Thursday, November 28th, 2013
Back in the early 90s, I felt a need to understand politics far better than I had, and I spent a lot of time and effort on it. Along the way – and partly by accident – I learned a few things that put me off broadcast news ever since. Here are five of those
Sunday, November 24th, 2013
It is almost six o’clock when the two Japanese girls come into the Phuket Yacht Club’s Quarterdeck Restaurant. Thamanoon is standing by a potted palm, his hands elegantly folded around a menu, staring out at the boats...
Friday, November 22nd, 2013
Just before President Kennedy set out for a visit to Ireland, the Library of Congress traced his genealogical roots to the Emerald Isle. The Kennedys of America came from the O’ Cinneide clan, whose most celebrated member,...
Tuesday, November 19th, 2013
Whenever a new and wonderful social program is enacted, its architects see themselves as do-good fairy godmothers, granting wishes to an adoring crowd. But it can take many months, years, or even decades before the actual results...
Friday, November 15th, 2013
All around the world, “smart” women are foregoing children in favor of career, ambition, or personal endeavors. That was the conclusion London School of Economics researcher Satoshi Kanazawa made in his book The Intelligence Paradox, Why the...
Thursday, November 14th, 2013
Dear Congress, it has come to our attention that the voters would like you to put a stop to inexpensive foreign competition from stealing their jobs. With this in mind, we have a wonderful opportunity for you....
Wednesday, November 13th, 2013
I can only say: I’m sorry, America. As a former Federal Reserve official, I was responsible for the Fed’s first plunge into the bond-buying experiment known as quantitative easing. The central bank continues to spin QE as...
Tuesday, November 12th, 2013
Typhoon Yolanda, may very well have been the strongest typhoon to make landfall in the Philippines, at least measured in wind speed. The devastation, and cost to human life are truly tragic, and the people of the...
Monday, November 11th, 2013
Just before announcing his candidacy for the U.S. Senate, Peter Schiff was introduced to a number of Washington-based political analysts. Among them was Stuart Rothenberg, whose comments regarding Schiff’s candidacy reveal the enormous gap that separates the...
Friday, November 8th, 2013
We’ve lost track of all the nutty statements made by Paul Krugman. Besides being a columnist for the New York Times, and a Nobel Prize winner, Krugman is also a fantastic writer. This combination is quite dangerous,...
Thursday, November 7th, 2013
Think about it. Our brains are fabulous tools, the thing that makes us human, but our brains also hold us back, from being all we can be. Sometimes we are fooled, and sometimes we fool ourselves. We...
Wednesday, November 6th, 2013
Every now and then, someone refers to Social Security as an “entitlement” program. This is usually followed by an angry reaction that goes something like this, “I paid into Social Security for 30 years, that’s my money,...
Sunday, November 3rd, 2013
As humans live longer, more animal species are going extinct. This was the conclusion of a University of California study, which wrote that human life expectancy was the determining factor for endangered birds and mammals. Though this...
Friday, November 1st, 2013
According to George Carlin: “When fascism comes to America, it will not be in brown and black shirts. It will not be with jack-boots. It will be Nike sneakers and Smiley shirts. Smiley-smiley. Fascism—Germany lost the Second...
Wednesday, October 30th, 2013
In the 1950’s America was, superficially at least, happy. The war was over, and while Europe and Asia rebuilt themselves, American’s delighted in toasters, Chevys, and Joe Dimaggio. Men and women married. The men went to work,...
