Democratic Crybabies The Democrats are so pathetic. Their latest plea is that if Martha Coakley doesn’t win in Massachusetts today, they’ll lose their critical 60-seat Senate block and with it, health care reform. It’s bullshit. If the Democrats wanted to pass health care reform, or anything else, they could do it today. Any time they … Continue reading
It’s Good to Be The King President Obama’s Nobel acceptance speech has been praised by a number of people I admire. I wish I could agree with them. In fact, even apart from the “War is Peace” elements inherent in a man accepting the Nobel Peace Prize immediately after escalating one of the three wars … Continue reading
What Happens When a War Isn’t Winnable? Foreword: I wrote the following piece over four years ago for Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind and the Philadelphia City Paper. On the eve of President Obama’s announcement of a major escalation in Afghanistan, it’s sadly timely. I hope there won’t be cause to reprint it four years … Continue reading
Fear Itself This morning, while reading The Washington Independent’s Daphne Eviatar’s excellent report on the death penalty for terrorists, two things occurred to me. First, there’s been much wailing and gnashing of teeth on the right about trying Khalid Sheik Mohamed in New York City because, apparently, KSM said he wanted to be tried in … Continue reading
The Economist Again, and Those Funny Rightists War is Good I don’t mean to pick on The Economist (and I doubt they’d care if I did). I love the magazine. But the oddities are piling up. The current issue is dedicated to “Dealing With America’s Fiscal Hole.” In the leader of that name, and in … Continue reading
More Signs of the Creeping Militarization of US Society Hi everyone, forgive my long hiatus. If anyone here is considering moving back from Tokyo, living in a house while it’s being renovated, and finishing a manuscript all at the same time, I would advise… don’t. But the worst of the storm is past, thank God, … Continue reading
Double Standard for a Latina I just read this article in today’s New York Times: “Sotomayer Says Identify Won’t Distort Her Positions.” “Judge Sonia Sotomayor insisted on Tuesday, in the face of sometimes skeptical questioning from Republicans, that she would never allow her background or life experiences to determine the outcome of a case if … Continue reading
The Willful Stupidity of Anti-Gay Prejudice This post began as a response to a series of comments on my FaceBook page, where I posted a video of Rachel Maddow interviewing Rep. Patrick Murphy, an 82nd Airborne Iraq war veteran, winner of the Bronze Star, and Congress’s point man for the repeal of the military’s Don’t … Continue reading
The Torture Temptation What I find most remarkable about America’s debate regarding torture — beyond the fact that such a debate could even be necessary in America — is the continual recourse of both proponents and opponents to the question of whether torture works. I can’t think of any other illegal behavior — not murder, … Continue reading
How to Give a Great Talk This one’s a little off topic, but enough people have asked so that I thought I’d post it here, too. If you want to know how to give a great talk, here are my thoughts following TEDx Tokyo. Enjoy. Cheers,Barry