Dr. Ronald Federici has received worldwide recognition for helping orphans and the adoptive families.
He has done a lot of work with children from countries the authors of this blog hold dear, such as Russia, Ukraine, and Georgia as well as Romania and others. For that reason, we'd like to honor and thank him.
He holds a Psy.D. degree, and is licensed by the Virginia Board. From his offices in McLean, VA, he helps local families, but his reach is truly global! He has, for example, served as a consultant to Angelina Jolie, assisting with her adoptions.
In addition to his regular work, Dr. Federici is also an outspoken opponent of dangerous therapies, such as those that killed Candace Newmaker, and also done everything he can to improve deplorable conditions in orphanages around the world.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Dr. Ronald Federici: A Tribute
Sunday, April 19, 2009
The Relevance of Ayn Rand
There have been recent reports of a resurgence in interest in the work of Ayn Rand, specifically her novel Atlas Shrugged.
This is a good thing. What is not a good thing, however, is the suggestion that Rand’s work somehow stands as a criticism of the policies of the Obama Administration.
There have been specific references to the bailouts, government removal of company executives, and the fact that the “heroes” of Atlas Shrugged are businessmen and businesswomen.
Some people must be experiencing short term memory loss. The bailouts predate the Obama Administration.
They are part of the legacy of George Bush and Henry Paulson. The executive in question is Rick Wagoner, formerly Chairman and CEO of General Motors. General Motors, like several other U.S. automakers, was in trouble and asked for help.
It should be noted that Wagoner was unable to cut losses or to make General Motors profitable in North America. If he stayed, he would be rewarded for failure. He was not removed, he was asked to leave. The difference is subtle, but important. One of the successful businessmen in Atlas Shrugged is Hank Rearden, who has invented a miraculous metal. He did not run a failing company, and he did not take a private jet (or, appropriate to the time of Rand’s novel, private train) to Washington to beg for taxpayers’ money.
He was a success, both as a scientist and entrepreneur.
Another is railway magnate Dagny Taggart. Like Rearden and unlike Wagoner, Chase Manhattan’s Jamie Dimon or Bank of America’s Kenneth D. Lewis, her company was not failing.
The “government” in Rand’s novel is actually quite unlike the Obama Administration. It is, however, very like the Bush Administration in many ways.
One of the novel's main characters, John Galt, is tortured with an electrical device, foreshadowing the atrocities of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo.
The Obama Administration has taken a clear policy on torture-that it is unacceptable. The outrage at the excesses associated with the bailouts and many of their recipients is well deserved, as is the interest in Rand and her work. One would, however, do well, to read Rand and learn what she stood for!
Sunday, January 25, 2009
The Year of the Ox
Here are some photographs from the Tet celebration at Eden Center in Falls Church, VA.
Falls Church has a large Vietnamese community, and the Eden Center is Viet Nam in microcosm!
The photos were taken with a Nikon D50 and a Tamron 18-200 lens.
They were shot in RAW. Minor corrections were done in Photoshop, as well as the conversion to .jpg for posting to this blog.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Turkmeniscam - This Book is a Scam
I actually quite liked Ken Silverstein's The Radioactive Boy Scout as it showed how easy it would be to create some of the components of a nuclear weapon.
His latest, Turkmeniscam, is something else again.
Silverstein posed as a representative of a nonexistent UK company that did business with Turkmenistan. He approached various US lobbying firms to see what they could do to improve Turkmenistan's image.
Silverstein admits he has never been to Turkmenistan. I have. The place is not perfect, but what place is?
If Silverstein wanted to deal with an oppressive regime, he could have stayed at home. The nearly now defunct Bush administration has almost completely destroyed the US reputation abroad, started two senseless wars, eroded civil rights, and, possibly most disturbingly, made torture a part of its foreign and domestic policies.
I can only hope that President (elect for only a day more!) Barack Obama will reverse these excesses.
If Silverstein wanted to deal with those who provide positive publicity to an oppressive regime, he could have done his book in Washington, which is what he did for Turkmeniscam.
There are plenty of places that have promoted the Bush/Neocon ideology. The Competitive Enterprise Institute comes to mind, as does the Institute for Liberty. These people receive ample funding from Bush-friendly entities such as Exxon Mobil, deny the existence of global warming, and were fervent supporters of the McCain-Palin ticket.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Thursday, December 27, 2007
RIP: Benazir Bhutto
It is unfortunate that the 2007 holidays will be remembered for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
Memory Eternal.
