Grego

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European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet, left, and European Commissioner for the Economy, Olli Rehn, wait for the start of a meeting of the European Stability Mechanism in Luxembourg on Monday. (Virginia Mayo/Associated Press)

The basket case that is the Greek economy and its sovereign debt (the lowest ranked in the world) is playing out like a classic Greek tragedy on the minds of European heads and their finance ministers. (more…)

Yemeni anti-government protester chants slogans during a demonstration against President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sanaa, Yemen. Photo Credit: Ahmad Gharabli/Getty Images

In another stunning reversal of policy, the U.S. now seeks the removal of Yemen’s besieged president Ali Abdullah Saleh, a long supported and key ally of Washington in the fight against al-Qaeda in the strategic Arabian Peninsula. (more…)

A tense calm prevails in Tahrir Square of the Egyptian capital, as Mubarak approaches the proverbial fork in the road as Egypt faces its “Tienanmen Moment“. (more…)

Both equally protected by the U.S. Constitution, both equally insensitive to many people throughout the world, but both not equally treated by the White House, the media, nor even the ACLU. (more…)

Mexican President Felipe Calderon continues to demonize Arizona’s new immigration law as he has since his official state visit to the U.S. last May. (more…)

The one year anniversary of the Afghanistan Shi’ite Personal Status Law passed without even a whisper from the U.S. media. Apparently, daily stories of oiled-soiled pelicans are vastly more important and newsworthy to CNN and FOX, as well for the alphabet soup of “news” of organizations vying for the attention of the coveted U.S. population. (more…)

Over 11,000 U.S. and Afghan troops encircled an area in southern Afghanistan called Marjah to defeat a just few hundred Taliban fighters. (more…)

With all the chatter in the media about Congress spending $500 Billion for this and $500 billion for that, we thought it worthwhile to put all that cash in perspective. I have held a few $20 bills in my hand, so I can imagine what a few hundred dollars would look like, or perhaps even one thousand dollars. But a million dollars? A billion dollars?

This is $10,000 in $100 bills.

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What it Means to Have a Majority White America Elect a Black President

Can you choose your color today, or must others still do that for you? Can anyone of us with mixed heritage be predominantly called by just one name? More importantly, what does that say about the heritage you choose (or is chosen for you), and the heritage not chosen? It appears to me that regardless of your standing in society, regardless of your accomplishments or natural talents, you still must choose a color – or one will be chosen for you. (more…)

Senator Edward Kennedy (1932-2009)
[Photo Credit: AP]

In regards to civil rights, health, and the economic well-being of the average American, few elected officials anywhere have accomplished as much. (more…)

“Throw in a few billion here and a few billion there, and before you know it, you are talking about real money…” . I don’t recall who first coined that phrase, (I think it was in the late ’80s), but when I first heard it, it was Millions not Billions! (more…)

[Photo credit: Ahmad Masood/Reuters]
Without much of a fuss made by the media, if even reported at all, last month Afghanistan’s new Shiite Personal Status Law was put into effect. The law grants Shiite men the legal right to starve their wives if their sexual demands are not met. These sexual demands are not defined or limited by the law. The law also requires Shiite women to obtain permission from their husbands to even leave their home. Parental custody is solely the father’s or, in his absence, the paternal grandfather. Incredibly, the law also allows a rapist to avoid prosecution by paying “blood money” to a girl who was injured when he raped her. That payment, of course, is offered to the father, paternal grandfather or the brothers of the raped girl. (more…)

Henry Louis Gates, James Crowley and Barack Obama (“the boys”) hoisted some cold suds on the South Lawn of the White House today in a carefully orchestrated event for the whole world to experience. This was, as the White House called it, a “teachable moment” on race in America. We couldn’t be happier for them, you know, the boys – for they have suffered so much. (more…)

The Creative Steps Day Care, a Philadelphia-area day care center, said Thursday, that members of a private swim club the organization had paid to attend, made racist comments about the center’s children to the point of bringing some of the young children to tears. Not to be outdone by its racist members, the swim club then quickly canceled the swimming privileges of all the children – from the day care center! (more…)

In physics, the principle of relativity is the requirement that the laws of physics in the observable world have the same form in all admissible frames of reference.

Now observe this photo of two little girls standing on the balcony of their home in Rafah, Gaza Strip – their observable world.
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Sex continues to unravel many political careers, so much so that I submit we are painfully bored by the news unless it details news ‘off the beaten trail’. For example, I submit for your consideration Larry Craig, the Idaho senator whose “wide stance” whilst using the public toilet led to what he characterizes as a “miss understanding” of his intentions to an undercover Idaho State Trooper. The latest tryst exposed for our entertainment is the republican governor from South Carolina, Mr Mark (don’t cry for me Argentina) Sanford. (more…)

I have been giving this question some thought ever since my daughter shared with me an article describing the work of researchers at the Scripps Research Institute who created molecules that self-replicate, evolve and compete to win or loose.” (more…)

THE EXTORTION OF US TAX PAYERS (a.k.a., the Detroit Bailout)

Let’s do the math and perhaps put it out to a poll. I’ll focus on GM, you can do the same for Ford and Chrysler. GM employs about 252,000 people globally. The company website totals its US work force at 97,624 across some 87 US zip codes. (more…)