Bookworm on Aug 20 2008 | Filed under: China, Socialism
As you may recall, I was both impressed and dismayed by the opening ceremonies for the Beijing Olympics. I’ll quote the point I made that comes back again in this post:
They were gorgeous. They also reminded me very strongly of the public spectacles that socialist countries have always loved: vast numbers of people moving in [...]
Bookworm on Aug 11 2008 | Filed under: Uncategorized
I got my filing finished today, which ate up the morning, but I have a little — a very little — time now to doodle around before I have 15 kids swarm my backyard for a party. The problem is that, as always, one seems to lose as much as one gains when switching to [...]
Bookworm on Jul 24 2008 | Filed under: Africa, China
Burt Prelutsky today, in a longer column about Obama’s political failings, launches into a blistering attack against US aid to Africa:
Speaking of Africa, when are we going to wean the dark continent? Are we ever going to get over this nutty notion that we have an obligation to keep pumping money down that particular sewer? [...]
Bookworm on May 23 2008 | Filed under: China, Communism, Immigration, Iran, Israel, Russia
There was a round-up of illegal aliens in Marin County. The story included the obligatory reference to the children who had to watch their parents being arrested for illegal activity:
Wilson said children watched while their parents and other adults were taken away by authorities. Some were removed while accompanying children to the school bus, [...]
Bookworm on May 12 2008 | Filed under: Uncategorized
So sad.
I think many of America’s planning departments have a Code fetish that is counter productive, since they try to impose on every single building — and every aspect of every building — a standard of perfection that is unreasonable for the ordinary risks and uses people face in connection with those structures. For example, [...]
Bookworm on Mar 25 2008 | Filed under: China
Dennis Prager writes really movingly about the unfairness of a world that elevates Palestinians to “chief victims,” while ignoring the murderous horror that the Chinese have visited on the Tibetans. I doubt we’ll see a principled stand that has the world boycott the Olympics, but we should. I’m no fan of Jimmy Carter, but he [...]
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