President Obama has signed yet another Executive Order, making it his 94th to date. This Executive Order creates an Office of Diversity, for the purposes of boosting minority participation in the federal work force. The mission for the Order reads: By this order, I am directing executive departments and agencies to develop and implement a more comprehensive, integrated, and strategic focus on diversity and inclusion as a key component of their human resources strategies.  

Despite widespread media assertions that the Egyptian revolution was intended to bring about a democratic rule, there is increasing evidence to the contrary. The Muslim Brotherhood is urging officials to consider a ban — which would particularly target tourists — on skimpy bikinis and alcohol in the streets, regulations which closely resemble Sharia law. Muhammad Saad Al-Katatny, secretary-general of Freedom and Justice, explains, "Beach tourism must take the values and norms of our society into account. We must place regulations on tourists wishing to visit Egypt, which we will announce in advance.” The Media Line reports: Egypt’s tourism industry has suffered a severe blow since the outburst of anti-regime demonstrations in January. But that did not stop the Freedom and Justice Party, the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, from demanding stricter regulations over what tourists can do and wear while visiting the country. The party is urging officials to ban skimpy swimwear and the consumption of alcohol on Egyptian streets.

While the truth about what is going on in Libya remains concealed behind aweb of lies from both sides, Gaddafi’s forces are still fighting as analysts discuss the future of the nation following “regime change.” Based on available information, it doesn’t look bright. Talk of protracted civil war, genocide, violent retaliation, plundering and deepening chaos is well underway as the bodies of Libyans continue to pile up. Thousands of civilians have already died — some killed by NATO air strikes and Western-backed rebels, others by the Gaddafi regime and its supporters. And analysts expect the bloodshed and violence to continue for the foreseeable future. A spokesman for the regime said earlier this week that Gaddafi’s forces were able to fight on “for years.” Contingency measures and “alternative plans” have been made, he explained, to ensure that the battle for Tripoli will rage on indefinitely.

At 5:30 p.m. on a Wednesday in June, Thomas James Ball of Holden, Massachusetts, drenched himself with gasoline and struck a match. He burned to death at the door of the courthouse in Keene, New Hampshire. “I saw a man standing on fire,” one eyewitness told WMUR-Channel 9. “He walked around a little bit, walked on to the grass, collapsed on all fours and literally sat there and burned.” “Several men said their attempts to help Ball proved ineffective,” WMUR continued, “partly because it appeared he did not want to be helped. ‘He just looked like he was just chilling there, doing yoga or something. It was weird. We were all stunned,’ said witness Sean Desio.” By air-time that evening, “Investigators [had] not released any possible motive” for this very public, agonizing, and dramatic suicide. But Ball himself solved the mystery the next day, when his last words — all 15 carefully investigated, cogently argued pages of them — reached Keene’s Sentinel.

Now that the U.S. military, under the auspices of NATO, has “liberated” Libya, that country is on a path to become the third such nation to establish Sharia as the principal basis for all future constitutional legislation. With the pen of power placed in their hands by the armed forces of the United States, the members of the Libyan Transitional National Council (TNC) has released a draft of a proposed new constitution that enumerates Islamic Sharia law as its foundation.   Sharia, which means “path” in Arabic, is the sacred law of Islam. The precepts of Sharia have two sources: the Koran and the writings of Mohammed. Sharia is the code that is responsible for the stoning of adulteresses; the caning of rape victims; and the restrictions on dress, rights of inheritance, and marital status of women.

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, an Iowa native, won the Republicans' Ames, Iowa Straw Poll on August 13. That fact was reported by most of the national media. However, in an incredible display of conformity bias, virtually all of the major media blacked out the fact that Rep. Ron Paul  of Texas came in a close second, in a virtual tie with Bachmann, with less than one percentage point difference between them. On many of the major media news shows and Sunday talk programs, the network "analysts" and guest "experts" mentioned every GOP presidential candidate (and some who are not candidates: Palin, Trump, Christie) — every candidate, that is, except Ron Paul, who had just accomplished a huge underdog victory. The glaring hypocrisy of the "lamestream media" commentators in pretending to be objectively reporting on the event while blatantly censoring Ron Paul out of existence was too much for liberal comedian/commentator Jon Stewart of Comedy Central's The Daily Show.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon believes that there is a global environmental crisis that requires looting the Western economies to the tune of trillions of dollars in coming years. But such financial plundering apparently will not be standing in the way of a quite substantial pay increase for United Nations employees. At a time when the West is reeling from a global recession, and individuals, corporations, and even profligate governments are realizing that a measure of financial reality is no longer optional, the recent UN diktat that $76 trillion would be needed over the next two generations to be redistributed as Third World environmental welfare sounded like a bad joke. Now, the decision to enact a significant pay raise for UN bureaucrats is further proof of Ban’s poor sense of comedic timing.

For as frequently as I have defended Ron Paul against his detractors, it may surprise some readers to discover that while I consider myself to be something of a libertarian, philosophically speaking, I am poles apart from the libertarianism of which Paul is such an impassioned supporter. In contemporary politics, and, indeed, contemporary life, it is not at all uncommon to hear partisans speak of the “philosophical” differences between themselves and their opponents. Few people, though, really understand what philosophy is. This is no criticism; even those of us who make our living as philosophers have not infrequently found ourselves divided as to the character of our craft.

While GOP presidential hopefuls surround President Obama in election polls, the Democratic Party is scrambling to revamp its fundraising efforts. Through July, the three national Republican party groups — the Republican National Committee (RNC), the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), and the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) — have raised a combined $105 million this year, a whopping 19 percent less than the combined $129 million pocketed by the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC). President Obama’s poll matchups against GOP presidential candidates have aroused concern from the Democratic Party, as the President’s approval numbers continue to wane — hovering around an all-time low of 40 percent. In the latest Gallup poll, "Mitt Romney leads Obama by two percentage points, 48% to 46%, Rick Perry and Obama are tied at 47%, and Obama edges out Ron Paul and Michele Bachmann by two and four points, respectively." Gallup’s generic presidential poll shows Obama ahead of a generic "Republican presidential candidate," 45 percent to 39 percent.

Those top Wall Street workers who supported President Obama in 2008 have now redirected their loyalty to GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney, according to a Fox News report. The reported shift in support from Wall Street workers may prove to be a nice financial boost for Romney’s campaign, and represents a significant divide between President Obama and businesses in America. The Blaze reports: "Romney has established himself as the “Wall Street favorite” for the Republicans, and [Fox Business Network’s Charlie] Gasparino said Romney’s moderate reputation and experience working on Wall Street have helped seal his position. Tea Party candidates for president don’t have much of a chance getting significant backing from the banks."