On September 10, CBS Late Late Show host Craig Ferguson, a Scotland-born, recently naturalized American citizen, delivered an impassioned rant about the importance of voting. Airing immediately after Obama appeared on Letterman’s show, Ferguson’s screed was trenchant, funny, and exactly right. “If you don’t vote, you’re a moron!” At the end of this month, I’m [...]
Category Archives: Politics
Vetting the Candidates
September 6, 2008 – 12:27 am
“Has she been thoroughly vetted?” they ask. It’s an apt question. But do they know what the word actually means?
Science in the Muslim World
August 9, 2008 – 11:44 am
Egypt’s Library of Alexandria In a guest editorial published in the 8/8/08 issue of Science, the magazine of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Director of Egypt’s Library of Alexandria, Dr. Ismail Serageldin, states: “Throughout the Muslim world we are witnessing an increasingly intolerant social milieu that is driven by self-appointed guardians [...]
Solar Breakthrough at MIT? A Lesson for Politicians
August 3, 2008 – 12:47 am
On July 31, researchers at MIT announced a “revolutionary leap that could transform solar power from a marginal, boutique alternative into a mainstream energy source. Requiring nothing but abundant, non-toxic natural materials, this discovery could unlock the most potent, carbon-free energy source of all: the sun.” Funded in part by a $10 million grant from [...]
Media Bias? How About Facts, Not Opinion?
July 29, 2008 – 9:38 am
There is now hard data for those on both sides of the media’s “liberal bias” controversy. George Mason University’s Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA) released the results of a study on July 28 showing that “Barack Obama is getting more negative coverage than John McCain on TV network evening news shows, reversing Obama’s [...]
CBS Manipulates the News
July 24, 2008 – 5:01 pm
One of the most important lessons I learned at college did not come in a classroom. In the newsroom of The Harvard Crimson, I was taught that journalism demanded impartiality and a near-religious adherence to accuracy and truth. We put out the college paper six days a week, and every published story was pasted into [...]
Kenya in Willits
July 22, 2008 – 1:08 pm
Mendocino County Fires In Mendocino County recently, on a day when the smoke from the hundreds of still-burning forest fires was relatively tolerable, I walked through a nearly deserted city park in Willits with my son and my brother and noticed two black men lunching at a distant picnic table. From previous conversations with my [...]
Naples: Local Wisdom (Part 2)
June 20, 2008 – 11:05 am
More of my trip south from Naples Airport, during which my driver, a 40-ish local with no pretensions about his hometown, his country, or his government, continued his expatiation on his hometown, his country, and his government. On Cultural History: Italy has been conquered by others many times. For 200 years (I checked: 1504-1707 it [...]
Naples: Local Wisdom (Part 1)
June 19, 2008 – 9:20 pm
A few minutes after leaving Naples Airport, my driver, a 40-ish local with no pretensions about his hometown, his country, or his government, began a 46-km exegesis on life in the south of Italy. – - – - -
Democracy(?) in Dallas
June 7, 2008 – 8:58 pm
The Trinity Parkway project in Dallas includes some urban upgrades to the Trinity River area and a 10-mile toll road that bypasses the downtown area. It was approved by 53% of Dallas voters in a November 2007 election. Democracy in action. Last month, the City Council, with further democratic intent, asked the public to vote [...]
