I was bullied on occasion up through my freshman year in high school, but never, as far as I could tell, by the most popular kids. In elementary school the one bully that I encountered was overweight and socially more […]
Howard Ahmanson
The D.C. Mistake
We have been warned both by Nate Silver and by the Washington Post that there is a possibility of an electoral tie with each side getting 269 electoral votes. How did we end up with that possibility? How did we end […]
Why Do They Think Pennsylvania is a Swing State and We’re Not?
I have seen it said that Pennsylvania is a ‘swing state’ in this election. Nobody maintains that California is. But I looked at the presidential electoral maps of the past, and I found that Dukakis, against Bush Senior, lost ten […]
Does Mitt Romney Have Status Guilt?
I have here a transcript of the controversial Mitt Romney ‘47%’ speech to his donors in Boca Raton last May. It strikes me as a bit manipulative that Mother Jones waited three months to release it. Apart from a few […]
Islamist Hypocrisy on Free Speech: Suppose They Got What They Wanted?
Eric Posner, legal scholar and son of the scholar and judge Richard Posner, declares in Slate that free speech is overrated and that internationally, even to a small degree in Europe, it needs to take a back seat to order. […]
Tea Party Advocates Big Government?
Because the quote I want to use is from a comment on Lisa Hymas’ post at Grist.org that is way down toward the bottom, and because I mainly want to respond to that comment, I will quote it here in […]
Politician Speak with Forked Tongue: Or, The Electorate and The Donorate
Peter Beinart in the Daily Beast speaks of the desirability of having the press crash fundraisers. In today’s American political world, people seeking elected offices have two audiences, the electorate and the donorate; and in many ways, the donorate [or, […]
Little Europe?
The coastal strip west of the Cascades, including the large cities of Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland, has a very similar climate to that of Western Europe away from the Mediterranean. The area is much smaller; a drive from Seattle to […]
‘Streetcars’ vs. Light Rail
Samuel L. Scheib, editor of Trip Planner magazine, argues here that so-called ‘streetcars’, trams which actually run in the street with the cars, are not so much ‘public transit’ in the manner of light rail as a tourist amenity and […]
Portland Public Loos Are The Best
Here’s an article from The Atlantic Cities explaining why Portland, Oregon’s, public loos are the best. In response to: “Why Portland’s Public Toilets Succeeded Where Others Failed” by John Metcalfe at The Atlantic Cities