One Man's Opinion

The recent controversy about who killed Osama bin Laden and the precise circumstances in which it happened is yet another example of the fabrications and lies that the U.S. engages in all the time. There are about three different versions of what happened, all from the soldiers who participated in the raid. Clearly, there can only be one that is truthful, and those three guys have to know which one it is. Meanwhile, a book has been written, a movie has been made, interviews have been given, and money has been made. Who cares about the truth?

The Tulsa, Oklahoma dentist whose unsanitary practices for the past six years  may have compromised as many as 7,000 of his patients' health, exposing them to HIV and hepatitis, is a major scandal that calls into question the quality control of healthcare in that particular area in the U.S. The American healthcare system is reputedly one of the best in the world...or so it claims. Americans are invariably wary of most other countries' practice of medicine, hospital care and lab results. In their view, the rest of the world is stupid and dirty, so they don't trust the medical care provided abroad, at least, to them. Well, think again.

A Brazilian woman doctor has been accused, along with seven colleagues, of "pulling the plug" in different ways to get rid of patients that she felt were taking too much time to die in the intensive care unit of a hospital in Curitiba. Although there are seven cases identified, authorities suspect that there could be more, since the practice went on for seven years.  So, now they're checking almost 2,000 medical records, in order to detect other suspicious deaths. Apparently, these were no mercy killings or euthanasia cases, which, by the way, is illegal in Brazil. Just doctors playing God.

It's still too early to tell, but the new Pope could be on the right track on a host of issues. He seems to be a humble person, that has decided to continue a very modest way of living. He also has spoken about the need for the Church to be "poor" and take more care of the poor and the dispossessed. For now, he lives in a two-room apartment, refusing to move to the papal palace. He also seems to be more open to people of other religious beliefs. We'll have to wait and see if this translates into a major reform of the Church. Let's hope and pray that it does.

In another sad chapter of foolishness and irresponsibility in the entertainment world, Dionne Warwick has filed for bankruptcy claiming to have just $1,000 in cash to her name. It seems that all those years of musical success were accompanied by egregious overspending and carelessness in paying her taxes. Like her cousin Whitney Houston, her life has taken a turn for the worse, in this case, for not taking serious things seriously and living in a fantasy world of her own. Sadly, she won't be able to "walk on by" this mess.

There he goes again. John Kerry, the U.S. Secretary of State, has scolded the Iraqi Prime Minister for allowing Iran to use Iraq's air space to, allegedly, fly over to Syria with supplies and troops. I suppose that the Americans are outraged at having the regime they put in place exercise its sovereignty as it sees fit. The puppet has to do what the puppet master directs it to do. So, Kerry has to remind Iraq that only the U.S. is entitled to have a foreign policy and do what it chooses on the international scene. The rest of the world has to ask the Americans permission to act.

It's ironic that a country such as Myanmar -- formerly known as Burma -- while journeying from a totalitarian state to a democracy, finds itself facing a significant increase in the drug trade and the corruption it breeds. There seems to be a consensus that Myanmar is the key player in the drug trade in that part of Southeast Asia. As in other parts of the world, such as South America, poor farmers resort to the "cash crop" of plants that produce high-priced drugs, as a kind of subsistence farming. Like elsewhere, the government has been unable to convince those farmers to plant other crops, which are legal but much-less profitable. All this begs the questions: What is Aung San Suu Kyi, the champion of human rights, and her party doing about this? Shouldn't she be taking time off from her trips around the world receiving accolades and kudos for her work, to speak forcefully about this subject and work on solutions to this problem?

According to the UN, in just 17 years , half of the world's population won't have enough water to drink. The scarcity of water is something that has been talked about for some time now, but this is the first time that a date so near has been mentioned. As a planet,we'd better do something fast, before this comes to pass. We all need to learn to live and work more efficiently, as well as prevent waste of such a precious resource. That, or we will [barely] live to regret it.

I suppose that it's true that "those who live by the sword, die by the sword." A significant number of suicides and a growing number of homicides in combat zones and bases in the U.S. make up a disturbing picture of mental health of American troops. Be it due to the inherent stress of military life or the abusive deployment of the same troops, there is a sense that U.S. soldiers have reached the breaking point, and are increasingly turning their weapons on their comrades-in-arms and themselves. A guilty conscience for war crimes must also weigh heavily on those tormented souls. As long as war figures high on the American agenda, its "hell" will continue to torture its own people.

You would really have to be very naive to believe that the American military at Guantánamo is playing by the rules in its dealings with the prisoners and their lawyers. It's frankly ridiculous to maintain that a device that happens to be at the interview room used by lawyers to confer with their clients is only for observation purposes, to protect lawyers from their clients. The Americans would have us believe that it is not a listening device. Even if that were true, just by recording the interviews visually, it is entirely possible to have expert lip readers figure out what is being said by both clients and lawyers. Guantánamo continues to be a legal "no-man's land" and an affront to the rule of law globally.

Oh, oh! Obama has said that the U.S. is investigating if Syria has used chemical weapons in its civil war, and that that would "cross a red line." Yeah, like the weapons of mass destruction that Iraq had, right? The Americans are so predictable. Throughout their history, they have always looked for some excuse to intervene in or invade other countries. They have been itching to go into Syria and depose or kill Assad. So, now, they have come up with this "red line" of their own invention, which their "intelligence" will surely reveal that Syria has crossed. You can be sure that U.S. bombers and Marines have been put on alert. Syria is next on Obama's hit list.

By now, we are all aware of the scandals of the British press for some time. It is a story of a free press run wild in pursuit of news at any cost, destroying reputations and shattering lives irresponsibly. Now, Parliament has issued new and stricter rules that make tabloid and other forms of "yellow journalism" more accountable for their misdeeds. The press has cried "foul", as it usually does when it doesn't get what it wants, but those who have been its victims see this as a much-needed balancing of the scales of justice.

We knew it all along, and now Hans Blix, the chief inspector for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, has confirmed it: not only were there no such weapons, but also both the Americans and the British were fully aware of the fact that the information on which they supposedly based their decision to invade Iraq was "flimsy", at best. Blix, personally, talked to high government officials of both countries to warn them against relying on such faulty "intelligence", to no avail because their minds were made up. Blix has said it best: Invading Iraq on those grounds was not only a "terrible mistake", but also a "violation of the U.N. charter." Ten years after the fact, his is the most credible and powerful indictment of both Bush and Blair's criminal policies in Iraq.

The U.N. declaration on the rights of women -- especially to be free of any sort of violence -- is an important step towards the full equality of females. At the same time, it still shows how culture and religion are major obstacles to achieve that goal. Various Muslim countries and the Vatican expressed their reservations, merely because the declaration recognizes women's reproductive and sexual rights. Thus, the Catholic Church allies itself with some of the worst regimes on earth, those that consistently deny women their most basic rights, as well as allow discrimination and uphold the right of men to treat women as chattel. All this about a declaration that stopped short of recognizing the rights of lesbians and transgender women explicitly. From what is known about the new Pope, "hell will freeze over" before the Vatican changes its stand on these issues.

The fact that the new Pope has come under such scrutiny for his role during the military dictatorship in Argentina from 1976 through 1983 is very unfortunate for the Church at a time when it tries desperately to clean up its image from the financial and pedophile scandals. Electing someone with a dubious past is not a wise decision, because it opens a new can of worms that just won't go away. One has to wonder, was there no other cardinal with a "clean bill of health", that would save the Church from all this embarrassment and grief? Apparently not.

The fact that a grand jury is investigating New Jersey Senator Robert Menéndez for his relationship with the Dominican eye-doctor means that the government is giving the allegations of corrupt practices enough credence to warrant taking this step. There is certainly sufficient information to justify a full-fledged investigation of both men's dealings, as they pertain to illegal influence on the legislative process. At the very least, Menéndez has shown very poor judgment in associating himself with the doctor and accepting donations and gifts beyond the ethical boundaries of the U.S Congress. At worst, he knowingly procured financial help in exchange for political favors. In either case, this could be the beginning of the end, politically, for Menéndez.

Not to rain on the new Pope's parade, but, don't you find it odd that, at 76, he had to step down from being the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, and now he's the Pope? I know that things are rough in Argentina, but I would have thought that if he was too old for that job, he would certainly be too old to be the head man of the whole Church. Maybe this is one of those "mysteries" Catholics are so fond of appealing to whenever they assume an untenable position or lack a reasonable explanation for something.

Religion should be a positive influence on the lives of human beings. It should promote goodness in all of its forms, including very simple signs of affection and solidarity. A code of behavior that does not recognize these human traits is contrary to what religion is supposed to be, and ends up hurting believers and non-believers. Iran's President has been severely criticized -- even condemned -- by his country's top clerics for having embraced Chávez's mother at his funeral, a very human gesture, if there ever was one. According to their interpretation of Islamic law, a man should not have any physical contact with a member of the opposite sex, unless she be part of the family. So, this man goes to the funeral and he is not allowed to even shake this woman's hand! Although it hasn't been reported who initiated contact, one can imagine that Chavez's mother, overcome with grief, may have done so, given the usual behavior of people from Latin America in these

As the cardinals prepare to start their conclave to elect the next Pope, they do so under clouds that are darker than the smoke that signals that they have not reached a decision. The Catholic Church, of its own doing, has devalued itself tremendously in the eyes of the rest of the world and, surely, before the eyes of God. It has engaged in a massive cover up of heinous crimes for a long time. There are very troubling questions about its finances, some of which point to criminal acts. The Roman curia have acted more like the Mafia than God' vicars on earth. The new Pope has his work cut out for him, but it's going to take a miracle for him to turn around "St. Peter's fishing boat."

Once in a while, the corporate world shows that it has a soul. United Airlines delayed a flight, so that a man who was rushing to see his dying mother could get there on time. The man was traveling from California to Texas, and his first flight was delayed, making it impossible for him to get on the second plane to reach his final destination. He was so desperate, that the airline decided to hold the plane until he could get there. The sad story had a "happy ending": he saw his mother before she passed away. On behalf of all the sons in the world who have lost their mothers, thank you, United!

It's not a joke, believe me. There are now two towns in the state of Georgia that require its citizens to have a gun and ammunition at home . This is supposed to be a deterrent against those who would go to your home intending to cause you harm. Only crazy people, people with disabilities, criminals or those who oppose guns on religious grounds are exempt from complying with the law. It's obvious that this is in direct response to the gun control initiatives by the Obama Administration. The idiocy and small-mindedness of this proposal is frightening.

It's taken a long time, but "Operation Condor" has finally come to trial in Argentina. The right-wing, multinational plan to persecute dissidents and leftists in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay in the 1970s was responsible for thousands of deaths, disappearances and tortures. It was pure evil on a grand scale. That dark South American Condor no doubt spread its wings aided and abetted by the Eagle from North America. There are now 25 defendants on a trial that is expected to last about two years. We'll soon find out how it all worked, and how involved was the United States in these crimes against humanity, done in the name of democracy and freedom.

If further proof of Spain's crisis was needed, the strike by royal palace workers is it. The fact that waiters and gardeners to the royal family will go on strike on Holy Thursday and Good Friday makes it even more striking. For the first time in history, the help of the monarchy are going to rise against their masters. It is obvious that people are fed up with the King and some of his entourage, that live it up while the country is going down the drain. That the President of the Government and his party are embroiled in a corruption scandal of major proportions doesn't help at all. Juan Carlos should read the writing on the wall. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem capable of doing it. History is not on his side.

My son, very perceptively, has pointed out that the mere mention of "sexual conduct" by the Scottish Cardinal who has been forced to resign is an admission of guilt, in and of itself. Priests, let alone cardinals, are not supposed to have any "sexual conduct." Period. This is not a question of "standards expected" of him as a priest. He shouldn't be having sex with anyone, not even with himself. If he wants to have any kind of sex, he has to leave the priesthood. If the Church had any decency left, he would have been booted out already.

Embarrassing, to say the least, is the charge by American diplomats that U.N. personnel drink excessively while on the job, especially, on budget matters. It's not very reassuring to know that the people who ought to be on their best behavior, to serve as an example of sober and serious consideration of world problems are actually drunk. True, the world is a depressing place, but we don't need fuzzy thinking due to alcohol at the U.N., to make it worse.

As my son likes to say: "Why am I not surprised?" Employees of Anheuser-Busch admit that the company waters down its beers. It's been doing it for a long time, and now it's gotten worse. So, several states in the U.S. have filed class-action suits on behalf of citizens who, evidently, have something wrong with their taste buds and had not realized what the rest of us have known for a very long time. A-B beers are really class C.

It used to be that people asked "Who died and named you Pope?", meaning, by what or whose authority does someone proceed. Now, it must be updated to "Who resigned and named you Pope?" In either case, someone should ask John Kerry the question, given his scolding of the Turkish Prime Minister, for having called Zionism a crime against humanity. As far as I know, there is no "central authority" that gets to decide what is proper or improper in the expression of ideas in the world. Who does the U.S. Secretary of State think he is, that he can chastise the leader of another country for expressing what is, in his estimation, an unpopular view? Just this week, in Berlin, Kerry called "the right to be stupid" in the U.S. a democratic "virtue." So, does this only apply to Americans? See, this is why people all around the world can't stand the Americans. They claim the right to decide what's right and wrong for the rest of the world, a

If one is a true democrat and a believer in freedom, then it is untenable to oppose a voting process that would give people from a region of a country the opportunity to declare their sovereignty or independence from the country as a whole. To say that it would be unconstitutional and, therefore, invalid is to say that the will of the majority of citizens has no importance at all. The people of Catalonia in Spain have that inalienable right. Let's hope that the Constitutional Court validates it.