Columnists

DISPATCHES FROM THE EDGE:Nelson Mandela-A Memory

By Conn Hallinan
Friday December 06, 2013 - 11:43:00 AM

“One thing alone I charge you. As you live, believe in life. Always human beings will live and progress to greater, broader and fuller life. The only possible death is to lose belief in this truth simply because the great end comes slowly, because time is long.” -more-


ECLETIC RANT: Nelson Mandela, South Africa's Moral Center, is Dead at 95

By Ralph E. Stone
Friday December 06, 2013 - 11:55:00 AM

Nelson Mandela, affectionately known as Madiba, is dead at 95. A great man has died. -more-


Economic Inequality: 5 Personal Actions

By Bob Burnett
Friday December 06, 2013 - 10:25:00 AM

The United States is experiencing unprecedented income inequality. It’s not only affecting the lives of millions of Americans, but it’s the root cause of political polarization that has paralyzed the Federal government. Here are 5 actions you can take to address economic inequality. -more-


SENIOR POWER . . . on a binge

By Helen Rippier Wheeler, pen136@dslextreme.com
Friday December 06, 2013 - 11:58:00 AM

I recently went on a Babette’s Feast rewind binge. I had feasted some time ago when it-she was on TV, PSB probably. Decades later I come to Babette with a new perspective as well as greater appreciation and pleasure. And not just because it’s seventy-six year old Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s favorite film. -more-


ON MENTAL ILLNESS: Therapy Isn't Always Unfavorable

By Jack Bragen
Friday December 06, 2013 - 11:56:00 AM

In the three years that I have been writing this column, I have spent a lot of time criticizing mental health caregivers. I have been thin-skinned to the condescension of some of them and I have pointed out that there are some situations of cruel treatment. -more-


DISPATCHES FROM THE EDGE:Pandora & The Drones

By Conn Hallinan
Friday December 06, 2013 - 12:35:00 PM

In November 2001, when the CIA assassinated al-Qaeda commander Mohammed Atef with a killer drone in Kandahar, Afghanistan, the U.S. held a virtual monopoly on the technology of lethal robots. Today, more than 70 countries in the world deploy drones, 16 of them the deadly variety, and many of those drones target rural people living on the margins of the modern world. -more-


DISPATCHES FROM THE EDGE:Iran & Enhancement

By Conn Hallinan
Friday December 06, 2013 - 12:27:00 PM

There are any number of obstacles that could trip up the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the “P5+1”—the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany— but the right to “enrich” nuclear fuel should not be one of them. Any close reading of the 1968 “Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons” (NPT) clearly indicates that, even though the word “enrichment” is not used in the text, all signers have the right to the “peaceful applications of nuclear technology.” -more-