Where have I and the nation been for the last fourteen years since the fall of the Soviets? — our heads have been in the sands of the Middle East. Joby Warrick, a Washington Post staff writer, alerts us to the tiny rogue Transdniester Moldovan Republic “no bigger than R.I.” but a massive dumping ground for Soviet arms during the Soviet Army’s withdrawal. Its chief reason for its existence is a pipeline of arms to fellow rogues and terrorists.  “For terrorists this is [Transdniester] the best...

 Until such unlikely time that the sinister chemical of crime is removed from the brain, or the DNA of criminal orientation is discovered, society is plagued with the high cost of penal codes in carrying them out. What with the fiscal crunch of the fifty states, the trend has been “early release” without little back up insuring against recidivism, including drug and alcohol related behavior. Though shortsighted the trend does free up crowded prisons and reduces state budgets on an average of...

Why does a political party compete internally for the buck? Why should Joe or Jill Average who are rare breed Democrats from Wyoming care about contributing to Daschle’s re-election? Hillary sends a letter asking for money to support the senate re-election committee and in the same day mail her husband is asking for a contribution to the DNC. At the same time e-mail is overloaded requesting contributions to the presidential candidates or to contribute to preserving social security. It goes on ...

 GW Bush: Resolves to trade in his big stick for a sledge hammer.  Cheney: Redeems his “blind” Halliburton stock to rebuild Iraq.  Dean: Promises to speak softly in the South.  Clark: As President-elect will go to Iraq and end the insurgency — echo of Eisenhower.  Michael Jackson: Resolves to metamorphose back to black if acquitted.  Women of Iraq: Resolve to be equal.  Arnold: To Balance budget by saddling California with a huge bond.  Powell: Pledges to remain in office ...

         Widespread gambling is the ultimate roll of the dice turning up snake eyes of addiction. Nationwide there are some eight million compulsive gamblers disrupting their lives and their loved ones. Recreational gambling is not unlike the risk of dependence in illicit drug-use originally socially motivated. The nation has enough problems without every greedy state opening its borders or rivers for the sake of revenue and risking —particularly among the young— a national crisis of compulsiv...

 With the toppling of all the icons and statues of Saddam it is ironic that the right wing is determined to delete FDR from the dime and to replace with the Gipper as vengeance that CBS dared make an irreverent film about the Right’s icon. They are not even satisfied with the wide-spread renaming of countless structures in which Reagan had no part, but have an organization dedicated to have each state in the union to have a minimum of one state landmark named after him in addition to one in al...

Wesley Clark’s tax plan bothers me — not the rolling back the windfalls for the super rich — when he proclaims that families of four with incomes of $50,000 and under will pay no taxes and every family earning beyond to $100,000 will receive a $2250 tax credit per child. This proposal only aggravates the animosity of those in favor of the Bush status quo favoring the rich but tossing peanuts to the unwashed. In one sense Bush is right on lowering the tax rate on the poor to 10%, which is what it...

It does not take a bleeding heart Massachusetts' liberal to perceive that the greatest defense a nation has is in its health and enlightenment. To cast a shadow over millions of its citizens in fear of not only its health but of the economic disaster for their loved ones is monstrous. To abandon the severely addictive and the mortally inflicted is callousness unbefitting a government of good will, and in callous economic terms more costly even in the short run. Insurance, not just medical, sho...

Great sighs of relief wafted across the audience from the other candidates when Brokaw asked Sharpton about the confederate flag still on state property, even though the interim solution in effect removed it from prominence. Al was blunt about it; it’s an insult and should be removed permanently even from private property. Only Kucinich offered he was not staying over night in South Carolina because of it and it was great that he was peeved and stated that it was time to get over divisiveness ...

We all had it wrong, says Kay. So what? It matters little since the intent was never to scrape up WMD from Saddam’s junk pile left behind by the original weapons inspectors. The Rove plan was to perpetuate the highly successful perception of a wartime president — he learned that from FDR. Everybody loves a commander-in-chief who kicks ass, the hell with the presidency of peace. The nation is supposed to accept the inevitability of lousy Intelligence, despite the billions of dollars poured i...

It seems the boring, heard-that-before Democratic presidential primary run is nothing but fodder for the media, particularly the talking heads who, with their symbiotic guests, serve no other purpose than to flex their egos. Everybody in the media wants to be a celebrity — Chris Matthews adores himself while straddling the fence, Shawn Hannity thinks he’s the guru of the neo-cons and Reaganite Catholicism, James Carvelle pretends to be the champion of the little people, Robert Novak endures as...

Don’t feel guilty because you enjoyed the holidays watching an array of playoffs and bowl games as though Iraq were on another planet. The so-called greatest generation listened to championship and bowl games even though a much larger war raged and everyone having a volatile good time had husbands, fathers, brothers, sisters, daughters and sons in the service. The big exception, of course, was that radio commercials always reminded the listeners to continue buying War Bonds and Stamps and ofte...

Since the US is primarily a service oriented nation — 80% of GNP — did you ever wonder how the base economy of production can support all this? Of course, 20% is still a thriving, tidy sum, and apparently insufficient to carry the massive services on its shoulders — or is it? The spin-off effect is geometrical progression. Just as the efficient farmer needs to market his produce and therefore requires an initial service of packing and trucking, which in turn requires outlets for retail, so, too,...

I remember very early television in the late 40s and early 50s when Hollywood only leased out silent films and grade B westerns from the early 30s that were awful. Actually it motivated TV to offer some very good programing by shifting the radio shows to television, like the Goldbergs, Jack Benny, and Milton Berle, along with some excellent, original drama broadcasts, such as “Marty” before it was a movie. Of course, the Soaps were simulcast as well. Because of the innovations to TV, Hollywood f...

The current ruckus before the Supreme Court concerning the Pledge of Allegiance is absurd. Newdow , a professed atheist, is on a cantankerous Nader-like ego trip signifying personal frustration and vindictiveness against his daughter’s mother who is Christian and has custody of the daughter, who doesn’t mind stating “under God.” Aside from this, it sets a precedent for too many other frivolous issues to be brought before the court, such as “In God We Trust” on the currency, school prayer,...