I just got back from Paris today and brought the flu with me. Oh la la, trè exciting! I was there for five days for some pleasure and some business as FON threw a Fiesta to celebrate launching a joint service with France’s top alternative carrier, Neuf Cegetel.
Give me a little time to recuperate and I will be posting again.
Filed under Digressions, FON
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
Filed under Essays
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
Filed under Essays
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?
It could all be one big misunderstanding, a case of mistaken identity. The other day at work, we were all discussing the whereabouts of Maddie, Europe’s latest all encompassing news story. One of my co-workers told me the real life story of some friends of friends of his on vacation in Amsterdam a few years back. What do a group of Spaniards in Amsterdam, seven dwarfs, and a missing kid have in common? Continue reading
Filed under Digressions
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
Filed under Essays
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
Filed under Essays
The other day at work I was drafting an internal procedure and wrote, “It is important that the Department create procedures to . . .” After having showed it to my boss, he mentioned that there was a typo or grammatical error, and that it should have read, “It is important that the deparment creates procedures to . . .”
I read the sentence over a couple of times and was convinced that my version was correct, and that the difference in conjugation was due to the fact that the sentence was imperative and required the use of the subjunctive. I was told that that might in fact be the case, but that I should still change it to “creates” because everyone who would read the document would see it as an error. I normally don’t argue (outside of this blog) unless I am pretty confident of my position. Continue reading
Filed under Digressions, FON
Grave Error 