STEWARDSHIP
the assumption of responsibility for the welfare of the world
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O.T. FORD | ESSAYS AND COMMENTARIES
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Original versions: written in multilingual standard

— On other sites

The party of dominion [Dialogue & Discourse] — the Republican Party and minority rule
Afghanistan, at the end — thoughts on the war, the withdrawal, and the press
Cop as servant; cop as master — theoretical and real ideals of the police
Maximum impeachment — a list of Trump’s high crimes and misdemeanors
Tecumseh’s Curse and the two-term fatigue theory — bad political science about elections
Trump-Russia collusion: the basics — outline and timeline of collusion as it happened
The costs and risks of the Democratic field — What happens if certain people are nominated?
The case against the case for Beto O’Rourke [Dialogue & Discourse] — governance matters
Red state, blue state; country state, city state — on the current geography of US politics
A Blue Wave is still more likely than not — evidence for a Democratic midterm win
The myths of the GOP’s decade of power [Dialogue & Discourse] — false Republican success
White power is okay: a troll story [Arc Digital] — how the hoax of the okay sign worked
The worst of liberal absolutism [Areo] — on not accepting your opponents’ valid points
Kevin Williamson is not a free speech martyr [Quillette] — Hanging women for abortion
Donald Trump occasionally says non-racist things [Areo] — “Pocahontas”, etc.
Rise of a moral panic [Areo] — white nationalism after Trump
Hot take culture in the age of social media [Areo] — Macron, racism, and civilization
The cultural relativism of the Christian majority [Areo] — the “religious test” rule
A bloody nose for journalists, self-inflicted — Misreporting a story on North Korea
The law is not the problem — better reasons not to take election help from Russia
Nick Clegg and the damnation of the British plebiscite — Clegg’s self-inflicted destruction
Fake deals and fake laws — the patheticness of Trump
Leaks in the actual public interest — Reality Winner compared to Snowden and Manning
Nikki Haley still works for Donald Trump — Haley has no excuse for serving the administration
Master and fool — Jim Comey, badly played by Vladimir Putin
Anti-Trump: the real and the daft — serious and silly complaints
UKIP and the English realignment — changing partisan affiliations
Aung San Suu Kyi: not a saint then, not a villain now — Burmese politics and morality
Give Trump voters the sympathy they give others — reacting to self-inflicted damage
Welcome to the world we’ve been living in this whole time — populism and nationalism
Neil Gorsuch is not a remedy for Trump — self-serving “anti-Trump” argument
Steve Bannon on the NSC: chill out — Bannon at NSC meetings is a side issue
Reaction never wins in the end — Trump and the long term
Electors: not your call — Should the Electoral College overturn the apparent result?
What has changed since 2012 that could explain Trump? — major and minor factors, considered
Hillary beat a demagogue — a historical note
Trump and the voters of yesteryear — why Trump did better than Romney
Thailand: love the king or go to prison — lèse-majesté
The FBI is effectively a Republican institution — agents are partisan and the director is always in the party
Partisan gerrymandering is not about safe seats — bad political journalism
Hillary Clinton versus a long series of glittery men — double standards
Reporters: Hillary Clinton never talks to me — what reporters really care about
Clinton versus Sanders, the corrected final tally — popular vote and state map
The $15 million clock — Is Ahmed Mohamed a misunderstood inventor?
“Fundamentals” and the fatigue theory — two-term incumbent parties
No need to panic about Donald Trump just yet — reading the situation in July
Tayyip Erdoğan really does have sex with goats — those of us with freedom to insult should use it
Donald Trump occasionally says non-racist things — original version
Correction: Hillary Clinton wins Washington — primary trumps caucuses
Bernie Sanders is not courageous — puncturing a hagiography
Two of anything is not a pattern — bad political journalism
Clinton-Sanders popular vote margin, with caucus estimates — May summary
Correction: Hillary Clinton wins Nebraska — primary trumps caucuses
Free college is not the new free high school — a mistaken analogy
Three types of “independents” — reanalyzing US political groups
Delegate smoke and mirrors — bad political journalism
Not all failed jokes about race are racist — illiterate reactions to humor
Rules for fools — April Fools’ pranks
Press check: Sanders to Wisconsin — bad political journalism
Bernie Sanders’ hypocrisy on voter suppression — hates Arizona; likes caucuses
Muslim neighborhoods — PC nonsense
Who wants to overturn the popular vote now? Bernie Sanders. — Sanders’ attempts to steal the nomination
First-past-the-post and the brokered convention — Can the Stop Trump movement work?
Can the president and vice president be from the same state? — misunderstanding the Constitution
Tulsi Gabbard and the left — Tulsi angles to succeed Bernie Sanders
20% of Trump supporters … and 5% of blacks — misreading and misleading about polls
Everybody lies — Hillary Clinton as a typical politician
Dismissing Syrian agency — Jeffrey Sachs on the war
Hollywood and meritocracy, part II — the #OscarsSoWhite controversy
Hillary wins Iowa 49-45 among actual voters — misleading caucus reporting
Hollywood and meritocracy, part I — Gillian Anderson and pay equity
Minority rule, if that’s your thing — sequential voting is undemocratic
San Bernardino, less wrong — correcting the record on the shootings
College: not your home? — a bad view of college students
Ben Carson’s scholarship tale — bad political journalism
Beto goes to Berlin — O’Rourke and the border fence
Brief thoughts on Bernie Sanders — Can he win? Should he?
Germany has voters, too — bailout politics
Pariah — Jesse Eisenberg and humor
Richard Posner on polygamy — Posner’s retrograde view of women
OMG! Obama is like the greatest president ever!!! — bad political journalism
Two apples don’t make an orange — bogus insinuations of racist double standards
What’s good for the goose is good for the swan — Rachel Dolezal and identity
Settle down, guys — the supposed sexism of ‘you guys’
Turkey says ‘hayır’ to Erdoğan — curtailing ambition for now
Snowden Espionage, Inc. — Ed Snowden as spy for hire
Sex, drugs, and erasers: just for grown-ups — banning erasers from the classroom
Robin Hood of the lunch line — misreporting a cafeteria story
You’ve never heard of Seth Godin? — bad writing
The real Blue Wall is real — bad political journalism
Disney’s African princess — a movie to glorify a preposterous family
British election notes — 2015 results
Fact-checking the Washington Post Fact Checker — Hillary Clinton on immigration
Everything is racist — making the charge meaningless
2016 is not a toss-up — bad election analysis
Gerrymandering: not what you think — bad political journalism
Animal “language”; human “science” — scientific anthropocentrism
Calling women ‘females’ — linguistic ignorance
No means no. — Has ‘no’ come to mean “yes”? No.
Democrats and the West — US political geography patterns
Zeal of a convert — Indiana’s religious-freedom law
Buhari: bad guy, yes; dictator, no. — political terminology
Patty Murray: she’s not from New York — double standards on politicians
Boycott bigots; don’t be one — the misguided calls to boycott Indiana and Arizona
The government of Yemen — accurate political description
Netanyahu, the Arabs, and all of us — a chance to turn the corner in Israel
Press check, 2015 March 5 — bad journalism on several things
Press check, 2015 February 26 — bad journalism on statistics
And now, Slate’s linguistic gabfest … — amateurs try to do phonology
‘Because’, a preposition? No. — an intriguing but obviously-wrong insight
Old celibate guy: “Stop playing with yourself.” — archbishop versus masturbation
Hatred and atheism — motives for murder in Chapel Hill
Greece can handle its own debts — Syriza doesn’t want to pay
Oh, what a tangled … you know the rest — misleading news graphic on Charlie Hebdo
‘ISIL’, ‘Daesh’, and the US government’s useless Arab desk — cultural ignorance regarding ISIS
‘Kouachi’: this time, try it in French — cultural ignorance in journalism
“Evil” and “cowardly” — shameful self-censorship after Charlie Hebdo
Ömer Çelik gets Charlie Hebdo badly wrong — Turkish minister
Who “killed” Palestinian statehood? — bad journalism on statehood
Ukraine and its fifty-year NATO application — dealing with territorial claims
Star Wars Episode VII: The Flock Awakens — groupthink among fans
Teaching US students to be loyal citizens … of México — multicultural education gone awry
The case against torture: get it right — good arguments and bad arguments
The poisoned well — politics of immigration reform
Oooh, you’re so radical. — meaningless stunts for attention
Beyond impressions: actual views in the Muslim world — reading and misreading the Pew report
</hackery> — the insufferability of ‘Scorpion’
Nate Silver wants to talk about something else — bad logic
The bizarre mapping of ISIS — conventional cartography fails
Fact-checking the Washington Post Fact Checker — the GOP and repealing Obamacare
The 1,133 fibs in FiveThirtyEight’s mascot analysis — goosing numbers about offensive sports mascots
Devo Max as a minimum — Scottish devolution
Kids are really fat, we think — statistical ignorance and the CDC
What should we call ISIS? — name issues
If you want to change the police, try to make sense — unserious responses to Ferguson and Trayvon Martin
Bae and bæ — a fake etymology accepted as gospel
Permission to stop reading Žižek — Slavoj Žižek, like Maureen Dowd, admits to plagiarism
Terrorism and “terrorism” — what the word means, if anything
Tolkien lives … sort of — feigning knowledge of the past
Nice try, Sepp Blatter — deflecting from FIFA corruption
Would you seriously rather have pepper spray? — a foolish gun-control point
The identity of Tank Man — remembering the 1989 Tiananmen massacres
Let’s make health care more affordable; but first, let’s pay physicians more — a dubious prescription
“East” and “West” in Ukraine — Pew’s misleading geography
If you call yourself a nerd, you’re not. — an unearned title
How much do we doubt the Big Bang? — distorting a survey of public knowledge
Greenwald on Snowden — What is asylum?
New Russia — journalistic ignorance on Novorossiya
We’re stupid. We get it. — geographical ignorance to “prove” geographical ignorance
#CancelRevolution — the supposed racism of Stephen Colbert
Specialization does occasionally have value, part 2 — shunning experts in typography
Specialization does occasionally have value — shunning experts in linguistics
Dateline: Crimea — a fudge on the annexation
Oscar pronunciations, slightly improved — correcting amateur linguists
Ukraine notes — 2014 February
How not to report a cloture vote — bad journalism about the filibuster
Cheap writing stunts — David Farenthold reporting ignorantly
Sochi, not Сочи — English at the Sochi Olympics
Pussy Riot devours its children — a punk band gets way too punk
@pourmecoffee: funny and/or interesting and/or gratuitously insulting — Twitter star is a jackass
Mike Huckabee’s got you covered, ladies — a misogynistic speech to the RNC
War of Six Armies — the real situation in Syria
Innumeracy — two examples of data illiteracy
Burnt over — Justine Sacco, Duck Dynasty, and outrage
Harvard fraud — a dubious report of admission fraud
Football in the States gets a new side — US soccer aping European language
Press check, 2013 November 13 — Dave Weigel being innumerate and scientifically illiterate
Ted Cruz assassinates the archduke Franz Ferdinand — Cruz, the Tea Party, and the debt ceiling
Tom Corbett: just as bad as you (part 2) — another bigot attacks Corbett
Tom Corbett: just as bad as you — a bigot attacks Corbett for similar bigotry
Hands off Bashar al-Assad — protesters defend Assad
Disney fouls its nest — Disney makes a fake Pixar movie
The olinguito: identified as a new species in 1920 — a false claim of discovery
Abortion is a decision for a woman, not a woman and [insert other person] — rejecting a common formula
Florida legislative geography — correcting the picture
The price of forgiveness is contrition; or, Get over yourself, Eliot Spitzer — supposed repentants who won’t go away
Geography 020: remedial cartography — a really bad FEMA map
Edward Snowden and the delusions of espionage — Snowden is a spy, not a whistleblower
GIF: It’s pronounced both ways. — a misguided dispute
Donate wisely. — Don’t bind your donations.
Same-sex marriage and the constitutional amendment — past amendments blocking progress
IRS scrutiny of what kind of organizations, was it? — Tea Party façade
Christie’s courage — Chris Christie gets it wrong
Yes, of course you got the joke. — humor and the Oscars
And the Oscar goes to … facts, once again — mocking data and losing
Zero Hour pilot scorecard — a questionable new show
What a lame duck is, and is not — a commonly-misused term
The world according to ‘Hawaii Five-0’ — implausibilities
Above the law — Aaron Swartz, intellectual property, and civil disobedience
Language is hard; let’s go shopping — Icelandic names
Death of a paparazzo — Unnecessary call for new laws
Death of Dave Brubeck
Any child can be monarch. Any child whose parent was monarch, that is. — an uninteresting change in British law
Swing state: Colorado likes minority rule — the Denver Post thinks Colorado deserves extra power
Northern empire, Midwestern dynasty — a comprehensive theory of Big Ten expansion
Branding yourself out of the market — the GOP pursues a shrinking coalition
Election Day thoughts, cont. — 2012
Election Day thoughts: late night / morning after edition — 2012
Election Day thoughts: morning edition — 2012
2012 California ballot questions — assessments/endorsements
Election 2012: Objectivity v. Subjectivity — data analysis versus instinct punditry
Matt K. Lewis and “the world” v. Nate Silver — a dubious attack on data analysis
Mitt Romney’s naval strategy — an idiotic defense of Romney
Mitt Romney’s geography — a bogus claim about Iran and Syria
Why is Indiana Republican? — a political geography analysis
Fools, partisans, and Pete du Pont — a weak case for Romney’s probability
Please come to Iowa. We matter. — a pathetic plea on behalf of Iowa as important
Sometimes we at the Beeb just do these things — BBC innumeracy
Robert Stacy McCain v. Nate Silver: Who needs his fingers to count to ten? — an unconvincing attack
Mitt Romney, federal CEO — Romney doesn’t understand government or business
George F. Will has an idea — bad math
Politics of illiteracy — pretending not to understand opponents
Julian Assange, Rafael Correa, and the truth — Assange is not a liberal
Done caring about Augusta National — gradual retreat from despicable
A subject on which there can be no debate — falling afoul of the Anti-Racists of Tumblr
Racism, really. — a follow-up
Racism, really. — What racism is and is not.
Best of the best? — the rules of Olympic gymnastics
Every Olympics is the “Totalitarian Olympics” — the advantage of totalitarian states
Daring military action against Belarus with … umm … stuffed animals. — a request
“Free stuff”. Except for, y’know, the tax. — Romney versus Obamacare
Ergo, Romneycare is a tax. — Romney tries to wriggle out of his health care reform
Hating on Internet Explorer — the wrong target
Permanent social superiority — fawning on a judge
Grifter’s lies are now journalist’s facts — treating a lie as truth
Twenty minutes ago, I made a life-changing decision that I will never, ever regret.
Not to defend SNL, but … — critic of Saturday Night Live doesn’t understand it
Cleaning house for Eurovision — Azerbaijan hosting Eurovision
Empty slogans — global protest scene versus NATO
Let’s ask Chen Guangcheng whether China is democratic. — the UN, and misunderstanding democracy
All race, all the time. — the vacuousness of Lindy West and her Anti-Racism
Okay to like ‘Creep’ non-ironically again — bad music criticism
The mysterious trajectory of Kristen Wiig — Why has Wiig succeeded? Hmmm.
The UN does its thing in Syria — the usual charade
Jim Yong Kim to head the World Bank — the real reason for objection
ATT steps down in Mali — Amadou Toumani Touré
Azawad independence — a secession in Mali
No, Cristina, you’re ridiculous and absurd. — Argentine president Fernández and the Falklands
Delusions of the Mali junta — 2012
Tunisia forgoes sharia — democratic transition
Obamacare pre-post-mortem — if the Supreme Court strikes down the mandate
The Supreme Court might not decide this one on the merits. — the Court as a forum for personal opinions
Commonwealth of Virginia v. Truth — the adversarial judicial system
The real coup in Mali — calling Amadou Toumani Touré a “coup-maker”
The meaning of ‘prejudice’ — judgement, rationalism, religion
Employers ask for applicants’ personal passwords
The world’s largest employer — the BBC gets it wrong
Would somebody please kill Robert Mugabe now? — outrageous penalty in Zimbabwe
Fanatics of the book — deaths after a Qur’an burns
Barack-etology and swing states — Obama’s supposed gaming of an NCAA bracket
So now I won’t be reading the LA Times, either … — newspaper paywalls
Three strikes. — killing in Afghanistan
Gingrich-Perry 2012 — a faux ticket proposal
Kony 2012: should we really try another twenty years of nothing? — unconvincing criticism of a group against the LRA
(brief) — short posts not otherwise listed
Globalization and today’s events in Egypt — on the fall of Hosni Mubarak
 

— Academic papers and essays

Parallel worlds: empirical region and place — geography dissertation

In defense of self-determination — Crimea and supposed principle
Realities of mêlée and theories of order — an account of government in general
Empires of fact and hyperbole — empire as a form of organization within the state
Myth, greed, and force — an account of illiberal government
Power, politics, and mêlée — social movement theory
Totalitarianism in theory — high-repression, high-loyalty régimes in Wintrobe
Human rights and the problem of equivalence — false equivalence and non-equivalence
The certitude of right and rights — Michael Ignatieff and human rights
Prospects for integration and disintegration in the world — a study
Nationalism as a political ideology — the territoriality of nations
The territorial state — an analysis of Mann’s ‘The autonomous power of the state’
World power and the Heartland — an analysis of Mackinder’s pivot area
Regions and the territorial trap — extending John Agnew’s critique
Region and place — a comparison of geographical terms
Non-Aristotelian conception of place — Platonic and modern
The concept of belonging — the view from cultural geography
Geography and the advancement of science — a discipline’s forgotten role
Particularity and the space-place distinction — geographical concepts
Geography and the state — a dependent relationship
The quantitative revolution in geography — the discipline’s reach towards science
Regional versus systematic geography — a contrast and struggle
Untouchable — the last military dynasty in Nigeria
The mandate of heaven — advising the Chinese empire
Taking sides — proposed US policy on Taiwan
The way forward and out — the future of China
Everyday heroes — the second Ku Klux Klan
Plus ça globalize, plus c’est la même monde — globalization
Not exactly, thanks for asking — on the clash of civilizations
Deus ex machina — Genesis 22 and ‘Fear and trembling’
Again — the story of Rwanda, and the least we can do now
Notes on the “ethics” of religion — short analyses of texts and figures
 

— Foundational documents and policies

Introduction — the stewardship site
The stewardship — the basic concept
Elements of the stewardship — institutions and their interaction
Roles in the stewardship — various ways individuals can act as stewards
Metaphors and representations — stories that illustrate stewardship
A second pole — stewardship as opposed to dominion
The Stewardship Union — proposal for broader organization
Principles of the Stewardship Union — proposed organizing principles
The Stewardship Project — standing organization for stewardship
The Standard of Justice — statement and elaboration
The tribunate — proposal for an improved democracy
The general account — discussion of a personal role
 

— Truth and stewardship

Transcendence — cosmology and ethics in the universe
Transcendent rationalism — the logical basis of stewardship
Aristocracy of the mind — rationalism as a virtue
Sable — a thought on symbolism
Models of consciousness — metaphors for the mind
Self and other — an early discussion of the comprehensive theory
Semiotic theory — the semiotic component of a comprehensive theory
 

— Specific issues from a stewardship perspective

The world envisioned — an ideal described
Civil society — charity, government, property, and stewardship
World unity — the foundations for a stewardship of Earth
Red menace — a rational view of communism
Yin and yang in the stewardship — the two sides of compassion
Standardism, injustice, and caprice — written law and the dominion
Sentience and reason — the ethics of animal consciousness
Casting the roles in an old drama — the legend of stewardship
Current issues — commentaries on various matters
 

— Apostasy: essays of unbelief

Apostasy — introduction
Homeland — origins of apostasy
Tyrants and sycophants — cultural relativism and the policy of appeasement
Innocents — nationalism and gun control
Cults — demonization of unpopularity
Superstition — religion as dominion
Pomp and pomposity — formality, tradition, and imperiousness
Reefer madness — the war on drugs
Old glory — freedom and flag burning
Nicht anders — the stand of Martin Luther
Briefs — ‘Authoritarianism’, JFK, Robin Hood
Class, caste, and transformation — educational elitism
The warlords of intrigue — police state in the US
The “American” Taliban — apostasy as treason
The will of nations — the madness of nationalism
Stars and Stripes forever — the Pledge of Allegiance
Down, and for good reason — 2002 US elections
No, Virginia, now that you mention it — deception and self-deception
 

— Reference base

Index — explanation and shorter entries
Agriculture: issues — soil conservation, pollution, monoculture, Green Revolution, GMOs
Ain’t — contraction of ‘am not’
Biodiversity — basic concepts
Burma — state and nation
China — nation and historical-cultural region
City — developed human settlement
Civilization — cultural sphere based on historical influence
Climate change — historically and as an environmental issue
Climate systems — global functioning of climate
Conservation: issues — anthropocentrism v. biocentrism; ecotones; greenways
Conventionality — supposed truth by agreement
Country — conventional region of the world
Culture — learned beliefs, abilities, and practices
Demographics — population patterns and principles
Economics — basic concepts
Egypt — historical region and modern state
Empire — social and governmental phenomenon of history
Energy: issues — fossil fuels, renewables, nuclear, cost and politics
First-past-the-post — electoral system
Gerrymandering — political districting for advantage
Globalization — integration across fields
Government — state and politics
Groundwater — forms and functioning
Hispanic — US ethnicity and term
India — historical region
Indo-Asia — civilizational sphere of Indian culture
Indo-European — world’s largest language family
Jews — historical and cultural nation
Landform — physical regions of the Earth’s surface
Landmass — the concept, and the largest and most populous examples
Language — basic concepts
Latins — cultural nation of history and the present
Latitude — concepts and effects
Life and ecology — basic concepts
Lowest common denominator — math concept and metaphor
Mongolia — nation, country, and state
Nation — grouping of people
Professional — English term
Region — generic geographical area
Religion — general nature and individual religions
Rhoticity in English — historical use and non-use of the ‘R’ sound
Rus — nation and historical-cultural region
Russia — nation and historical-cultural region
Semites — historical-cultural nation
Sex and gender — biological realities and social categories
Sino-Asia — civilizational sphere of Chinese culture
Slavs — Eastern European people and culture
Society — basic concepts and functioning
Somalia — cultural region, nation, country, states
Speech — phonetics and phonology
Surface water — forms and functioning
Turks — historical-cultural nation
Ukraine — historical and cultural region, country, state
Working class — English term
World region — major conventional subdivision of the cultural world
Writing — concepts and scripts
You guys — English pronoun
And also see:
Explanations of world issues [Quora]
 

— Linguistic theory

Semiotic theory — the semiotic component of a comprehensive theory
Notes in classical linguistics — Greek and Latin
Basic linguistics of English — primarily for teachers and tutors
Transcription protocols — standards and principles for transliteration and transcription
 

— Newsletters  

2008-03-10: Fair play — the democracy of the Democratic nominating process
2008-01-09: The hypnotist — the curious success of Barack Obama
2007-11-22: White man’s burden — Iowa and New Hampshire as colonialism
2006-02-04: Lend me a sword to break the fall — romanticism and Hamas
2006-01-10: Radical opposition — right versus left
2005-10-04: Phoenix submergent — on not rebuilding New Orleans
2005-10-03: Brats — possessive peoples
2005-08-06: Fundamentalism — scientists as an ignorant priesthood
2005-07-19: Someone else’s world — the dismal life of Muslims
2005-05-14: Uncle Volodya’s Revue — Putin speaks to parliament
2005-04-17: Lord Keaw the Magnificent — The omnipotence of the Catholic Church
2005-03-04: Deck chairs — Sudan’s misplaced priorities
2005-02-13: Let bygones be bygones — The death of Gnassingbé Éyadéma
2005-01-23: Instincts of a worse nature — Victims of tyranny and tsunamis
2004-12-18: A story of poles — Ukrainian and US elections compared
2004-10-26: You pays your money — The coming US presidential election
2004-09-24: Festival of illusions — Supposed transfer of power in China
2004-09-05: Sore losers — US global dominance
2004-07-17: Random obsolescent thoughts — terrorists, the wall, Milosevic, Blakely
2004-07-01: Geomythology — geopolitical change as the only enduring reality
2004-06-24: Sunset provision — the legacy of Ronald Reagan
2004-05-31: Old people — aging dictators getting away with murder
2004-05-06: Folk sayings — the Abu Ghraib scandal
2004-04-30: Out of bounds — Greek nationalism and Cyprus reunification
2004-04-09: Street theater — empty protestation against tyranny
2004-03-16: Guilt by association — terrorist bombings in Spain
2004-02-29: A hollow confession — insincerity
2004-02-10: Veil of hypocrisy — the headscarf in France
2004-01-23: Pep-squad republic — the Iowa caucuses
2004-01-07: Parchment façade — constitutional processes
2003-12-18: Verdict of ignominy — the capture and punishment of Saddam
2003-11-08: The least of these my brethren — silence about nationalist dominion
2003-10-08: If they will not jump, can they be pushed? — Californian democracy
2003-09-10: Climb mountain; erect cross. — the Howard Dean campaign
2003-08-21: Incitement to riot — culpability of leaders
2003-08-18: Machinery — eliminating the individuality of the individual
2003-08-01: The subtlety of shades — two kinds of tyranny
2003-07-17: If an image be washed away — narcissism in our approach to the world
2003-06-26: A continent beneath the sea — ignoring Africa
2003-06-18: Possession is nine-tenths of lawlessness — wealth and entitlement
2003-05-28: Tyranny on Market Street — a personal experience of petty dominion
2003-05-19: Pageantry as peace — the Nobel Peace Prize
2003-04-26: Reasoning out of a box — rationalism and taboos
2003-04-18: Armistice and convention — considering the victory in Iraq
2003-03-20: An imperialism of kleptocracy — collusion in appropriation
2003-03-11: A strange and sordid business — depravity at the United Nations
2003-02-04: A space folly — the Columbia explosion
2003-01-31: The best defense — a politics of candor
2003-01-21: Truth is the first casualty of anti-war — those against war with Iraq
2003-01-13: Random obsolescent thoughts — execution, taxes, Nigeria, the Raëlians
2003-01-05: No-tomorrow life — the despair of poverty
2002-12-29: Disputed territory — understanding freedom
2002-12-10: Jim Crow: the man and his life — Thurmond, Lott, and racism
2002-11-21: Skepticism and the secular method — rationalism consistently applied
2002-11-08: Down, and for good reason — the mid-term elections in the US
2002-10-31: A jihad by any other name — the Russian war in Chechnya
2002-10-20: Random obsolescent thoughts — the King trial, elections, the IRA
2002-09-09: Champion to the cause — liberalism’s folly on Saddam
2002-07-04: Stars and Stripes forever, or purgatories to that effect — the Pledge of Allegiance
2002-06-13: The strategy of perseverance — an enduring activism
2002-03-17: The will of nations — the madness of nationalism
2002-03-10: Three things worth following at the moment — Zimbabwe, Madagascar, nukes
2002-03-03: Casting the roles in an old drama — dominion and stewardship in metaphor
2002-02-10: Random obsolescent thoughts — rhetoric, islands, post-9/11 charity
2002-01-20: Class, caste, and transformation — educational elitism
2001-12-09: The “American” Taliban — apostasy as treason
2001-11-25: A banner of defiance to the warlords of intrigue — police state in the US
2001-11-25: —— A few footnotes
2001-11-11: Progress, if it can be called that — the fall of Mazar-e-Sharif
2001-10-21: Our old friends — a website from the Dominion
2001-09-30: The unconscionable silence of the opposition — liberals play dead
2001-09-15: War is Hell, and other reasons to think — the coming response to 9/11
2000-12-19: And so it ends — resolution of the US election
2000-11-15: Hang, if you would, the jury — the US presidential election
 

— The Semi-Regular Dogmatic: critical thought from an apostate

1. Sophists — modern academic philosophy
2. Desdicha — dispossession
3. Lenguaje — languages and dialects
4. Bastardy — legitimacy of world states
5. Scenario — coming fascism in the US
6. The Beast — the human body
7. Doctrine — education and indoctrination
8. Weltburg — world integration
Toadeaters — appeasement of tyranny
 

— Collections of past commentaries on issues of the world

Past issues — commentaries on various matters
China — Clinton’s visit, flooding, usual tricks
Africa — Congo, eastern Africa, Angola, Lesotho, Guinea-Bissau
Nigeria — Abacha, Abiola, Abdusalam
The Balkans — Kosovo, Serbia, Macedonia, Albania
India — Nuclear weapons, Kashmir
Indonesia/Malaysia — Habibie, Mahathir, Megawati
Iraq — war, sanctions, and weapons of mass destruction
Southeast Asia — Burma, Cambodia