You might not be very familiar with Francis Bacon’s Essays, Civil and Moral, but I’ve read them all closely—several times. Indeed, I’ve read and reread many of Francis Bacon’s works. I learned a lot from Bacon’s writings as well as from those of two of his famous contemporaries, Chistopher Marlowe and the quasi-enigma William Shakespeare [...]
I just read “Some Arizona University Programs Threatened by Proposed Ban on Affirmative Action” by Peter Schmidt (author of Color and Money), and it reminded me of a few questions I asked of a few Black and Hispanic lawyers during a recent meeting. Here are paraphrased versions of the questions I asked.
1) Why would a [...]
The Shock Doctrine Short Film
—A Film by Alfonso Cuarón and Naomi Klein, directed by Jonás Cuarón.
I don’t do much pointing here at Maxambit. Not because I dislike pointer blogs (I read several of them regularly), but because there are great pointer blogs out there already, and I write a lot of stuff that I believe [...]
Another good conversation, “Infrastructure, Energy Security, and Us…,” led by cnulan inspired me to write down a few thoughts about 21st Century oil-related global political economic struggles tonight. I submitted an unedited version of the following blog post to cnulan’s post’s thread as a blog comment.
Peak oil is indeed a problem, and there aren’t [...]
This morning, while listening to National Public Radio, I learned of a new book about Viktor Bout. Its title is Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Planes, and the Man Who Makes War Possible. It was written by two great investigative reporters, Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun. I doubt I’ll read it, because I doubt it [...]
This morning, I read the following in today’s Chronicle of Higher Education:
“Elijah Anderson, a sociologist known for his work examining urban inequality, has moved to Yale University, and Michael Eric Dyson, an ordained Baptist minister, author, and commentator, has taken a position at Georgetown University.”1
Reading of Dyson’s move to our political capital reminded me of [...]
The format of the forum and the questions asked did not enable us to learn much more about how the candidates are different. Additionally, since most of the questions were, in my opinion, poorly written, enabling the politicians to all but ignore the actual questions and to speak to general themes or their talking points [...]
I see dots scattered around all the time. Most of the time I don’t have the time or energy to connect them. I had some free time this morning, I saw a few dots, and I played around with them a lil’ bit.
Dot 1:
This morning, while scanning my RSS feeds through NetNewsWire 3.0, the very [...]
I have been calling inner-city gang-bangers and drug-dealers terrorists for years. Even though I would agree with analysts who point the finger at structural causes, failed governments and failed economies, for the growth of violent inner-city gang-bangers and drug-dealers, I still believe firmly that labeling them as terrorists is appropriate. And I believe firmly that [...]
There is only one Black blogger from whom I might request political advice, Dr. Lester K. Spence. On May 4, 2007 Les published “Two Words You Won’t Find in Obama’s Platform.” He followed that post with “The New Poor” and “Black Suburban Isolation” on May 9, 2007. Poverty and inequality are on his and my [...]
I am a disaffected U.S. Military Veteran. I have been one for four years. I know our President is a smart man, but I don’t think he earned his job. In fact, I think he is a striking example of what happens when social rewards (wealth, power, and prestige) are distributed unmeritocratically, because someone of [...]
This morning, I learned of a New York Times article, “Stress on Troops Adds to U.S. Hurdles in Iraq,” by Benedict Carey from Prometheus 6.
I’m infuriated by the fact that the average U.S. soldier is required to carry such a heavy load in Iraq. 15-month tours are RIDICULOUS! Do U.S. citizens really understand what that [...]
“Know it, but go on out the yard. Go on.” —Baby Suggs, in Toni Morrison’s Beloved
I probably won’t make a habit of blogging about new books. I try to spend most of my reading time with works that were published long before I was born. However, this new book by Eddie S. Glaude Jr., In [...]