Latest Articles

Terrorism We Encourage?

April 24, 2013  •  Family Security Matters

The two Boston bombers were born in Dagestan and despite their alleged grievance over the treatment of Chechens, never lived there. For law enforcement officials and counter-terror experts this radical view that inspired their heinous act is a conundrum. Even President Obama asked plaintively, "Why did young men who grew up and studied here, as part of our communities and our country resort to such violence?"

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Basic Competencies and The MOOC Surge

April 10, 2013  •  Family Security Matters

It is difficult to know if MOOC's (Massive Open On-line Courses) are a conspiracy to undermine the Academy or mankind's final redemption, a way to open the avenues of higher education. However one sees it, millions of people are already taking on-line courses. There is a revolution taking place driven by technology and cost controls. Where it will end up is anyone's guess, but ultimately the success of this innovation will depend on measured competencies.

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The Syrian Cesspool and U.S. Inaction

April 5, 2013  •  Family Security Matters

If one wants to understand what happens in world affairs when the U.S. sits on the sidelines unsure of its role and even its interest, Syria is an excellent case study. Now that a civil war has struck every corner of that country, Bashar Assad and his military force have killed at least 70,000 people, many rebels and may innocent bystanders.

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Taxing Bank Depositors in Cyprus

March 28, 2013  •  Family Security Matters

Legislators in the tax-haven island of Cyprus have rejected the draconian bank deposit tax defying German leader Angela Merkel. While the protestors danced in the street after the vote, this could be a pyrrhic victory. President Putin threatened to withdraw a $3.2 billion loan if the Merkel proposal were embraced, a condition that might have influenced the final tally.

The Merkel-backed measure, tied to the bailout of Cypriot banks in virtual insolvency, called for a tax between six and ten percent on all deposits. Nearly half of these deposits are from foreigners, mostly Russians, seeking to take advantage of low taxes and lax banking laws on the island.

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Civilizational Discontents

March 13, 2013  •  Family Security Matters

The barrier between barbarism and civilization is gossamer-thin, a layer of taboos that separates mankind from its base nature. An impulse to ascend is most often pushed into the armory of descent.

Nowhere was this more apparent than the recent Grammy Awards for musical "excellence." Here were the half literate providing referential status to the half talented. Most of what I heard is dissonance. It was as if music is faintly related to the sounds emerging from electrified instruments.

The sounds were a death-rattle offered as a brutal message for the collective consciousness of the nation. Popular culture presages civilization. Instead of uplifting, art is now an expression of intellectual impoverishment.

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Books by Herbert I. London