The Politics of Death, Part 2
As I pointed out in a previous diary, the death of a soldier or marine in the service of his country is a powerful political talisman. This week, the irresistible temptation to claim the power of those...
View ArticleThoughts on the Armenian Genocide Resolution
I have been pondering the Armenian genocide resolution. Why, after almost a century, after all the people responsible are surely dead, bring it up at all? Why hang responsibliity on a generation...
View ArticleWill He or Won't He?
Anoodle's recommnended diary entry made me think of quotes from two influential nineteenth century London writers, whose careers overlapped by a few years.To paraphrase the first, there is a specter...
View ArticleBush Packs Civil Rights Commission with Republicans
I'm surprised nobody has picked up on this Boston Globe story: Maneuver gave Bush a conservative rights panelBasically, the story is this: The law says that no more than half the commissioners can be...
View ArticleWhy I'm keeping an open mind on HRC
I believe the Democrats should nominate a presidential candidate who will set his or her stamp on the office for a generation.If I could choose any candidate right now, I'd choose Edwards. I like...
View ArticleAnother Record Year for Climate Change
According to NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Sciences, 2007 is tied for 1998 as the hottest year since 1880.
View ArticleA Ray of Light
Reuters reports that Israel has relaxed its blockade of fuel and other commodities to the Gaza strip, in response to a reduction in rocket attacks, allowing electricity to be restored.
View ArticleStrategic Voting -- A Dilemma for Edwards Supporters?
In 1972, the Nobel Prize of economics went to Kenneth Arrow, who proved that in any multi-way election no method of selecting a single candidate is perfectly democratic. Every method has some kind of...
View ArticleWith Friends like These...
I just wanted to have my say about the whole brouhaha over whether Hillary Clinton's campaign darkened Obama's skin tones in a recent advertisement. Before it blows over.Since Edwards dropped out,...
View ArticleARCW & Postscript: Why I am a Democrat
Yesterday, I posted an analysis of why the tone here has become so vituperative, and it was generously suggested by a respondent that I post it as a diary. However, at the time the recent list was...
View ArticleIt's not important to me if we win.
We desperately need to do something about health care, economic competitiveness, climate change, and energy dependency. If we don't we and our children will live with diminished security, prosperity...
View ArticleReview: Wall-E
Scientists tell us that the neurological mechanisms of memory appear to be same as the mechanisms by which we anticipate, and plan for the future. It's one of those ideas that, once you hear it,...
View ArticleEvergreen
The back to back dustups over the New Yorker cover and Cindy McCain's remarks on the traveling by private plane has me pondering the familiar phrase "youthful idealism". Not so much the phrase itself,...
View ArticleWell, what did you expect?
We all know that leading Republican thinkers believe that government is principally a bad thing, that it has little or no power to create or do good, but tremendous power to destroy.To be fair,...
View ArticleToday, the Word Sommelier Recommends
Yesterday, I used the word "taradiddle" in a diary, which apparently caught some people's attention as a fun and overlooked word.It occurs to me that for many among us, words cannot express the...
View ArticleThe Word Sommelier's Word of the Week
This week has been a good week for word watchers following politics. David Brooks, in an unabashed display of thesaurus abuse, offers up "ineluctable" and "peripatetic"in a single column. The...
View Article"Is Healthy Air Bad?"
No. The answer is no. Let me get that out of the way immediately, because I'm not raising that question, I'm quoting it.For years, various studies and surveys have exposed American ignorance, apathy...
View ArticleThe Word Sommelier's Word of the Week, 8/15/2008
"Prose is a museum where all the old weapons of poetry are kept." -- T.E. HulmeWords often possess latent power, but that power is wasted in careless use. The most potent source of word power is...
View ArticleHumility Builds Character
Or at least I keep reminding myself.I was at a party the other night, and a McCain supporter was holding forth on Iraq."Its about confronting evil," he says, "you should never retreat."I considered...
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