Monthly Archives: October 2009

American exceptionalism

Note: This appeared as the weekend op-ed in my paper. Last April President Obama made some remarks about the idea of American exceptionalism, “I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and … Continue reading

Posted in Politics, Social Science & History | 1 Comment

Another Ah-ha! moment

In my review of Thomas Sowell’s book, “A Conflict of Visions” I described reading it as one of the great Ah-ha! moments in my life. A commenter in Peru agreed, “I have read in 1996 the Spanish translation of the … Continue reading

Posted in Politics | Leave a comment

Take the jab!

I’m sitting at home writing this, with a temperature of 101 and diffuse aches throughout my body. I’m cold, in spite of layers of thermal underwear. My head feels like it’s stuffed with cotton wool and my throat feels like … Continue reading

Posted in Humor/satire | Leave a comment

When deadly force is a duty

Dumb moments in journalism If you go here you’ll find a Dutch website* with a video of British press interview with a raghead (observe the gutra on said head) about the Dutch politician Geert Wilders, speaking in a good solid … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Sue the bastards Rushbo!

How could you say these vile things Rush Limbaugh? “You know who deserves a posthumous Medal of Honor? James Earl Ray. We miss you, James. Godspeed.” “I mean, let’s face it, we didn’t have slavery in this country for over … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

All eyes on the prize

Note: A slightly different version of this was the weekend op-ed in my newspaper. “The whole of my remaining realizable estate shall be dealt with in the following way: the capital, invested in safe securities by my executors, shall constitute … Continue reading

Posted in Politics | 4 Comments

How about a “public option” for newspapers?

Note: This is a rare, in fact unique example of an op-ed that I was asked to hold. Not spiked, just asked to hold and rework if I liked. I was not offended. In fact, I was delighted when I … Continue reading

Posted in Op-eds | 1 Comment

Reworked Afghanistan post for an op-ed

Note: Readers will recognize this op-ed I wrote for my newspaper as a reworking of an earlier blog post. I’m posting it because, 1) I post almost all of my published op-eds as a way of filing them in a … Continue reading

Posted in Op-eds | 3 Comments

Gilded ghettos

I’d like to draw your attention to this message from my friend Robert Bidinotto, which he posted on his facebook page. It deserves wider distribution than his mailing list, and his web site is hors de combat after the hosting … Continue reading

Posted in On Thinking, Philosophy, Politics | 3 Comments

Defending that putz Woody Allen

Roman Polanski got himself arrested and is facing extradtion to the U.S. to face the music after 32 years on the lam, living the life of a hunted fugitive, hiding in posh parties and movie premiers in European capitols. Hollywood … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments