TJ on January 31st, 2013

“The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity.” ~André Gide Gide’s observation came to mind in the context of Al Gore’s latest hypocrisy. The man who pontificated endlessly about the hazards of global warming and the need for the world to act responsibly in terms […]

Continue reading about Al Gore and “A Convenient Hypocrisy”

TJ on January 28th, 2013

Tony Blair in an address to British ambassadors who had congregated in London said: “A simple way to take measure of a country is to look at how many want in.. And how many want out.” Blair was not the first person to make such a remark about the attraction that the US holds for […]

Continue reading about Born in the USA!

TJ on October 30th, 2012

Robert Contreras, who first commented on my blog entry regarding the crash of Pan Am 217 sent me a number of images ….. some of them quite graphic …… which were published in the Venezuela newspapers at the time of the crash. I am including all of the images ….. the script is in Spanish […]

Continue reading about Images pertaining to the crash of Pan Am 217

The pastor at the church I attend said in the context of this Sunday’s lesson from the gospels that some times one sees some thing that is so disturbing or traumatic that it is impossible to “unsee” it. Within this category is one of the iconic photographs of human suffering and cruelty by human beings […]

Continue reading about Photographer Kevin Carter: An image that took its toll

TJ on August 17th, 2012

For the most part, I have only a passing interest in sports. During my years in Kenya and later in the UK, I was interested in cricket but that faded over the years after I moved to the US. However, I have maintained a sustained interest in the Olympics – an interest that commenced with […]

Continue reading about An iconic moment in the history of the Olympics

It was Rudyard Kipling who said that east is east and west is west and never the twain shall meet. Kipling was referring to India which was then the jewel in the British empire and Kipling, like other colonial apologists, maintained that the cultural bridge between Indians and the British could never be bridged. This […]

Continue reading about East is east and west is west ………. when it comes to mourning

TJ on November 10th, 2011

I am a political junkie and have been one since I was a teenager in Kenya during the height of the independence movement in that country. To give you a sense of how much of a political junkie I was even then, I attended a political gathering with my parents being addressed by Tom Mboya […]

Continue reading about Turning points in presidential debates

TJ on February 28th, 2010

The heading for this post is a well-known saying about how numbers can bolster a weak argument depending on how they are interpreted. Add to the mix the use of anecdotal information that can be cited to bolster a point of view and we get to a couple of issues that I have been involved […]

Continue reading about “Lies, damned lies and statistics”!

TJ on November 12th, 2009

I posted a few weeks ago about North Carolina’s plan to require higher health care premiums from state employees who are obese – a proposal that generated criticism especially from those who felt that reversing obesity was more appropriately done through education. The “tea-party” crowd and Republicans who are so up in arms about various […]

Continue reading about Waist size by decree

Let me start by saying that I voted for Barack Obama but I feel the Nobel Peace prize award to President Obama was premature. He has not done enough during his nine months in office to justify the award. Sure, he has proclaimed some noble goals and has made a concerted attempt to integrate the […]

Continue reading about Obama, the Nobel Peace Prize & Related Controversies

TJ on October 5th, 2009

I first heard of “The Big Texan” when I first arrived in the US and was working for Blue Cross/ Blue Shield in Chicago. I was 25 years old and one of the “old-timers” told me of a restaurant in Texas which served a humongous steak – and the best part of it was that […]

Continue reading about Don’t mess with Texas….. and maybe Britain!

So said Napoleon Bonaparte presciently two hundred years ago. I am not sure if Napoleon was focused purely on the military aspects or whether he saw China’s potential in broader terms. Napoleon’s admonition came to mind during a recent visit we made to China. We spent close to four weeks there and were truly STUNNED […]

Continue reading about “Let China sleep for when she wakes the world will shake”