One Man's Opinion

What is the world coming to! Sean Penn's joke at the Oscars was funny, and anybody with enough sense was able to understand what he meant by it. We can't be that serious about everything, especially when we know that the person making the joke has absolutely no intention of offending the butt of his joke. What Penn was doing was recognizing the great talent of Mexican directors such as Cuarón and González, and the fact that they have won over the American film establishment in Hollywood. The truth is that American audiences are used to this kind of "insult humor", which is very frequent in activities in which they "roast" a guest of honor. As the great humorist George Carlin used to say, let's not be so "pussy" about everything.

By now, most people who take an interest in public affairs are aware of Joe Biden's track record of saying the wrong things or saying things in inappropriate ways, for which he has had to apologize frequently. But, now, the whole world has been made aware of another one of Biden's dumb moves: the inappropriate approach or touching of women of all ages and marital conditions. The photo of him grabbing the new Secretary of Defense's wife from behind while talking in her ear has made other similar pictures surface. In another instance he does something very similar to a biker woman in a group. There's also a video of his approach of the 13-year-old daughter of a congressman, in a similar fashion. There's an obvious pattern here. What makes this more surprising is the fact that, culturally, Americans are not huggers, and they usually keep a distance in social situations. The fact that Biden is the Vice President of the United States of America makes it all the more em...

Far be it from me to defend North Korea's leader, but I think it unseemly to keep making fun of his physical appearance. I'm sure that there are valid reasons to criticize him, but it seems to me that his haircut -- weird as it may be -- is not one of them. Picking on him for that is, frankly, sophomoric, frat-house stuff. Once you go down that path, no one is safe from that kind of criticism. The world is full of people with all kinds of crooked, strange, twisted and ugly features. Many have a dubious taste in clothes or personal accoutrements. But, these things are beside the point, unless you're part of the so-called "fashion police." The world is complicated enough, without  this trivial stuff about how political figures or government officials look. Nobody likes to be made fun of, and this is no way to improve international relations.

According to Cold-War speak, Poland was a Soviet "satellite." And then, the Wall came down, and Poland and all the other "satellites" were freed, and turned into glorious democracies with the encouragement of the U.S. and the then-Pope's blessing. Not quite. It seems clear that Poland just changed orbits, and has been revolving around the American sun. After all those years as victims of the "Evil Empire", one would have thought that they would have been incapable of doing the kind of things that their Soviet masters did on a regular basis. And yet, when the U.S. asked them to hold some people in a secret CIA prison there, where they could be tortured while the Americans denied that they were doing so, Poland was more than willing to oblige. Now, a court has ordered that the Polish government pay two of those men $262,000  for, essentially, doing the U.S. bidding having detained them at the secret prison. But, to me, the real newsworthy thing abo...

Once again, young people in the U.S. do poorly in basic intellectual skills, such as math, in comparison to those of the rest of the world. This is getting to be a yearly tradition. So much money and all that boasting and self-aggrandizing, but, when it comes to down to it, Americans are becoming dumber by the minute. Take note of this, the next time you hear an American claim that his is the best country in the world and everybody else is inferior.

A 16-year-old kid, church-going and member of the junior ROTC, got into an argument with his parents, who took away his computer and cellphone. So, the youngster did what any red-blooded American boy would do in such a situation: he got a gun and killed both his parents. Then, being the good Christian that he is, he went to Bible study at his church. Another episode in the gun-toting, Bible-thumping U.S. soap opera.

Remember "mission accomplished" by Bush? Well, by the looks of what is happening in Afghanistan and Iraq, "not really." Both countries have not achieved anything closely resembling democracy, security and stability. So, if nation-building was part of the mission, it has been an utter failure. As a matter of fact, there is a very real possibility that the U.S. will go back, to try to put in things in "order." Really, there is no way that the Americans can undo the mess they created by invading and occupying both countries. It was a dumb move in the first place. Going back won't make any difference.