"Spengler's" piece about Western grasshoppers and Chinese ants points out one of the sad facts of U.S. economic policy: its willingness to endure long-term trade deficits without allowing those who accumulate the dollars to invest them in U.S. equities. A couple of years ago CNOOC (China National Offshore Oil Corporation) made a bid for Unocal. …
A Show Stopper for Everyone in the Marriage Debate
The sudden "revelation" by the California Governor and Attorney General, who say marriage can be eliminated in the future is only news to those who have not thought the issue out very carefully. Before Christians in California go off and begin a quest for a constitutional amendment, they need to think about a few things. …
Continue reading "A Show Stopper for Everyone in the Marriage Debate"
Why Our Government Is In Trouble
In CIA: The perils of being a good citizen, Dmitry Shlapentokh tells us why we missed the coming of 9/11: It also means that naive folks who look for "truth" and "efficiency" usually do not exist in real life. They are mostly characters from Hollywood movies where the good guys finally triumph over the bad …
Perhaps the Smashmouth Approach Would Have Been Best
The resignation of Alberto Gonzales is sad, but could have been avoided if Gonzales had taken more of a "Clintonesque" approach with the U.S. Attorneys firing. U.S. Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the President and the Attorney General. There's no reason why Gonzales needed to go through a long justification of their termination. The …
Continue reading "Perhaps the Smashmouth Approach Would Have Been Best"
Romney Muddles Abortion Stance
The truth is that Romney's abortion stance was a muddle to start with, and this only makes things worse. In all fairness, however, there are two "conservative" takes on the abortion issue from a legal standpoint. The first is that the issue should have never been federalised to start with. Had Roe v. Wade never …
The Pseudosophisticates That Run the Pseudodemocracy
One thing that has always bothered me about the U.S. is the broad-based ignorance about the real workings of foreign politics and societies. The existence of this was confirmed in no uncertain terms in the a recent Harris Poll that revealed that Americans' ignorance of their own affairs is bad enough, but that their ignorance …
Continue reading "The Pseudosophisticates That Run the Pseudodemocracy"
A Saudi Solution to a Saudi Problem
About three weeks ago, I posted The Saudis and Their Dangerous Game, where I discussed the whole business of a nation that, while propagating very tough Wahhabbi-Salafi Islam, they were then forced to deal with those who took is more seriously than they did. This piece had enough merit to be cited in Slate. Part …
With Bankruptcy Law, Timing is Everything
It's probably worth reminding everyone that, in advance of the current credit meltdown, the U.S. tightened its bankruptcy laws, as noted in the 2005 posting A recipe for social unrest.
Emigration: Not So Extreme After All
Some may have thought the posting Maybe It's Time to Emigrate (concerning Lydia Playfoot and the chastity ring case) was a little extreme. But then again consider the Daily Express informing us that 4,000 people a week trying to leave UK. BRITAIN is facing a mass exodus of people looking to escape the crime and …
Spengler’s West Coast Competition
Those of you who follow "Spengler" on Asia Times Online are familiar with his argument coupling the birthrate with religious belief and the survival of a society. (An interesting correlation of this from an Episcopalian standpoint can be found here.) It looks like he's got some competition from the West Coast in the form of …
Positive Infinity 