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Over the next year, the Obama Administration and Congress will debate how to address a wide variety of energy tax and fee issues. This comes on the heels of last year’s high oil and gas prices and record profits for companies in the industry which had Congress deliberating windfall taxes and more drastic action. Now […]

    Obama Administration:  Please don’t neglect China because of too much focus on Afghanistan, Iraq, the Middle East and elsewhere, like, uh, your predecessor did…   The Pentagon has been required by law since 2000 to report to Congress annually on China’s military.  This year’s report, along with testimony this week before Congress by […]

Serious setbacks in U.S. economic performance are convincing highly-trained nationals from such Rising Powers as India and China to return to their countries from the United States.  Many are not even opting to study in the U.S., worried about financial aid, as well as jobs once their studies are finished.  In three recent articles, this […]

Sri Lanka’s conflict is now longer breaking headlines or shocking news in the mainstream media, but the crisis is far from over, in fact the humanitarian crisis is headed for a catastrophe, especially in the northern Wanni region.  The Wanni region according to the International Crisis Group (ICG) an estimated 150,000 civilians continue to be […]

If you missed Obama’s comments last night regarding charitable deductions, I’ve included them here.  For the past few weeks, the non-profit sector has been a flutter with commentary on the lowering of charitable deductions for wealthy donors.  In summary, instead of deducting 39%, wealthy American will be able to deduct 28% of their charitable giving.  […]

The international group Human Rights Watch says the use by the Israeli military of white phosphorus shells over populated areas in the Gaza Strip constitutes war crimes. “In Gaza, the Israeli military didn’t just use white phosphorus in open areas as a screen for its troops,” said HRW’s Fred Abrahams. “It fired white phosphorus repeatedly […]

Mountaintop Removal Mining – The Beginning of the End? – I have written here a number of times about the crime of mountaintop removal mining, most recently in “Appalachia’s Agony”.  Now the EPA has responded, finally, to the SOS of the residents of West Virginia, Kentucky and the other states where the mining companies have […]

Foreign Policy magazines interviews Mohamed El-Erian, Co-CEO & Co-Chief Invesment Officer of PIMCO — an international invesment management firm. Mr. El-Erian’s is also one of the world’s most respected investment managers & economic analysts. His commentary is widely followed quoted on Wall Street. He shares his insights on the realignment of the global economy and why we aren’t prepared to handle it without significant risks of both market accidents and policy mistakes.

President Obama held his second prime-time news conference last night, the White House transcript can be found here. The President fielded questions on a wide variety of topics, including his budget and economic recovery plan, health care, race in American politics, and foreign policy. On the topic of foreign policy, I was glad to see […]

Last year Earth Hour was a hugely visible event.  This year, on March 28, it’s going to be an even bigger global phenomenon.  As of now, they are saying that 2,712 cities, towns and municipalities in 83 countries are on board.  See the website for more information and how you can participate in your part […]

27 Member States and others are lining up to join this exclusive club where a treaty, binding all together, is anchored in the Charter of Fundamental Rights.  But there is a disturbing paradox. There are cases of Eastern bloc countries having to actually weaken their human rights mandates in order to join the EU.  How […]

Israeli authorities successfully diffused a ‘massive’ car-bomb in the northern city of Haifa on Saturday evening.  Over 100 kilograms of explosives were found, more than five times the amount necessary to level a municipal bus or truck.  The automobile was parked outside a mall, and appears to have targeted civilian shoppers as they entered or […]