June 2016
Letters to Editors: Primary Elections and Slavery Statistics
San Francisco Chronicle
June 2, 2016
Editor:
Slavery Statistics
The report that 18.35 million people in India alone comprise 40 percent of global slavery figures of 45.8 million (Walk Free Foundation) only counts unpaid or ill-paid labor as slavery. What about the status of wives in the 167 countries cited? If a wife is property of her husband, cannot leave the house without permission and a chaperone, may be beaten for "disobedience," cannot refuse se more...
June 2, 2016
Editor:
Slavery Statistics
The report that 18.35 million people in India alone comprise 40 percent of global slavery figures of 45.8 million (Walk Free Foundation) only counts unpaid or ill-paid labor as slavery. What about the status of wives in the 167 countries cited? If a wife is property of her husband, cannot leave the house without permission and a chaperone, may be beaten for "disobedience," cannot refuse se more...
April 2014
Disinvited
Would Brandeis University have disinvited a Holocaust survivor from receiving an honorary degree because his words would be insulting to the Nazis?
Yet they have disinvited a distinguished, brilliant survivor of Islam's persecution of women because her words might offend Muslims. They seem to be under the illusion that Islam and Muslims are underdogs who need protection from criticism. Shame on them. What kind of values are these?
Laina Farhat-Holzman
Aptos, more...
Yet they have disinvited a distinguished, brilliant survivor of Islam's persecution of women because her words might offend Muslims. They seem to be under the illusion that Islam and Muslims are underdogs who need protection from criticism. Shame on them. What kind of values are these?
Laina Farhat-Holzman
Aptos, more...
Why We Can’t Make the World Safe for Democracy
When we believe that human beings are motivated most by economic self-interest, we are unfailingly wrong. The late 19th century was a time of incredible optimism. The economies of the world were increasingly linked, inventions were providing benefits only dreamed of in the past, and we enjoyed a half-century of peace that looked permanent. It seemed impossible for the sophisticated nation-states of Europe to ever go to war again.
How wrong they were. By 1914, almost all major Eur more...
How wrong they were. By 1914, almost all major Eur more...
July 2013
Snowden No Hero
For anybody still naive enough to think that Edward Snowden is a classic whistle-blower, please note his choice of refuge: Russia.
He now seeks asylum in a country where scores of journalists have been murdered or jailed for practicing their trade. That country's leader, Vladimir Putin, has told Snowden that he will be weldome if he agrees to keep his mouth shut.
Rather than demonstrate his principles by facing prosecution for not only stealing but leaking his count more...
He now seeks asylum in a country where scores of journalists have been murdered or jailed for practicing their trade. That country's leader, Vladimir Putin, has told Snowden that he will be weldome if he agrees to keep his mouth shut.
Rather than demonstrate his principles by facing prosecution for not only stealing but leaking his count more...