One Man's Opinion

The attorney for 14 Guantánamo prisoners who have been cleared for release for years  has reminded us of the hollow promises of President Obama, once again in his State-of-the-Union message. Victims of the biggest Kafkaesque situation, if there ever was one, these detainees are languishing in prison, trapped in a legal limbo that no one seems to know how to get them out of. Obama appears to be unable or unwilling to correct this miscarriage of justice. Congress has no interest whatsoever in dealing with this issue. And so it goes that these human beings have gone insane, committed suicide or will eventually die of heartbreak, despair and sickness. What a legacy for Barack Obama!

Ultimately, the Italian Mafia's biggest crime won't have anything to do with guns and violence, but with making people sick with cancer and killing them with it. The Camorra , one of the Mafia branches, has been involved in disposing of toxic waste illegally and dangerously. The places where the camorristas have dumped this waste have an unusually-high rate of cancer and death from the disease. As is the case with this organization's other unlawful activities, the authorities have been unable to put a stop to it. Environmental experts have concluded that the damage is so extensive that it will be impossible to do anything about it. Long after the crime bosses have died, they will go on killing their paisanos.

Here's an easy one for the Pope. The German 80-year-old Cardinal who said that a Catholic family is worth three Muslim ones had asked to retire, but the Pope said no. The Cardinal had recently repeated his request to retire. He will surely get his wish now. Though the man probably has had these same views all long, there's no question that elderly people tend to be as inconveniently candid as little children. Having them in positions of authority or power runs the risk of these embarrassing or hurtful statements that reflect poorly on the institution of which these people are part of.

CELAC is on the right track. The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States is an organization that does what should have been done a long time ago: set our own course, free of undue influence of the U.S. Ever since the infamous Monroe Doctrine, the U.S. has treated Latin America as its "backyard", a term that speaks volumes about American attitudes toward its neighbors in this hemisphere. Thus, history shows that the U.S. has pretty much had its way in the region, intervening --mostly, on the wrong side of things -- in our countries. Many of our problems have been created or worsened by American meddling. So, this effort is long overdue. Latin America has to start saying no to U.S. "aid" and other forms of its intervention that come with too many strings attached. Depending on American "grants" and accepting other more subtle ways of their having their greedy fingers on too many of our pies has to be put behind us, so that we can get rid of this n...

Abroad. Back by the 28th, God willing.

There are traditions that are worthy of being followed and honored, but others should be discarded as unwanted relics of a time when discrimination and oppression were largely accepted. To oppose the performance of female choirs at Canterbury Cathedral is ludicrous in this day and age. The fact that only men have sung there for a thousand years does not mean that it is the right thing to do. For too long a time, women were excluded absurdly from all sorts of venues. To use those illegal and immoral practices as "precedents" to continue denying women equal participation in all walks of life and opportunities is patently absurd and offensive to the most basic notions of justice and human rights.

As my son likes to say: "Why am I not surprised?" The U.S. Government, from Obama on down, has been lying about the  alleged "50 terrorist plots" that have been averted by the intelligence gathered by the NSA spying program. An independent study has determined that this is a false claim put forth to justify the illegal program. The American government tries to convince its people that the spying is needed and useful, in order to keep them safe, when, in actual fact, very little of what is gathered this way is really useful. Informants are still the main source of intelligence of any value. Tapping phones and reading e-mails indiscriminately and on a large scale add very little to the productive intelligence effort. Of course, the U.S. Government had to come up with an excuse for this outrageous violation of constitutional rights and international law, so, true to form, it chose to lie.