[caption id="attachment_9948" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Cuban Flag"][/caption] The UN General Assembly voted  overwhelmingly to end the US Economic, Financial and Commercial Embargo of Cuba. The Cubans claim the embargo cost them over $242 million in 2008 alone. The embargo, Cuba claims, makes foreign capital unavailable because investors face possible sanctions for doing business with Cuba. Pu ...

As a person who is over 65 and at some risk due to a health condition, I was initially angry when I was told that kids and pregnant women were given priority.  I said to my self, “Is this is the best we can do when we know something is coming?” I read a letter in the N Y Times this a.m. severely criticizing the Obama Administration.  There is also an article on the front page claiming that this is a test fo ...

Pretend to be surprised! http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/world/asia/28intel.html I want to skip right to my favorite part: "The CIA's practices also suggest the United States is not doing everything in its power to stamp out the lucrative Afghan drug trade, a major source of revenue for the Taliban, the Times said." This is the punch line.  Hilarious, brilliant writing!  Do you mean that offering a steady ...

Seemingly out of nowhere a new anti-abortion group is running a national campaign on college campuses. The images this group present are frightening, disturbing, and infuriating. The Center for Bio-ethical reform CBRMidwest@cbrinfo.orga seemingly unheard of group, appeared on Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza early Monday morning with photos and leaflets to confront students with what it calls its “Genocide Awareness ...

I just get so, so tired of re-fighting the same old battles again and again and again with the same old, bigoted, selfish bastards.  They wear me out.  They are relentless. There are two guys fighting same sex marriage.  They say two people who love each other, who happen to be the same sex, tarnish the image of marriage.  They also claim that gays and lesbians cannot procreate.  If they were really interes ...

Events for the International Day of Climate Action were held in 181 countries, on all continents, from pole to pole. ...

I wonder if anyone still gets surprised when they hear about get-rich-quick schemes such as those pulled off by Bernard Madoff and Tom Petters. Junk bonds, the S&L scandal, dot.coms, pyramid schemes, etc. These newly discovered Ponzi schemes are just a continuation of greed in the US (and, of course, we’re not the only country with these periodic epidemics – or is it a global pandemic?). Surveys show th ...

Apparently, Steven M. Champlin is a guy who shuns the spotlight and shies away from cameras. Which is why it comes as a surprise that he burst into the headlines last week with a controversial speech at  a national forum of America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), a health industry trade group. Champlin addressed a State Issues Conference at the AHIP forum. He was quoted in the Huffington Post: "There is ab ...

Depleted Uranium is nuclear waste...quite literally...and it causes cancer and birth defects. Depleted uranium is extracted from spent nuclear fuel.  It is a waste byproduct of "enriching" uranium. It is a substance with some remarkable properties.  It is denser than lead, harder than steel.   Munitions tipped with DU are extremely effective, especially when engaging enemies using armored vehicles.  These s ...

For-profit providers: Wall Street wants your kids Your public schools are failing and your children aren't learning. The school system is choked by bureaucracy and over-regulation and it is being held hostage by teacher unions that won't respond to parents’ concerns nor adopt meaningful reforms. Principals are weak and refuse to fire teachers who underperform. The public schools are overcrowded and in disre ...