Global problems abound and can no longer go unaddressed. There are still five million people who are suffering owing to nations that have effected torture on political opponents. North Korea systematically uses famine as a weapon to control its own people. Iran uses religion to suppress its citizens. Many African nations need massive humanitarian aid and education to erase its label of dark continent. The world needs to be assured that nations with nuclear weapons are under strict observation...

“Four More Years of Bush” means unlimited corporate power and the end of a woman’s right to choose. … In light of the Republican Convention's convenient love affair with moderates Giuliani and Schwarzenegger, the campaign managers were spared having to ask Olympia Snowe to speak inasmuch as she’s been dubbed a “Daschle Republican” because of her fight to limit tax cuts. … I omitted John McCain from the “moderate” list because he is deeply conservative — he just doesn’t like to be told to...

“Four More Years of Bush” means unlimited corporate power and the end of a woman’s right to choose. … In light of the Republican Convention's convenient love affair with moderates Giuliani and Schwarzenegger, the campaign managers were spared having to ask Olympia Snowe to speak inasmuch as she’s been dubbed a “Daschle Republican” because of her fight to limit tax cuts. … I omitted John McCain from the “moderate” list because he is deeply conservative — he just doesn’t like to be told to foll...

Is it just me, or do others viewing the Republican Convention get the impression that the nation’s only challenge is to be safe from Kerry? … I wonder how long it took girly-man Arnold Shriver Schwarzenegger to get his driver’s license? … To hear terms like — strong, dead or alive, resolute, endless-winless war, freedom in Iraq — you can’t help but lock the image of 59,000 names on the Vietnam Memorial as a mock lesson that our leaders will never learn not to engage in war under false pretens...

Do Texans really hate a certain kind of Vietnam hero or only its multi-millionaires? … I’m against vouchers for private and parochial schools but would be for a nominal tax break provided there is, implicit or otherwise, no political or ideological leaning in these schools. … Strength in numbers: believe sixty-four testaments on the fog of war as opposed to one [Rood] personal account on Kerry as a legitimate war hero. … Are they knocking down the door of Block Buster for rentals of “Pl...

Whatever happened the energy saving 55 mph law? … There were complaints from Florida schools closed because of Charley that children would not get their free school lunches … now that’s an example of real family values in the home going down the tubes. … There has been a shortfall of appropriations in my county designated for bilateral instruction. … Mind you, I’m not against helping out immigrants, but I draw the line when second and third generations make no attempt to learn our lan...

Could it be the long standing tag of “soft on crime” is a deterrent for the Democrats to make an issue of disenfranchising ex-cons — even those whose parole has expired? … There should be an investigation as to why Al Qaeda was given a pass at Tora Bora. … Tax cuts designed to stimulate the economy should not be used for savings and investments that are so long range that a current repression would long have corrected itself. … Anytime unemployment is in the 5% range is supposed to mean...

The Republican Party is sadistic to hold its convention in New York, whose residents only love New York, not Bush — in spite of Giuliani’s unseemly crush on the cowboy. Casket is now spelled Costco since the company is now selling coffins at discount prices — look for them soon at your friendly Wal-Mart. Will WMD sniffers still be at it in the year 3004 or for as long as the Bible archaeologists who are still searching for Eden along the Euphrates and Tigris rivers? Had  Bu...

That the current presidential campaign is currently battling veterans against veterans is destructive, serving no purpose other than championing so-called “integrity.” If Kerry exaggerated his exploits — as most veterans do — opponents are trying to box him as a Gore whom they also accused of exaggeration, particularly as a veteran who nevertheless, made it clear that his Vietnam tour was non-combative as an army reporter. Moreover, the integrity, too, of the Navy Department is at stake by im...

Anything is possible! — when Ted Kennedy is presumed a possible terrorist at the airport gate and of all places in Boston no less. When is a Catholic not a Catholic? When a little girl, Haley Waldman, threatened by a disease that mandates a gluten-free diet, is denied a substitute rice wafer at First Communion! Prisoner of tradition, the Church insists that the recognized communion wafer must contain unleavened wheat. Even for alcoholics trying to break the habit must take the wine with alco...

Recent HealthGrades studies show that 195,000 die each year from medical error in hospitals, according to Newsweek . On its website HealthGrades has posted a list of hospitals with the best patient safety records. Also Accreditation of Health Care Organizations has posted a scorecard for the quality of hospitals, and suggest a patient check it out before admissions. This is outrageous. With this kind of malpractice there would be widespread lawsuits except, I suspect, most cases are...

The hoopla over “values” is deceptive rationalization. Values in the headlines seldom express self-evident truths. The value of human life, though universally self-evident in its purest terms, requires elaborate ratiocination with respect to its myriad ramifications. Throughout history, some lives were set at higher value than others who were nondescript, slaves and men sent into war. Expendable were children and virgins sacrificed to appease the gods. The value of a woman was not equal...

One’s initial reaction to such an atrocious beheading is to shrill out The Three Musketeers’ battle cry: “All for one and one for all.” and wipe out the Islamic threat, not just those directly responsible. It goes without saying that this is not the solution. Neither, since we are so oil hungry, can we begin a mass exodus of tens of thousands of westerners who work and live in Saudi Arabia, nor send in Marines to protect them. However, we can demand that the Saudi government increase tenfold...

Ever since Joe DiMaggio walked a mile for a Camel and a full-color picture of the Lone Ranger and Silver came in the mail by my having sent in Silvercup bread wrappers, I entered the world of Barnum’s suckers. I also remember in the thirties how the tobacco industry duped young girls into buying a very fashionable “rose-tip” brand. I personally recall my sister’s Chesterfield ad on the back of a magazine, except that her head was preempted by Rita Hayworth ‘s — my sister consoled herself ...