Gore Vidal who died a couple months ago wrote a memoir  back in 1995 titled Palimpsest. No, I didn't read it. I wasn't that interested at the time and I had my hands full running a cafeteria. But I took notice for two reasons. First the name – Palimpsest was a new word for me. It refers to one…

This is why poor people need "safety nets" which rich people find unnecessary. 

Yes. I still love my Twitter feed. Since learning they could be embedded, this morning I an experimenting with a blog post of Twitter messages. ►Somebody dropped the ball.  President Obama hasn't updated his Myspace page since announcing his reelection campaign in early April. myspace.com/barackobama — Andrew Kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) September 9, 2012 //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Thanks to Steve Hynd, my former blog host, the video below provides a good place to start for anyone seeking to understand better the backstory and other angles to the conflict in Syria. It is being called a civil war but that simple description is misleading. There are many players on the field, most of…

Clear-sighted list of China's economic, political and social problems by thinker Deng Yuwen, translated @thechinastory thechinastory.org/2012/09/the-te… — Ian Johnson (@iandenisjohnson) September 8, 2012 //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js I just love my Twitter feed. This is a lengthy article which takes an excruciatingly long time to get to the point, so I will cut to the chase. Grave Problem…

The post title is somewhat misleading for two reasons. First, although I have been aware of Bahrain's activists since early 2011 and keep up with what's happening there from a couple of Twitter feeds, I have not posted or reported simply because it seems to be a protracted stalemate, with non-violent activists pushing the civil…

Note: This is a post I put together the morning after the theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado. I know it's not timely at the moment, but it's like that apocryphal story about Picasso who had painted a picture of Gertrude Stein.  It was at this time that he was beginning his cubist experiments and his interest…

Whatever the outcome, I sense that this year's election cycle is a study in historic milestones. First, I have never before heard and read so much about credibility and fact-checking on the part of investigative journalists, pundits and others no longer able to hide behind the fig leaf of "some would say…" or "critics, on…

Psychology's Quest for Scientific Respectability ByNorman Costa Ph.D.(Note: This article was originally published in two-parts in January and February of 2012 under the titles "Psychological Science: Mathematical Argument and the Quest for Scientific Respectability – Part 1 and 2." The reason for combining the two was so thatit could be submitted for the 3QuarksDaily prize…

by Omar Ali First published at http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2012/05/saadia-toor-and-the-state-of-islam.html#more Saadia Toor is an assistant professor of sociology and social work at the City University of New York and recently published a book about Pakistan titled The State of Islam: Culture and Cold War politics in Pakistan. She states that the book grew out of her PhD thesis (a doctoral…

First posted on 3quarksdaily.com Punditry without predictions is like a fish without a bicycle and who would ever want that? But if one does make predictions, one’s predictions can be checked. That, perhaps, is why no paid pundit makes too many predictions. But, with nothing at stake, I will not only make predictions, I will…

Gandhi's non-violent struggle against the British Empire takes the center stage in most popular narratives of the Indian independence movement, particularly outside India. But there was a parallel and contemporaneous movement espousing a violent overthrow of the colonial overlords by another Indian leader with substantial influence within the political arena of India's struggle for freedom. Subhas Chandra Bose the fiery leader of…

Pakistan’s greatest cricketing hero and second most successful philanthropist entered politics 15 years ago, promising a progressive, Islamic, modern, corruption-free Pakistan. His position as the most successful captain in Pakistan’s cricket history, the founder of Pakistan’s finest cancer hospital (providing free modern cancer care to thousands) provided him instant cachet, but for a long time…