Commentary

491 posts

World AIDS Day: Good News and Bad Education

Today is World AIDS Day. The 24th World AIDS Day, to be exact. Let’s take a look at some sobering statistics, shall we?

According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), as of January 2010, an estimated 34 million people were living with HIV worldwide, up 17% from 2001. This number reflects both an increase in the number of infections and a reduction in AIDS-related deaths due to increased access to effective antiretroviral therapy. UNAIDS also reports that the number of people dying of AIDS-related causes fell to 1.8 million in 2010, down from a peak of 2.2 million in the mid-2000s. Promisingly, approximately 2.5 million deaths were prevented in low- and middle-income countries since 1995 due to the introduction of antiretroviral therapy.  Much of that success has come in the past two years when rapid scale-up of access to treatment occurred; in 2010 alone, 700,000 AIDS-related deaths were averted. Continue reading →

Elvis Costello Wants You to Buy a Louis Armstrong Record

When the music industry is failing and no one is buying CDs the solution is always to charge more money. It worked for Abercrombie and Fitch earlier this decade right?  Oh wait…

When the content creators are asking you to charge less money and willing to take the pay cut the solution is always to charge more. It’s worked really well for the airlines right?  Oh wait… Continue reading →

Ground Zero: A Report from Blackish Thursday

Generally speaking, I avoid crap like Black Friday or Blackish Thursday. The things I’m interested in are rarely on sale, and the ones that are are frequently just as cheap online. However, the last two years I’ve indulged on single items that were significantly cheaper. This year, I found a single item I was interested in.

Now, in previous years, my travels have taken me to Meijer (which, for those of you unfamiliar with it, is basically Not-Wal Mart) and Best Buy (late in the day, so it wasn’t insane). This year, because Batman: Arkham City decided to crap out on me, I decided to give Toys R Us a shot. I figured, “Hey, it’s 10:30pm on Thanksgiving. Only crazy people would be at Toys R Us at 10:30pm on Thanksgiving. I should be able to get in and out without much trouble.” Continue reading →

Occupy Toronto Being Evicted

This morning Occupy Toronto is being evicted from its camp at St. James Park.

A legal fight was put up last week, with Occupy’s lawyers seeking a court order to quash the eviction notice issued by the City of Toronto, but were unsuccessful.  Toronto is the latest in a string of evictions by Canadian cities seeking to crush the Occupy protests.  Earlier last week, injunctions were granted against the occupations in Vancouver and Victoria (the provincial capital of British Columbia).  Two weeks ago, police forcibly evicted occupiers in London, Ontario, and in Halifax, Nova Scotia protesters agreed to move the location of their occupation, and once they had moved they were all arrested. Continue reading →

GOP Debate Liveblog-Offensive in Any Language

This week of Thanksgiving, let us remember that we can at least be thankful that all but one of these people have NO chance of becoming president. Tonight is ostensibly about foreign policy and national security-areas where the GOP is typically pretty consistent. Sadly, this may mean that the candidates won’t have their favorite scapegoats tonight-Obamacare, gays, and poors. At least, not our gays and poors.

Come for the ignorance, stay for the insults.  Continue reading →

In The Wake of Sexual Abuse

As a survivor of child molestation it’s strange to listen to others try to digest the recent unpalatable situations unfolding in the news. Judgement and scorn for the abuser. Pity and protective stances offered towards the victims. I listen in silence as my good ol’ boy coworkers discuss their anger at the alleged abuser. My own feelings have been obfuscated by years of denying the impact it had on me, until now. Continue reading →

The Little Quaker at Zuccotti

When I first drafted this article, the Mean Young Liberal, age 4, was busy constructing “Occupy Wall Street” out of Lego figures. I guess he was impressed with the display of Occupy Lego Land.  As I finished it two days later, the NYPD had evicted Occupy Wall Street from Zuccotti Park and were, at that moment, apparently being directed to defy a court order that had permitted the Occupiers back into the park with their equipment.

This past Sunday, I brought the MYL (my nickname for my four-and-a-half year old son) to visit Occupy Wall Street. You see, my husband and I had decided to raise our son in the Religious Society of Friends. (“Hicksite”  version). Due to some logistic oddities, we travel from Westchester County to the East Village to attend Meeting and First Day (what Quakers call Sunday) School.   Typically, I try to make those days into adventures for the MYL and that Sunday would not be an exception, at least I hadn’t planned it to be.  It turned out to be a fairly exceptional day indeed. Continue reading →

Sandusky: It Was ‘Horseplay’, Not Rape

This was one of the most bizarre interviews I’ve seen in a long time.<!–more–>

Former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky admits to showering with boys, admits to ‘horseplay’ with boys, and, when asked by Bob Costas of NBC News, point-blank, ‘Are you sexually attracted to under-aged boys?’ says “I enjoy young people. I love to be around them… but no, I’m not sexually attracted to young boys,’

From a journalistic standpoint — damn, Bob Costas. I give him Mike Wallace-esque props here. He asked simple, straightforward, direct questions. He also managed to not throw his pen across the room and scream, “SERIOUSLY?”