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What They've Thought |
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What They Thought April 22, 2007 Alan
Caruba Click here for columnist bios |
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A little news item in an April 15 edition of my daily newspaper was headlined “Saudi Arabia proposes to boost oil production.” The increase was intended to “meet domestic and international demand while insuring ‘fair’ world prices”, said King Abdullah. Indeed, OPEC, the oil cartel, had twice cut production, “contributing,” said the news item, “to relative stability that has kept benchmark crude between $50 and $60 a barrel—down from the record highs of more than $78 a barrel last summer. Current prices are around 40% above 2004 levels.” The world is not about to run out of oil, but the price is likely to remain where the Saudis and other oil producing nations want it, knowing that too high a price retards the billions that must be invested to find new reserves and then extract, transport and refine it. They know that the world is growing hungrier for oil as nations like China and India industrialize and become major economic centers. Read the rest... |
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No column this week. R.A. Hawkins Web Site Contact Back to Top |
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Don Imus has been fired from his CBS radio show and MSNBC simulcast for calling the Rutgers women’s basketball team a bunch of “nappy-headed ho’s.” As with most major news stories, this one has inspired a number of misconceptions. Thankfully, this is the kind of problem God put me on Earth to solve. Read the rest... Jonathan David Morris Web Site Contact Back to Top |
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The controversy surrounding remarks by talk show host Don Imus shows that the nation remains incredibly sensitive about matters of race, despite the outward progress of the last 40 years. A nation that once prided itself on a sense of rugged individualism has become uncomfortably obsessed with racial group identities. The young women on the basketball team Mr. Imus insulted are over 18 and can speak for themselves. It’s disconcerting to see third parties become involved and presume to speak collectively for minority groups. It is precisely this collectivist mindset that is at the heart of racism. It’s also disconcerting to hear the subtle or not-so-subtle threats against free speech. Read the rest... Rep. Ron Paul Web Site Back to Top |
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I like to think of myself as someone who gathers all of the facts, along with some educated opinions, before I formulate my stance on things. It is for that reason that I read publications from both sides of the aisle on a daily basis when it comes to politics and from publications around the world when examining world events. The barbaric slaughter at Virginia Tech did not – and does not – escape this approach. In the end, the examination of the facts surrounding the senseless deaths of 32 and the suicide of the shooter have left me with more questions than answers and dredged up still unanswered questions about past events. Admittedly, my examination of the events that took place on Virginia Tech’s campus may be influenced by terrorism. I spend a good portion of my work day researching terrorism for two non-profit groups, Basics Project and America’s Truth Forum, whose missions are to, among other things, focus on the threat posed by radical Islam. Through researching first-source, fact-based information from credible think tanks, organizations and advocacy groups on both sides of the issue I am now keenly aware of the subtleties presented in news items. The components of the Virginia Tech slaughter that bother me most are the use of the term “Ismail Ax” by Cho Seung-Hui and the fact that no news agency – or governmental agency for that matter – has come out with information on Hui’s religious background. Couple that with the fact that some of his slaughterhouse floor tactics mimic those described in terrorist training manuals and that some of the verbiage used in his final “video manifesto” rails on along the lines of a final video tape issued by an Islamic suicide bomber. A call for further examination into the motives behind his actions is a valid request. Read the rest... |
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No column this week. Nancy
Salvato
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©2004-2007 by their respective authors. Reprinted by permission. |
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