20th debate

I’m watching the debate tonight in Ohio between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. I’ve actually cringed for Hillary. Such bad, even embarrassing responses: complaining that she’s being “picked on” first and picking fights over insubstantial matters. This is clearly last-gasp maneuvering. You can almost see it in her face — this is [...]

best sentences I’ve read today

“An isotope is an element with a secret.” — Miyoko Ohtake, Wired Feb. 2008, p 44
“Objective evidence and certitude are doubtless fine ideals to play with, but where on this moonlit and dream-visited planet are they found?” — William James, from “The Will to Believe” in John Stuhr (ed.) Pragmatism and Classical American Philosophy, p. [...]

Genocide’s Children

This is almost too much to bear. Alas, there’s not a podcast available of this story I heard earlier this evening on PRI’s The World radio program on children born of rape during the Rwandan genocide. But here’s the teaser and a link to the transcript.
February 19, 2008  When we talk about genocide [...]

facebook personae

Over the weekend I have become fascinated by the social networking site, Facebook. I week ago, I lumped it together with My Space, as a realm a respectable professinal, especially a professor, would never deign to enter. It’s one thing to blog; it’s another thing to have one’s profile out there for all [...]

Pakistan, Politics, and the Bomb

Check out the blog, The Washington Note, for a critical take on politics in DC and abroad. The blog’s author, Steve Clemons of the New America Foundation, wrote today about Pakistan, today’s elections, and the Pakistani Military-Industrial Complex. It’s worth noting, though Clemons isn’t focused on it in his piece today, that Pakistan’s [...]

Ersatz Democracy

The surge in Iraq is working, we’re told. There is less violence; there is an elected government. Never mind that the Iraqi police include thugs, torturers, and murderers. The United States’ FBI is working on it, helping train a special unit to fight corruption and to develop respect for the rule of law. [...]

The Better Candidate

What a delight to vote yesterday for the candidate I liked the best rather than, as in years past, the candidate that I didn’t dislike more than the other.
Obama’s huge success in Virginia, a state with an open primary, seems to show that independents are drawn to Obama more than they are to McCain. Note [...]