Sept. 23, 2006

Since the new Iraqi government was formed in May 2006, the U.S. government has dramatically scaled up its efforts to provide “advice.” In July, the administration and major oil companies reviewed and commented on a new law governing Iraq’s crucial oil sector, before it has even been seen by the Iraqi Parliament.

Don’t tell me that our country’s airlines aren’t innovators! Take U.S. Airways, for example — it’s the one that pioneered the placement of advertising on its fold-down tray tables. Not content to rest on its laurels, U.S. Air has now taken another innovative step: It is putting ads on its barf bags!

On Aug. 2, after reading about “America Tropical,” the famous mural painted in Los Angeles by Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros, there I was, for the first time — inches from the huge masterwork.

I’m not a big fan of country music. The Dixie Chicks, however, got my attention in March 2003 when lead vocalist Natalie Maines made her now infamous comment to a London audience — on a night when bombs “shocked and awed” Baghdad — that she was “ashamed” that President Bush was from her home state of Texas

CHICAGO — Although the City Council failed to overturn Mayor Richard Daley’s veto of the Big Box Living Wage Ordinance, supporters of the measure say the battle will continue.

The Sept. 14 meeting between U.S. President George W. Bush and South Korean leader Roh Moo-hyun highlighted a growing divergence between the two allies over attitudes and strategies towards the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, or North Korea) and its nuclear program. However, some progress was made on an issue important to the south Korean people — ending U.S. control over their military.

Just 10 months before fresh spinach was implicated in a nationwide wave of E. coli infections, state and federal officials warned growers and packers in the Salinas Valley area to improve product safety, the San Francisco Chronicle said this week.

WASHINGTON (Prensa Asociada) — Más niños blancos usan el Internet que los estudiantes hispanos y negros, un recordatorio que entrar en línea no es un estilo de vida para todo el mundo.

El Movimiento de Países No Alineados otra vez, en su documento final, apoyó el derecho de la nación puertorriqueña a la independencia y autodeterminación en su XIV Cumbre acabada de celebrarse en La Habana.