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Author Archives George Jochnowitz

For most of my professional career, I taught linguistics at the College of Staten Island, CUNY. Because of a faculty-exchange contact with Hebei University in Baoding, China, I taught there during the spring semesters of 1984 and 1989. 1989 was the time of Beijing Spring, and my experiences in China and subsequent readings of Marx led me to believe that the cruelty of Communist regimes comes directly from the words of Karl Marx. This is one of the subjects I discuss in my book THE BLESSED HUMAN RACE.

Iraq and Glaspie

The press is talking about the elections in Iraq. People are still debating whether it was good or bad for the United States to start the Second Gulf War. But what about the First Gulf War? To what extent was Ambassador April Glaspie following a plan laid out by President G.H.W. Bush when she spoke [...]

¶ Posted 09 March 2010 § Politics ‡ Comments (40) °

YEAR OF THE TIGER

May 4708 bring the world peace, freedom, and democracy. Xin nian kuai le (New Year quick happiness). Da dao Gongchandang (Down with the Communist Party). Makesi zhuyi shi goupi (Marxism is dogfart)..

¶ Posted 13 February 2010 § Politics ‡ Comments (14) °

BURIED ALIVE IN TURKEY

It’s a capital offense in Turkey for a girl to talk to a boy. The father and grandfather who committed this horrible murder have brought dishonor upon themselves, their family, their country, and their religion. The mainstream media have nothing to say.

¶ Posted 07 February 2010 § Politics ‡ Comments (39) ° Tagged: Honor murder

Gay Marriage in China

The United States is a free country. China is not. Yet once in a while, we find a bit of evidence that suggests the opposite. The official English-language newspaper, China Daily, had this article. When I first taught at Hebei University in Baoding, China, in 1984, I never saw a single boy and a single girl walking together on campus, although I often [...]

¶ Posted 17 January 2010 § China § Gay Rights ‡ Comments (109) °

Haiti and Israel

There’s a news story I haven’t seen in the American press: One of the many countries that are joining in the effort to help Haiti is Israel. Israel always sends help when natural disasters occur. Occasionally, the help is refused. On October 8, 2005, an earthquake struck Pakistan. At first, Pakistan refused Israel’s offer. Finally, [...]

¶ Posted 14 January 2010 § Politics ‡ Comments (113) °

Houston Elects a Lesbian

Annise Parker, an openly lesbian candidate, was elected mayor of Houston, Texas. Houston will now be the largest city in the country to have an openly homosexual mayor. The United States was conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Where are you, President Obama?

¶ Posted 13 December 2009 § Politics ‡ Comments (13) °

The Nobel Peace Prize

For the first time in history, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize has said that there are times when war cannot be avoided. The Democrats will attack him because they love Islamists more than they love America. The Republicans will attack him because they are terrified that they will lose the title of Party [...]

¶ Posted 10 December 2009 § Politics ‡ Comments (29) °

Chavez Loves Carlos the Jackal

Chavez seems to be saying he is not only a leftist but a devoted supporter of terrorism. President Hugo Chávez is heaping praise on Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, the Venezuelan better known as Carlos the Jackal and implicated in hijackings and terror attacks across Europe in the 1970s and ’80s, describing him in a speech here [...]

¶ Posted 24 November 2009 § International Relations ‡ Comments (20) °

Creationism

Anyone who has grappled with the text of the Bible will see that the accounts of the Creation were not meant to be taken literally. Nevertheless, creationism became an issue in the 1960s, perhaps because the counterculture became powerful within the walls of academe and thus led to the respectablility of questioning science. And now, [...]

¶ Posted 05 November 2009 § Science ‡ Comments (4) °

Baseball

Two groups of businessmen are engaged in a series of baseball games against each other. One of them will win. It won’t make the slightest difference which group it is. The series will have no effect on anything. Everything in the world is interesting. Everything is important–everything, that is, except professional sports. The World Series [...]

¶ Posted 30 October 2009 § Politics ‡ Comments (20) °

Rumors of Khamenei’s Death

Can it be? There are rumors in Iran that Ayatollah Khamenei has died. I am reminded of when I was in China on June 4, 1989. A few hours after the Tiananmen Massacre, a student came to my apartment and said, “I have wonderful news. Ayatollah Khomeini is dead. Who knows? If he can die, [...]

¶ Posted 15 October 2009 § Politics ‡ Comments (2) °

Haman and Ahmadinejad

The Book of Esther is an extremely contemporary sounding account of an anti-Semite, Haman, who wanted to kill all the Jews because he felt he had been slighted. Although prejudice and hostility are as old as humanity, Haman seems to be the first recorded example of wanting to wipe out a people when there is [...]

¶ Posted 19 September 2009 § Politics ‡ Comments (10) °

MARXIST-ISLAMIC AXIS OF UNITY

Hugo Chavez has advanced another step in his alliance with Ahmadinejad. He has declared that an Axis of Unity exists between Venezuela and Iran. The purpose of the axis is to join so-called revolutionary countries to work against the United States. He has not yet officially included North Korea in this axis, but North Korea [...]

¶ Posted 11 September 2009 § Blogs ‡ Comments (27) °

Megrahi and Madoff

According to the New York Post, Bernard Madoff is terminally ill with cancer. If so, will he be pardoned? Somehow I doubt it. Madoff is hated in a way that Megrahi never was. It seems that stealing a great deal of money is considered a worse crime than blowing up a plane and killing the [...]

¶ Posted 24 August 2009 § Politics ‡ Comments (10) °

Marijuana

Peter Suderman wrote on the Andrew Sullivan blog that two cops writing in the Washington Post propose a change in marijuana laws. However, I believe the laws serve a purpose. Most nicotine addicts start their habit before they’re 18. If marijuana were legalized, the same would be true of potheads. Most 10-year-olds can get their [...]

¶ Posted 18 August 2009 § Politics ‡ Comments (14) °

The Wall (4827)
- narciso: Moved on to the last of Larsson, the reason for Sljander’s rather idiosyncraticpersonality, her father is a Soviet GRU defector protected by the evil Swedish state security,...
- Howard Portnoy: Wow, it’s my first time here since your remodeled, Czar. Looks great! Kudos.
Roman Polanski: The Other War (Culture, That Is) (35)
- narciso: He’s printed up his whining statement, from the office of his chateau, no doubt, it’s hard to see someone more vile, then again he telescoped the water wars of the 00s,...
New York City Announces that “Rubber Rooms” for Teachers Will Close (1)
- Zoltan Newberry: It would be better if these hard working and badly misunderstood teachers were put to work, I say! They could raise money for education as targets in pie throwing daily fund...
RECOMMENDED BROWSING (132)
- narciso: You missed who that line was directed at Sully, it wasn’t Obama
- Sully: @ fustotten: I didn’t like the baby campaign prop either, which actually caused me to wonder whether it was productive as a prop. And, on the subject of the presidency. There is...