Monthly Archives: May, 2010

The Obama administration’s claim they are “keeping our foot on BP’s neck” ranks up there with “you are either for of us or against us” in terms of counterproductive choice of language. It would be much better if the Obama administration saw itself as a partner with the oil industry in the effort to plug [...]

The disaster in the Gulf will test the judgment of our leaders. It will require an objective analysis of all the elements involvement and a focus on what is good for America, instead of the likely political consequences.
Barack Obama’s behavior so far is not encouraging. By taking full responsibility for the spill he is only [...]

Many years ago, when I said to a client I thought attitude was the most important word in the English language he respectfully disagreed, but he did not offer an alternative.
A couple of days ago I brought my car to the dealer to have them examine the brakes, which have been emitting a loud whine [...]

For postmodernists words are important. They reject the idea that “sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Instead, they believe kind words can overcome old resentments. That is why the Obama administration is refusing to accept we are in a war against jihadist terror ists. We are really fighting [...]

When I listened to Barack Obama’s press conference yesterday it occurred to me there are certain rules of human nature that Obama failed to pick up at Harvard or on the streets of Chicago. One is that if you tell us all the people who disagree with you cannot be trusted it is likely we [...]

Thomas Friedman, who is sometimes out of his mind and at other times right on, denounces the Brazilian (and Turkish) embrace of the Iranian president (As Ugly as it Gets) in his New York Times column today. This contrasts sharply with the attitude of Philip Stephens and the editorial writers at the Financial Times, who [...]

Clive Crook writes in the Financial Times (American Monumental Job Losses) about America becoming more like Europe, in that we now have a large number of people that have been unemployed for a long time. This is unusual because America has more flexible labor markets. Crook writes:
“The US labour market has always had high turnover. [...]

Matthew Kaminski interviews Pennsylvania’s governor, Ed Rendell, about what he thinks Democrats must do to win the fall elections (Plotting a Democratic Comeback). Because of the term limit Rendell is not eligible to run for re-election. Rendell is an expert on how to win elections. He teaches a course on this subject at the University [...]

Philip Stephens weighs in on the question of whether Turkey and Brazil are being obstructionists with respect to Iran, or if it is simply a case of the established powers being reluctant to let the newcomers participate in setting the rules (Rising Powers do not Want to Play by the West’s Rules). He concludes it [...]

The Financial Times has a much more positive view of Brazil and Turkey’s dealings with Iran than the New York Times. The FT says Iran’s offer to deposit enriched uranium in Turkey, brokered by that country and Brazil, “is undeniably a positive change” (Teheran Promises Exit From Labyrinth). The NYT says that Brazil and Turkey, [...]