Columnists

Dispatches From The Edge: Iran, the NY Times & the Laws of Physics

By Conn Hallinan
Wednesday February 02, 2011 - 08:58:00 AM

Why is the New York Times claiming the laws of physics are different in Iran then they are anywhere else? Well, the tip off to that answer is the word “Iran.” -more-


The Public Eye: Obama Wins Round One

By Bob Burnett
Monday January 31, 2011 - 09:21:00 PM

Twenty-two months will pass before Americans cast their votes on November 6th, 2012, but few who saw Barack Obama’s State-of-the-Union address on January 25th doubted that the Presidential campaign had begun. The President’s stirring speech contrasted with the tepid Republican responses delivered by Representatives Paul Ryan and Michele Bachmann and established the ideological battle lines for the next election. -more-


Eclectic Rant: Fiftieth Anniversary of U.S. Orchestrated Assassination of Congo's Patrice Lumumba

By Ralph E. Stone
Wednesday February 02, 2011 - 02:54:00 PM

January marked the fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of Patrice Émery Lumumba, a Congolese independence leader and the first legally elected Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo after he helped win its independence from Belgium in June 1960. Ten weeks later, the United States helped orchestrate a coup of Lumumba's government. Lumumba was then imprisoned and murdered. -more-


Senior Power: Caregiving

By Helen Rippier Wheeler
Monday January 31, 2011 - 09:11:00 PM

Syndicated political cartoonist Bulbul says it well. Hands on hips, faced with a lengthy medical bill and zero Medicare, an elder confronts a gent who displays a MedBiz diploma on his office wall. She grrrs “No it’s not senile dementia— It’s too much MEDI and not enough CARE!” -more-


Wild Neighbors: Lifestyles of the Small and Strange

By Joe Eaton
Monday January 31, 2011 - 08:50:00 PM
California slender salamander: smaller than it appears to be.

During last week’s warm dry spell, I finally got around to attacking the Bermuda sorrel. (You never quite get it all, but you can make a dent; and in theory it will die out if sufficiently discouraged.) In the process, I was gratified to find two California slender salamanders (Batrachoseps attenuatus) in the front bed. Ron reported a couple more in the back yard. We hadn’t seen any of these odd amphibians for a while; good to know they’re still around. -more-


Dispatches From The Edge: Lebanon: Roots of the Crisis

By Conn Hallinan
Wednesday February 02, 2011 - 01:32:00 PM

Viewed through the prism of the American mainstream media, Lebanon always appears a place that best defines the term Byzantine: a bewildering mélange of different religions, rival militias, cagey politicians, and shadowy regional proxies taking orders from Teheran, Tel Aviv, Damascus, Riyadh, and Ankara. -more-


On Mental Illness: Insight Development is the Key to Recovery

By Jack Bragen
Wednesday February 02, 2011 - 01:52:00 PM

In the past, you have seen a person with bizarre or unusual behavior, and may have heard a comment from someone next to you that “he is off his medication…” People often believe medication is the solution for problems with mentally ill people. And while there is significant truth to this belief, a solid recovery requires more than taking the prescribed medication. If this weren‘t true, mentally ill people would be relapsing much less than they do. -more-