News

It was the trip of a lifetime. Here we were, touring Scotland after spending some time in Ireland and England. Along the way, with our host, we made a stop that was not on our itinerary—Lockerbie, Scotland. As my wife and I perused the items in the small museum last year, it was a poignant reminder of the tragic downing of Pan American Airlines Flight 103 on December 21, 1988. The horror of the bombing sunk in as we saw the pictures of the victims and the devastation that occurred in the neighborhoods where the plane had plummeted to the ground. What had been a newspaper story and television coverage years before became very real to us as we viewed the pictorial evidence.

Many scientists consider stem cell research as the hope for sparking healing and regeneration in degenerative organs. They are researching potential applications for limb regeneration, cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and other chronic ailments. Can stem cell research solve mankind's ailments? Could the elusive "fountain of youth" be waiting just around the corner?

Media bias is a common topic for discussion in the U.S. This problem is not confined to the U.S. however. Some years ago I visited a major journalism school in Bordeaux, France, and asked what the students were learning. Among other things, the Director said the school taught that there was "no such thing as objective reality." He said that since reporters could only see a slice of reality, their reporting was necessarily subjective, meaning it was affected by the reporter's background, point of view and philosophy.

As my wife and I walked into the local cinema, before us stood one of the largest movie advertisement displays I've ever seen.  It depicted a coastal city being completely ripped apart by unprecedented seismic activity—tossing vast swaths of the city into the sky and dumping entire neighborhoods into a hungry ocean.  It was a scene of utter devastation that clearly would have taken the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.  And it was a fitting advertisement for the movie 2012, the new End-Of-The-World epic written and directed by Roland Emmerich, coming out this November.

Ireland rejected the Lisbon treaty in 2008, and Eurocrats are again near despair over another potential Irish "no vote."  The Beast is growing, and it wants Ireland.  Consequently, Brussels' bureaucrats are paying lip service to Irish demands on military neutrality, taxation autonomy and anti-abortion laws.  Ireland can gain economic advantage and, in return, Europe requests Ireland's sovereignty, its future, and its children.  How will Ireland decide?