High-quality English language analysis and editorial writing on the news.
A friend and fellow high school alum, Jacqueline Russell-Wegner, sent me this essay. I think it speaks for itself and should generate some good discussion. Like other Americans, I was riveted watching the manhunt live. I listened to every word reporters offered. I was fascinated that a major U.S city was literally shut down and […]
BBG Watch Commentary Fired Radio Liberty Russian journalists delivered some of the best in depth analysis of the links between the Boston bombings, violent jihadism and Chechnya. Known as Radio Liberty in Exile, journalists fired last year by the former management of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) turned to their still employed RFE/RL […]
The latest episode of the “Consider This!†podcast is out. Conservative commentary in 10 minutes or less. The bombing of the Boston Marathon started a number of things; a terrorism investigation, increased security all over the country, and the media’s attempt to, again, blame the Right for domestic terrorism. Folks, please, let’s take care of the wounded and […]
Welcome to the First Virtual Church of Our Lord and Savior, Steve Jobs. As you enter the sanctuary, please do not make eye contact with anyone. Keep your eyes focused on the screen of the mobile device of your choice. We are relevant and practice diversity here, which is easy since no one will even […]
Another big “story” in the news, saying that a big shot Harvard professor has found proof that Jesus was married. And if you believe that one, here is a copy of an ancient papyrus that I’d like to sell to you: this one is from the ancient book of LOLCATBIBLEexodux 32 What? There was no […]
Yesterday, I posted this tongue in cheek cartoon from the Cheezburger site about the Republicans on my personal blog: : Yup. Non emotional dour Vulcans are the new Republicans. But at a time when the economy is in trouble, is letting someone who can logically analyze the details of a complicate budget bill have a […]
Lots of hyperbole and finger-pointing in the news this week about the Health Care bill, so let’s look at a few facts. One: While you weren’t looking, medicine has morphed into big business. The days when your friendly family doc could throw away the bill and give you free medicine are long gone. If I […]
It’s hard to follow American politics from ten thousand miles away (I live in the rural Philippines, and we get the news a day late), but as a Democrat, I was bemused to read in today’s papers that Rick Santorum just won in the Republican primaries of Minnesota and Missouri. Santorum? I wasn’t aware he […]
“Traumatic grief, with its unanswered questions, its numbing shock, its horror, its ability to sear disturbing images into our souls that cannot be erased by sleep or by time–this process follows the same general path both for persons and groups.†When 12:30 struck, none of us fourth graders knew that our young president was being […]
The president is taking a much needed vacation, this time to Martha’s Vineyard. So what does the Washington Post have for a headline this morning? As rebels close in on Tripoli, Obama getting updates on Martha’s Vineyard Why yes. Martha’s Vineyard isn’t exactly in the middle of nowhere, and they do have internet connections, an […]
In Massachusetts, a mom who stopped her son’s cancer medicines has been convicted of attempted murder. Apparently, the son had autism, the mom was not a pristine heroine but a mom who resented being burdened with a handicapped son, and so when he developed a cancer that had a good cure rate with chemotherapy, she […]
The NYTimes has a headline that questions if “Shaken Baby Syndrome” exists. Actually, the article is better than the headlines, but I worry that by trying to absolve the guilt of the perpetrator by showing the problems in diagnosing when and how the child was injured, they are missing a teaching moment. What you need […]
A bit of an uproar in Massachusetts, where the local papers have discovered that Senator Kerry bought a yacht, but has parked it in nearby Rhode Island to get out of paying the local sales tax. The good news is that, now that he has been caught and shamed, he will pay the half million […]
In their article in the New York Times, “There’s Only One Way to Stop a Bully,†Susan Engel and Marlene Sandstrom focus on the educational aspects of programs designed to stop school bullying. Let’s look at the whole picture and especially at the piece that’s usually missing from ineffective school programs: Laws: Over 40 states […]
The following is an article by Fathers & Families Board Member, Robert Franklin, Esq.: Massachusetts HB 1400 will be voted on in committee soon, perhaps as early as July 13th. It would establish a presumption of equally shared parenting in case of divorce or separation. If a judge deviated from an equally shared arrangement, he/she […]
Andrew Malcolm over at the LATimes is wondering what to make of Sarah Palin. Her poll numbers are low, both when the polls ask if she is qualified to be president and also when asked if people would vote for those she supports, yet in this primary season a lot of those she endorsed have […]
Just as many girls as boys are bullies but girls more often target other girls. Girls do bully other girls physically. One publicized example is the Florida girls who beat up a classmate and then posted the video on YouTube. However, most girl-girl bullying is verbal and emotional. Seven of the nine bullies were girls […]
Bill Cosby is right. On a special anti-bullying segment on Larry King Live, Cosby lashed out at the bullies who tormented Phoebe Prince for months before she committed suicide. He also took on the teachers, principal and school administrators who said that they didn’t know what was going on. For months, Prince was assaulted, pushed […]
Maybe the suicide of 15-year-old Phoebe Prince will finally wake us up. Maybe the articles in the New York Times, Huffington Post, People magazine and dozens of others will wake us up. Maybe the long list of charges against the bullies and tormentors will finally goad the public to demand strong action. Maybe charges of […]
Phoebe Prince has been back in the news in the past week. This time it is about those who abused her relentlessly before she took her life as a result of being abused at the hands of her peers. Phoebe Prince had moved from Ireland to Massachusetts and enrolled at South Hadley High School. A […]
I feel for those who who bought modest homes that were overpriced because of the “housing bubble” and now can’t meet their mortgages. So those who bought modest homes and find they are in a temporary bind in paying off the mortgage probably need some kind of help, either from relatives, bank loans, or government […]
Phoebe Prince continues to make headlines after her recent death as a result of the relentless abuse by her peers at South Hadley High School. This story has opened a lot of floodgates with parents and alumni of South Hadley High School expressing internalized anger as they never stepped in to stop this abuse or […]
Unless you’ve been living in a closet for 2 week, or are a die-hard Obama supporter trying to avoid the news, Scott Brown, the Republican, won the special election to fill the Senate seat of the late Ted Kennedy. Yes, that Ted Kennedy. Was this simply a local election, judged solely on local issues? I […]
…one Earthquake all too physically destructive, the other a virtual earthquake – shaking our political fabric to its very core, and with it, destruction of the hopes and dreams of the far left.
There are a lot of Democrats like myself who will wonder why the Democratic party is using what they know is an obscene word, instead of bringing up the very real issues of the election.If you who aren’t familiar with the gay community, the word “teabagging” is a euphemism for a practice that normal Grandmoms […]
The Massachusetts Senate race is getting the headlines on Drudge. Hmm…makes me wonder what’s going on, when a state most famous for it’s welfare and compassion might vote for a Republican. Yes, I’m old enough to remember Romney and Senator Brooke, but they are the exception to the rule. The funniest line in the race […]
 Americans have been vilified and conditioned to believe that they are the worst polluters on the planet.  The USA has the assignment; worlds whipping boy for any and all environmental abuse on the earth. Somehow it’s all our fault that 16 of the worlds 20 most polluted cities are in China.    None of the top […]
Walking out the door, my to-be husband whispered to me that she wouldn’t have done that if he hadn’t been standing behind me. He truly believed that the only reason she asked for my ID was because I was with a minority. Nothing could have been further from the truth.
Now, I understand that Professor Gates had just returned from a long trip. I know that when I come home from a long trip, I am tired and crabby. It had to further aggravate him that when trying to get into his home to finally kick his shoes off and rest, the door was jammed. Topping off a long and tiring day, the police showed up and began questioning him. All he wanted to do was take a hot shower and go to bed, right? That’s all understandable. But none of it was Crowley’s fault and there is no indication that racial profiling occurred.
I once was wending my way home after a midnight flight when I saw the blue lights of a cop car telling me to pull over. Now, I was tired (coming back from a weekend ER shift in another state) and cranky. And, I was alone on a stretch of lonely rural road where two […]
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