Who is Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a pre-primer

I caught a bit of a television program devoted to the Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK) affair this morning, and I have done a bit of research on the Internet. First, this affair is huge in France, newspaper sales have skyrocketed, the news weeklies are devoting 13-20 pages to it this week.  DSK was, prior to this affair, thought […]

Great column on Mideast peace by Roger Cohen

I agree with everything said in this column, written by a somewhat unlikely source, because I think of Cohen as being very slightly left of center.  He is a British Jew. The American Jewish community must come to its senses, but it shows every sign of not doing so, year after year.  The reason is […]

Brooks calls for debate on constitutional reform

Wow, I am astounded and gratified.  Shortly after I suggested that America needs constitutional reform regarding two things, the disproportionate power of the Senate and the inability of our system to limit spending on political campaigns, David Brooks chimes in to say that the system might be broken and that there should be a debate […]

Doug Henwood Speaks for Me

in his introductory editorial for the edition of January 21, 2010. Those not familiar with Henwood should check him out. A leftist with a brain, who began adulthood as a graduate student of comparative literature at Yale. I don’t share his taste for punk rock, but his book about Wall Street is quite good. He […]

Bob Herbert – The US Economy on the brink

I like Bob Herbert.  He mostly speaks for me in this column about America’s sinking economic fortunes.  I’m not too sure what would be so awful if America were to be like Germany – I guess Herbert means that America would be consigned to lower average growth in GDP.  Herbert says that America’s economic problems […]

Frank Rich deserves Pulitzer, gets Ledocsian

This piece by Frank Rich in today’s NYT is one of the best political columns I have ever read. It’s about, surprise, surprise, the need to reregulate the financial industry. This is the big story that is being neglected by almost everyone. www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/opinion/10rich.html I would never have guessed that this former NY drama critic would […]

David Brooks again, what a guy

David Brooks in today’s NYT: “The public is not only shifting from left to right. Every single idea associated with the educated class has grown more unpopular over the past year. The educated class believes in global warming, so public skepticism about global warming is on the rise. The educated class supports abortion rights, so […]

Wishful thinking or disingenuousness on the left?

I have been very remiss in my blogging over the past several weeks, but one of my resolutions for 2010 will be to make blog entries on a much more regular basis.  I have been counseled to make shorter blog posts, and I expect to take this advice in 2010. On the year-in-review edition of […]

David Brooks not a moderate in defense of liberty

Where to begin, where to end, in one’s condemnation of David Brooks’s idiotic column concerning the tragedy of the Fort Hood massacre? http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/opinion/10brooks.html Brooks seems to have received a memo that was also received by Tony Blankley, whom I heard deliver Brooks’s column on the radio show “Left, Right, and Center.”  What I do not […]

Bob Herbert on youth unemployment

Good column by Bob Herbert in today’s NYT about the problem of youth unemployment in the US. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/31/opinion/31herbert.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1256983230-yBdtHrpZGJEHWzILiVcDWg I have a niece who is a recent graduate from a very good (non-Ivy, not Berkeley) university who is working part-time in a Whole Foods kind of store.  France has been experiencing this youth unemployment problem for […]