"Hell, he says, “is when you know that the end of your life is approaching and that you have not used your talents and resources as well as you could have done to make a difference – i.e. when you realize upon reflection that you have wasted your life. Heaven is contemplation of the approach of death without fear because you know that, on balance, you’ve done your best to make a difference.”

"The Palestinian strategy, they say, might have to resort to the decolonisation strategy rather than waste time and effort on useless nation building and peace making discourse."

For independent, honest judges to be able to interpret and apply justice, there needs to be a society that accepts it and abides by it and that builds its future by law. This is why the biggest existential issue is that of education, because only an educated people can safeguard and be saved by a just system, leaning on it to develop its institutions.

“Country First?” That remains to be seen, in two weeks and beyond. Whatever the outcome of the election, the struggle is not over. It simply enters a new phase."

"...people are yearning for a visionary and a charismatic leader who would articulate a new vision and inspires the masses to dream a new Somalia."

"A defeat of Lungren would be something of a political earthquake in Northern California. Similarly, a few hundred miles to the south, in Orange County, the luck of fellow right-wing incumbent zealot Rep. Dana Rohrabacher may be about to run out as he tries to fend off a strong grassroots challenge from progressive Democratic candidate Debbie Cook."

"Did anyone hear a thank you? How about an apology for their risky gambling with the world’s economy?"

Political and religious authority is crumbling in a crisis of faith. The late Leonard Bernstein put those themes, and much more, in his concert triumph, “Mass.” After eight years of Bush-Cheney, the priest/pedophile scandal, coupled with the costly Wall St. Bailout, the loss of trust in our institutions is rampant. If the people want real change, they are going to have to rely on themselves, and on each other to create, in unity, the world that they desire.