IS AMERICA LOSING ITS “BACKYARD IN THE SOUTH”? Considering the U.S. and Latin American reactions to the recent Venezuelan election, it would appear that things are seriously awry for the U.S. in that backyard. While Washington tries to subvert the electoral process that (narrowly) elected a successor in the mold of Hugo Chavez, other [...]
PALESTINIANS JUST LOVE WORKING AT SODASTREAM’S (ILLEGAL) FACTORY TO MAKE ISRAELI FIZZY WATER. Or so says a promotional video for the company. This is one instance of Israeli entrepreneurs who shed “crocodile tears” over the economic condition of Palestinians in the West Bank in “industrial zones” near illegal Jewish settlements. Actually, these “zones” employ relatively [...]
PLAN TO GET SICK AFTER 2014? BETTER PLAN TO MOVE TO MASSACHUSETTS IF YOU WANT HEALTH CARE COVERAGE. This is a reasonable interpretation of a finding that the great majority (up to 98%) of health care services will be unavailable to Americans after the “Affordable” (Obamacare) health insurance system kicks in that year. The [...]
IT’S NOT EASY BEING A PELICAN IN COSTA RICA—NOR A PORPOISE NOR AN ALLIGATOR EITHER. These animals, among others, are given protection in a Marine Park in Puntarenas from the hazards of their life styles (like water dives of pelicans) and of the human animals who sometimes harass them. A gated park provides a [...]
“OUR GOAL WAS TO SHUT DOWN A PORTION OF AMERICA FOR A WHOLE DAY.” Producer of a new TV series, “House of Cards,” says this with a “laugh,” but it is no laughing matter to TV producers who are catering to a new kind of “binge-watching” among fans of particular TV programs. Rather than [...]
THE HOUSING RECOVERY: IT’S NOT FOR HOMEOWNERS. Darwin Graham Bond gives a crash course in how real estate investment companies are snapping up mortgage-foreclosed properties and are helping to transition homeowners into house renters. The extremely low rates of the Federal Reserve are feeding this frenzy of investments that, as far as housing is [...]
HELL ON EARTH: AUSTRALIA FACES UNPRECEDENTED WILDFIRE “CATASTROPHE” Proving that the in-your-face reality of unfettered climate change is not about to recede in the new year, a national disaster is unfolding only days into 2013 in Australia, where rampaging wildfires are burning huge swaths of the country. Australians are used to the annual “bushfire [...]
WHEN LOCAL NEWSPAPERS DIE, CAN THE DEATH OF COMMUNITY CITIZENSHIP BE FAR BEHIND? This question is addressed by Jessica Bruder in a feature article in the Christian Science Monitor. Her article is keynoted by a mournful style New Orleans funeral on the occasion of the drastic reduction of newspaper publication in favor of more [...]
MISSING IN ACTION IN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES: THAT VISION THING. With 3 of their 4 scheduled debates under their belts, the presidential and vice-presidential candidates have failed to articulate much of anything in the way of concrete plans that might determine how the electorate votes. Beyond accusing their opponents of not having detailed such plans, [...]
THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS: THAT’S HISTORY, ISN’T IT? It is indeed history that 50 years ago the world approached self-annihilation, as a nuclear confrontation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union brought the world to the brink of that catastrophe when the Soviet Union’s plans to place missiles in Cuba ran against the U.S. [...]
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