Category: Current Affairs
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A few days ago marked the passing of Randy Pausch, professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, from pancreatic cancer. His most remarkable achievement, apart from the legions of students and colleagues whom he inspired, was his Last Lecture, given on September 18, 2007 in front of a full auditorium of students and colleagues-…
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We all know someone whose uncle’s cousin’s wife’s brother-in-law forwarded them an email that conclusively PROVED that Obama is a Muslim (photos wearing turban! In Somalia-wherever on God’s earth that may be!!1!) , or a Jew (photos wearing yarmulke! At the Wailing Wall!!1!), has black children, is the right-hand man of Bin Laden, leading to…
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All over the city, stands and tents have sprouted up hawking Phantom Fireworks. I can’t even go to my local grocery without seeing piles and piles of tempting displays of assorted sparklers, Roman candles and small rockets all packaged together and tempting me as I rush to grab a carton of milk. (Location, location is…
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Far be it for me to minimize the shock and suffering of the Russert family but aren’t the cable and broadcast TV stations going too far with their hours long eulogizing of Tim Russert? Apparently no other news of interest is occurring anywhere in the US or the world. RIP Tim Russert, a brief tribute…
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It is always gratifying when a powerful entity apologize to a weaker one for past wrongs. It doesn’t happen often. The US government has paid reparations for the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII and issued apologies for the infamous Tuskegee Study, but not for the plight of Native Americans or for slavery. Japan refuses to…
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If you are, like me, bemoaning the costs of your regular groceries due to the uptick in oil and gasoline prices, be prepared for worse this coming fall. Driving through rural Illinois and Iowa over the Memorial Day weekend, I was shocked to see vast stretches of unplanted corn fields. Very few had a faint…
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A few days ago, the local media was abuzz with the defacing of a $1.2 million dollar painting at the Carnegie Museum of Art. The painting was Night Sky 2 by Latvian- American artist Vija Celmins. (Click on thumbnail for larger view). From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "I didn’t like the painting," Timur Serebrykov told police…
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The Guardian reports that the US has been holding suspected terrorists without trial in ships off the coasts of foreign countries – a floating Guantanamo Bay, in other words. The UK human rights group Reprieve has accused the US government of illegally detaining prisoners and possibly torturing them aboard the ships using CIA and foreign…
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This is a follow up of my earlier post on the plight of the striking "guest workers" from India involved in the rebuilding of the US Gulf coast after Katrina. I received the following messages from Mr. Stephen Boykewich, Media Director of the NEW ORLEANS WORKERS’ CENTER FOR RACIAL JUSTICE. You can send a birthday wish…
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What’s with some men of God? Rather than soothe the nerves of their flocks, they fancy themselves as rabble rousers, political heavy hitters, all knowing prognosticators and revisionist history scholars. First Barack Obama gently distanced himself from his long time pastor Reverend Jeremiah Wright when video clips of Wright’s fiery sermons surfaced. A few…
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This was then. (Watch Hillary shortly after the 3:15 mark) What a difference a no-holds-barred campaign makes. Now Hillary is reduced to this. (Pssst….this is just a test of sorts to check the embedded video feature. I’m sure these videos have been already around the internet for some days now. Don’t be afraid that we…
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Senator Kennedy has a malignant brain tumor. The prognosis is not good. As a rule, I don’t look up to politicians. I definitely don’t believe in them. Most Democrats, I only give credit for being marginally better than the Republicans. But this, this is sad news.
Accidental Blogger 