The tragedy in Oslo is very disturbing. I’m sure many Muslims around the world breathed a sign of relief when Anders Behring Breivik was taken into custody to be charged with the bombing of a government building and the brutal shooting massacre of youth at a state sponsored camp. Terrorism under “God, Christ and country” [...]
Yesterday’s shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and 20 other victims (to date) at a meet-and-greet your Representative gathering outside a Safeway in Tucson, AZ left me speechless. The Congresswoman is currently in a medically induced coma after being shot in the head at point blank range. The chief neurosurgeon at the University of Arizona [...]
In 2008 I started a Community Organizer Hall of Fame, a series of profiles of persons who are doing selfless work for the benefit of others. Yesterday Marisol Valles Garcia, a 20-year-old mother and student of criminology was sworn in as sheriff of Praxedis G. Guerrero, a small border town caught in the crossfire of [...]
When the President shared his unfavorable opinion of the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United vs. Federal Elections Commission case during his January state-of-the-Union address (the US Supreme Court decided 5-4 in favor of Citizens United), he got a visible tisk-tisk from Chief Justice John Roberts for admonishing the Court, and some flack from the [...]
The President’s Weekly focuses on Medicare and closing up the doughnut hole on the purchase of prescription drugs by seniors. Beginning next year, preventive care – including annual physicals, wellness exams, and tests like mammograms – will be free for seniors as well. That will make it easier for folks to stay healthy. But it [...]
My guess is the President’s weekly message is to put to rest the fears of persons who are insured and their insurers. If you enjoy your “pay-to-pay” option, you can keep it. But the options needs to be open to more people: for example people with pre-existing conditions. The “pay-to-pay” option should also cover some [...]
Thursday is the big day. President Barack Obama pops a brew with Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Gates’ arresting officer Sargeant James Crowley of the Cambridge Police Department at the White House for an informal chat about…..health care reform. Wouldn’t that be interesting (!?). But this is supposed to be a “teachable moment” [...]
These items will be dripping in today as there’s a lot on my list of “to-do’s” beyond the blog. THE SOTOMAYOR CHRONICLES Yesterday’s hearing went on for 8 hours. I saw/heard up to 6 on the pool feed, but was fortunate to witness a reversal of fortune where life imitates art. Judge Sotomayor broke through [...]
Republicans’ outrage, both real and feigned, at Sotomayor’s musings about how her identity as a “wise Latina” might affect her judicial decisions is based on a flawed assumption: that whiteness and maleness are not themselves facets of a distinct identity. Being white and male is seen instead as a neutral condition, the natural order of [...]
A predominant characteristic of the behavior that I call evil is scapegoating. Because in their hearts they consider themselves above reproach, they must lash out at anyone who does reproach them. They sacrifice others to preserve their self-image of perfection. M. Scott Peck, M.D. People of the Lie There was a time I feared looking [...]
