One Man's Opinion

Hillary definitely has a problem with the truth, much as her husband did. She also did not learn the lesson form his case. Sooner rather than later, the truth will out, and the attempts at finessing or being extremely legalistic will only blow up in your face. So, she only used the Blackberry to  handle her personal e-mail account in which she also received and sent official messages, right? But, now we know that she also used her iPad for the very same purpose. Just like Bill, she deals in half-truths and obfuscation. The truth has to be drawn out of her bit by bit, like pulling teeth. On the other hand, maybe she did learn from his case. After all, Bill survived admitting having oral sex at the White House with a woman not his wife. This e-mail stuff is nothing compared to that.

Let's get something straight. From now on, no person who has ever uttered the word " suicide " should be allowed to drive or fly any public transportation vehicle. No one who has ever admitted being "anxious", "depressed" or "nervous" should be permitted to operate a car, bus, taxi, train, boat or plane with passengers. I'm sorry if this sounds unfair to people with some kind of emotional or mental condition or problem, but the rest of us can't take the risk of having someone with these kinds of issues coming apart at the wheel. There are plenty of other jobs or occupations in which going berserk won't do so much harm.

Hillary I, not yet the American ruler, has decided that she, and only she, was fit to have the last word on which e-mails were official in her personal account -- which, by the way, she was using in violation of State Department policy -- and then deleted the rest , or so she says, because there is no way to find out now, is there? I always find it funny how the "democratic" leaders of the world, who go around lecturing other people on how to conduct the public business, resort to authoritarian practices, at the drop of a hat. The American government and its people are asked to just take Hillary's word that she did nothing wrong or improper in using her own e-mail account to conduct State Department business. That act of blind faith is not the way to behave in a democracy under the rule of law.

New rule!, as American comedian Bill Maher likes to say. The U.S. Secret Service has just issued a new guideline for drinking alcohol by its agents. They are required to wait 10 hours before they drive a government vehicle, be it owned, leased or rented. A violation of this policy will carry disciplinary measures, up to termination of employment. Can you imagine the embarrassment of having to tell the whole world that the U.S. Secret Service are a bunch of irresponsible drunks that have to be restrained from drinking and driving?

The more we find out about how the U.S. treats its own soldiers after it no longer needs them, the less credibility it deserves for its patriotic propaganda. It has become common knowledge that the Americans' treatment of its veterans, health and otherwise, is very deficient. So, this latest episode about soldiers who were hurt by chemical weapons or substances in Iraq, and were denied treatment or treated inadequately by their own government, is just another example of the hypocrisy of the U.S. when it comes to dealing with the results of the human mess it makes by sending its troops to bomb, invade and occupy other countries. Isn't it ironic that the U.S., supposedly so worried about chemical warfare, does this to its own soldiers?

Even for a politician, Netanyahu's flip-flop on the question of a Palestinian state is an all-time low. The man, afraid of losing the election, appealed to hardliners, by saying something akin to the infamous "Segregation Forever!" speech by George Wallace. Except, he immediately changed his position, once he was sure he had won the election. Even people in his own country and his own party are appalled by such a trick. The U.S., which is Israel's staunchest supporter, is really disgusted with this guy's antics, now emboldened by his victory. Well that's what you get when you elect and reelect a bully.

No, it has nothing to do with the current situation, but with a very dark chapter of Argentina's history, when it knowingly welcomed Nazi war criminals. Although not an entirely new story, the recent discovery of a Nazi hideout deep in the country's jungle reinforces the charge made decades ago, including the fictional account in the Frederick Forsyth novel, The Odessa File , about a master plan to relocate Nazis, mostly in South America, should they lose the war. Shameful. As shameful as what the Americans did, in taking advantage of German scientists who worked for the Third Reich, as well as allowing Nazi war criminals to live out their lives in the U.S.

Fanaticism of any kind is dangerous; the religious one is much more so because the belief that one is doing "God's will" is extremely powerful and impervious to reason. This comes to mind in the case of the Orthodox Jewish family in Brooklyn whose children were killed in a home fire produced by a malfunctioning hotplate left on through the Sabbath because the observance called for not using electricity in that time period. Any time a belief is adhered to regardless of its practical consequences there are bound to be serious, even tragic results. Religion should not have anything to do with what you eat or how you carry on with the routine, everyday things of life. It's the moral life you lead that is important, and that has nothing to do with putting yourself in danger by applying outdated notions and engaging in irrational practices.

Another one of those American mythical institutions is in trouble. You know, the U.S. constantly reminds the rest of the world of its superiority in all things human. According to this propaganda, no other country in the world comes close to the perfection of American institutions and processes. The Centers for Disease Control is routinely touted as the best institution of its kind in the planet. These are the go-to guys on anything that has to deal with sickness all around the globe. If there is any doubt about what a particular disease might be, you send it to the CDC, and they will have all the answers for you. Except, now we find out that their labs are not all that reliable. At least on the safety side, which is no small thing, since this is part of the CDC mystique, and something that is part and parcel of its grading of other countries' health systems. An independent study has found fault with this aspect of the CDC's performance. A humbling experience, one would h

Once again, a U.S.Congressman has shot himself in the foot with a personal scandal of some sort. This time it has nothing to do with sex or graft -- the usual reasons -- but with lavish spending on himself and some of his staff and associates. Aaron Schock is a member of the Republican Party, which prides itself on its "fiscal responsibility", and that makes it all the more remarkable. Buying a $74,000 vehicle  and redecorating his office for tens of thousands of dollars of public funds are just two examples of the way that this guy was spending money from the congressional budget and his campaign funds. Schock was a great fundraiser. Clearly, he thought he deserved some of that for his own, personal aggrandizement.

At last, Swedish prosecutors have agreed to do what they should have done a long time ago: interview Julian Assange at the Ecuadorean embassy in London. If they are really and only interested in solving the rape case against Assange , they should have agreed to do so in these circumstances. But, of course, they wanted to take him to Sweden, so that they could hand him over to the Americans. Or where he could be conveniently kidnapped by the U.S., which has shown a complete disregard for the rule of law, domestic and international. The Swedish top prosecutor insists that interviewing some place other than Sweden is not as effective. Why? I don't see any reason for that, unless she means that it would be impossible for a third-degree interrogation to be carried out. I suppose that she doesn't want to appear to be "soft on crime" or something like that. Meanwhile, Britain has spent about $15 million in around-the-clock surveillance of the Ecuadorean embassy. Evide

By now, the whole world knows that the U.S. Secret Service is a joke. Still, it keeps getting funnier... or worse, depending on how one looks at these things. But, seriously, there's no question that the SS is in complete disarray. After all that's happened in the last three years, to have these two senior-level agents get drunk and crash a gate at the White House with an official vehicle is about as bad as it can get. There doesn't seem to be any way to stop these things from happening. It's as if the SS agents are doing this on purpose, as an act of defiance of their superiors, the President and Congress. In this case, there is another disturbing element. A SS supervisor intervened with the police to let the agents go without being processed in the usual way, including the undergoing of sobriety tests. In short, the law has been circumvented to cover up a very serious incident at the highest level of the American government. Stay tuned for more embarrassment in th

For the most part, college fraternities have never been a good idea, except for those who are interested in drinking excessively and acting dumbly. And dangerously, as hazing tragedies have shown through the years. They have also been notoriously racist; so much so, that blacks have had to establish fraternities of their own. So, the incident at the University of Oklahoma should come as no surprise to anyone. It is just another reflection of a deeply racist country, its black President notwithstanding.

The "I won't quit" by Bob Menéndez is beginning to sound like "famous last words." The U.S. Cuban senator from New Jersey has been caught with his hands in the cookie jar in a corruption scandal that involves a Dominican doctor for which he did some "favors." The investigation has been going on for a while, and charges will be filed against the senator. The fact that he paid back $58,000 in claimed   travel expenses, while he hitched rides on the doctor's private jet, doesn't bode well for him. Menéndez is part of that Cuban political clique in the U.S. Congress that is always opposed to any move on the American part to improve relations with Cuba. The man has also meddled in Puerto Rican politics, expressing his opinions on what the future political status of our country should be. It's only a matter of time until we all get rid of him.

Wherever man goes, sooner or later, he messes it up. Even a place as remote and inaccessible as Mount Everest has become a dumping ground, in every sense of the word. (Yes, that one too.) Some years back, there were people who sounded the alarm on this, but very little has been done to stop climbers from turning Everest into a garbage and sewage disposal facility. It's a problem that has been 60-plus-years in the making, as more and more people have gone up to the top. Maybe there will come a time when they'll have to curtail the access to "the roof of the world."

A black teenager has been killed by a policeman -- presumably, white --  in Madison, Wisconsin. The officer claims that the young man "assaulted" him when he barged into his apartment, after hearing a "disturbance" inside. The policeman had followed the black teenager because he had, supposedly, "assaulted" a pedestrian. The preliminary investigation has not revealed that the kid had a weapon of any kind. I would be surprised if they find the cop guilty of anything.

In Pakistan, they have come up with a way to honor students that have been killed by the sectarian violence that abounds in that part of the world: naming schools after them. The count is up to 107 or thereabouts. The U.S. should take note of this. There are certainly enough killings in schools and universities to pick the best names. Of course, some exceptions would have to be made. For example, the latest case in a Boston high school would not qualify, not only because the student wasn't killed, but also because he was shot by the dean over a dispute about the marijuana he was selling for him.

Homophobia is employing a new tactic in the U.S.  State legislatures there have come up with the subterfuge that a person's religious belief that homosexuality is a sin should exempt him or her from obeying anti-discrimination laws aimed at protecting homosexuals. It is hard to dignify such an outrageous proposition with a serious consideration, but there is a growing trend there to use freedom of conscience to legalize bigotry and discrimination. Unfortunately, given American cultural influence all over the world, this is the kind of thing that tends to spread to other countries. We must all be vigilant, so that we don't slip back to the Dark Ages of theocracy.

I've never understood the connection between what you eat and your religious beliefs. To me, it's one of those things that make no sense at all. I grew up Catholic and loving beef; so I resented Lent, for not allowing me to eat meat on Fridays. My mother was a stickler for that sort of thing. My father, a non-believer, went along with it. All this comes to mind with the recent decision of another state in India to ban even the possession of beef, with fines and prison time. I thought that, as time went by, the belief in the sacredness of cows was a thing of the past. Evidently, I was wrong. That's a country I will never visit.

"Unequal protection under law." There is no other way to put the David Petraeus affair -- pun intended -- and its ending. In a world in which people such as Julian Assange and Edward Snowden are relentlessly hunted down for divulging State secrets, a top military man and then CIA Director who shared sensitive information with his lover, and then repeatedly lied about it, is allowed to cut a deal for no jail time and a paltry $40,000 fine. So, there you have it. Selective adjudication, if there ever was one.

Oh, no, not again! A guy has been shot by the police in Los Angeles, in extremely dubious circumstances. The man had three strikes against him, for a start: he was black, crazy and homeless. So, he was a nobody on all three counts. This is why a scuffle between him and four policemen  turned deadly, when they shot him five times while he was on the ground . The excuse: He was trying to grab one of the officer's guns. Yeah, sure. I bet that this is the standard line taught cops at the Police Academy in cases such as this one. Oh, well. This is just business as usual in U.S. policing.