by Charley James
So I’m scrolling through The New York Times Saturday morning when, much to my horror, I read that Pope Benedict is again apologising to one more group of victims for having been sexually abused by priests when the adults were innocent children in the eyes of his church.
This time it’s in Ireland but [...]

by Charley James
I’ve never been much of an Olympics fan but it strikes me there’s an obvious reason why so many people have been wrapped up in the Joannie Rochette story. If you are an indifferent a follower of the games like I am usually, she won a bronze medal last night in figure skating [...]

(UPDATED) by Charley James
It turns out that Scrooge – Ebenezer or McDuck, take your pick – is alive and well and running the Canadian province of Alberta . On Thursday, Conservative Premier Ed Stelmach told reporters the provincial government wouldn’t be donating a nickel of its lush, oil-and-gas royalty enriched treasury stash to aid in Haitian relief [...]

(Great story-tellers like Charley come along once a generation. Enjoy every word of this one, I did. -Ed.)
by Charley James
Families with any luck whatsoever have a relative who is larger than life, a genuine character that leaves behind a trail of remarkable anecdotes that celebrate a life well lived. Mine was doubly blessed because we [...]

by Charley James
Responding quickly to the Christmas Eve terrorist threat aboard a Northwest Airlines flight to Detroit from Amsterdam, the US Dept. of Homeland Security announced new security procedures today in addition to not letting passengers use toilets one hour before landing.
Enhancing its screening passengers at security checkpoints, starting tomorrow all passengers on every flight [...]

by Charley James
They’re baaaack..
Having disappeared under a rock after being exposed as frauds during Iraq on a scale matched only by the Wizard of Oz, the neo-con foreign policy lug nuts are sticking their heads out again, looking for a shadow by calling for renewing a policy that totally destroyed America’s moral, ethical and political [...]

by Charley James
Florida’s 22nd Congressional District is a narrow stretch of heavily gerrymandered coastal land stretching from Ft. Lauderdale north to Jupiter, mostly hugging beach communities but occasionally meandering inland to grab bits of West Palm Beach –Palm Beach’s down-market cousin, home to the black and Hispanic domestics, gardeners and roustabouts who work in the [...]

by Charley James
According to five clinical psychiatrists who describe themselves as being politically aware, Joe Lieberman’s behaviour over the last few weeks of the Senate health care debate reveals numerous signs that he is increasingly “unbalanced.”
All five caution that, while it is difficult to make a specific diagnosis without seeing a patient in their office, [...]

by Charley James
Crank up the schmaltz and mix in a preposterous plot. It’s nearly Christmas and for the next few weeks we’ll be bombarded with movies that give me hives.
We’ve all had the experience of wandering into the wrong bar and immediately realizing that, unless we leave quickly, something horrid will occur. This has happened [...]

by Charley James
It wasn’t the kind of genteel discussion the world’s highest-level bankers probably expected when a large group of them gathered at a posh Surrey country house hotel in England this week for a conference under the cosy auspices of the very friendly Wall Street Journal and billed as the “Future of Finance Initiative.”
I’ve [...]