Eating Meat has come under fire lately from both a health and sustainability standpoint. Given the way meat is raised in the West, and the sheer amount of it which is eaten these criticisms are certainly warranted. But there is a logic to eating meat, and it is important that we are aware of it.
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We are heading toward a presidential election and at this point in the cycle there would seem to be momentous choices at hand. Republican candidates who are catering to the evangelical wing of the party and candidates who appeal to anti government voters, or who appear as outsiders, have a lot of strength. Hilary Clinton is
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I read a piece recently where the comment was made that right now Elizabeth Warren is one of the most powerful Democrats and that if she were to run for president she would give that up. Right now she is in the position that no Democrat wants to cross her, so policy decisions have to
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For many years nuclear arms have promoted international security by making conflict between the major powers a thing of the past. Even countries like Pakistan and India who have terrible relations and still formative political institutions have kept relative peace between. With recent actions by Russia however a new page has been turned that could
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With the riots in Baltimore after Freddie Gray’s funeral it is possible to talk about how the rioters are crazy, that they are destroying their own often downtrodden neighborhoods, how can that make things better for them? Really though there is a logic behind the action. If you are a member of a politically disenfranchised
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There is some talk going on about how the Fed should hold off raising interest rates until labor can reap the benefits of the economic growth that has been occurring in the U.S., mainly through increased wages. The latest I have seen was on the NYTimes website. This is a really dangerous point of view, and it is unfortunate
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  President Obama has issued his proposed budget, it includes infrastructure spending funded through a one time tax on corporate profits held overseas. His budget also includes an increase in capital gains taxes and a plan to extend that to inherited wealth. Paul Ryan responded to the second issue by saying that “What I think
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Post State Of The Union address the NYTimes ran a piece by Thomas B. Edsall in their January 20th edition, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/21/opinion/can-capitalists-save-capitalism.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=c-column-top-span-region&region=c-column-top-span-region&WT.nav=c-column-top-span-region  In this piece Mr. Edsall comments upon President Obama’s plans to increase taxes on the wealthy while dropping taxes on lower income people. This form of policy is being referred to as Inclusive Capitalism, it is
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There has been some dabbling in experiments to counteract climate change through engineering. One of these in 2009 involved putting iron into the ocean to cause a phytoplankton bloom to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Another experiment in 2011 tried seeing how balloons would work as a stratospheric delivery system by spraying water from
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The New York Times has run a piece on a book by Barry Eichengreen entitled Hall Of Mirrors, appearing in the January 10th edition, written by Neil Irwin. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/11/upshot/the-depressions-unheeded-lessons-.html?_r=0&abt=0002&abg=1 In this book Mr. Eichengreen faults policy makers for not seriously enough the economic contraction of 2008, becoming self satisfied in their efforts to stem the damage,
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