April 7, 2008
The fourth and fifth stops on a planned 85,000 mile relay bearing the Olympic flame from the Acropolis in Athens, Greece to the site of this year’s Summer Games in Bejing, China turned ugly over the weekend, as thousands of protesters in London and Paris disrupted the procession, drawing attention to China’s reputation for human rights abuses and its heavy-handed suppression of internal dissent in Tibet.
March 18, 2008
Bear Stearns, the fifth largest investment bank in the United States, had $17 billion in cash and salable assets on March 11. At the close of trading on Friday, March 14, the eighty-five year-old firm had an exchange-listed market capitalization of just $4 billion. Over the ensuing weekend, one of its competitors, JP Morgan Chase & Co., agreed to buy Bear Stearns in a paper transaction backed by financing from the New York Federal Reserve Bank, for just under $240 million.
March 11, 2008
America loves nothing more than a sex scandal.
February 19, 2008
Today the U.S. Supreme Court declined an opportunity for a peek at the man behind the curtain, refusing to certify for appeal a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of numerous Muslim lawyers, journalists and other American citizens, who argued the existence of the National Security Agency’s warrantless eavesdropping program rendered them unable to perform their jobs.
February 14, 2008
The true origins of celebrating the notion of romantic love on February 14 are not well documented, though the exchange of elaborate, handmade gifts between paramours was well established by the middle of the eighteenth century in England, and began to really take off in the United States once Esther Howland (herself now considered something of a saint by the American Greeting Card Association) began selling mass-produced Valentine’s cards in the 1840s.
January 29, 2008
So long as we continue to trust the people, our nation will prosper, our liberty will be secure and the state of our union will remain strong.
— George W. Bush, Final State of the Union Speech, Jan. 28, 2008
January 16, 2008
What a difference a decade makes.
January 3, 2008
I know Neil Young actually wrote the lyric about Kent State and Ohio, but I just couldn’t resist.
January 2, 2008
The bumper stickers say, “Had Enough Yet?”
December 13, 2007
With thanks to How The World Works for the tip, I call your attention to an analysis issued today by the Economic Policy Institute, which highlights perhaps the most significant achievement in the decidedly disastrous presidency of George W. Bush, and describes what may turn out to be our 43rd President’s most enduring legacy.
