Israel Schmisrael

Welcome friends!

I suppose I should take a break from the economic themes I’ve been discussing the last few times out so maybe today I can do something completely different and say a few words about Israel.  I’m sure I must have mentioned some other more Islamic countries in the Middle East a few times now so I might as well make a clean sweep of it.  One must be even handed about these things and anyway Israel certainly seems to play a role in the general craziness coming out of that part of the world, and I don’t mean a minor role either.

Now I should probably clarify at the outset that when I’m talking about Israel I’m talking about that country over there in the Middle East.  I’m not talking about Jewish people.  Yes, I realize many Jewish people live in Israel.  Many Jewish people live in the US as well.  However, I don’t have a lot to say about Jewish people as an abstract category of humanity... Sorry but only selected archived (previous year) posts are currently available full text on this website.  All posts including this one are available in my annual anthology ebook series available at the Amazon Kindle Bookstore for a nominal fee.  Hey, we all need to make a buck somehow, right?  If you find my timeless jewels of wisdom amusing or perhaps even amusingly irritating throw me a bone now and then.  Thank you my friends!

Mitt Romney And The Very Very Poor

Welcome friends!

I actually had a different topic in mind for this week, but I think I want to delay my normally scheduled post to say a few words about conservative Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s recent remarks that he isn’t particularly concerned about the very poor because they already have a safety net, and he isn’t particularly concerned about the very rich because they’re doing fine, but he is concerned about middle-income Americans.  Of course, I suppose as an example of political speech the statement isn’t really all that striking.  Apparently it dawned on some of his campaign strategists that many more people in this country think of themselves as “middle-income” than “very poor” or “very rich,” and he’s just trying to tell as many conservative voters as possible that he intends to look after their interests rather than those of anyone else.  Well, what do you expect?  He’s a conservative politician and conservatives’ primary concern is generally their own self-interest, so it makes perfect sense.  I’m concerned about you and no one else, so vote for me!  On the other hand, I think there are some rather more interesting aspects to this utterance in terms of the underlying social philosophy that would support such a statement.  And you know I’m always trying to get some insight into how conservatives really think... Sorry but only selected archived (previous year) posts are currently available full text on this website.  All posts including this one are available in my annual anthology ebook series available at the Amazon Kindle Bookstore for a nominal fee.  Hey, we all need to make a buck somehow, right?  If you find my timeless jewels of wisdom amusing or perhaps even amusingly irritating throw me a bone now and then.  Thank you my friends!