Why is Mexico’s ‘war on drugs’ proving to be the longest and most deadly battle in the nation’s history? Columnist Luis Javier Garrido of Mexico’s La Jornada outlines in great detail how the companies and government agencies which are supposed to battle narco-trafficking are proving so profitable, neither governments nor the companies they pay wish it to end. For La Jornada,...

Hamburg, Germany: Preventive Detention Controversy Splits Politicians and City Residents A ruling in spring 2011 by the German Constitutional Court enables dangerous criminals in preventive detention to return to living “a normal life”. And that includes having a place to stay, becoming part of a new neighbourhood. German politicians now have a burden on their hands and residents have serious safety concerns....

This absolutely, totally made me cry. This post at BlogHer is also worth reading for a number of the links and information on the news.

by WALTER BRASCH “Ola, Amigo! Pack your bags, we’re going to Mexico!” bubbled Dr. Franklin Peterson Comstock III, faux physician and money-maker. “Yeah, I could use a decent vacation,” I replied, figuring he’d pay for both of us since he had just set the world record for the most nose jobs in a 24-hour period. “What vacation?” he said. “I’m setting up practice.” “And give up catering...

I stopped eating meat about 15 years ago not on philosophical grounds or because I embraced a vegetarian or (heaven forbid) vegan diet, but because meat was expensive and I realized that I felt better without it. And so except for the very occasional greasy Philadelphia-style cheese steak with fried onions and mushrooms, I have become a so-called flexitarian with a diet that is substantially meat free. Americans,...

When I read this letter for the many-eth time in my life, I see MLK’s spiritual discipline, the knowledge of how to go forward in four steps, the leadership, the clear demands, the efforts at negotiation, the spiritual self-examination so one doesnt go off half-cocked caught up in the yelling… and the non violent protest for clear cut goals. When I read Reverend King’s letter from Birmingham...

I will be haunted for a long time by this. On the other hand, it gave lots of hope. FOOTNOTE: My father had an experience like this about three years before he died.

Is America’s fear of terrorism putting a chill on essential scientific research? For Italy’s La Stampa, columnist Piero Bianucci warns that the White House, in an unprecedented move to prevent terrorists from getting their hands on an even more deadly form of bird flu, has persuaded science journals Science and Nature to censor themselves, undermining the free flow of information that scientific...

This seems fitting for Christmas: via foodservicewarehouse.com a GREAT Infographic “Visualizing The World’s Calorie Consumption”: Source: Food Service Warehouse

A warning from a professor in Germany. Think twice about giving a “boobs job voucher” as a gift this Christmas season: People planning to give their loved one a nip and tuck at Christmas could be risking more than upsetting their partners – cheap seasonal offers with time limits are not to be recommended, a top surgeon has warned. Professor Peter Vogt, president of the German Society of Plastic...

One of the things that is utterly stunning to those of us who were once Republicans is the nearly complete death of the concept that “compassionate conservativism” was a lofty ideal. Now you have public officials such as Wisconsin’s Gov. Scott Walker who seem to have no problem tossing the word compassionate out the window. One example here. I suspect this won’t help him win over voters...

Oregon is a progressive state and is well represented by Senator Jeff Merkley. Ron Wyden has been slowly moving to the right but his latest move is a knife in the back of all Democrats running in 2012. Democrat Ron Wyden and Republican Paul Ryan propose overhaul of Medicare WASHINGTON – In an unlikely partnership, Sen. Ron Wyden joined Rep. Paul Ryan on Wednesday in a plan for remodeling Medicare to ensure...

About a week ago, a “Get a Life” post by Joe Gandelman discussing a bovine question by a reporter on a defense authorization bill that included a provision which repeals the military law on sodomy and the military ban on sex with animals, or bestiality, quickly (de)generated some heated comments on the issue. One person insisted that sodomy and other bizarre deviant sex acts should be illegal and was appalled...

WASHINGTON — I’m inclined to believe that the apparent result of the climate change summit in Durban, South Africa, might turn out to be a very big deal. Someday. Maybe. That’s my view, but it’s hardly universal. After the meeting ended Sunday, initial reaction basically ranged from “Historic Breakthrough: The Planet Is Saved” to “Tragic Failure: The Planet...

All the most media exposed candidates for GOP POTUS are over age 50, some like Newt, only a couple years shy of 70 years of age. Only 11 out of 44 Presidents have been under age 50, tilted strongly toward the aging and the elderly. There’s a saying that old dogs in fading power try to diminish and hold power away from the strongest of the dogs… which are not the elderly, rather the young who are...

Calls for the legalization of drugs are coming from the strangest places these days – like from the president of the world’s leading cocaine exporter. Columnist Antonio Caballero of Colombia’s Semana writes that while he may be ‘the most submissive servant of the United States among world leaders,’ Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has done something not even Washington’s...

by WALTER BRASCH They buried Bouldergrass today. The cause of death was listed as “media-induced health.” Bouldergrass had begun his health crusade more than a decade ago when he began reading more than the sports pages of his local newspaper, subscribed to his first magazine, and decided TV news could be informative if it didn’t mention anything about wars, famines, and poverty. Based on what he read...

Washington Governor Chris Gregoire (D) isn’t running for re-election in 2012. That freedom could be the impetus for her signing on to November 30 letter (pdf) to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration that petitions DEA “to initiate proceedings for the issuance of an amendment of a rule or regulation” that would reclassify medical marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule II of the Controlled...

Eric Allie, Caglecartoons.com This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

WASHINGTON – Any time the Obama administration touches issues related to the Roman Catholic Church, it seems to get itself caught in a rhetorical and moral crossfire that leaves all involved wounded and angry. This is what’s happening in the battle over how contraception should be covered under the new health care law. Partly because it mishandled the issue at the outset, the Obama team seems...

MAY WE LAUGH Dear Brave Souls: For family dinners at holiday season. May we laugh. May we return good to good. May we return good to not-so-hot. May we laugh. May we return kind to kind. May we return kind to cruel. May we laugh. May we return calm to calm. May we return calm to flagrant. May we laugh. May we stay long as we like. May we stay short if need be. May we laugh about how we all belong to a family...

With the Supreme Court having ruled that corporations like ConAgra, Coca-Cola and Del Monte have the same rights of people, it makes sense in a bass-ackwards sort of way that Congress has blocked proposed rule changes by the Agriculture Department that would have overhauled the nation’s school lunch program in an effort to add more fruits and greens to menus in the service of reducing childhood obesity. And...

So now the Supreme Court will look at President Obama’s signature health care reform. Will a ruling hurt Obama? A roundup.

Fasten your political seat belts. The Supreme Court will hear a challenge to President Barack Obama’s health care reform law — and commentators on cable and other news organizations this morning have predicted the final decision could come down by June 2012, right before the Nov. 12 elections: The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a challenge to President Obama’s signature law on health care, it...

Penn State and their sexual abuse intrusion cases are not alone is being peered at by a Grand Jury in Pennsylvania. See excerpt from EWTN news Feb 15 of this year 2011 below detailing Grand Jury findings on abject neglect of credible complaints of sexual intrusion of children in Catholic Diocese… one wonders what the h.e. double hockeysticks is in the water in Pennsylvania. But, then, it must be in the...