Hundreds of homes near the French city of Marseille were evacuated this week because of forest fires. The flames quickly spread over an area five miles wide and nearly 200 firemen were called out to fight the blaze. These sorts of fires do happen in the summer, particularly in areas ravaged by environmentalists who refuse [...]
Archive for July, 2009
31 Jul
Perception vs. Reality
“This is probably just a perception, but I just have the feeling that the glaciers are melting, the snow capping the mountains is less than it was 12 years ago when I saw it last time.” This brilliant example of the scientific method was uttered by none other than Canadian astronaut Bob Thirsk, a supposed [...]
31 Jul
Chinese Block Christian Organization
In a truly disturbing move, the United Nations has denied official status to the Dynamic Christian World Mission Foundation after its refusal to give the names and addresses of its members in China. Dynamic, an L.A.-based, non-governmental organization (NGO), submitted the information on its members in other countries, but feared for the safety of those [...]
31 Jul
Can’t We All Just Get Along?
The furor over the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates continued this week, with Barack Obama and Gates digging in and insisting that Sgt. James Crowley of the Cambridge police was in the wrong. Yet Obama invited both men to the White House Thursday evening to resolve their differences over a beer. We presume [...]
31 Jul
And Now for the Feature Presentation, CARS
We would say step right up and slip behind the wheel of a brand new car courtesy of $1 billion in taxpayer money the federal government allocated to subsidize the retail auto industry, but Washington’s Car Allowance Rebate System, or CARS (a name that’s too clever by half), is out of money after just one [...]
31 Jul
Frank Threatens Banks
Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), affectionately known around our humble shop as Bonnie Fwank, threatened banks this week that if they don’t voluntarily help more homeowners avoid foreclosure, Congress will force them to. Legislation was defeated earlier this year that would have allowed people to keep their homes by filing for bankruptcy. Frank, chairman of the [...]
31 Jul
Minimum Wage Increased
The federal minimum wage was raised from $6.55 to $7.25 last Friday. For affected workers, this means employers are about to decide, on an individual basis, whether to grant the raise or eliminate the job. Those on the “wrong” side of that decision will now have the opportunity to see, up close and personal, what [...]
31 Jul
Chinese Warn U.S. About Debt
In a revealing discourse between the Chinese and U.S. governments, one government was urging the other to adopt sound monetary policies coupled with fiscal restraint to protect investments in treasury debt of the other. Unfortunately, the government rolling the dice and living without regard to paying its future bills is the U.S. government, while the [...]
31 Jul
Israel Prepared to Take on Iran
Israel this week reiterated its stance on dealing with the Iranian nuclear program, with Defense Minister Ehud Barak stating, “We clearly believe that no option should be removed from the table. This is our policy. We mean it.” Barak’s comments came as U.S. officials, including Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and National Security Advisor James [...]
31 Jul
AG Holder Worried About ‘Radicalization’ at Home
Attorney General Eric Holder has made no secret of his disdain for right-wing “radicals” during his brief tenure. An interview with ABC News this week was no exception. “I mean, that’s one of the things that’s particularly troubling: This whole notion of radicalization of Americans,” Holder said during the interview in his SUV as his [...]
