Netanyahu’s gamble

Once again, as an American presidential election looms, the Israeli government is seeking to use it to achieve its own political goals. What is extraordinary is the highly public nature of its efforts. After his embassy in the US complained openly that president Obama would not re-arrange his schedule to meet with him on a recent visit to the US, itself a remarkable diplomatic faux pas, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now laying down ultimatums to the US about what it should do about Iran. [Read more…]

The primacy of free speech over religious sensitivity

Muslims are notoriously prone to violent anger when their god or their prophet is portrayed at all, let alone in an unflattering light. Militants have thought nothing about even murdering those whom they think have transgressed against their faith. Today comes reports of the latest atrocity, the murder of American diplomats in Libya in retaliation for the purported showing on an internet video that supposedly disrespects the religious beliefs of Muslims. [Read more…]

Political theater

I did not watch the speeches by Ann Romney or Michelle Obama at the conventions though I did see a few clips. Both speeches were highly praised by media commentators, the latter particularly so, as ‘touching the hearts’ of the audience and ‘humanizing’ their spouses by showing their virtues as husbands and fathers and as gosh-darned wonderful human beings. [Read more…]

Doing an end-run around the Electoral College

Like most US presidential elections, the Electoral College structure means that those states that are seen as already sure to assign their electoral votes (EV) to one or other of the two major presidential candidates tend to be ignored, with all the attention focused on the so-called battleground states where the outcome is uncertain. In this election, those states are seen as Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Ohio, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Virginia. Mitt Romney is also throwing some money at Wisconsin since he hopes that since his running mate Paul Ryan is from that state, he might be able to nudge that from Democratic into battleground status. [Read more…]

Life in the pass lane

Brian Keith Dalton, whom most of us know Mr. Deity, takes on an issue that is close to my heart, and that is the proper etiquette for driving in the passing lane. I totally agree with him. It is so infuriating, especially when driving on a highway with just two lanes of traffic, to find the left lane occupied by a car that is cruising along in it with clearly no intention of moving to the right lane. [Read more…]

Checking your emails for tone

The internet age has spawned huge numbers of incidents where people have sent emails that have inadvertently offended the recipient because the sender was not sensitive enough to the absence in written messages of the important cues that accompany the spoken word, where facial expressions and tone of voice and inflexions can provide helpful clues to the speaker’s benign intent. [Read more…]