Ever wonder why you don’t live in a George Orwell novel, a place where up is down if the right person says it’s so; a place that sooner or later, like a rotten empire, will always implode under the weight of its own self-deceit?
Press freedom a bitter battle in Third World Read More »
George Bush and rival John Kerry could both have picked up a few good tips from the wild-haired genius.
In Yemen, Einstein tops ‘Booosh’ Read More »
but like Western liberties we now take for granted, they won’t come overnight.
Islamic world slowly, surely changing Read More »
It’s no wonder that so many folks from Muslim nations want to emigrate to western nations.
Yemen is the cradle of Islam. But it’s not Iraq. Bullets aren’t falling like rain. Nobody is getting beheaded. It’s no Disneyland, but, besides the white-knuckle driving, most days pass without terror.
Islam at crossroads in Yemen Read More »
ST. GILDEN, AUSTRIA ✦ OK, for the record, nobody rocks like Mozart. But Julie Andrews made plenty of Austrian stores come alive with the sound of ka-ching, after her famous opening to the Sound of Music, filmed 40 years ago on a mountain near this lake-district resort town.
The movie initially raked in a cool $165 million, about $800 million in today’s dollars. Now tourism cash still flows from it like a river, especially an hour from here in Salzburg, Mozart’s hometown, where the visitors never really leave.
Doh, o doh, some tourist dough Read More »
We’re finishing another back-to-school month, as good a time as any to ask why so many Canadians are underwhelmed at how our education system is preparing their children for the 21st century.
Finding a reason to rise every day Read More »
SALZBURG, AUSTRIA ✦ I love my daughter, all 15 months of her, for many reasons. One is that she’s more like her mother than me. Especially while flying.
My wife Jean and I continue to be aid workers in the Middle East and Africa, so this is often. In fact, diaper-clad Elizabeth Katherine has already been on more than dozen flights and four continents.
The Squirt knows one word. Just one. It’s “hello.”
But words can be powerful things.
The view from 50,000 feet Read More »
