Category Archives: Essays

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 →

At the recommendation of Rewrite, two nights ago I listened to a podcast of the Bill Moyer’s Journal on domestic surveillance and wiretapping. With the renewal of the FISA Act’s domestic surveillance policies by Congress, the White House continues to have carte blanche to intercept all email correspondence, listen into phone calls, etc. of US citizens when communicating abroad. And this can all be done without a warrant (essentially a warrantless search against what is proscribed by the US Constitution and its jurisprudence). In other words, if you are US citizen and want to send me an email or call me on the phone and you don’t think the government should be listening, then don’t contact me.

Not only would these communications apply to emailing me, but would also include the following: Continue reading →

It’s election season in Morocco, and one of the candidates for Parliment is Maguy Kakon, a Jewish Moroccan who identifies first as Moroccan and secondly Jewish. The other day I was reading a post in Martin’s blog about how the Spanish newspaper El Mundo referred to Kakon as being of “Israeli faith”.

Wow! That’s a new one for me. I didn’t know that Israel was a faith or that all Jews were inherently Israeli. Obviously not all Israelis are Jewish (Jews make up about 75% of Israel and the rest are Muslim and Christian Arabs), and not all Arabs in Arab countries are Muslim. Continue reading →

I just read this interesting article by Paul Craig Roberts, a former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration, about the inherent falsehoods of Islamofascism. Definitely worthwhile reading. Continue reading →

Here’s a recent article by an Associated Press writer about how whistle blowers on contractor fraud in Iraq have faced severe retaliation. Continue reading →

Today on the radio, I heard that Yahoo! is being sued in connection with certain human rights violations against Chinese bloggers who had been arrested and tortured by the Chinese government. Apparently, the international human rights community and others are enraged with Yahoo!’s actions, but are Yahoo!’s actions or those of the Chinese government so different from what is happening elsewhere in Europe and the United States in their fight against terrorism or child pornography? Continue reading →

Six Billion Others is a very interesting website and concept. The idea, created by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, was to tell an ongoing story of people from all over the world. His team visited some 65 countries and interviewed 6,000 people.

I just came across this new report on two NBA players who have recently been robbed. Just imagine someone robbing a 6-foot-9, 245 pounds guy (206cm, 111kg )or a 6-foot-11, 285 pound guy (210cm, 129kg). You have to have a lot of fire and back up to pull that off. The story goes on to mention other similar robberies.

But what is really strange to me is how these big tough basketball players were all robbed of very expensive jewelry. I don’t mean to sound old-fashioned, but what are big, tough guys doing with +$100,000 custom made necklaces? I guess if you’re 6-foot-10, you can get away with wearing whatever you please, at least until someone else decides they want to take it from you. Here’s the story: Continue reading →