Columns

"I don’t know about you, but I don’t worry much about “falling profits.” Few working people do. What we worry about is job insecurity, lousy working conditions, unpaid hours, evaporating pensions, and healthcare coverage that’s either woefully inadequate or nonexistent."

"It is my hope that the proud little city's grand ghosts haunt the upcoming meeting with reminders of the lessons they can teach..."

"Demme’s documentary brings it all to the forefront. It not only addresses the of a great humanitarian to confront the tragedy of the Palestine-Israel conflict, but also the corruption of a news media and an often bankrupt public discourse in America where the facts of the Middle East conflict are shredded and turned into hateful mulch."

"Everything Robertson has done in his more than thirty year television career has been focused on advancing the Final Days. I remember, too well, in 1982, when Israel invaded and devastated large parts of Lebanon, an excited Robertson using pointers and maps on his daily television program, predicting the coming of the Final Battle. "These nations (pointing to Arab states) are the Forces of Evil," while Israel the U.S. and Europe he identified as the nations fighting for Good. He would, in the midst of his discussion, turn to the viewers and say with an eerie grin, "The End is at hand. I can feel it. It's coming."

"Obama and Richardson found fault with he Bush Administration's neglect of the Middle East peace process and spoke of the danger posed by this neglect. Richardson's remarks were the most evocative, while Obama added an interesting domestic component to his commitment, noting that the peace-making effort has not only his support but that of Arab Americans and Americans Jews."

In the name of honesty and respect for whatever may be left of the Western, democratic virtues that our veterans died for, Nov. 11 “Remembrance Day” should be abandoned in favour of Nov. 29 “Catastrophe Day.” It, at least, is relevant to our times.

"This all should have been understood before the war began, but was not. And that is why one of the principle recommendations of the Iraq Study Group is as valid today as when it was written. And that is the necessity of creating a regional security pact which brings together all the component groups inside Iraq, along with Iraq's neighbors, under the auspices of the United Nations, so that problems of this sort are not tackled piecemeal. Iraq's neighbors have a direct stake in the stability and unity of Iraq, and are better made partners toward that goal than a collection of allies and rivals."

"...instead of urging reconsideration of the Roadmap, Arab interests would be better served by developing an actual Road to Peace. More than a poorly-conceived and ill-prepared conference, an Arab diplomatic offensive, at this time, might help breathe new life into the peace process and set the table for future talks."