Cambridge, Mass. - We use e-mail for everything from business negotiations to quick I-love-yous. Because e-mail resembles a telephone conversation, we too often assume it's private.
LOS ANGELES -- I would like to pay due deference to the Republican candidate for vice president of the United States. I am happy for her that she was not asked a question during last Thursday night's "debate" that she could not robo-answer with memorized talking points.
Riverdale, N.Y. - While America's foreign-policy debate centers on the Middle East and Russia, unrest is mounting in South America. Bolivia is teetering on the brink of conflict, threatening to destabilize a region much closer to home and further damage our troubled economy.
The Nation -- Here we are, with ringside seats--far too close for comfort--at the Great Global Crash of '08. Nobody's quite calling it that yet, but what else could it be? All over the world yesterday stocks plummeted; the Russian and Brazilian stock indexes went down so precipitously -- 19% and 13% -- that exchanges in both countries were closed for parts of the day; the Indonesian index tumbled an unprecedented 10%; the Paris bourse, 9%; the London FTSE 100, a historic 8%; and the main German index 7%; while, at the New York Stock Exchange, the Dow Jones dipped under 10,000 on its wild ride toward the depths.
Creators Syndicate - I had an experience wearing a headscarf last week that was culturally and politically interesting. More on that in a minute. It made me think of Michelle Obama.
The Nation -- I don't normally listen to Sean Hannity, nor did I watch his Fox News special on Sunday, "Obama and Friends: The History of Radicalism." But I did read the transcript. To make their case against Obama, conservatives like Hannity are relying on a highly discredited cast of characters.
The Nation -- Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is expected to name fellow Goldman Sachs alum, Neel Kashkari, to oversee the government's $700 billion Superfund cleanup of Wall Street's toxic assets.
Creators Syndicate - "(O)nce war is forced upon us, there is no other alternative than to apply every available means to bring it to a swift end.
Brooklyn, N.Y. - Like so many Americans, I feel as though I am holding my breath.
On Sept. 27, the US House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution recognizing The Christian Science Monitor on its centennial. The measure was sponsored by Rep. Lamar Smith (R) of Texas who once served on the Monitor staff. It was cosponsored by 40 other members of Congress.
Washington (The Weekly Standard) Vol. 014, Issue 05 - 10/13/2008 - Sarah Palin's scintillating success in last week's vice presidential debate with Joe Biden has made her an enormous asset (again) to John McCain's bid for the presidency. Now McCain must decide how to maximize her role in the campaign. Anything short of bringing her front and center makes no sense.
The Nation -- John McCain's new line, "Who is the real Barack Obama?" has so incited the crowds at his rallies that one furious man on Monday answered the question with "Terrorist!" And Palin's catchy phrase that Obama has been "palling around with terrorists," i.e., former Weatherman Bill Ayers, led one of her acolytes to scream, "Kill him!"
After three trial voyages, the humanitarian missions of the US Navy's hospital ship Mercy and other vessels have become fixtures in America's security posture in Asia and the Pacific.
Creators Syndicate - How dare you throw that tea in Boston Harbor! Such is the anti-democratic arrogance of the fearmongering pundits and politicians who tell us if we taxpayers don't instantly give the Wall Street banking bandits a $700 billion bailout, then we are destroying America. Instead of applauding representatives from both parties who, for once, heeded the public rather than the fat cats, the established pundits blasted those who dared get out of line.
The Court of Peeves, Crotchets & Irks opens its autumn assizes with a motion from Jeff Horner in Mableton, Ga. He asks the court to abolish the use of "woman" as an adjective. Specifically, he moves to end the identification of Sarah Palin as a "woman candidate."
Washington (The Weekly Standard) Vol. 014, Issue 05 - 10/13/2008 - The odds are against John McCain and Sarah Palin winning this election. It's not easy to make up a 6-point deficit in the last four weeks. But it can be done.
WASHINGTON -- Lurking behind the infamous $700 billion bailout that is monopolizing our attention these tumultuous days, loom other even more important questions -- deadly serious and historic questions -- that have become, all too suddenly, the true stuff of our new reality.
On MSNBC this week, Newsweek's Jonathan Alter tried to connect John McCain to the current financial disaster, saying: "If you remember the Keating Five scandal that (McCain) was a part of. ... He's really getting a free ride on the fact that he was in the middle of the last great financial scandal in our country."
Creators Syndicate - The financial markets were teetering on the edge of an abyss last week.
QUEBEC -- Winter has come early in this glorious French-Canadian city, which sits like a genteelly aging queen above the St. Lawrence River, fed by the roiling waters of the St. Lawrence Seaway. The winds were blowing December, instead of October, and hail was in the frigid air.