The European Disunion

by Madeleine Kando

"Once upon a time there was a large family with lots and lots of children. They were always fighting with each other and causing a lot of trouble. One of the children, whose name was Gertrude, was a little bigger than the others and quite aggressive by nature. She wanted all the other children’s toys, so she broke into their respective rooms, beat up the children and stole their toys.

A distant uncle by the name of Sam, didn’t like what was happening in that family and decided to put an end to it. He went over there and kicked some ass until Gertrude had to run back to her room with her tail between her legs, so to speak. Read more...

The End of Europe (again)?

By Tom Kando

The European sovereign debt crisis is becoming scary. The dominoes are falling. The contagion has spread from Greece to Italy and beyond. Even France’s credit-worthiness has begun to crumble. No one is safe any more. Even Germany does not have the limitless resources required to bail out the rest of the Continent. There is a vicious cycle of increasing borrowing costs for everyone, a decrease in the availability of credit, a slowing down of the economy and a decline in the governments’ solvency.
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The Best and Worst Cities in the World

By Tom Kando

The annual 2011 Quality of Living Worldwide City Rankings by Mercer (London) has just come out.
The Mercer survey ranks 420 cities of the world. The report I saw lists 221 of them. These cities are ranked in terms of overall quality of life. This is based on several dozen factors, such as physical health, environmental pollution, standard of living, education, housing, crime, etc. Here are some of the results that were of greatest personal interest to me:A. Best city in the world: Vienna. Read more...

Shadow Work

by Madeleine Kando

When I was little, technology was in its infancy. There was no internet, no email and people still drove to brick and mortar stores to buy things. We had ‘electric’ inventions, like sowing machines, vacuum cleaners and refrigerators, but 'electronics' was just beginning.

In the sixties and seventies it all started to change when many new marvels were about to pop out of their incubation period. I came of age to benefit from the birth control pill, the invention of the pantyhose, soft contact lenses and Teflon. My very first Macintosh computer which came on the market in the early 1980’s, was a major stepping stone towards the age of enlightenment. Read more...

What Osama Bin Laden Achieved

By Tom Kando

The Aug./Sept. issue of the Dutch magazine Maarten!, contains an article by Max Westerman which I feel compelled to share with you. It’s depressing and aggravating, but I am afraid that it rings terribly true. Sorry. Here is an excerpt:

Ten years after the 9/11 attack, Ground Zero and Memorial Plaza are developing beautifully, and becoming an inspiration. What Al Qaeda did on 9/11 should never be forgotten or trivialized.
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Bad Days Ahead

By Tom Kando

Republicans have deliberately made the Super Committee fail. This was the congressional committee which was supposed to help the federal government tackle the budget deficit, take the first steps out of our ruinous indebtedness, and start the road towards long-term economic recovery.

But to Republicans, none of this mattered. To them, failure is success. With the 2012 elections around the corner, their plan is to complete the electoral sweep. And of course, the worse the economy is, the more Obama gets the blame. So the Republicans plan to take over the Senate and the White House. The House and the Supreme Court they already got.
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In Search of the Past

by Madeleine Kando

I have been away for the past three days. I haven't been here, in the present. Since I stumbled upon my family tree as I was googling something else, I have been traveling in the past. Because my parents had to flee Hungary after the war, I never knew much about my roots, so when I saw my distant relatives adorn my entire computer screen I knew I had discovered a real treasure.

The tree was enormous. There were generations upon generations of ancestors all connected with little lines, dating back to the 17th century. The red boxes were the wives, the blue ones the husbands. I didn't know where to start but I thought it best to find someone I knew, like a great-uncle or something.
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Do you want one of these people to lead us in the world?

By Tom Kando

The Republican candidates are making mega blunders in their debates and media appearances, displaying astounding ignorance, especially in the area of foreign policy. A few examples:

In a November 2 televised interview, Herman Cain said that he was worried about “China developing nuclear capability.” His defenders say that he meant “further developing.” Hmm. To me it sounds like the man didn’t know that China has possessed nuclear bombs for nearly half a century. Oops!
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Personal Space

by Madeleine Kando

I met a very nice woman in my writing group the other day. Her name is Grace. She has beautiful red curly hair and a smile that could melt an iceberg. She is jovial, engaging, smart and funny. In short she has all the qualities that made me want to become her friend.

So, after the meeting I walked over to her and struck up a conversation. Who knows why some people gravitate to each other and not others? It’s one of those mysteries that makes life interesting.

But then it happened. A familiar feeling of unease came over me as I was talking to her. I couldn’t figure it out. Was she so different up close? Was it the freckles that had been invisible from a distance? I like freckles, so that cannot have been the problem. I like red hair and especially friendly smiles. I like friendly smiles at any distance.
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Should we Build High Speed Rail in California and if so How?

By Tom Kando

The November 6, 2011 issue of the Sacramento Bee contains an excellent article about the bullet train issue by Richard Tolmach, President of the California Rail Foundation.

I agree with Tolmach that (1) “high-speed rail must be part of California’s future,” and that (2) “the High-Speed Rail Authority has been a great disappointment.”

Discussion about high-speed rail in California began many decades ago. Planning for it started 14 years ago. Since then, the Authority has spent more than $800 million (!) of public money without producing a single mile of service, without the first shovel being picked up to actually start building the thing. $800 million spent on planning.
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