Category Archives: History

Heresies

About one week ago I wrote a blog entry suggesting that Democracy and Capitalism were inherently incompatible. Thanks to some commenters, it soon become clear to me that the post was dangerously heretical and that I could end up getting … Continue reading

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Rising U.S. Healthcare Costs: Figure It Out!

In the United States we think of healthcare as a business proposition. We call it “the healthcare industry”. Is profit and loss the most useful approach to caring for people’s well being?
Here’s a puzzle. See if you can put the pieces … Continue reading

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A Perfect Storm?

NYT, Jan. 3, 2012: Iran Warns the United States Over Aircraft Carrier
“Iran’s military sharpened its tone toward the United States on Tuesday, bluntly warning an American aircraft carrier that left the Persian Gulf through the strategic Strait of Hormuz last week … Continue reading

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Here’s the smell of blood, still

December 22, 2011, NYT, BAGHDAD — A wave of coordinated explosions ripped across Baghdad early on Thursday, killing at least 63 people, wounding more than 180 and jolting a country already unsettled by a deepening political crisis and the absence … Continue reading

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A Fine Mess We’ve Gotten Ourselves Into

It’s the “holiday season”; a time when we hunker down around the fire and do a lot of story telling with each other. All over the world people are recounting the Christmas story of the birth of the baby Jesus … Continue reading

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A Sailor’s Imagination

I am imagining a great sailing ship named the SS Profit. She is the instrument of ambitious commerce, transporting great volumes of cargo bought in some port at the lowest price possible and sold in another as high as possible. … Continue reading

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It don’t mean thing if it ain’t got that swing

FWIW — The following riff was prompted by Barbara King’s post on NPR’s 13.7 blog, “Homo Narrans: Humans As Story-Tellers (And Listeners)“, in which the nature of memory came up.
In a comment, Barbara wrote, “…But does every story originate solely … Continue reading

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Things Go Wrong

NYT, Dec. 7, 2011 –  Japan Split on Hope for Vast Radiation Cleanup
In the United States, the average person gets six millisieverts of radiation a year. Around the Fukushima plant, officials evacuated areas where people would have gotten an estimated … Continue reading

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Recipe: How to Succeed at Capitalism

NYT: JOHANNESBURG — An advocacy organization that helped to establish an international certification program to prevent the sale of so-called blood diamonds withdrew from the coalition on Monday, saying the effort was no longer effective.
Global Witness, is the first advocacy … Continue reading

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Egypt Goes Islamist

NYT, December 1, 2011: CAIRO — Islamists claimed a decisive victory on Wednesday as early election results put them on track to win a dominant majority in Egypt’s first Parliament since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak…But a big surprise was … Continue reading

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Insurgency American Style

James Fallows at the Atlantic magazine is a bit outraged by the disproportionate aggression by police against non-violent UC Davis demonstrators. He suggests the we need to train our police to use more appropriate methods.
It seems to me that war is … Continue reading

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SS Zombie

I have commented recently on this blog that zombieism is responsible for the tragic unraveling of Western society. As students of zombieism know, among the many disgusting characteristics of zombies, one looms largest—their monomaniacal single-mindedness. Once zombies fix themselves on … Continue reading

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Heaps and Heroes

I find it disturbing that the long anticipated passing from the ravages of pancreatic cancer of Steve Jobs, Apple Computer’s headman, has occasioned so much rhapsodic eulogizing. The majority opinion seems to be that this man’s accomplishments as a marketing … Continue reading

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The Shame of 9/11

I would like to tip my hat to NYT columnist Paul Krugman. He is the only mainstream commentator with the courage to tell it like it is.
“The memory of 9/11 has been irrevocably poisoned; it has become an occasion … Continue reading

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The Arab Spring at Harvest Time

In his essay “If the Arab Spring Turns Ugly” (Sunday Review, NTY), Vali Nasr,  professor at Tufts University and author of “The Shia Revival: How Conflicts Within Islam Will Shape the Future”, offers up an informed view of the so-called … Continue reading

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