pleased to announce our latest endeavor, Blogger News is now sponsoring some radio shows on Blog Talk Radio. You can check our full schedule, and listen to previous broadcasts here, and we hope that you will join us on the air in this new venture.
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