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American state and federal governments are struggling to cut spending. They are unable to fulfill the budgets that they had planned on with the revenue they are now taking in. Most of the debate has been about cutting short term spending on public services with the idea that the revenue shortfall is a short-term effect […]
February 26, 2011
Vegetarianism and veganism, as lifestyle choices, have been growing in popularity in recent decades. Like all such changes, these movements have produced confusion, since people adhere to them with varying degrees of rigor and for many different reasons. Vegetarians, quite simply, do not eat animals. No meat, fish, shellfish, etc., but all kinds of grains, […]
February 17, 2011
One of the biggest political fights right now in the United States and other countries hurt by the Great Recession is over government finances. For various reasons, they have been spending much more than they have been taking in from taxes. This is called deficit spending. It is separate from the actual level of debt. […]
February 8, 2011
Egypt entered the modern era as a mostly independent subject kingdom within the Ottoman Turk empire. As the industrial revolution took hold in Britain, the erstwhile Land of the Pharaohs was ruled by the descendants of the mercenary Ali Pasha, who maintained their position by paying tribute to the Sultan and modernizing their armies. In […]
January 30, 2011
In recent entries, I have discussed various factors that go into creating the current immigration situation in the United States, from both the immigrants’ side and that of the countries they seek to enter. With this background, I can now look at the variety of policy responses that the US and countries in similar situations […]
January 11, 2011
So far I have discussed immigration from the point of view of the immigrants, who they are and why they make such a big decision. The countries they move to also have a stake in the matter. They are materially affected by immigrants and have several options for controlling the flow of people entering their […]
December 12, 2010
In the previous post, I discussed the varied nature of the people who immigrate to the United States of America, showing that there are huge numbers of people from all over the world who want a chance to live in the US. What draws such crowds? Surely most people would prefer to stay where language, […]
October 5, 2010
To emigrate is to leave one’s native land. To immigrate is to settle somewhere else. America, it is said, is a land of immigrants. We take those who have no place elsewhere and make them our own, use them to build our society. Who are these people who come to us? The answer has, of […]
September 30, 2010
In honor of Banned Books Week, the wonderful Rejectionist and Tahereh have put together a collection of reviews of favorite books that have been banned or challenged. I am an ardent supporter of books, and this blog is designed to work against the kind of ignorance that is the cause and consequence of censorship. So […]
September 2, 2010
On May 19, 2009, Mahinda Rajapaksa, the president of Sri Lanka, declared that his country’s decades long civil war was over. Although the fighting had stopped, the suffering still continues. Sri Lanka’s troubles have their root in centuries past. The country has a mixture of ethnic groups. The majority are Sinhalese, who are Buddhist, while […]
Luminous Enigma 
March 7, 2011
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