One of the perks of living overseas is that we vote by absentee ballot a month or so in advance of a presidential election and can then tune out of the news for most of October and get on with our lives. Not that we tune out completely, of course. Partisan chatter is for better or worse—mostly for worse—right at our fingertips. But in voting 30-45 days prior to the election, as Americans abroad are advised to do, we have taken ourselves off of the rolls of the undecided and don’t have… Read more

In a rare case of bipartisanship, a group of Florida’s Legislators has given up on having adults contribute to the improvement of the state’s public schools and are focusing their efforts on passing legislation that would invite high school students to pray for their own future. At least that’s how it appears when reading between these two headlines of today’s (Jan. 13, 2012) Miami Herald: 1. “Florida schools slide in national ranking” 2. “School-prayer bill passes key… Read more

Sept. 23, 2011. The policies and referenda of California, our most populous state, home to so much wealth, naturally have national implications and ambitions. Sometimes when we hear about their candidates and issues, those of us from smaller states are frustrated that we don’t have access to their ballot box. So it’s nice to see that former California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman has been named CEO of Hewlett-Packard. Now anyone around the world in the market for a laptop, tablet,… Read more

You know that famous scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” where the people inside the restaurant by the gas station are just beginning to understand that the birds have got a mean streak? It’s an amazing piece of screenwriting that makes me think of tax holidays in America. In that scene in “The Birds,” one woman, i.e. the expert, has been insisting that birds of different species don’t have the social network to work together to act aggressively against people. Another insists… Read more