For those who consider most of my posts relating to geopolitics too arcane, I offer the following: Source: comics.com Strip: Pearls Before Swine by by Stephan Pastis
They Still Can’t
This post is available as a PDF file here: http://www.hackneys.com/docs/theystillcant.pdf 30 December 2009 In August of 2002 I endured a personal challenge. At the time, I was sitting on a bar stool at a friend’s house in my Iowa home…
My World View
This essay is available in PDF form here: http://www.hackneys.com/docs/myworldview.pdf “Your world view is, well, wrong.” Those were the last words I ever heard from a guy I’d been friends with for more than 30 years. That was back in…
Thoughts on Obama’s Peace Prize Speech
U.S. President Barack Obama presented his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in Oslo, Norway, earlier today. The headline you will read in the mass media regarding the speech will likely be some variation of “Obama defends US wars as he…
Sobering Facts
Adult Americans Between 1989 and 2007 Americans knowledge of current events dropped by 8.3% 93% know Arnold Schwarzenegger while 36% know Vladimir Putin 32% know Sunni and Shia as two branches of Islam 41% know the name Muslims use…
It’s a Small World After All
Americans don’t get out much. That should come as no surprise considering that, according to the U.S. State Department, only 27 percent of Americans hold a valid passport. That means that 73 percent of Americans couldn’t get out to…
Outside the Fishbowl – 2009/10/06
When you’re inside the United States, it is nearly impossible to realize how insular it is, especially related to information and perspective. Since we’re going to be here for a while, I’m providing a semi-regular injection of outside perspectives and…
The Blind Leading The Blind
Steph and I completed our “Big Summer Drive Across America” trip yesterday with an eight hour run from Arkansas to Texas. Along the way we listened to C-SPAN, the BBC and XMPR. One show on XMPR, Let’s Consider The Source,…
Lessons From Saddam
This post is available as a PDF document here: http://www.hackneys.com/docs/lessonsfromsaddam.pdf ******* For the 23 people in the United States who have not been wholly consumed by the All Michael, All The Time media onslaught, it’s been an interesting week. For…
A Milestone. Or Not.
After 9/11, and especially after visiting ground zero, I had some strong personal reactions. I wrote some magazine columns and also wrote quite a bit about the issues and challenges surrounding the event in non-commercial venues. In addition to doing…