Has the 2008 economic crisis in some ways corrected for the mistakes America made after September 11? Former Brazil foreign minister and ambassador to the United States Roberto Abdenur writes that the global financial crisis has served to open the United States to greater cooperation with the world – if only the Tea Party would get out of the way. For Brazil’s Folha, former Brazil Foreign Minister...

As we approach the 10th anniversary of 9/11, as with every previous anniversary, we find ourselves once again trying to make sense of that unprecedented event; once more trying to find a fitting and worthy way to commemorate the tragic anniversary. Most importantly, we are still poignantly reminded of the unfathomable grief and pain that thousands experienced on that day, and probably forever after, but also...

SCHEDULE AN OVAL OFFICE ADDRESS AND IGNORE CONGRESS President Obama should ignore Congress and make an Oval Office Speech directly to the nation at a time when there are no major television conflicts. What’s so important about a speech before a joint session of Congress when the majority of its members probably don’t want to listen to him anyway? The President and his advisors should look over the scheduled...

Could it be that the United States, Iran and Israel have been conniving to keep Syrian Dictator Bashar al-Assad in office? Columnist Iraq Al-Mutari of Iraq’s Al-Iraq News Agency asserts that Iran is not only working with Washington to thwart Syrian protesters, it is running rings around America in Iraq. For the Al-Iraq News Agency, Iraq Al-Mutari writes in part: It’s no secret that the occupied...

WASHINGTON — We tend to honor the Martin Luther King Jr. we want to honor, not the Martin Luther King Jr. who actually existed. We forget the King who at the time of his ministry was labeled an “extremist,” who explicitly called out “moderates” for urging African-Americans to slow down their march to justice, who quite brilliantly used the American creed as a seedbed for...

What lessons should Arabs draw from the fall of Muammar Qaddafi? According to columnist K. Selim of Algeria’s Le Quotidien d’Oran, Arab leaders had better absorb the fact that times and the world are changing fast, and that they must embrace reform before reform is imposed on them from the outside – namely by the West. For the Le Quotidien d’Oran, K. Selim writes in part: It must be noted that...

Bachmann’s Silence and the Waterloo Murder of a Gay Teen by Karl Frisch Earlier this summer, Michele Bachmann took to an outdoor podium in front of her “friends and family” and entered the race for President telling those assembled, “It’s great to be in Iowa and even better to be in Waterloo where I was born.” The fact that Bachmann was born in Waterloo has become something...

One of the disgraces that, in my opinion, will continue to stain the image and reputation of our nation for years to come, and which belies—betrays—the true character of our people, is the authorization and execution of torture during the Bush-Cheney administration. What is even more troubling and pathetic is the continuing defense of, even praise for, those techniques by the head cheerleader of...

Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

TMV columnist Shaun Mullen just posted an interesting article with a little bit of history on and memories of past hurricanes and an excellent list of precautions people in the (possible) path of Hurricane Irene should take. You notice I capitalized “Hurricane.” That is because I have great respect and awe for Hurricanes. This may be because of a an extremely close encounter I (and my family) had with a...

This article is irritating on a number of fronts. In this book excerpt, the author condemns much of the world outside his religious sphere, consigning faithlessness, insufficient faith, and departure from Church doctrine to the realm of “Sentimentalists.” But he is noncredible, his thesis built on multiple fallacies. First: the author confuses atheism with hedonism and both with mortals using...

America’s Judeo-Christian Roots are Bigger Than Texas by Susan Stamper Brown The hysterical reaction to Republican presidential hopeful Governor Rick Perry’s faith is about as overblown as his home state of Texas is big. Perry is facing a federal lawsuit filed by the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) — purportedly because Perry prayed publicly for our nation. America is headed south to a...

Is it possible that Michele Bachmann could be the next president of the United States? Columnist Levente Sitkei of Hungary’s Magyar Nemzet writes that while it might be said that President Obama – through no fault of his own – was in the wrong place at the wrong time, just the opposite could be true of Bachmann. Hinting at what might happen if the economy worsens and Bachmann wins, Sitkei...

What will become of Iraq when U.S. forces leave at the end of this year? Is the current Iraqi government capable of dealing with life on its own? And if not, what should Iraqis do about it? Columnist Atheer Al Katib of Iraq’s Kitabat newspaper admonishes his readers to begin a great debate about what kind of government – and what kind of country – they want. For Iraq’s Kitabat, Atheer...

In a popular 1960s movie, an aged President recalls the good old days when “we poured God over everything like ketchup.” That line elicited a laugh after John F. Kennedy moved a new generation into the White House and promised to send a man to the moon. Today, ketchup will be back on the American political menu as Texas Governor Rick Perry declares his presidential candidacy in South Carolina and heads for...

It takes balls to execute an innocent man ~ PERRY SUPPORTER When Barry Goldwater, in accepting the 1964 Republican presidential nomination declared that “extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice,” the conservatism he represented bore scant resemblance to the extremism of 2012 GOP wannabes Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry, whose singular talent appears to be really pissing off people about other...

Our Quote of the Day is actually part of a must-read post in The Huffington Post by Lola Adesioye on the ongoing riots in England: In 2011, it’s shameful that any of England’s citizens feel that violence is the best way in which to express frustration. Watching live online footage of yesterday’s rioting in Tottenham from America, I was thrown back to yesteryear. This is what happened in Tottenham...

The debt ceiling limit deal will be felt in many ways, and it’s already being felt in one area: social agencies such as the Jewish Federation are feeling the financial pinch more than ever — and it raises some other issues as well. Here’s a must-read article from the Jewish Daily Foward: The budget deal in Washington and the near certainty of steep declines in federal funding for social services...

Rick Perry’s Path by Matt Mackowiak You’re always strongest when you’re “thinking” about running for president. Gov. Rick Perry, the longest-serving governor in the history of the nation’s second-largest state, is unquestionably the “flavor of the month.” And his likely entrance into the 2012 campaign has many excited, but, as a recent Politico story reported,...

The shooting down of an American helicopter carrying the elite Navy SEALs in Afghanistan has been described as the deadliest single loss for U.S. forces in the decade-long war in Afghanistan. See here… A Pakistani newspaper says that the Abbottabad raid by US Navy Seals was not the first venture into Pakistan. The team had surreptitiously entered the country on ten to twelve previous occasions, the influential...

How badly does the United States want to maintain the value of the dollar? According to columnist Nazanin Amirian of Publico, what has been behind most recent U.S. wars is not human rights or weapons of mass destruction, but the imperative of beating back all challengers to the dominance of the greenback as the world’s currency. For Publico, Nazanin Amirian writes in part: When Bush invaded Iraq in...

As we hurriedly walk in the scorching San Antonio heat to the Scottish Rite Auditorium, my thoughts go back to a much cooler day about 50 years ago when I became an American citizen. I wonder if anything has changed in either America or in those who have traveled thousands of miles, who have left loved ones in far-away lands, who sometimes even risk serious repercussions in their native lands in order to come...

FOR THOSE WHO CAME, BUT COULD NOT STAY While you and I were being born, growing “in the little bread oven”… as it was often said back then… there were other little babies across the world, suddenly thrust into real ovens, and they were not allowed to grow any more. Don’t tell me that that is the past and none of our concern. This is in cellular memory, and we are here to make certain that we speak for...

Can it credibly be said that George W. Bush and U.S. neoconservatives are partly responsible for the emergence of Norwegian terrorist and mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik? According to columnist K. Selim of Algeria’s Le Quotidien d’Oran, Western media has been careful not to draw the right conclusions about where a man like Breivik really came from. For Algeria’s Le Quotidien d’Oran, K....

“Satan Sandwich” was coined by Emanuel Cleaver, chair of Congressional Black Caucus, to describe the debt/ceiling compromise. I have wondered for a long time if part of the problem of public discourse is lack of what? lyric ideas that lead to in depth solutions. What can one do with a Satan Sandwich? Supersize it? Make the problems worse for all. Condemn it for the overage of transFATS? Make...