Category: Edgewise

  • Another tactical blunder by Lieberman

    Even if you grant that Lieberman should run in the general election as an independent (and I do not), shouldn’t he at least have taken a page from Jed Bartlett and Howard Dean and called his party-of-one “Lieberman for Connecticut” instead of the self-centered sounding “Connecticut for Lieberman”?

  • A Hard Look at the West Bank Settlers

    It is past time to take a good hard look at the West Bank Settlers, who have led Israeli politics around by the nose now for decades, as if Israel’s right to exist were one and the same with their right to keep their settlements! I believe that peace with the Palestinians has long been…

  • Discomfiting the Apologists of Dickensian Predation.

    This is a year old; I came across it in a search. But it’s worth noting. It ought to discomfit the apologists of Dickensian predation. (Old New-Left? Me?) How Costco Became the Anti-Wal-Mart July 17, 2005 NYT “But not everyone is happy with Costco’s business strategy. Some Wall Street analysts assert that Mr. Sinegal is…

  • The Commodious Ambiguity of “Optimism”

    [I seem to be working my way back into rambling Philosophy mode here.] General Abizaid said: “So the question is, am I optimistic whether or not Iraqi forces, with our support, with the backing of the Iraqi government, can prevent the slide to civil war? My answer is yes, I’m optimistic that that slide can…

  • “The Next Six Months”

    We have been told over and over again the last few years that “The Next Six Months” will be decisive for our Iraq invasion to succeed. Doesn’t that mean at some point that the last six months already were decisive?

  • Health Coverage That’s Better than Being Uninsured!

    The Medicare people were proud when the AARP reported last January that “for many Americans, Medicare drug plans…can cost less than buying the same drugs across the border [DKo: which is forbidden under the Medicare coverage].” Those results have held up since then. Was this something to be proud of? Suppose you asked whether an…