Archive for the ‘Big Questions’ Category
Overcome the past by FACING it
This article (below) from The Guardian‘s ‘Comment is free’ site reminded me of the wonderful, uplifting movie The Lives of Others which featured the late Ulrich Mühe in the role of a world-worn East German secret policeman whose job it was to bug a playwright’s apartment and report on the goings on. I won’t spoil […]
An insight into sociopaths and liars
This quote, from an excellent Tom Junod piece in Esquire on Murdoch’s Fox News Gruppenführer Roger Ailes, says a LOT about the trouble with trying to shame the manipulative, or liars and con artists … The pundits, the professors, the professional journalists, the left-wingers, the tree huggers, the liberal blogosphere, President Obama — they all […]
Losing respect
Both my kids have learnt sailing at our local sailing club. Last weekend, in pretty rough conditions, I helped out in a minor way when the club hosted a big Auckland regatta … a huge effort by the club, parents and volunteers, and really worthwhile, especially for the junior sailors. I noticed this quote about […]
Why am I doing this? Muckraking?
Remember Cactus Kate’s description of blogging as “an utterly useless waste of a person’s time” (Soooo well put, Kate!) But her comment, of course, fits into Jonathan Swift’s self-aware description of satire … Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own, which is the chief reason for […]
What would you grab?
One of the unspeakably tragic deaths in the Christchurch earthquake was that of one victim who reportedly escaped from a shop with the owner, then ‘dashed back’ inside to grab her cellphone (perhaps to ring family and check on them/let them know she was OK?) and died when the building collapsed on her. We’re all […]
James Arthur Ray on trial for being a bully-boy
You may or may not be aware of the manslaughter trial under way in Arizona of personal development guru James Arthur Ray following the deaths of three people during/following a sweat lodge exercise on a pretty intense ‘Spiritual Warrior’ course led by Mr Ray. Here is a document from the prosectors which forms part of […]
What matters
I texted some of my friends in Christchurch earlier this afternoon. There was a big earthquake there a couple of hours ago. One of them, Mark, replying to my query/wish that he and his family are OK replied: Yes we are my office fell down while i went to get coffee saw buildings collapsing before […]
Paradox
I’m big on perceiving paradox and contradictions, quoting the already oft-quoted Walt Whitman from his Song of Myself: Do I contradict myself? Very well, I contradict myself. (I am large, I contain multitudes.) I see this everywhere. It’s OK. And I acknowledge that if I reach for the comfort/licence of that philosophy (which I do) […]
Heady assumptions, a get-rich-quick climate, wishful thinking …
I’ve just read a fantastic article Rethinking the Great Recession by Robert J. Samuelson in the The Wilson Quarterly. Wow. Instead of hand-wringing and wailing about ‘What’s happening to us?’ Samuelson’s plausible analysis points to a widespread forgetting of the boom-bust lessons of history… The great economic and financial crisis that began in 2007 … […]
An insane order of priorities …
Once again, Jon Stewart uses his platform — on Comedy Central (!!) — to sound a call for reason and justice and fair treatment. Watch as he castigates the Republican senators (and their mealy-mouthed supporters) for filibustering on the 9/11 First Responders’ medical benefits bill while whistling ‘tax cuts for the rich’ through an easy […]
The sins of the fathers
It was pretty sobering to read of Bernard Madoff’s 46 year old son hanging himself just before the 2nd anniversary of his father’s exposure as a fraud. Consequences. Sad.
History will judge WikiLeaks. And they’ll be seen as right.
‘The Pentagon Papers’ author Daniel Ellsberg has added his voice to support for WikiLeaks … I heard John Pilger on the BBC, doing the same… these men are lions of conscience, and heroes of mine. Whistleblowers aren’t popular. WikiLeaks has teased the genie of transparency out of a very opaque bottle, and powerful forces in […]
Joe Lieberman: I’m with Homeland Security and I’m here to help. Right.
So, remind me how the US, land of free speech is different to, say, China where the internet is censored as a matter of course. Via Salon’s Glen Greenwald we learn that the New York Times has catalogued another bit of heavyweight censorship — guilty without a trial — connected with WikiLeaks… … another company […]
