Tax junk foods. Some 19 states already impose taxes on particular junk foods, like soda, and a nickel-a-can tax on soft drinks would generate $7 billion in revenues.

In particular, we should tax high-fructose corn syrup, which is used as a sweetener in a vast array of products and is a major culprit in the fattening of America.

Promote jogging and biking. Since we pay for all the consequences of inactivity (like those heart bypasses), we should encourage exercise.

We should build more bicycle paths and turn more streets over to bikers, skaters and pedestrians — starting with Sixth Avenue in Manhattan.

First, a quiz: What "vegetable" do American infants and toddlers eat most?

Weep, for it's the French fry. A major study conducted by Gerber found that up to one-third of young children don't eat any vegetable daily, but that the French fry is the single most common one they do consume. And among children age 19 months to 24 months, 20 percent eat French fries at least once a day.   more »

In his State of the Union speech, Bush presented the official version of 9/11. Through a combination of incompetence and complacency, and the cunning of a determined enemy, the sworn guardians of the American people were "too late" to stop a conspiracy that resulted in a devastating attack. Were they?

Since the president himself presents a Republican conspiracy theory to explain 9/11, some critics of the president counter with a conspiracy theory of their own: the possibility that the attacks of 9/11 were encouraged by elements of the U.S. government, or that the government looked the other way, permitting al Qaida to carry out its attack on "the homeland."

The most persuasive reason to consider a counterconspiracy comes after tallying the beneficiaries of the attacks, chiefly President Bush who, it is often said, has exploited the attacks repeatedly for political gain.

The attacks of 9/11 enabled Bush to define his rudderless presidency and to mount an invasion of Iraq, which in hindsight was the ambitious goal of his first term.

There are of course many puzzling circumstances surrounding the 9/11 attacks, virtually all of them compiled and analyzed in a recent book by two British authors, 9/11 Revealed: The Unanswered Questions.   more »

The queen of trivia does it again. Am I the only person on the planet who is outraged with recent Oprah Shows? Usually the trivial nature of the topics she chooses is enough to liquefy brain cells.

That is not the worse of it. Recently she seemed to enjoy her one-upsmanship in the book scandal with author James Frey. The frying of Frey was troubling because there are more important lies out there.

Hey Oprah, remember the big WMD lie? What about the lies about the numbers of homeless among us? What about the lies about the causes of poverty in the USA?

What about the lies about the number of civilians killed in Iraq? Killed kids should at least rate a nod from someone in the US media.

On the topic of liars. I hope that Oprah will google Liars for Hire. Now there's a topic for a show for you. Oprah, you could do a whole series on that topic. Liars for Hire, otherwise known as Expert Witnesses, have placed our entire justice system in jeopardy.

Maybe ratings are the only consideration. If another show about how to apply eye make-up is aired, I will cancel my cable service. Sometimes I have to rush to the TV clicker, to get a bit of C-Span therapy.   more »

The battle is set, of religious extremism versus freedom of speech. These are the lines drawn, or so we are told, in the escalating tensions worldwide surrounding the printing of images of Muhammad in Denmark and elsewhere in Europe.

Although the media is only now picking up on this story, my inbox has been receiving messages about these cartoons for weeks. The messages range from high-pitched to very thoughtful, but not one of them says, "Yeah, whatever ... "

There's no apathy surrounding this issue. This is because of the love felt for the prophet and religious norms in Islam. But also because it feeds into profound feelings of disempowerment, fear and insecurity among Muslims that Europe would do well to understand.

In Britain, we should realise that Muslims here will be angry if the pictures are gratuitously published in British papers - not just because of the insults to Muhammad, but because it makes them feel disempowered. Protesting is the only way to regain some self-respect.

First, the easy part. Any depiction of Muhammad, however temperate, is not allowed. There are but a few images of him in Muslim history, and even these are shown with his face veiled.   more »

Wars, most wars at least, run not evenly but in fits and starts, settling down into sputtering Sitzkrieg for long intervals, then suddenly shooting out wildly in wholly unpredicted directions.

The war in Iraq has fallen into a set pattern for long enough that we should be expecting something new. I can identify three factors – there may be more – which could lead to some dramatic changes, soon.

* Osama bin Laden’s latest message. Most observers, including the White House, seem to have missed its significance. In it, bin Laden offered us a truce (an offer we should have accepted, if only to attempt to seize the moral high ground).

The Koran requires Moslems to offer such a truce before they attack. The fact that bin Laden himself made the offer, after a long silence, suggests al Qaeda attaches high importance to it.

Why? My guess is because they plan a major new attack in the U.S. soon. I would be surprised if the plan were for something smaller than 9/11, because that could send the message that al Qaeda’s capabilities had diminished.

Could this be "the big one," the suitcase nuke that most counter-terrorism experts expect somewhere, sometime? That would certainly justify, perhaps require, a truce offer from Osama himself.   more »

Don’t get me wrong. I am not advocating violence as such. But when I heard on the news and read in the newspapers about Jack Straw, Condoleeza Rice, Kofi Annan and others lecturing Hamas on the incompatibility of democracy and violence it nearly made me choke over my breakfast.

The hypocrisy of it all. And some of our own leader writers joined in the general chorus. It takes two to tango. I did not see, in any of these calls to Hamas, reciprocal calls on Israel to stop its continuing daily violence against Palestinians.

As if democracy and violence have never existed together. As if democracy and violence do not go simply and always hand in hand.

Which present day democratic state does not employ violence and terror? The US which claims to be a democratic country has used violent and terroristic means to impose its will over smaller countries.

It has overthrown governments, which it does not like, by force throughout its history and has illegally invaded and terrorised many countries.

The list is very long. Remember the Philippines, Cuba, Iran in the 50s, Indonesia, Chile, Guatemala, Iraq just to name a few important examples and has plans to continue to do so in the future.   more »

Afghanistan has been a policy disaster from the get-go. The country is ravaged by war and unemployment, security beyond the capital of Kabul is virtually nonexistent, and malnutrition rates are higher among children anywhere other than sub-Saharan Africa.

Now, Karzai, who has seen his funding from the US consistently slashed year after year, must take his begging bowl to the world community; asking for the crumbs they can spare to bandage his failed-state together.

Afghanistan excels in one thing alone; the production and export of opium, a booming business which now provides 90% of the world’s heroin.

Is this what Bush had in mind when he promised Americans to rebuild and democratize the battle-scarred country; a modern-day drug-colony, occupied by legions of indifferent volunteers who rarely venture beyond their US controlled compounds?

His promise of a Marshall Plan was similar to all of Bush’s promises; just more hot air hissssssing from a punctured tire.   more »

2 FEBRUARY

Those Notorious Prophet Muhammad Cartoons

Bob Herbert: Violence - An American Obsession

Capitalism Causes Climate Change

Bush's State of Propaganda Speech

The American Ideology: This Article Will Change Your Politics

The Radical Left Must Take a Stand: Support Hamas, Condemn Israel

Are You a Bush Believer? Take the Test

Iran Mocks America as "Hollow Superpower"