Archive for April, 2008
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008
Food Shortages and Subsidies
With the increase in demand from China for things like meat, milk and rice, we are seeing food prices skyrocket and even food shortages. It’s funny to think that there can be food shortages when governments in Europe and the U.S. heavily subsidize agriculture. In the past twelve months in Spain, for example, the price […]
4 Comments » - Posted in Essays by eric
Monday, April 28th, 2008
April in Montmartre
One year a later, I spent another April in Paris and also without rain! That’s a real surprise because for the past year, traveling to Paris at least once a month, I think I haven’t had to fortune to live through a single rainless weekend.
But not this weekend. We had a […]
2 Comments » - Posted in Digressions, Jazz by eric
Monday, April 28th, 2008
I Need a little Break
I think I need to take a short break from the campaign trail. Something is happening, and I am not quite sure exactly why, but it doesn’t sit well in my stomach. It has to do with the turn that the election spin is taking. I am not saying that Hillary is now in the […]
2 Comments » - Posted in Essays, Obama 08 by eric
Friday, April 25th, 2008
Intensity In Crescendo
Last night I went to the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid to see (and hear) my friend, Philippe Raskin, play. Although I had heard him play once before in a quartet setting, this was the first time I got to experience him live on solo piano. The experience blew me away. It was by far the […]
No Comments » - Posted in Digressions, Friends / Family by eric
Thursday, April 24th, 2008
Inmate Count in U.S. Dwarfs Other Nations’
The United States has less than 5 percent of the world’s population. But it has almost a quarter of the world’s prisoners.
Enough said? Read more. (Photo of the abandoned Carabanchel prison by my co-worker, Eloy Muñoz).
3 Comments » - Posted in Digressions by eric
Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008
Obliteration as Genocide
I am not the only one who has commented on Hillary’s outrageous “obliteration” comments. Robert Scheer has just written an article to the same effect.
No Comments » - Posted in Essays by eric
Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008
Déjà Vu All Over Again
You can’t call this a Comeback either. Hillary still can’t win. What is amazing is just how predictable voters are. Each state since Super Tuesday has behaved exactly as the polls and demographics anticipated, with the sole exception that in each state that Hillary was likely to win, Obama cut her lead. Regardless of what […]
No Comments » - Posted in Essays, Obama 08 by eric
Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008
Get Out of the Kitchen
What was it that Bill Clinton said after the Philadelphia debate when Obama accused the press of not focusing on issues and distracting the electorate? Something about not complaining, about politics as a contact sport and being able to stand the heat? In a twist of faith, it sure sounded like Bill was whining today […]
2 Comments » - Posted in Essays, Obama 08 by eric
Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008
McCain is Glad to Have Hagee’s Endorsement
McCain made some very disturbing statements on this Sunday’s This Week. While McCain admits that it was probably a mistake to have accepted Hagee’s endorsement because of Hagee’s anti-Catholic rhetoric, McCain nevertheless says he is “glad to have his endorsement.” How can you be glad to have the endorsement if it was a […]
No Comments » - Posted in Essays, Obama 08 by eric
Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008
Obliterating a Country Doesn’t Work
If there is one thing that the U.S. has proven in Iraq and Israel has proven in Lebanon is that obliterating an enemy whether through threats or even attacks just doesn’t work anymore. It might sound counter-intuitive, but major military powers like the U.S. or Israel have not been successful in their wars against low […]
