Archive for the ‘American current affairs’ Category


Looking after pets post Rapture

January 14th, 2010 by Roger Darlington

Ever heard of the Rapture? This is a predicted future event, found primarily among Conservative Protestant denominations, relating to the return of Jesus and the taking into Heaven of the devout. Apparently there are 40-50 million believers in the Rapture in USA. Further information here. Now the problem is that animals are said to be […]

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Is the US political system broken?

December 14th, 2009 by Roger Darlington

At least one well-informed commentator thinks so. In a piece in today’s “Guardian”, Michael Tomasky writes:

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The poor of America

November 19th, 2009 by Roger Darlington

If I’d read it in the English-language “Iran News” which I studied on my recent trip to that country, I might have thought that it was propaganda from a fiercely anti-American regime, but the story was in the British “Guardian” and the statistics are taken from an official US Government survey. One-sixth of the US […]

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How the Right is using the Net against Obama

September 19th, 2009 by Roger Darlington

Barack Obama made brilliant use of the Internet in his primary and presidential campaigns but, now that he is in the White House, the Right is mobilising opposition against him using similar online campaigning tools heavily funded by suspect business sources. It’s not just the economic stimulus and healthcare reform that angers these Republicans; they […]

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Obama’s healthcare speech

September 10th, 2009 by Roger Darlington

President Barack Obama has addressed Congress in an effort to break the deadlock on passage of a healthcare reform bill. You can read the full text here.

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Is this the sickest man in America?

August 31st, 2009 by Roger Darlington

I refer to Arizona pastor Steve Anderson. Check out the evidence.

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How the President decides

August 13th, 2009 by Roger Darlington

There’s an interesting piece in the “Wall Street Journal” about the decision-making processes of President Barack Obama. One commentator sums up the style as: “He’s thinking big but being cautious.”

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Obama’s health care plan (2)

August 12th, 2009 by Roger Darlington

The American debate over health care reform receives front-page treatment in today’s “Guardian” newspaper because the bitter opposition to Obama’s reform proposals is frequently involving outrageous misrepresentation of the performance of the National Health Service in Britain. The sickest suggestion – I use the adjective advisedly – is that, if he lived in the UK, […]

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Obama’s health care plan (1)

August 8th, 2009 by Roger Darlington

In a country like Britain – where we have had a National Health Service for 61 years and where all the major political parties support the NHS – it’s hard to comprehend the level of emotional debate in the United States over President Obama’s health care plan. In this “New York Times” op-ed piece by […]

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The boundaries of belief (2)

August 4th, 2009 by Roger Darlington

Yesterday I wrote: “I sometimes think that no belief is too weird that someone somewhere – probably quite thoughtful and intelligent – will hold that belief. I really wonder whether there are any boundaries to some people’s belief systems.” Today we have yet another example with the BBC web site’s coverage of the ridiculous suggestion […]

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