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LATEST ARTICLES ( 1395 )

• Boston

  When President Obama said Americans are standing with Boston, I was reminded that we stood in solidarity with Boston before – before, indeed, there actually... Read more

  Posted on 17 April 2013 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Free Market Economics and eBay

  

  I have criticized critics of capitalism and market economics. Mostly, what they denounce is either a straw-man caricature, or else a very small part of a very... Read more

  Posted on 13 April 2013 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Margaret Thatcher: The Lady’s Not for Turning

  

  Margaret Thatcher was a great hero. The model of a politician who was in it not to be something but to do something. And boy, what she did.Margaret Roberts,... Read more

  Posted on 08 April 2013 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• “Ask” — A Very Personal Story

  

  There’s a radio show called “The Moth” where people get up and tell stories, often highly personal and self-revelatory. I’ve wondered what story I might tell.... Read more

  Posted on 03 April 2013 LOVE & SEX, SEXUALITY

• Even in Africa

  

  When William Easterly reviewed Matt Ridley’s The Rational Optimist, he called “disturbing” Ridley’s use of the word “even” regarding Africa, as in saying... Read more

  Posted on 29 March 2013 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• New Pope Frankie

  

  So, 520 years after the discovery of the New World, the Catholic Church finally gets around to choosing a Western hemisphere pope. Read more

  Posted on 24 March 2013 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• My New Book – Angels and Pinheads

  

  My new book is Angels and Pinheads: A Guide to Which is Which and What’s What. In 226 pages it packs 146 entertaining and provocative essays, commentaries,... Read more

  Posted on 21 March 2013 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Why I Am an Optimist

  

  You know the indictment of humanity: killing and raping each other and the planet. We’re not angels. Indeed, we are animals, and some pessimists actually compar... Read more

  Posted on 17 March 2013 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Trust, Honesty, and China

  

  So, China is going to eat our economic lunch and dominate the globe? True enough, China has much going for it, mainly hugeness, but also what’s really the... Read more

  Posted on 12 March 2013 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• No Fan of “A Fan’s Notes”

  

  A Fan’s Notes is Frederick Exley’s famous 1968 “novel.” I finally read it because it keeps appearing atop all those “best books” lists. I don’t see why.It’s a... Read more

  Posted on 06 March 2013 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Imagine

  

  I propose that the United States Constitution be amended to add the following provision:“It shall be the duty of every citizen to develop the scientific... Read more

  Posted on 03 March 2013 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• The Sequester: Where the Buck Stops

  

  Speaking of reality (or not), the President is going around telling horror stories about the “sequester’s” March 1 budget cuts, and blaming Republicans because... Read more

  Posted on 27 February 2013 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• An Ideology of Reality

  

  I’ve done many blog posts, books and articles, and otherwise engaged in public discourse, upon a wide range of topics. So I ask myself if there’s a unifying... Read more

  Posted on 22 February 2013 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• State of the Union: US: Sweden

  

  So the President gets up there and unveils a host of big new government programs. Then he says they won’t add a dime to the deficit. Read more

  Posted on 16 February 2013 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• What is WRONG with Muslims?

  

  Optimists like me (and Steven Pinker) see a world in which violence is being progressively restrained. Naysayers point to a persistence of violent conflict in... Read more

  Posted on 09 February 2013 DEBATE, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• A Change of Mind on Gay Marriage

  

  I have found, in political idea wars, that deeply invested viewpoints are pretty impervious to changing. I’ve previously discussed, for example, confirmation... Read more

  Posted on 03 February 2013 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• How To Solve All Societal Problems

  

  The theme of Rebecca Costa’s 2010 book The Watchman’s Rattle* is that the complexity of modern life is itself the key to the complex problems we face. Read more

  Posted on 28 January 2013 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Dear Abby

  

  Pauline Esther Phillips died last week at 94. She was better known by her pseudonym, “Abigail Van Buren,” originator of the “Dear Abby” column (which, for... Read more

  Posted on 23 January 2013 SOCIETY

• Cat-Women of the Moon

  

  After having recently viewed the film classic Plan 9 From Outer Space, we decided to see Cat-Women of the Moon. My wife and I highly recommend this fine motion... Read more

  Posted on 17 January 2013 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Who Was America’s Worst President?

  

  During the holidays my sister-in-law got me into a heated discussion on how I could possibly have voted for such a flawed, problematic bumbler with weird... Read more

  Posted on 12 January 2013 POLITICS, SOCIETY