I’ve been thinking lately of this old nursery rhyme, and its idea that there can be complex and far-reaching negative repercussions from lack of timely remedies that would really have been quite simple: For want of a nail the shoe … Continue reading →
I was awakened today as usual by my clock radio, which happened to be set on a talk show. Blah, blah, blah about the financial crisis, with some sort of Wall Street “expert” saying that this happened because of a … Continue reading →
There’s a general rule of political debates: people tend to think their preferred candidate won. A debater has to be really dreadful for his/her own supporters to concede he/she made a bad showing. When you think about it, this should … Continue reading →
What a guy. The news that actor Paul Newman has died at 83 was not unexpected, since his cancer had been announced a while back. But it’s an occasion—especially for us females of a certain age—to sigh and remember just … Continue reading →
Remember that moment in the movie “Annie Hall” when Woody Allen gets Marshall McLuhan to come out and reprimand a blowhard Allen overhears in a movie line? Here it is (it’s all funny, but the relevant part starts at 1:47): … Continue reading →
I can’t pretend to be unbiased here; I’m for McCain. But as I watched the debate I tried my very best to be objective about the candidates’ performances, because a debate is first and foremost theater. Part of the time … Continue reading →
Yesterday I wrote about whether McCain and Obama were playing politics in their responses to the financial crisis and the scheduling of the first debate. My answer was that of course they were, but that there is principle and personality … Continue reading →
I was sent the following photo with a request that I offer an explanation of this riveting ballet tableau: I would be only too happy to oblige.
Continue reading →…is power, quoth Henry Kissinger. An example of the truth of that principle is this photo of Henry K. and Sarah P. hugging (or is it kissing? Is Henry Kissinger kissing her?) last Tuesday: Mighty suspicious, I think: Compared to … Continue reading →
…”years of irresponsible failure to regulate have led us” to this crisis. He fails to add the little detail that the “irresponsible failure to regulate” was his own, as Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, when he was the … Continue reading →
Are Obama and McCain playing politics right now? Of course they are; is the Pope Catholic? What’s far more interesting to me is how they’re playing, and what this reveals about their natures.
Continue reading →Bush’s speech last night was a good attempt to explain in relatively simple terms how we got here and what Bush thinks should be done. I’ve started to visualize the whole meltdown this way:
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