Search

The article explores the demography and social condition in Lebanon. It offers information on the geographical features and landscapes of the country. It states that the Lebanon was beautiful, literate, rich and cosmopolitan. It mentions the agricultural aspects of the country. It adds that Beirut, the capital city, boasts of beach resorts, international banks and world-class shopping malls, and is referred to as the "Paris in the Middle East." It provides details on the conflict in Lebanon.

The article reports on the implications of the presence of nuclear weapons in the world. It states that the presence of nuclear weapons brings fear of war that hope and conscience have promoted to counter fantasy. In this regard, in explains that nuclear is used to conventional war that the monotheism of the avenging God to the old human and harmless idolatries of polytheism.

The article explores the understanding and the role of excellence in several fields such in medicine, law, and religion in the U.S. It highlights a new biography of Navy Captain Hyman Rickover which indicates his assessment about excellence. It tackles several issues in relation to the idea of excellence in the country such as the manic overstimulation of American culture.

The article focuses on the critical details on the Jack Abbott and Norman Mailer case in which Mailer has helped Abbott's way out of the prison cell by getting Abbotts' book published. It is speculated that Mailer misjudged Abbott by overestimating the writer in Abbott and underestimated the murderer in him. However, Mailer's philosophy centers on the concept that the law should establish separate standards for artists like Abbott.

The article explores the significant aspects of gossip. On one hand, the author noted that gossip has been known to one of the evil pleasures. On the other, he questioned if it has a higher roles in the ecosystem. The author mentioned claims of novelists and writers like Mary McCarthy and Oscar Wilde, who observed that history and famous literature are gossips.

The article focuses on the concept of burnout using the principle of psychology. Authors Robert Venigna and James Spradley have defined the five stages of burn out such as the intense enthusiasm, sleep disturbance and physical illness. Burnout has been viewed as violent process ending in a devastation.

The article provides information on various aspects of Oath as followed in U.S. It informs that oaths are relevant in legal proceedings and government jobs. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said that workers have right to strike but they should not be government employees as they are bound by oath. It further informs that oaths may have sinister use if it is blood oath taken by a mafia, but contracts and oaths are the acts of will that make a society coherent.

The article discusses the lifestyle of U.S. president Ronald Reagan. It mentions the problems faced by his administration in finding a yacht for him as former president Jimmy Carter sold the Sequoia boat as part of his cost cutting measures. It also discusses the money spent by Reagan and his wife in the refurbishment of their residence, and compares the modest style of Carters with fancy living of Reagans.

The article analyzes the social impact of the ease with which firearms can be purchased in the U.S. It is reported that, despite the fact that the firearms especially the handguns have killed about 400,000 Americans since 1963 and the U.S. has the highest rate of murder by guns in the world, no strict restrictions have been imposed on the sale and purchase of firearms in the country because the National Rifle Association of America is the most effective lobbying organization in the country.

The article discusses the presidential campaign in the U.S. It states that the Presidential campaigns threatens to become almost constant. It also states that the political campaigning should be taken as serious instrument for the purpose of gaining power. It also states that the perpetual campaign has produced a huge life of its own, with a primitive instinct for self-preservation.

The article discusses the surge in the numbers of cyclists in the U.S. during 1980s. Reportedly, Mayor of New York City, Edward Koch after his China visit spent about 300,000 dollars to install 6-ft.-wide bike lanes along two avenues in Manhattan. However, barely after three months of installation the lanes were demolished up by the U.S. Transportation Department as the roads and highways in the country are designed for cars and trucks, with passage for pedestrians on the sidewalks.

In this article, the author reflects upon the need for starting the tradition of national poet laureate in the U.S. He mentions the laureateships awarded to poets in England and the poems written by them over political conditions of the country, and discusses the benefits of having poet laureates who can write verses on the U.S. politics. He also discusses the necessity of giving independence to such poets in their writings.

The article discusses the author's views on the temptation and act of revenge by the human race. He informs that in New Zealand, hostilities broke out between two tribes, when the body of one tribal leader was chopped up and roasted by his opponents after he was taken killed during a war. He states that one act of revenge, which is premeditated, gives rise to another which reverberate for generations. He believes that the theatrical production "Hamlet," is the best tragic play on human revenge.

The article examines the conflict between the U.S. and Islamic countries. The author cites the statement of Ayatullah Khomeini explaining that the conflict between the U.S. and Iran is comparable to a struggle between Islam and the infidel. He points out that one reason for the Islamic countries' anti-American sentiment is the latter's role in introducing modernization and civilization into Muslim villages. He also points out that the anti-American view of Iranians can be attributed to the support of the U.S. to Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi.

The article reports on the idea about the persistence of anti-Catholicism in the U.S. It stresses the reaction of the American non-Catholics to have the Pope John Paul II in their midst during his visit in the state in the second week of October 1979 which is considered a measure of extraordinary changes in the nation's attitudes toward Catholicism. It cites perspectives and remarks from several writers, which include Norman Miller, Andrew Greeley and Peter Viereck, regarding anti-Catholicism. It outlines the existence of anti-Catholicism on the Mayflower, including the establishment of the Dudleian Lectures at Harvard in the early 18th century, the execution of two Catholics and its development into a profound civic dread in the 19th century.

The article explores the definition of decadence in various contexts. It relates that decadence is a marvelously versatile idea similar to a perfume that can create different scents depending on the chemistry and heat of a woman's body. It says that decadence resembles pornography, which is difficult to define although individuals know it. Moreover, decadence is a subjective word with moral and psychological drawback and defined in the working environment as a pathology with social implications. Richard Gilman says that decadence is an unstable word and concept, in which its importance and weights change continually in response to changes in social, moral, and cultural attitudes, as well as technology, while sociologist Wayne Youngguist stresses its presence in the society.

Ponders the human fascination with and curiosity about the possibility of extraterrestrial life. The discovery by two American astronomers of two planets outside our solar system that possess characteristics and conditions that could theoretically support life.

Reflects on how the O.J. Simpson murder trial plays out like a culture's collective dream. How the trial has reflected United States society's deepest passions; Other trials that agitated America; The defining trial of the 1990s; How Americans' tendency to moralize has become partners with the American appetite for trash; The two kinds of meanings that can be given to events; The defense's evocations of race.

Opinion. Contends that with its charter fading and its goals diverging, the United States needs to redefine what leadership means. The rise of global competition, cultural relativism and other factors that alter the concept of leadership; New centers of leadership in business, politics, religion and community life; The kind of leader needed today.

Reviews two autobiographies. Art Buchwald's `Leaving Home,' and Pete Hamill's `A Drinking Life,' records of uncushioned childhoods shadowed by their families' bleak vulnerability in the Depression.

Visits the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum which will be dedicated this week. More than a dozen years in planning and construction, the museum faces the mall in Washington, its interior enclosing all the menacing, grim functionalism, the history and the instruments of bureaucratically enacted genocide. Architecture by James Freed, of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners; Why the Holocaust museum belongs in Washington; Spread of the claim the Holocaust never happened; Museum design.

Likens the corporate clearances of the '90s, the ruthless, restructuring efficiencies occurring in the American workplace to the highland clearances of the 18th century when thousands of Scots were driven from their farms so landlords could graze sheep. New order dismantled crucial load-bearing traditions of work in America; The age of the contingent or temporary worker; Message for the future: you are on your own; Portable companies, throwaway employees; Details.

Comments on the merciless hatred occurring in the name of God. Civil war in Bosnia; Branch Davidians cult outside Waco, Texas; Jim Jones' People's Temple cult in Guyana; The bombing of Manhattan's World Trade Center; Reflections from the author.

Contends that what is occurring today is a war of American myths, a struggle of contending stories, and pop culture, often television, is the arena in which it is being fought. People almost do not exist without an imaginative version of his history, her narrative, and as Spike Lee knows, blacks more than other Americans need their stories now. Need for a new folklore, a new driving myth; Television hastens reality into art; Fictions mixed in politics can be dangerous.

Questions why people seek fame. The universal fantasy to be famous as among the basic human ambitions; The dangers associated with fame; How one sells one's soul in order to be known.

Examines the two sides of President Bill Clinton. The contradictory ways in which he is viewed, even by many of his supporters; The transitory nature of convictions and beliefs in 1996 America; The presidential models after which Clinton may pattern himself.

Presents the author's recollection and photographs of the 1968 Democratic National Convention the last time it was in Chicago. Mayor Richard Daley's police force; The police charge on Michigan Ave.; The sequence at the front end of 1968, of a bizarre and violent year; The protesting.

Discusses the destructive power of paranoia and how the 1990s have seen a surge in it. American examples such as Waco and Ruby Ridge; The Oklahoma City bombing; The arrest of the man suspected to be the Unabomber, who was turned in by his family because they recognized his prose style; The anarchists who call themselves Freemen.

Several letters to the editor are presented in response to previously published articles including "Tax schemes: A walk on the market's dark side," in the May 26 issue, "Making service a potent marketing tool," in the June 11 issue and "The biotech big shots: snapping up small seed companies," in the June 11 issue.

The article focuses on the attitudes of Americans toward energy crisis in 1979. It states that the inconvenience of gasoline lines has stirred self-analysis and scapegoating, with the blame placed to oil companies, while other considers energy shortages as a symptom of national weakness. It mentions that the attitudes of Americans toward the crisis is often framed with ideological lines, wherein, they express signs of indifference and disunity with one hold the blame to American people themselves and the other to the political and social leadership of the country. It notes that corporate and government leaders should address bad planning and heedless profligacy, however, the larger population should also takes its part in the responsibility.

The article discusses the dynamics of revolution that has been observed in several historical revolutions. It states that Harvard historian Crane Brinton formulated five stages of revolution which he enumerates in the Brinton model. The model begins with the euphoric stage, followed by the rise of the extremists, the Terror stage, a period of convalescence and the final stage, which is the coming of a person fired by revolutionary zeal and the restoration of Bourbonism. It mentions that though the model was based on European revolutions, some events in the Iranian revolution are similar with the model including the first euphoria of victory. It also presents the role of Muslim religion, Islam in the Iranian revolution and the restoration of the Islamic law and spirituality.

The article focuses on the changes in the attitude of Americans toward children, wherein adults tend to dislike them. It states that Americans have developed distaste for children. It mentions that there are about two million cases per year of child abuse and 30,000 children are used as objects of pornography. It says that the cruelty and stupidity of Americans toward children are rooted on their history. It cites three factors that add for the dislike on children such as the high cost of raising a child, children are no longer viewed as essential part of marriage, and the engagement of women in work. Meanwhile, Jerome Kagan of Harvard University does not believe on the antipathy of American parents toward children because he claims that parents spend more to buy books on child-rearing.

The article focuses on the different conceptions of religion and science on the origin of the universe. It mentions that "Book of Genesis," reveals that universe began from single act of creation whereas scientists stayed on the idea that it has an infinite past and future known as Steady State Theory. However, many astronomers believe the theory on the creation of the universe from fireball explosion known as Big Bang Theory that is similar to the Old Testament. Meanwhile, scientists Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson detected in 1965 a noise caused by reverberations from the explosion that supported the Big Bang. Moreover, Robert Jastrow published the book "God and the Astronomers," which indicates that the Bible was accurate and scientists and agnostics like him find themselves confused.

The article focuses on crime and punishment in the U.S. A survey in spring 1978 revealed that 62% of Americans were in favor of the death penalty. It notes that the crime rate increased by 300% in 1960 when the society was at its greatest pains to humanize the justice system, make rehabilitation programs work and allow indeterminate sentences to relax the law's supposedly heartless rigidity. Furthermore, it mentions that imprisonment is designed to deter others from committing crime, to protect society from the criminal and to rehabilitate the criminal. It also states that U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy has abolished parole boards and indeterminate sentences.

The article offers information on the declined voluntarism in the U.S. It mentions that communitarianism and advent of the New Deal has affected the cooperative spirit and voluntarism of the Americans as well as caused civic resignation. It also adds that the government may have also taken a certain degree of moral responsibility on them and the communities stimulated by bureaucracies. Meanwhile, continued increase of prices induced the people to work more to pay their bills causing them to have lesser time in doing voluntary work. However, private organization has called the National Center for Voluntary Action to grant awards for a variety of voluntary work, yet deputy director of Action Mary King states that the tradition of doing good has almost disappeared.

The article focuses on U.S. former-President Richard Nixon's first public appearance in Hyden, Kentucky since his resignation from the office on August 1974. It states that Nixon has rejected 100,000 public appearance invitations since he flew away to his self-imposed house arrest in San Clemente, California. However, Nixon has accepted an invitation to grace the opening of a recreation center, which was built through his revenue-sharing program in the state. It notes that Nixon's visit in the state was welcomed by the people despite his controversial leadership, however, critics reckon that his presence arouses extremes of feelings, distaste and contempt.

The article reviews the television program "Holocaust."

The article explores the terrorism in West Germany which is credited to the Baader-Meinhof gang and the Red Army Faction. Police estimate that there are no more than 50 committed terrorists abetted by about 2,000 active sympathizers in a population of more than 61 million. It is considered that the problem associated with terrorism torments Germans due to the history that hunts them and their sensitivity about their image in the rest of the world. Different theories are proposed to explain the poison of German terrorist.

The article discusses issues on the impact of the socialist revolutionary period of Russia under the rule of Vladimir Lenin, founder of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev looks back 60 years after the revolution and recalls it as a significant event in the history of humanity. He insists that the only way to unite the soviet republic is through communism.

The article focuses on the radical movements of young men of 1960s who made the New Left movement to address social issues in U.S. in 1977. An overview of the social movements exerted by New Left and thousands of people who were in protest with the Spring Mobilization to end the war in Vietnam in 1960s is presented. It cites several movements that bring back the lament of 1960s such as the protest at Kent State and the impersonation of Beatles. Further, it notes the comment of late editor Philip Rahv which referred the radical movements in U.S. as cyclical. The author comments that it is difficult for history to replicate the hallucination of 1960s but the cycle will surely come over again.

The article offers information on the life and works of Charles Mee , an author and a former editor of "Horizon" magazine. His political activism and investigation of American imperialism led to his writing of political histories for the general public. In 1975, he was asked to collaborate on a book with H. R. Haldeman , a founder of the National Committee on the Presidency, which lobbied for U.S. former President Richard Nixon's impeachment. It states that his mordant intelligence is at its best improvising on political ideas. He pays a visit of homage to the aging British historian Arnold Toynbee. .