Category: Politics & World Affairs
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This morning on Meet The Press, here's what McCain had to say, and I'm paraphrasing slightly: Trying to get or getting a few Republicans to get a 60-vote majority is not bipartisan. I know bipartisanship. Why don't we start over, sit down, and start with medical-malpractice reform and selling insurance across state lines? He later…
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The right wing Tea Party movement has come up a couple of times in our recent discussions. Narayan reflects on similar popular uprisings elsewhere. In an op-ed piece in the New York Times titled The Tea Party Last Time, Prof. Robert Zaretsky recalls a time in France when populist anger led to the rise of…
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Consider the following circumstances relating to this morning's plane crash in Austin,Texas. a man deliberately flies a plane into an occupied building the man was upset – he burnt his house down before flying out on the suicide mission he left an angry online diatribe detailing various grievances against the US federal government's "injustices" towards citizens he was particularly angry…
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Glad to be back home after an enjoyable but hectic two weeks in New Delhi. The occasion for the winter travel was a family wedding. Most of the time was spent in attending to that - dressing up, eating and meeting with relatives some of whom I hadn't seen in years. On the return journey, I discovered to my…
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Sabios Costumam Mentir … The baby Jesus had to contend with only three on Christmas and they were thoughtful enough to bring birthday presents, wrapped if you please, judging from the fuzzy cell phone snapshots of the day. Two millennia later we have a putz with a package in his pants, and a plague of…
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Even if it was a couple of days late, following much-maligned misspeaking by Janet Napolitano, President Obama's comments on the Undie-Bomber brouhaha were right on the money. Napolitano, interview on CNN, Dec 28: "What we’re focused on was making sure that the air environment remains safe, people are confident when they travel, and one think…
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SuperFreakonomics and Geoengineering: The Benefits of Procrastination: The Economics of Geo-engineering: Although procrastination is often a sign of immaturity, in the context of climate change it may not be. In the typical debate over geo-engineering, proponents argue that it is “the” solution to global warming, while the critics worry about all the things that could…
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Last night Houston elected an openly gay mayor in a closely fought election run-off. And she is a woman. Annise Parker, a long time Houston city official and a lesbian, became the mayor of the country's fourth largest city, winning 53.6% of the votes. I am now hoping that the excellent outgoing mayor of Houston, Bill White,…
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A palpable sense of dismay crept over me as I watched President Obama's speech on Tuesday in front of Westpoint cadets so tired many almost seemed to fall asleep before it got over ( See reason for tiredness here) The facts were plain: A surge of 30,000 troops to be added post-haste, logistics/lives be damned,…
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