Meditations | Unexpected Leisure

March 23, 2013May 6, 2013

Laid Off: Four Years and Counting

I really didn't expect a layoff. The University President and the CFO broke the news me just before the weekly executive meeting I normally attended. I told them I wouldn't be at that meeting; "I have work to do." I immediately went back to my office and started looking for my next job. Read more [...]

February 5, 2013February 3, 2013

Government By Stuff

I have always critiqued those arguing for small government because in my viewed, cutting government just to cut it can have disasterous consequences. One must in all fairness ask whether those who argue for few possessions are open to the same critique. Read more [...]

January 28, 2013January 28, 2013

A Reassessment

Doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result is a well-known sign of insanity. It will also drive a sane person to madness. I must conserve what sanity I have left. Read more [...]

July 29, 2012May 6, 2013

On the Duty of Fiscal Disobedience

OWS stated implicitly and explicitly that Washington, DC though full of sound and fury, signifies nothing. The nationâ€™s true political center of gravity is no longer Washington, but Wall Street. Read more [...]

December 25, 2011

Christmas, Then and Now

This is one of many reasons why Christmas is as relevant today as ever. As we descend into the election season, we see the parade of candidates, would-be charlatans and pretenders to the throne, many wrapping themselves in a cloak of corrosive, self-righteous piety. Meanwhile in city after city, nation after nation, nonviolent people fill the streets on behalf of the dispossessed, forcefully urging, nudging, pressing us all towards a better world. Read more [...]

November 24, 2011

A Minimalist Thanksgiving

You're not trying to feed the whole block, so don't try. Overindulgence sounds like fun until you actually do it. Make enough for nibbling afterward plus some leftovers. You want to enjoy yourselves. Read more [...]

November 15, 2011

Zuccotti Park and the Incompetence of Violence

You would think that by now, Mayor Bloomberg and the NYPD would have learned the lessons from Spain and Egypt and Tunisia and Wisconsin, that repression only causes certain kinds of ideas to flourish. OWS is one of those ideas, and it will continue to grow. Read more [...]

October 23, 2011

The True Message of Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street is telling the powers that be, "We can make a better society than you can, and here's how to do it!" Read more [...]

September 29, 2011September 30, 2011

Some Random Thoughts on “Occupy Wall Street”

As the general economic, political, and cultural climate continued to deteriorate it was hard for me to come up with hopeful, helpful things to say. I mean, what's the point of clipping coupons when massive, indifferent or even malevolent forces were (and remain) poised to do so much harm to so many for the benefit of so few? Read more [...]

September 3, 2011

A Thought on Government Spending

In other words, in order to win World War II, the United States essentially transformed itself into a socialist nation. And after the war, government spending on free college educations for GIs and excellent deals on home loans launched an unrivaled era of prosperity and economic growth. Read more [...]