Latest Post(s)

This is Part IV of IV of my conversation with fellow blogger, writer and journalist from Iran – Kourosh Ziabari. If you haven’t yet read the previous three posts you can start here. Comments and feed back are welcome. – RHM

RHM: Again, you mentioned that you are awaiting trial and punishment of the Danish cartoonists. Let me ask you again: What crime should they be charged with and what do you think would be an appropriate punishment? Read more »

This is Part III of IV of my conversation with fellow blogger, writer and journalist from Iran – Kourosh Ziabari. Parts I and II of the interview are available for your review. Comments and feed back are welcome. - RHM Read more »

Randall's Rants

The Political Science Club at my school recently conducted an election simulation. Each of the three major Dominican presidential candidates (Leonel Fernandez, Miguel Vargas, Amable Aristy) were represented by students who campaigned and debated the issues. The finale was a school-wide election (pre-k through 12th graders voted). Read more »

Primaries

The media is all about Obama right now. He appears to have Hillary Clinton on the ropes. This is good for Democrats. As I said before, he is the only Democrat that can win in the general election. If Hillary gets the nomination (which she won’t), she loses the general election. Obama will get a lot of swing-voters. He won Iowa and will win New Hampshire tomorrow. This is significant.

First, he’s black and is winning (assuming I am right about tomorrow) in the whitest of white states - Iowa and New Hampshire. That means that truckloads of white people are voting for him. It may sound like I’m stating the obvious, but we are seeing the fruits of labor from decades of civil rights struggles. A black president is upon us. However, the real beauty of the story is that the race issue is secondary. This guy is popular because of who he is. He’s young, energetic, confident and thoughtful. That’s his appeal. The color of his skin seems to be an afterthought and that is true progress. People are drawn to him because he is a strong candidate. Not because he is a strong black candidate.

It is also significant because he is going toe-to-toe with one of the most powerful campaign machines ever. Obama, and to some extent Huckabee if he can hang in there (unlikely), are proof that anything can happen. This sends a good message to entrenched politicians and their political parties - don’t get too comfortable.

Issues

This is Part IV of IV of my conversation with fellow blogger, writer and journalist from Iran – Kourosh Ziabari. If you haven’t yet read the previous three posts you can start here. Comments and feed back are welcome. – RHM

RHM: Again, you mentioned that you are awaiting trial and punishment of the Danish cartoonists. Let me ask you again: What crime should they be charged with and what do you think would be an appropriate punishment? Read more »