Guest Column

Better Grades Through Bling-Bling

by Anthony B. Bradley With alarming failure rates at our nation's inner city schools, one wants to celebrate any attempt to motivate success. Still, sincere efforts must be examined not according to their intentions but to their likely or demonstrated results. One new concept that is gaining attention gives kids immediate cash or gifts for completing normal academic tasks, such as homework. While such programs are well intentioned, hustling minority kids with "bling-bling" is sure to cultivate materialism and deteriorate family relationships.

Tutu, Havel urge athletes to speak up at Games

Originally printed July 31, 2008 Czech ex-president Vaclav Havel and Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu called on Olympic athletes on Thursday to speak up on human rights in China during the Beijing Olympics next month.

Move Over David Duke, There’s a New Racist Running for the White House

Imagine an America that is bowing to tolerance and becoming enlightened through a higher level of consciousness. Visualize a country where younger generations will arise with no hatred, no bias and live free of closed minded prejudices. Just when you envision this dream of harmony and acceptance on the brink of society, a society ripe for unity ...you are given a golden opportunity to participate in a revolution. The One arrives on the scene like a liberator to the molested.

Olympics: ‘China not a priority’, say al-Qaeda forums

Dubai, 4 August (AKI) - Jihadist websites close to al-Qaeda have said that China is not the enemy at the moment.

Olympic Games show China through a glass, darkly

By, Jonathan Fenby Timesonline Print July 31, 2008 The opening of the Beijing Olympics in eight days' time will, as always planned, attest to China's spectacular material progress since Deng Xiaoping launched market-led economic reform exactly 30 years ago. The array of venues, the gleaming new buildings, the urban infrastructure installed for the Games, will also reflect the genuine pride of a nation that, while still far from rich by Western standards, has made more people better off in a shorter time than any country in human history.

Obama will lose

By Jack Ward This presidential election should be a slam dunk for the Democrat presidential candidate regardless of the candidate. The blame for mistakes in Iraq, the slumping economy, immigration chaos, and the rise of gasoline prices have been heaped on President Bush. Fair or not, these issues are always blamed on the sitting administration.

You’re telling me to wear what? Chinese are ordered to smarten up for Olympics

If the men of Beijing think they can still emerge from their homes of a morning – unshaven, a bit smelly, still in their pyjamas and slippers – and saunter down to the supermarket or the public lavatories, they can think again: the etiquette police are in town and it is time to spruce up for the Olympics.

Middle East Rules Of Thumb

Middle East Rules of Thumb is of interest to anyone that seeks a better understanding of the complexities of the Middle East–its history, politics, diplomacy, and culture. Through the 50 rules and their appendices, Professor Steven Carol offers a realistic historical perspective on this important region.

Gaza summer camps teach kids to fire rockets

Palestinian children on annual vacation can choose between Hamas or Islamic Jihad summer camps, both of which boast militia-style training, Koran classes, lessons on political prisoners

U.S. says Pakistani spies forewarn al Qaeda allies

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The United States has accused members of Pakistan's main spy agency of tipping off al Qaeda-linked militants before U.S. missile attacks on targets in Pakistani tribal lands, Pakistan's defense minister said.

HH the Dalai Lama Offers His Blessing to Candle for Tibet

HH the Dalai Lama acknowledged today the importance of the Candle for Tibet (CFT) campaign for Freedom in Tibet and for all mankind.

Canada gets a “B” in education

In its report How Canada Performs: A Report Card on Canada, the Conference Board of Canada gave the country a "B" in education and skills, down from last year's "A."

Dion’s carbon tax proposal won’t wash in Alberta

CALGARY -- It may come as a surprise to the Rest of Canada that Albertans are actually deeply concerned about the state of the environment, with all the posturing and chest-thumping that grabs the headlines. In fact, Albertans are ready to walk the talk.

Israeli Rabbinical Council Finds Chinese Regime Liable for Falun Gong Deaths

NEW YORK--In an unprecedented decision, a special Israeli rabbinical council ruled last week that the Chinese regime has been responsible for the killing of Falun Gong practitioners, Sanhedrin

Islamists threaten to murder lawyer defending Pervez

The Afghan lawyer defending a journalist on death row in Kabul has been bombarded with death threats urging him to drop the case.

Cancer. The Problem and Solution.

On April 9th at 8 p.m. sitting in my comfortable armchair after returning two hours earlier from a lightning trip to England, the telephone rang. Unlike many people I love the telephone – at 66 and living alone it is usually a friend calling and I’m blessed to have many. Of course it could be a windows and doors purveyor, or a Toronto Star subscription agent, or the MBNA Bank. At one time I used to say, Sorry, not interested.” Now I just put the phone down without a word. This time it was the gastroentologist I visited before I went away.

Manny Not Being Manly

It’s just past 4:30 p.m. on July 31, 2008 and it appears the Manny Ramirez Era in Boston is over.

Bush ‘Plans Olympic Snub’ Over China Rights

By Lisa Ou & Jason Loftus, Epoch Times U.S. President George W. Bush plans to use his upcoming visit to the Beijing Olympic Games to embarrass Beijing by talking publicly about his concerns over human rights abuses in China, says a Chinese dissident who met the president Tuesday. He says Beijing has embarrassed Bush, who long ago announced he would attend the Games' opening ceremonies, because the regime has not followed through on promises to improve human rights ahead of the Games.

Saying No to Unlimited Immigration

As a negotiation coach it is natural for me to view election campaigns conducted between the two candidates for president and voters as a negotiation with multiple agendas, adversaries, and intense decision making.

Liberation Theology’s Civil War

By Samuel Gregg Few fights are nastier than theological quarrels. This axiom has been amply confirmed by the on-going spat that has erupted between two brothers who were crucial figures in the rise of liberation theology -- the Brazilians Leonardo and Clodovis Boff.