The Surge, Part II?
Almost a year ago to the day, Dinner Topics gave you the basics on “The Surge,” George Bush’s deployment of 30,000 additional troops to Iraq. This time around, the president is Barack Obama and the surge is in Afghanistan1. During last night’s televised presidential address, President Obama announced the need for an additional 30,000 American [...]
What’s a State Dinner?
Yesterday evening, President Obama (with the help of Michelle Obama) hosted his first state dinner at the White House. You might think it’s just another term for a fancy Washington party, but there are specifics that make it a state dinner – specifics you should know since you helped foot the bill for the 300-guest shindig. [...]
Idea Packing for the Weekend
With the weekend upon us, here are a few conversation starters, trivial pieces of info, and basic things you should know before your get together. The New Jersey Nets have started the season 0-13 and are still waiting for their first win. The new Twilight movie made $72.7 million in its opening day, smashing the [...]
At 34 hours, health bill a longer read than Harry Potter
It’s true that politics are tough to talk about at parties, and often it’s wise to keep one’s political opinions at bay, but this is just too good to pass up. Regardless if you are a Republican, Democrat, or somewhere in the middle, this piece of information is a telling tale of bloated government tactics. [...]
More Gitmo Depth
President Obama’s original deadline of January 2010 as the date to close the Guantanamo Bay military prison (known as “Gitmo”) has been pushed back as Congress continues to do what they do best – debate on issues while failing to come to any clear conclusions. Another Gitmo-related story this week suggests that a federal prison in Illinois [...]
Narcissism Defined
Several days ago, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh went on one of his rants about the current President, Barack Obama. This time around, Limbaugh called Obama “very narcissistic” among other things. The irony of the comment is that Limbaugh himself is often thought of to be ruled by narcissism according to many of his detractors. All [...]
Afghanistan, Karzai, and run-off elections
You will likely see headlines on newspapers, TV, and the internet talking about the canceled run-off election in Afghanistan in the next couple days. Before you get blindsided by someone asking your opinion on Karzai, you need to know the basic situation at hand. The first round of voting for the Afghan president back in [...]
8 Years of Afghanistan in 3 Minutes
Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, was the unfortunate site of a car bombing last night, killing at least a dozen people and leaving many injured. Almost eight years ago to the day, the United States led an invasion in Kabul to destroy the Taliban. Since then, not a week goes by without a headline about U.S. [...]
