Archive for January, 2009
Saturday, January 31st, 2009
Obama and Air Bombing Afghanistan
It’s almost as if Bill Moyers was reading my mind because on the same day that I wrote my long diatribe on human shields and collateral damage, Moyers discussed “America’s Policy of Air Bombing” with former Pentagon official Pierre Sprey and Marilyn Young (author of Bombing Civilians: A Twentieth Century History). In his introduction, Moyers […]
1 Comment » - Posted in Essays, Obama 44 by eric
Friday, January 30th, 2009
Corporate Citizenship
I just realized that the solution is not with the U.S. tax payers, but Exxon Mobile. That’s right, we should get Exxon Mobile to pay for the stimulus. Think about it. We have already given Exxon Mobil hundreds of millions in tax breaks and incentives (we almost gave them free range to our coast lines), […]
1 Comment » - Posted in Essays by eric
Friday, January 30th, 2009
Obama’s Stimulus and Bush’s War on Terror
Believe it or not, there is a similarity between Bush’s War on Terror and Obama’s proposed stimulus package. Back in 2001 after 9/11, the country faced an unprecedented national crisis. President Bush asked for a series of reactionary measures and by in large he was shown bipartisan deference. Flash forwards to today’s economic crisis, and […]
No Comments » - Posted in Essays, Obama 44 by eric
Friday, January 30th, 2009
Human Shields and Collateral Damage
I was just reading Michael Gerson’s article “Tackling a Fallacy in Gaza” which positively likens Israel’s actions in Gaza to the success of the surge in Iraq and summarily dismisses the civilian tragedy in Gaza as the fault of Hamas’ use of human shields. Gerson writes,
This augury of futility was wrong. Israeli forces, responding to […]
2 Comments » - Posted in Essays by eric
Friday, January 30th, 2009
Israel’s Public Relations Disaster and Limited Options
Israel has always gotten a free pass from the American press, but it seems like that day may be coming to an end. In the past two weeks, there has been a sudden and unprecedented burst of “objectivity” from the American press. Early in January, there were two very critical pieces in the New York […]
No Comments » - Posted in Essays by eric
Thursday, January 29th, 2009
The Line of Beauty
Last night I finished The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst, and true to the title, it was filled with lines of beauty. Like its namesake, Hogarth’s s-shaped Line of Beauty, the story is comprised of long curving sentences, so well-crafted that they feel like they could stand alone. But just as the words may […]
3 Comments » - Posted in literature by eric
Thursday, January 29th, 2009
Self Geo-Location on Google Maps
OK, I know I have better things to do than browse Google Maps, but that’s what I was doing. Sometimes I like to take little virtual walks down the street, and today I thought I would check out Boca Grande, Florida where I spent Christmas this year. I tried to use Google Maps’ street level […]
2 Comments » - Posted in Digressions by eric
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009
Angel Cabrera from Davos
As I have discussed previously, my friend and former boss Angel Cabrera has made improving society through business education his personal mission in life. Today he appeared live on FOX News from Davos (site of the World Economic Forum) to comment on the economic crisis and business education’s role in causing and resolving the crisis. […]
No Comments » - Posted in Essays, Friends / Family by eric
Monday, January 26th, 2009
This Week with Paul Krugman
I particularly enjoyed watching the round table discussion on this Sunday’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos between the host, Cokie Roberts, George Will, Sam Donaldson, Carly Fiorina and Paul Krugman. It was truly great to witness how each of the other panelists would confidently spew out their pre-fab political talking points and punditry on the […]
5 Comments » - Posted in Essays by eric
Thursday, January 22nd, 2009
A Bleak Outlook Indeed
Yesterday I watched this video of Charlie Rose’s January 7, 2009 interview with Bob Simon. Bob Simon presented a devastatingly bleak outlook for the future of the Middle East peace process. Nevertheless, his honestly on how the U.S. and Israel in fact present the major obstacles to reaching peace in the region was both refreshing […]
