Now I'm Tempted By Dumpster Diving
‘Galatea’ is a columnist writing about her experience looking for work after her recent downsizing. Previous entries in her series can be span class="s1"> read here
Entries
`In Time' is a Parable Against Tight Money
I can't recommend the new Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried sci-fi action thriller In Time on the basis of its acting or plot (both are mediocre) but I can recommend the film as a parable about bad monetary policy. Here is the premise of the film: in the future, humans are genetically …
Overlooked Clue in Cain's Sex Harassment Story
Here's the most neglected detail in the Politico story on Herman Cain and the sex harassment charges: Both women received separation packages that were in the five-figure range. In the context of late 1990s sex harassment litigation, that is a small settlement. (Here's a sampling …The GOP's Best Case/Worst Case
In my column for CNN, I discuss how the Tea Party will react to the different possible outcomes of the 2012 election: A new CNN poll finds that about half of Republicans sympathize with the tea party movement. The other half either remain aloof or (5%) even express hostility. That second …
The Math on Social Security Doesn't Add Up
Social Security politics is like malaria—it never really leaves the body politic and it flares up without warning. Thus, the absolutely unsurprising “ revelation ” in the Washington Post that demographics and economics have combined to begin the inevitable drain of the “surpluses” in the …
Want to End the Drug War? Regulate Pot.
America passed a little-noted milestone in 2009 as drug overdoses outnumbered traffic fatalities for the first time ever to become the primary cause of accidental death . The cause? It wasn’t cocaine or heroin or some terrifying new criminal import. The doubling in drug related deaths over the …
Conrad Black Relives His Trial
I’ve not read reviews of Conrad Black’s new book, A Matter of Principle , but it’s a remarkable work -- unlike any of its kind that I’ve ever read. It tells the story of his Chicago trial and subsequent conviction. While the trial is the core of the book, Conrad (excuse the informality—but …
Why Cruz Pretends to Believe Conspiracies
The race for the GOP nomination for US Senator from Texas took an odd turn recently. Ted Cruz, the former Solicitor General of Texas, is running for this seat against various opponents, including Texas Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst, who is widely considered to be the frontrunner at this …
Malcolm Wallop RIP
In the inimitable style of the British obituary, the Daily Telegraph remembers Malcolm Wallop, who represented Wyoming in the US Senate from 1977 through 1995: [Wallop] was born on February 27 1933 in New York City, son of Oliver Wallop, the younger son of the 8th Earl of Portsmouth – …
Europe's Debt Solution is Forced Unification
In my column for the National Post I discuss how the solution to the European debt crisis is going to force a closer union between member states: If the euro is not to bust up, it must be saved. Friday morning, The Globe & Mail reproduced on its front page one plan to save the euro. …
Looking Back at `America in Primetime'
For the next month, starting this Sunday, PBS takes a most interesting four-week look back at America in Primetime, a production of the late Peter Jennings' Documentary Group, in association with the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The series appropriately coincides not only with …
The Fat Diaries: Can You Enjoy Halloween Without Candy?
Some of you already know that I’ve been blessed with daughter who doesn’t like most sugary foods. It doesn't matter if it is ice cream, candy, chocolate, pies—with the exception of blueberry muffins and yellow cake with no frosting, my four-year-old has little-to-no interest in sweets. She would …
My Sun News Network Interview
While I was in Toronto on October 27th, I had a chance to interview with Michael Coren of Sun News Network. We discussed what I think is wrong with the economic proposals from many Republicans, but also why President Obama has not been doing his job very well. amateur porn You can watch …
More Corporate Speech, Less Rancor
I couldn't agree more with Joe Trotter's points about corporate speech . (For a variety of other reasons, I think that we should not tax corporations either.) I'd actually go a step further: more corporate speech would be good for the political tone of the country. Contrary to the claims of …
An Idea For Republicans
In the 1990s, many Republicans took the problem of hard-core poverty seriously. (One of those poverty-conscious Republicans was Sen. Rick Santorum, now the one presidential candidate who takes seriously the data on faltering upward mobility in America.) In 1999 and 2000, candidate George W. …
How Pepsi Won the Cola Wars in Russia
Pepsi’s love affair with Russia dates way back to the early days of the cold war. It all started with Nikita Khrushchev taking a harmless sip of the drink at an American trade exhibition in Moscow in 1959. Donald M. Kendall, himself Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PepsiCo recalls …
How to Job Hunt on the Weekend
'Galatea' is a columnist writing about her experience looking for work after her recent downsizing. Previous entries in her series can be read here . My family is well bred for survival. We barely escaped political turmoil before coming to America. We clawed our way from poverty and welfare …
After Gaddafi's Rule, Libya Gets Sharia Law
If George Bush's adventures ended up handing Iraq on a silver platter to America's enemies in Iran, President Obama's softer and gentler imperialism has been the catalyst that stands to deliver North Africa into the hands of the anti-American Muslim Brotherhood. Dumb and Dumber could hardly ask …
Don't Praise the Greek Debt Deal
Whether today’s announcement that holders of Greek sovereign debt have agreed in principle to a 50% haircut on the face value of the instruments raises some critical questions. On the surface, with the notion of first-loss guarantees of new debt taking shape, this addresses the problem of …