Category Archives: Politics

Francis Bacon Was Right

Posted on November 28, 2011 by hessd

Some years ago, Robert Reich wrote a telling and prescient book called The Work of Nations.  A little play, I noticed, on Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations.  In it, he argued that nearly anything that can be routinized can … Continue reading →

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Why Bother Voting?

Posted on October 30, 2011 by hessd

I’ve been looking at the results of the most recent New York Times/CBS Poll.  It’s about a week old now; recent, as polls go.  It seems like a real shame that we have to go through all the fuss and … Continue reading →

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Being a Patient and a Citizen

Posted on October 10, 2011 by hessd

I’ve been thinking for a couple of days now about the recommendations by the U. S. Preventive Services Task Force that we stop testing for the prostate-specific antigen (PSA).  The difficulty they point to is not that the PSA doesn’t … Continue reading →

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Obama’s Policy on Israel and Palestine

Posted on September 23, 2011 by hessd

How shall we approach the decades-long standoff between Israel and Palestine?  In our rush to establish one position or another, we blow right by the general questions which the positions purportedly address.  Any set of comparable positions lines up on … Continue reading →

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American Exceptionalism

Posted on September 8, 2011 by hessd

I got a late start on the current discussion of “American Exceptionalism.”  When I was in grad school, there was some talk about it.  The idea at the time was that the U. S., unique among the Western powers, had … Continue reading →

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My Opponent is Really Really Stupid

Posted on August 26, 2011 by hessd

President Obama doesn’t really need to be Superman to win a second term, says Timothy Egan, in a New York Times op ed piece.  He does have “Republican craziness” to run against.  One of the examples of this craziness Egan … Continue reading →

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Highballs and the High Road

Posted on August 18, 2011 by hessd

Imagine that this is one of the notorious “Washington Cocktail Parties.”  Maybe it is.  I don’t know.  My son, Doug, found it for me after I had spent a week looking for one.  I wanted one that played up the … Continue reading →

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Don’t Give Up on Electoral Politics

Posted on August 8, 2011 by hessd

There has been so much hand-wringing about the debt-limit debate.  All of it justified, in my opinion.  A few posts ago, I compared it to a “game” of Russian roulette rather than the more common metaphor of a “game” of … Continue reading →

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Dr. Obama’s Bedside Manner Needs Work

Posted on August 4, 2011 by hessd

It occurred to me recently, that back in the bad old days of medicine when there was very little you could actually do for a patient, people understood their job to be “being with” the patient and making him or … Continue reading →

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Debt Limit Chicken–And Worse

Posted on July 27, 2011 by hessd

July 27, 2011.  It is now less than a week until the United States of America tells the people who have loaned money to us that we were, after all, a bad risk.  The debt limit confrontation has been pictured … Continue reading →

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