Archive for March, 2005

This weekend’s spate of violence – four killed in 12 hours – has reminded good-hearted people that summer is just around the corner and there aren’t nearly enough jobs to keep all those restive young hands busy. The Boston Globe reports: Emmett Folgert, director of the Dorchester Youth Collaborative, said the violence demanded a public [...]

Marilora is upset that Boston Herald calls MS-13 brutal and violent and claims that East Boston is an MS-13 “stronghold.” Marilora doesn’t like that claim since Eastie had only two murders last year. Yes, but…with about 40,000 people, that makes for a homicide rate of 5 murders per 100,000 people. That compares favorably to Boston’s, [...]

I not only supported the war in Iraq, I demanded it. And I got it, and we won, and now it’s time to pull out the bulk of our forces from Iraq. If the Iraqis truly demonstrated their committment to democracy in the February election, as the White House claims, then our job is done. [...]

Quite unexpectedly, the Boston Globe yesterday published a solid article about illegal immigration. Written by Yvonne Abraham, the article, without fanfare, makes two things clear. The first is that illegal immigration undercuts American wages. In the case covered by this particular article, it serves as a subsidy of the fishing industry, an industry that long [...]

The currently popular – and rightfully so – song Blow It Out by The Features reminds me of just about any number of songs by Swedish Catholic psychadelic pop-singer Di Leva. Check out his mix and you’ll see what I mean.

The job market may finally, after only a dozen or so false starts over the past three years, look up for U.S. workers. The magazine’s Michael Mandel writes in the latest issue (“Now Workers Can Flex Some Muscle,” March 21, 2005): Once the balance tips [of labor demand vs. supply] towards workers, corporate hiring behavior [...]

Aftonbladets slöaste kniv i ledarredaktionsskafferiet, Åsa Petersen, skriver undrande: Tror någon på allvar att det finns ”svenskar” och ”invandrare”? Hon kan ju alltid fråga Nalin Pekgul om det finns kurder och turkar. Nej, lägg av med klassificeringarna nu. Låt folk vara folk och ha lite kul ihop. Lika kul som kurder och turkar brukar ha [...]

Newton is all worked up over a vandalized car. If I lived in Newton, I would be angry, too. I mean, if I lived in Newton I would be angry, too, if punks were running around vandalizing cars. Fortunately for the town, this case of vandalism is of a very special and important nature: It’s [...]

The Boston Globe reports: A historian and former Sandinista leader who helped overthrow Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza is no longer scheduled to teach classes at Harvard Divinity School this spring after she said she was denied a visa because of her role in alleged “terrorist activity.” Dora Maria Tellez applied for a student visa to [...]

Två flator i Linköping gnäller om att de av en balkommitté sa till dem att en av dem måste klä sig i frack, såsom tradition påbjuder. Det var ett “helvete” som flatorna inte kunde gå med på och föga förvånande gav kommittén med sig. “Bara för att vi är två tjejer som är tillsammans ska [...]