Monthly Archives: September 2007

Yesterday morning while eating breakfast, I listened to a podcast of the September 24th PBS NewsHour Vote 2008 interview with Democrat hopeful, Governor Bill Richardson. If you consider that the most important issues facing the U.S. are the War in Iraq, regaining the U.S.’s moral authority in the world, immigration, the U.S.’s dependence on foreign energy (and the environment), as well as balancing of the budget, then Mr. Richarson is your candidate. Why is he the best candidate on all of these issues: Continue reading →

Here is a New York Times article that explains what happened in a New Jersey town after it passed a law penalizing those who contracted with illegal aliens. Continue reading →

A recent Federal Court ruling has found what we have all known from the beginning: The Patriot Act is a slap in the face of our Constitution. Continue reading →

I just saw this article from the BBC News on a skin-lightening cream promoted by a Bollywood star. What is the world coming to? Doesn’t everyone know that light skin don’t taste like squat?

The “should I stay or should I go” and “is the surge working” debate in the U.S. have highlighted the U.S.’s untenable position in Iraq. Last week, The Economist published an article explaining why the U.S. should stay in Iraq. An obvious argument for leaving is that the situation in Iraq is so precarious already that it could hardly get any worse even if the U.S. pulled out. On the other hand, there is a geo-political and humanitarian argument (not to mention the economic reasons for not abandoning its presence) for maintaining a presence similar to the one that led to intervention in the Balkans in 1990s. While the U.S. faces its own Catch 22, I also think that the Sunnis will soon be facing a similar Catch 22. Here is my own uneducated estimation: Continue reading →

Here’s an article by Marjorie Cohn on how Erwin Chemerinsky was offered and then denied the deanship at the University of California at Irvine Law School due to his politics. Continue reading →

I tend not to believe in conspiracy theories. I really don’t give government agents (or the CIA) that much credit. The government almost never gets any thing right, so why do the conspiracy theorists believe that in the most complicated of operations, there are agents who actually succeed.

Specifically, I don’t believe much in the conspiracy theories around 9/11, at least not that it was the intention of the US government. Maybe, yes, there were things covered up during the course of the day and later on, but not that the government masterminded it. Furthermore, Bin Laden himself has taken credit for the events (although he is not necessarily believable either). And the argument that Bush and the neo-cons planned the events to save the Bush presidency also fail to convince me, for one year before the events Bush was just beginning his mandate.

In any event, here is an article by Paul Craig Roberts that merits being read. Roberts is an award winning journalist, economist, and former government official, and I don’t see a motive for him fabricating a conspiracy theory or why we should apriori doubt his integrity. That doesn’t mean that I buy his doubts, but, as I have mentioned, it’s worth a read. Continue reading →