It decided the Mayor's race: An appellate court has affirmed a Palm Beach County Circuit Court judge’s decision upholding the result of the town’s February 2009 mayoral election. Mayor Jack McDonald defeated challenger Gerry Goldsmith by a single vote in a Feb. 21 recount of a Feb. 17 runoff between the two. In an opinion …
Stupak Calls It Quits
Not a moment too soon either: Democratic Rep. Bart Stupak, targeted for defeat by Tea Party activists for his crucial role in securing House approval of the health care overhaul, said today he would retire from Congress this year. The nine-term congressman told the Associated Press he could have won re-election and insisted he wasn't …
British democracy is no better than Uzbekistan's. Is the US's?
That's the opinion of former British diplomat (to Uzbekistan) Craig Murray: So, there we have British elections today: an unfair electoral system, censorship of candidates' electoral addresses, little real political choice for voters, widespread postal ballot-rigging and elections administered by partisan council officials in a corrupt political climate. Some of the "on the ground issues" …
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Brits Place Their Bets on a General Election
As we in the US slog through another tedious (but very important) election cycle, the British accelerate the process with Gordon Brown calling an election on 6 May 2010. There's a lot to say about this but let's start with the fun observation. The Times has a way cool interactive election chart which is a …
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Easter Greetings, Russian (and Technical) Style
Over the years, I've come to associate Easter with the Russians. It's an odd thing; it started with the discovery of the traditional Russian Easter greeting (which I duly exchanged with a Muscovite friend this weekend.) That was accentuated by the discovery of Christianity's comeback during the "Great Patriotic War" (Visit to Zagorsk) and the …
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Boorishly Provincial: Penalising Capital Flow In and Out of the U.S.
More worried about tax cheats than prosperity: Capital, and all of its blessings, flows to where it is treated best. The recently passed Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act of 2010 (the "HIRE" Act) imposes new obstacles to the flow of capital into and out of the U.S. While ostensibly limited to "reporting" requirements to …
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Latin America, the Fertile Field, but for Whom? and Richard Dawkins Defends Christianity
It's been difficult to "do Holy Week" on this blog because of events, and Ruth Gledhill's blog entry only makes it harder. First, we have this, a part of the running fiasco of the Roman Catholic paedophile scandal: Meanwhile, the Sacramento Bee has published a post with horrific details of a case surfacing in Brazil. …
Nicholas Kristof Discovers Sun Tzu
It's a story I've brought up on this blog (and elsewhere) but Kristof finally puts it in front of the "right" people: Some 2,400 years ago, a Chinese king invited a legendary military strategist named Sun Tzu to give a demonstration in military training — using women from the palace. Sun Tzu agreed, organizing 180 …
Blast From the Past for Maundy Thursday: Reflections on an Orthodox View of the Eucharist
For this Maundy Thursday, I'm going back to the obvious topic (obvious to me, at least): the institution of the Eucharist, which I went on at length about in 2008 with this series. You can access it as follows: Part I Part II Part III Part IV Those of you who are advocates of the …
European Style Government Deserves European Style Offshore Oil Policy
If the Administration is serious about this, that's what it amounts to: The Obama administration is expected to announce by Wednesday its updated plan for oil and natural gas drilling in U.S. waters, including whether to allow exploration for the first time along the U.S. East Coast. The plan could pave the way for a …
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Positive Infinity 