Brian Till from Creators Syndicate

Woes of a Digital Generation for 05/02/2008

Fri, 02 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

I'm a member of the first digital generation, and only now -- with many of us moving into our mid-20s -- are we learning some of the painful ramifications of growing up digital. In early 2006, a number of papers ran stories about employers quietly checking the Facebook profiles and MySpace pages of job applicants. The calls to "clean up your digital lives" came down in droves from colleg ...

Updated: Fri May 02, 2008

Salam Fayyad and Me for 05/03/2008

Sat, 03 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

When I sat down with newly appointed Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad earlier this year, I couldn't help but imagine him working at Brooks Brothers: cufflinks, an elegant silk tie and a worn face that moved reluctantly, letting out only the most necessary words. He was familiar with a frosty demeanor -- I would have sworn that he or a twin had measured me for a suit the week before.

The ...

Updated: Sat May 03, 2008

Graduating to Starbucks for 05/04/2008

Sun, 04 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Last week, author Barbara Ehrenreich gave a chilling address to Haverford College's class of 2007. She told the graduates, "At the moment you accept your diploma today, you will have an average debt of $20,000 and no health insurance. You may be feeling desperate enough to take whatever comes along. Some of you will get caged in cubicles until you're ejected by the next wave of layoffs." ...

Updated: Sun May 04, 2008

My Entourage Generation for 05/05/2008

Mon, 05 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

If you're not a college student or an HBO addict, you've probably never sat down to watch an episode of "Entourage." You should, especially if you're interested in understanding the 20-something American male. The young men of Generation Y watch HBO's semi-hit series as religiously as their mothers watch Oprah.

"Entourage" centers on four friends from Queens as they go from ...

Updated: Mon May 05, 2008

The Middle East: Deciding Whether To Fall for Obama for 06/11/2008

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

DAMASCUS, Syria — The fallout from Barack Obama's speech last week before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee is still reverberating here in the Middle East. Indeed, it should be no surprise that the whole world is watching this presidential election — often more closely than any campaign within local borders — with CNN International and the Internet bringing even see ...

Updated: Wed Jun 11, 2008

Obama's Achilles: The Successful Surge for 06/18/2008

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

DAMASCUS, Syria — It's difficult to stay composed listening to the stories of the million-plus Iraqi refugees who now live here. A teary-eyed father explains to me how his teenage son was nearly kidnapped from a school bus in Baghdad. The son's best friend was seized instead and never seen again. A young filmmaker smokes furiously while arranging a flight to Baghdad to find his missing mo ...

Updated: Wed Jun 18, 2008

Building a Generation of Journey(wo)men for 06/25/2008

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

In the next few weeks, college students studying abroad this fall will start packing bags and shipping out. Vaccinations, guidebooks, visas and nervous excitement most likely dominate their days. But their ranks are thin: Fewer than a quarter-million students will likely go abroad this year, less than half of the number of foreign students the U.S. will receive.

Part of the problem rests ...

Updated: Wed Jun 25, 2008

The Detainee Time Bomb for 07/02/2008

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The clock is ticking on the Bush years; instead of eyeing Iran, the president should be taking a look south, to Cuba, to the one place he can make strides towards making America safer and restoring her prestige abroad.

This week a D.C. federal court decision — the first challenge of detainee habeas corpus rights since the Supreme Court's Boumediene v. Bush ruled to allow such cases ...

Updated: Wed Jul 02, 2008