Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
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" …
Continue reading "British democracy is no better than Uzbekistan's. Is the US's?"
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 …
Continue reading "Brits Place Their Bets on a General Election"
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 …
Continue reading "Easter Greetings, Russian (and Technical) Style"
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 …
Continue reading "Boorishly Provincial: Penalising Capital Flow In and Out of the U.S."
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. …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Continue reading "European Style Government Deserves European Style Offshore Oil Policy"
Some people just haven't figured this out: President Barack Obama, after a year of fitfully searching for compromise, is taking a more aggressive tack with his Republican adversaries, hoping to energize Democratic voters and possibly muscle in some Republican support in Congress. On Thursday, the president challenged Republicans who planned to campaign on repealing his …
Continue reading "The Only Thing Obama Runs Against is Reality"
Sure sounds that way, as the U.S. House Third District (TN) Republican candidate's campaign manager lashes out against Mike Huckabee's endorsement of her opponent: "Given Huckabee’s history of denouncing candidates for office that contribute large sums of money to their campaigns in order to win elections, it is curious that he would choose to support …
Continue reading "Robin Smith and the Politics of Resentment"
Positive Infinity 