| Latest Commentary: | Volume VI, Number 60 |
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Lute Chosen as War Tsar -- President George “LBJ” Bush has finally found someone to take the job of “War Tsar.” Unable to convince a retired military officer to take the poisoned chalice, he offered it to Lieutenant General Douglas Lute. As a serving officer, General Lute had the choice of accepting the position or resigning his commission if the president really wanted it to come to that. The general is “charged with coordinating the efforts of the Executive Branch to support our commanders and senior diplomats on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan,” according to the White House. Surely someone should have been doing this for 5 years now.
Brown Crowned King of New Labour -- A long time ago, in a restaurant far, far away (or at least in Islington, London), Gordon Brown and Tony Blair agreed to take turns running the UK. Mr. Blair got to go first, and frankly, he took much too long a turn. Mr. Brown chaffed and simmered, but he largely kept his cool, filling in his time by running the British economy competently if not brilliantly. Now that Mr. Blair is leaving office (in just 40 more days), Mr. Brown is set to govern. He took one step closer to that goal this week when no other candidate in the Labour Party to muster enough support to win nomination for the party leader’s job. Thus, Mr. Brown becomes leader, running unopposed. Wolfowitz’s Resignation Offers Chance to Reform World Bank -- The tedious drama of Paul Wolfowitz and his ethical shortcomings at the World Bank came to an end a few hours ago. He will resign as president of the Bank effective June 30, not entirely soon enough. Still, his departure is welcome, as it was from the Pentagon, but his tenure proved that the problem isn’t just one man. The World Bank needs to be reformed, and the international community has a chance to fix it now. NBA Proves Stupidity of Zero Tolerance Policies -- “Zero tolerance” policies abound in the 21st century. They sound tough, and they provide an illusory certainty that evil-doers will be punished. The NBA’s suspensions this week of San Antonio’s Robert “Cheap Shot” Horry along with Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw of the Phoenix Suns proved that zero tolerance policies are also stupid. Zero tolerance merely means that all offenses will be treated as stand-alone events with no context in determining punishments. The NBA may have handed San Antonio the series in what can only be called a travesty of justice. © Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux. |
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