A personal reflection on the word “rape”
The eruption over language politics this week at Dkos has led me to reflect on my own use of words.Some conclusions come easily: if a member of my community finds a word (or a particular use of it)...
View ArticleThe Democratic Debate in Non-American Media
Some Sanders supporters have attacked American press coverage of the debate and argued that the corporate media is misrepresenting the outcome because it is in Clinton’s pocket. One way to test that...
View ArticleProxy Poll Wars
My aggravation with polls (and poll diaries) stems from the fact that the polls, in and of themselves, have absolutely nothing to do with policies and issues. All they tell us is who a bunch of people...
View ArticleThe Nordic Model of Social Democracy
A widely reported speech by Danish Prime Minister Lars Rasmussen last week and a Washington Post article by Ana Swanson on Tuesday questioned the nature and viability of democratic socialism in...
View ArticleTurkey Shoots Down Russian Jet: Why, and What Next?
The Turkish shooting down of a Russian SU-24 bomber ramps up international tensions and brings the complexities of the Syrian and ISIS situation into sharp focus.I’m not sure if we’ll ever know if the...
View ArticleAgainst Political Revolution
In the 4th century BCE the Greek poet Pindar wrote that “war is a glorious thing to those who know it not.” He might have said the same of revolution.Bernie Sanders is my distant second choice for...
View ArticleFugitive Slaves and Syrian Refugees
Yesterday I was deeply moved by the images of the first Syrian refugees arriving in Canada.It put me in mind of a lecture I attended a few weeks ago by the fine American historian Keith Griffler, whose...
View ArticleFree Speech, the Language Police, and Flag Proliferation
One day when I was very young I came home from the playground and tried out some choice new words I’d learned. After the exile to my bedroom ended, my mother sternly told me that I was NEVER to use...
View ArticleHilary Clinton on International Affairs
Is Hilary Clinton really a Hawk as her critics like to claim?I take “hawk” to mean someone who prefers military solutions to alternatives in circumstances where the alternatives might reasonably be...
View ArticleSanders support disproportionately concentrated in three Iowa counties
An article this morning in the Des Moines Register may give Sanders supporters cause for concern. As Anne Selzer points out, twenty-seven percent of his Iowa supporters are concentrated in just three...
View ArticleSanders and his 170 “Experts”– A Closer Look
The Sanders campaign is using a letter from “170 economists and financial experts” to good political effect. Amongst the Twitterati (and a few particularly credulous Kossacks) this letter has morphed...
View ArticleIowa Press-Citizen Endorses Clinton
The Iowa City Press-Citizen has endorsed Hillary Clinton.Iowa City is located in Johnson County and is home of the University of Iowa. It is sometimes called the “Peoples’ Republic of Johnston County,”...
View Article