I've been reading Steven Pinker's - yes, still. It's in a pile of about five non-fiction books and a few magazines that I try to read a bit of every day - and yesterday it was all about why we care for others. Not from a moral point of view, but from an evolutionary point of view. What's in it for us? Read more about Survival of the Kindest
Ya know something? I am sick and tired of war. It seems that for the past century or more we have had nothing but war. War on this, war on that. It's been a long, ugly, stressful and, since WWII, mostly fruitless enterprise. Oh, people say we "won" the Cold War, but I'm not convinced we actually won anything. Mostly everyone, quite sensibly, got really sick and tired of the whole damned thing.
Nobody won Korea or Vietnam. And claims that we "won" Iraq or Afghanistan - well, see above for Cold War. Read more about No More War
Tax the Rich! I can see it now. Walmart clothed and shod Black Friday crowds brandishing torches and pitchforks as a top-hatted plutocrat, hundred dollar bills fluttering from his trouser pockets, clambers up the windmill, while flames leap higher and higher and Don Quixote couches his lance - oh, I'm getting all carried away again.
Sorry about that.
My point is that "Tax the Rich" has a threatening, punitive tone. "Make them pay" is a phrase that is most often followed by "for their crimes." As if being rich were a crime in itself. Read more about Tax the Rich!
The election went (except for one small nitpick) my way.
And that's all I have to say about politics today, folks. Time to eat. Read more about Thank Gods!
A couple of days ago, a participant from the "other side of the aisle" posted in a - let's call it "split level" instead of "bi-partisan" - online discussion group. I asked permission to use it here, but have not heard back from him. Therefore, I will paraphrase, and interject a few of my replies. He is in bold. I am in italics. Read more about Apres' le Deluge
Amid the euphoria of Tuesday night's election results, there was one blue note. The woman I had enthusiastically supported for an open seat in our state legislature was defeated. Results of the Washington vote came in around the same time as Ohio's, so in the midst of jumping up and down in frabjous joy, our little table became seriously subdued as the results for District 46, Legislative Position 2 rolled by on the screen. Read more about Blue Note
The last article in the December, 1911 issue of The National Geographic Magazine is a piece written by William Howard Taft, then President of the United States. It concerned The Arbitration Treaties, treaties that would bind the United States to arbitration with their co-signers instead of proceeding directly to war. Read more about Mr. Republican Pere
Media memes are all the rage these days. We see them everywhere. Paul Ryan pumping iron. Hillary Clinton on a plane. Invisible Obama. Romney and the 47%.
But they're nothing new. The two I remember best are Carter's sweaters and Reagan's Great Communicator. The latter is still remembered as a reality. There exist books and memoirs, astute political essays, that give him the title, The Great Communicator. Read more about The Great Communicator - NOT!
Is there anything more suitable than the last couple of weeks of October and the first week of November for the final battles of the election season?
Glorious Indian Summer (is it still okay to say that?) alive with bright promises under cerulean blue skies, crispy morning air, and the earthy odor of fresh pumpkin rising from the first cut for the Jack-o-Lantern. The year never looks so promising as when it's drawing to a close. Read more about Election Weather
In advance of the debate tonight, I would like to make some corrections to Obama's debate responses from last Thursday. Just gonna pretend that he's in my writers' group, and do a little critique.
Jim Lehrer asked: What are the major differences between the two of you about how you would go about creating new jobs?
Cut the 1st and 3rd paragraphs entirely, and don't start sentences with "I think."
So: