It could have been worse I’m fortunate (it seems) in having had a crappy memory for my personal history all my life. That way I avoid the disappointment that comes with confidently (a) remembering things that never happened or (b) misremembering things that did. And I don’t need to get depressed about more often forgetting [...]
Categories: Aging
Tagged: memory, misremembering
Charles Krauthammer’s analysis of the “Left’s” allegedly ineffectual defenses of its positions is worth reading ─ so as to convincingly respond A good mind on the other side is always a friend to the development of one’s position. Mr. Krauthammer has a gift for getting to the point regarding issues that are important to many [...]
Categories: Uncategorized
Nature reports one such example Nature, a prestigious scientific journal, editorialized yesterday: In the dark story of Marc Hauser, the evolutionary psychologist who was last week revealed to have committed scientific misconduct, there is perhaps one bright light: the courage of the young researchers who alerted the university to their concerns over how the professor [...]
Categories: Culture,Ethics,Science
Tagged: Collateral Damage, courage, evolutionary psychologist, Harvard, Marc Hauser, postdocs, whistle-blowers
Once a dictatorship is overthrown, heterogeneous people(s) cannot survive as a nation in the face of internal and external opponents to their success For years, the United States has denied the mistake it made in preemptively attacking Iraq. Today, shortly after most American combat troops left Iraq, the long-term price for that mistake is surfacing. [...]
Categories: Ethics
Tagged: Anthony Shadid, Coordinated Attacks Strike 13 Towns and Cities in Iraq, Iran, regional stability, terrorist domination
Saddened by the death of one whose mind lighted life I learned by happenstance today that Professor Stephen Schneider of Stanford died on 19 July. He was a person who enlivened my life with his passion for science, climate, and the communication of scientific matters to non-scientists. You can read more about him here (Stanford), [...]
Categories: Climate,Culture,Science
Tagged: climate, lowest-common-denominator, Stephen Schneider
Untruths deny us foundation for engaging with what is real Ignoring or concealing facts makes us effectively insane. An example of semi-psychotic evasion and policy deception on Meet the Press Yesterday, NBC’s “Meet the Press” provided a good example of determined political deception that undermines democracy. Interviewee Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell insisted on ignoring [...]
Categories: Economy
Tagged: David Gregory, deficit, Meet the Press, Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader, tax cuts
Embracing self-destructive behavior gets us nowhere, no matter what race or culture we are Bob Herbert, being African American, can write what is true, without immediately being silenced, ridiculed, or defamed by the ever-present monitors of American Political Correctness. Extracts from Mr. Herbert’s essay include: Parental neglect, racial discrimination and an orgy of self-destructive behavior [...]
Categories: Culture,Education,Ethics
Tagged: African-Americans, Bob Herbert, enslavement, Native Americans, Oklahoma, oppression, political correctness, Too Long Ignored
Paul Krugman hammered American deficit-hawks yesterday for their hypocritical evasions of observable fact (I listen to Paul Krugman, even though I’m significantly less Keynesian than he is, because his intelligence trumps that of most of his opponents. It is a foolish person who ignores thoughtful argument.) Yesterday, Dr. Krugman wrote: So how do austerians deal [...]
Categories: Economy
Tagged: Appeasing the Gods, austerians, bond market, deficit hawks, investors, Keynesian, Paul Krugman, trickle down economics
Rather than compromise just enough to get important things done, the Senate decided (again) to drop the ball and watch the planet dance with the prospect of blowing up That once august Senate’s current clown show could not find a fluorescent-yellow home-delivered newspaper lying on a driveway in full sunlight with an orange circle drawn [...]
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: David S. Broder, Mary Beth Sheridan, Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader, Senator Kyl, START, START expiration ends U.S. inspection of Russsian nuclear bases, Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, Wanted a few stand-up candidates
Thomas Friedman nailed what we need to do Columnist Friedman yesterday presented a synopsis of what the United States needs to do to confront its loss of jobs-retaining momentum in an economic world. The elements are these: We’ve just ended more than a decade of debt-fueled growth during which we borrowed money from China to [...]
Categories: Economy
Tagged: jobs, Really Unusually Certain, structural change, Thomas L. Friedman