Category: Ethics, Morality & Religion
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Exhausted after years of devastation due to civil war, invasion by Israel and interference by Syria, the once prosperous and modern nation of Lebanon was laboriously building itself back. Just over a year ago, Lebanon was in the midst of what was being happily called the Cedar Revolution – a gradual democratic change driven by…
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The second criminal trial of Andrea Yates is over and the jury has spoken – this time with compassion and rationality. I had written about Yates earlier this year when her re-trial began. You can find the gist of this tragic and grisly event here. (Sorry, the Houston Chronicle links to that post have all…
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Did John Bolton say aloud what many think privately? And doesn’t this mindset lie at the root of most human conflicts, oppression and exploitation? Lebanon civilian deaths morally not same as terror victims — Bolton UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – US Ambassador John Bolton said there was no moral equivalence between the civilian casualties from the…
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The news from Iraq, Afghanistan and North Korea has been uniformly disconcerting over the past few weeks and months. Reports of gross criminal conduct by US troops in Iraq are the most disturbing of all. There is a lot of speculation about what prompted these young men to rape and murder Iraqi civilians. Reasons ranging…
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Those who had a hard time telling Ann Coulter and Adolph Hitler apart, now will know the reason why. Ann Coulter, the foul mouthed right wing diva may not be liberal in her politics but she is not above liberally lifting material for her books and columns from other published sources. So reports the New…
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On ABC’s World News Tonight, I saw a clip of George W. Bush jogging on the White House grounds with a young soldier. It was an amazing and heartbreaking sight. Christian Bagge, a 23 year old Iraq war veteran is a double amputee who lost both his legs to a road side explosion near Kirkuk. …
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Conservative politicians and their media mouthpieces are pastmasters at bullying, threatening and spreading disinformation in order to stay in power. We have seen countless evidence of that in the last five years. Some of them have also perfected the art of obscene personal attacks against political opponents. These attacks often take the form of ridiculing…
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A strange judicial tale out of Sydney, Nebraska. I will post it without further commentary. "A US judge has sentenced a man convicted of sexually assaulting a child to probation instead of jail, fearing he is too short to survive in prison. Nebraska’s attorney-general will appeal the sentence as being "far too lenient." The judge’s…
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One of the worst experiences of my otherwise wonderful university days was the daily commute from home to college using Delhi’s notorious city buses. (It was common for us to live at home and attend local universities, especially when you lived in big cities like Delhi, Calcutta, Mumbai etc where most good schools are located.)…
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In the midst of the horror show that is the Bush administration, it is reassuring to find that people are going about their daily business and taking the time to be kind and generous in small and big ways – some in bigger ways than others. Houston philanthropist, Bernard Aptaker made the front page of…
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Paraphrasing Andy Rooney’s eloquent Memorial Day message: Those who lose their sons, daughters, parents or best friend in a war rarely ever set aside a special day or moment to remember their loved ones. The memories of lives cut short can flit in and out of their minds any time, any day … in the…
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About a week ago, the news of Mark Inglis being the first double-amputee to conquer Mt.Everest made headlines the world over. New Zealanders were justifiably proud of the tremendous achievement of Mr.Inglis, achieved despite his loss of both legs below the knee to frostbite in another mountaineering expedition a few years ago. Double Amputee Scales…
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