How things work in a former Communist nation
By Joe Cimino

The University of South Florida College of Engineering is known for its foreign professors some more infamous than others (remember Sami Al-Arian?). One constant throughout the program in my day was the faction of Russian math professors who would enthusiastically begin every semester with the hopes of teaching us American students advanced math, only to find that they needed to water down the curriculum after the first exam, or face the administrative consequences of failing an entire class. We always blamed it on how difficult it was to understand their accent or teaching style. The truth is that we just didn’t get it. (more…)

With gluttonous non-smokers pushing U.S. healthcare costs higher, it may be time to re-think banning smoking in restaurants

By Edwina Zaiser

Weight Watchers says,”Diets don’t work.” So what does?

Smoking.

Fashion models, college students and the French all know that you can subsist on coffee and cigarettes and stay a svelte size two. Remember the delightfully catty book French Women Don’t Get Fat, in which the author attributes the enviable Gallic slimness to high quality fresh foods lacking preservatives? (more…)

Lack of common sense about household finance bodes ill for nation’s fiscal future

By Chris Ingram

If Americans have ever wondered why our country is in such a fiscal and financial mess, all they need do is look in the mirror.

Earlier this year, Bankrate.com released a survey showing that 37 percent of American homeowners had absolutely no idea what type of mortgage they had on their home. That is, they didn’t know if it was a 30-year fixed, a 5-year ARM, or what interest rate the loan carried.

Unbelievable!

And unfortunate. (more…)

Better check what a gallon of gas costs next time you have a press conference

By M. Dylan Mathieu

As a trainer who often meets with executives just ahead of an engagement they’ve scheduled with the media, a personal parlor game I’ve long toyed with and tried to hone involved trying to decipher what exact useful information goes into the briefing books of leaders. (more…)

War and presidential politics make for dangerous mix

By Betty Kilbride

On February 8, 1968, in one of his first actions to break from President Johnson and his stance on the Vietnam War, then-Sen. Robert Kennedy gave his “unwinnable war” speech. This Washington-based writer sees troubling parallels to the campaign of 2008.

When I hear people say, “I support the troops, but not the war,” my immediate response is, “I support the war, not the troops.”

As I see that perplexed look come over their face, I immediately respond, “That sounded stupid, didn’t it?” Their response is always the same: “Yes it did.” To which I reply, “Sounded just as stupid as what you just said.” (more…)

(An edited version of this article appeared in the Saturday, March 13, 2004 edition of the Washington Times, A Section commentary pages.)

By Chris Ingram

Recently I had the opportunity to visit Sudan on behalf of the International Republican Institute and the U.S. Department of State. I was asked to join a team visiting the country in order to help train leaders of the emerging democracy with their party governance and communications.

The people of Sudan have endured decades of civil war between various regimes in the North and those seeking liberty both in the South and in the western and eastern peripheries. Today, the hope for peace between the two main warring factions is closer than ever. (more…)