Category: Current Affairs
-
When Americans feel bad about themselves – lack of healthcare, public services, educational opportunities, fair wages etc., they tend to vote Democrat. When they feel angry about others – foreigners (or enemies within) destroying their buildings, jobs or culture, they vote for Republicans. It is no wonder then that Republicans always like to talk the…
-
According to police estimates, over 500,000 people in Los Angeles marched today to protest HR 4437, a nasty piece of nativist work passed last December by the House of Representatives. The bill makes it a felony crime to be within US borders without US approved documentation. It also authorizes the construction of 700 miles of…
-
I am sure everyone remembers the famous quip by Barbara Bush after she made a courtesy call on the stunned and exhausted Katrina evacuees at the Houston Astrodome. "[F]ormer First Lady Barbara Bush concluded that the poor people of New Orleans had lucked out. "Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of…
-
We know well about the outsourcing of glittering hi-tech jobs to India and manufacturing ones to China. The justification is the easy availablity of well trained, hardworking, disciplined labor forces willing to work for less than the average worker in the west. What is less well known is that these hugely populous nations, with large…
-
Remember Andrea Yates? The Houston woman who on June 20, 2001 systematically drowned her five young children in the bath tub and then calmly called the police? She is up for retrial. She will be tried a second time for the murders and her insanity or the lack of it will again be an issue.…
-
On CNN: Travel today I read a story about how Columbia is rapidly becoming a top tourist destination. [A]fter decades of being shunned as too dangerous for travelers, the country is riding an unprecedented tourist boom. Spurred by news of the country’s dramatically improved security situation and healthy economy, nearly a million foreigners visited last…
-
Now, here is a Democrat who is not cowed down by Bible thumpers. An exchange between Nancy Jacobs (R) and James Raskin (D) during a debate before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee in Maryland. The subject was gay marriage and civil rights. Sen. Nancy Jacobs, a Republican who represents Harford and Cecil counties, engaged in…
-
Tom DeLay recently won the Republican primary in the Texas district where I live and he sneered at his opponents for "[using] those Democrat tactics as their platform." Of his Democratic challenger in November, Congressman Nick Lampson, he said, "It’s always easy to beat Lampson." Why should he worry? Read what one of his…
-
A bit late in the day, Pat Robertson (the gift that keeps giving to us bloggers) has weighed in on the Danish cartoons. Calling Muslims "Satanic" and bent on world domination, he said the following on his TV show, the 700 Club: [He] said that the outpouring of rage elicited by cartoons "just shows the…
-
The Cold Faithful : NASA’s spacecraft Cassini, currently orbiting Saturn, has detected geysers of water containing carbon particles erupting from Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons. This has planetary scientists all agog with expectation. Presence of water and carbon particles raises hopes of finding biological activity in that far off (and very cold) planet. "Experts think…
-
I have always suspected that for the misogynists in the anti-abortion movement, banning abortion is not so much about saving the life of an unborn child as it is about punishing the pregnant woman. If abortion is an outcome they frown upon, one would think that they would be in favor of making all means…
-
Even before the first ball was kicked, Houston’s new Major League Soccer team ran into trouble with its name. The first choice, "Houston 1836", a nod to Houston and Texas history, had to be abandoned because it was offensive to some in the Latino community. The new name is "Houston Dynamo" (please note the singular…
-
It is now just over four months since Accidental Blogger was launched. As I have said before, the fledgeling blog was helped enormously from its inception by the kind words and endorsements of other influential and established bloggers. Now it appears that we have a modest but regular readership – some of whom wish to…
-
Intelligent Design is okay in Kansas schools, the Pledge of Allegiance is mandatory. But can a high school teacher compare George Bush to Adolph Hitler if he/she can point to factual corollaries between the policies of both? Or is that verboten speech – criticizing a sitting president? Jay Bennish, a high school geography teacher in…
Accidental Blogger 