Category Archives: Politics

What Makes People Vote Republican?

An intresting essay over at The Edge by Jonathan Haidt about the moral considerations that differentiate Democrats from Republicans.  This is a long essay but well worth the read.  Here are a few exerpts that make some of Haidt’s key … Continue reading

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Barack Obama’s Acceptance Speech

A brilliantly crafted and superbly delivered oration delivered in Denver tonight.  Transcript here.

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Fareed Zakaria

Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International, and former editor of Foreign Affairs, spoke this evening at Seattle’s Town Hall about his new book The Post-American World. He spoke for about 35 minutes and then took questions from the audience.  Here’s … Continue reading

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Jeffrey Sachs

This evening we attended a lecture by Professor Jeffrey Sachs sponsored by the Seattle World Affairs Council.  Sachs gained fame in the early nineties advising the newly elected governments of Eastern Europe how to transform their economies from communism to … Continue reading

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Arthur C. Clarke

Arthur C. Clarke passed away today in Colombo, Sri Lanka (1:30 am, March 19 local time) at age 90.  He’s probably most famous for his novel 2001, A Space Odyssey upon which Stanley Kubrick based the movie of the same … Continue reading

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Admiral “Fox” Fallon Resigns

The New York Times is reporting here that Admiral William J. "Fox" Fallon is taking early retirement.  Fallon, commander of Central Command (CENTCOM) which encompasses the Middle East, including Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, has often seemed critical of the Bush … Continue reading

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Waving Goodbye to Hegemony

It’s very clear the United States under the Bush Administration has lost influence around the world.  Parag Khanna, a fellow at the New America Foundation, argues that this is unlikely to be corrected by the next president.  Writing in this … Continue reading

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Muhammad Yunus

On Friday, we attended a talk, sponsored by the Seattle World Affairs Council, given by Professor Muhammad Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. Professor Yunus is the founder of Grameen Bank and the pioneer of microcredit in his … Continue reading

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A (very) little sympathy for Mitt

I don’t much like Mitt Romney.  I disagree with his positions on several issues: he’s anti-abortion (fairly recently it seems and still with some exceptions); he supports a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between a man and a … Continue reading

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Mitt Romney @ Microsoft

Mitt Romney, former Massachusetts governor and candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, spoke to members of the Microsoft PAC today on the Microsoft campus in Redmond, WA. My overall impression is that Romney is one of those people who … Continue reading

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