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LATEST ARTICLES ( 1469 )

• 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

• We Have Met the Enemy and It’s Us

  

  Recently I got one of those virally forwarded e-mail blasts, flaying Washington politicians and demanding an array of draconian punishments for them, stopping... Read more

  Posted on 06 January 2013 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Guns ‘n’ Schools

  

  The National Rifle Association’s Wayne LaPierre has blamed the Newtown shootings on just about everything and everybody except guns and the gun-fetishizing... Read more

  Posted on 27 December 2012 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• The Dust Bowl

  

  We’ve watched Ken Burns’s film, The Dust Bowl. It was a compelling story – with great modern resonance. Here was a huge environmental disaster, indisputably... Read more

  Posted on 22 December 2012 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• The Underground Railroad – Lessons for Today

  

  I recently attended a presentation by Paul and Mary Liz Stewart about their Underground Railroad History Project. The “railroad” was a network helping escaped... Read more

  Posted on 15 December 2012 CULTURE, HISTORY, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• How the Mind Works (Or Can It?)

  

  You’re parachuted onto an alien planet. Of course, the language is unlike any you’ve ever heard. In fact, imagine further you don’t know any language – or even... Read more

  Posted on 04 December 2012 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• In Pursuit of the Great White Whale

  

  As explained in my recent post, the best way to raise tax revenues, mainly from the rich, is to cap deductions, avoiding the politically charged issue of raisin... Read more

  Posted on 03 December 2012 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY