Government/Politics
Rebellion in Libya
Dinner Topics has kept you abreast of the problems in Libya the past few years, and if you’ve been following this blog, you already know this: Gaddafi was involved in the Lockerbie Controversy. Libya is located in northern Africa. Gaddafi made a trip to America a couple years ago. There are more ways to spell [...]
What is the Gang of Six?
Before the weekend approaches and talks of debt ceilings and the likely end to the NFL lockout arise, you should know about the Gang of Six. Surprisingly, the phrase refers to the former subject, not the latter. Led by Mark Warner, the Democratic Senator from Virginia, the Gang of Six is a group of six [...]
What is the debt ceiling?
All summer long, talks of exceeding the debt ceiling have dominated the business pages of your local newspapers and news websites, but much of the public may not understand why there is a debt ceiling or why it matters now. Culling from some strong sources, here are the answers you need before the topic arises [...]
City resources and levels of responsibility
May 31, 2011 — Alameda, CA police officers and firefighters looked on while a man drowned in an apparent suicide attempt, prohibited — by city policy — to rescue him. Approximately 75 beach-goers witnessed the tragic events unfold… Below is a brief summary: Raymond Zack (early fifties), waded — fully clothed — into the ~60°F [...]
Endeavour finally launches
After many delays and malfunctions, the space shuttle Endeavour was launched early this morning to a large crowd at Cape Canaveral. “The mission was delayed six times since its first scheduled target date, last July.”1 If you haven’t been keeping track, budgetary cuts and a poor economy had practically shelved the entire NASA program, and [...]
Knowing Newt’s Name
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich is scheduled to announce his candidacy for the 2012 presidential election sometime Wednesday. For the record, Gingrich will be 68 in June, and for the younger generation, Gingrich was the Speaker of the House during Bill Clinton’s presidency and Newt stepped down from the House of Representatives shortly [...]
Why was Tax Day not April 15th this year?
No, it wasn’t just the IRS being nice to you and giving you the extra weekend to file your taxes in 2011. There was a real, albeit somewhat absurd, reason that the deadline to file taxes in 2011 was yesterday and not April 15. Unless it’s a weekend or federal holiday, Tax Day will always [...]
Authoritarianism defined
If you have been keeping up with Dinner Topics and all of the world wide protests in the past couple months, you may have noticed that in the middle of reports from Egypt, Bahrain, and Libya, the word “authoritarianism” has been used often. While it’s fairly easy to figure out the meaning from the context [...]
