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Middle Class America, too big to fail.
Published on 2012-01-03 09:03:00
By Jorge ReyesThere was a time when the United States had the largest middle class that the world has ever seen. We were the ones too big to fail, to quote a slogan made popular by those much maligned group of people known as Occupy Wall Street. There was a time when, like my parents and grandparents, we were able to buy homes, cars, and many of the things that made this country great. Unfortunately, as you well know, that is rapidly changing. Sadly, also, politicians do not even seem to [..] > read more
Audit Reveals Federal Reserve Gave $16 Trillion in Secret Bailouts
Published on 2011-12-28 17:23:00
By Jorge ReyesThe first ever GAO (Government Accountability Office) audit of the Federal Reserve was carried out in the past few months due to the Ron Paul, Alan Grayson Amendment to the Dodd-Frank bill, which passed last year. Jim DeMint, a Republican Senator, and Bernie Sanders, an independent Senator, led the charge for a Federal Reserve audit in the Senate, but watered down the original language of the house bill (HR1207), so that a complete audit would not be carried out. Ben Bernanke, Ala [..] > read more
Equal Rights Under the Law?
Published on 2011-11-03 11:14:00
By Jorge Reyes47 years ago, most of us were satisfied with the passage of the Civil Rights Act and, not to be outdone, a year later, with the Voting Rights Act. Today, we have new challenges with new areas of civil rights law that, unfortunately, still seem to linger far behind from the evolving mores of the nation. I am referring to one remaining example of institutionalized, government-sanctioned discrimination: The 1996 law that denies the right of marriage to same-sex couples, the Defense of [..] > read more
Tot Mom Drama: the Casey Anthony trial
Published on 2011-06-25 12:33:00
By Jorge ReyesLately, the news media on TV, the internet and the blogosphere is filled with news about Casey Anthony, the Orlando tot mom accused of killing in 2008 her two year old daughter, Caley Marie Anthony. Interesting enough, everytime I read > read more
President Obama did what none of his predecessors could accomplish, and without waterboarding.
Published on 2011-05-07 13:37:00
by Jorge ReyesA lot of right wing ideologues are infuriated, to say the least, at the fact that it was a center to left President who successfully sent the order to murder America's Public Enemy No. 1, Osama bin Laden. As a refresher, we must never f > read more
"The Standing Babas" in the novel Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
Published on 2011-05-01 12:30:00
By Jorge ReyesI am reading an almost 1,000 page novel titled Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. The basic plot of the book, loosely based on the author's own life, is about a man who escapes from prison in Australia (where he was serving a 19-year s > read more
What does the discovery of new life forms mean for God and faith?
Published on 2010-12-05 09:33:00
By Jorge Reyes FiguerasThe discovery in California by NASA scientists what is apparently an entirely new life form, a toxic arsenic bacteria rather than phosphorus, which is one of the six building blocks of all life on Earth, has set the scient > read more
So what now for Cuba?
Published on 2010-07-09 10:29:00
By Jorge ReyesWhen Raúl Castro took on the reigns of power Cuba, many people though skeptical actually had hopes that some political opening would take place in Cuba. I, like them, were wrong. The Cuban government under him has continued t > read more
Changes are needed in how our judicial system treats the mentally ill
Published on 2010-07-01 11:30:00
By Jorge ReyesNot long ago, I had a chance to meet Judge Steven Leifman, a circuit court judge who is also an advocate for the mentally ill inmates. In a speech in 2007 he said, "When I became a judge I had no idea that I was becoming a gatekeeper to > read more
The death by firing squad of Ronnie Lee Gardner: how our civilized society perpetuates barbarism
Published on 2010-06-19 12:37:00
Bullet holes in the wood panel after Ronnie Lee Gardner was executed by a firing squad by Jorge ReyesOn Friday, June 18, 2010, the state of Utah ended the life of Ronnie Lee Gardner by firing squad. Shortly before the shooting, Gardner was strapped i > read more
From Madalyn Murray O'Hair to Antony Flew: My own intellectual journey in unbelief
Published on 2010-04-20 15:41:00
by Jorge ReyesBrowsing the internet today, I read the obituary of the British rationalist philosopher Antony Flew.For most of his life Flew has been a consistent and strong advocate for natural philosophy, unemcumbered by belief in God or miracles. T > read more
INS's 400,000 quota will divide families and erode American values
Published on 2010-04-04 10:35:00
By Jorge ReyesI recently received a petition to sign from a friend of mine, Andy Hernandez. Since there are so many petition drives for just about every type of issue, at first I thought this one was for the Green Movement, Save the Whales, or someth > read more
Pope Benedict XVI's knowledge of alleged priestly abuse of minors is not new
Published on 2010-03-29 14:47:00
by Jorge ReyesThere is a palpable level of frustration for the Catholic faithful with the latest allegations of child abuse by Catholic priests not only in the United States but worldwide. What's interesting to observe is that unlike the previous Pop > read more
Health Care Reform and 30 Million Uninsured
Published on 2010-03-16 13:50:00
by Jorge ReyesThe health care reform seems to be gaining steam now that a final bill seems imminent. While the news media will bombard us with intricate information about the technicalities of a possible final package (leaving many of us still in the > read more
The Mischief of Factions
Published on 2010-02-24 17:33:00
by Jorge ReyesI actually feel bad for President Obama. Never before has our democratic experiment been confronted by so many well-financed groups calling themselves grassroots movements vying with one another for public attention. But > read more
Sarah Palin for president in 2012? How dumb can we be?
Published on 2010-02-19 14:20:00
By Jorge ReyesI'm one of those people who love to read other people literally. I often equally enjoy to take them at face value. Dare I say that I also tend to be a bit sarcastic?Since Sarah Palin seems to be a name much talked about as a possible pr > read more