Enclaves for the cell-less

ARTICLE: The Cell Refuseniks, an Ever-Shrinking Club, By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER, New York Times, October 22, 2009

I think there will always be a core of 15-20% who don't want the connectivity--anywhere you travel in this world.

Eventually, there will be countries based on this principle--but on a voluntary basis. In effect, vacation spots and resorts are already based somewhat on the idea.

May seem counter-intuitive, but more dense the connectivity, the greater the need for enclaves.

And there's nothing wrong with that.

The wages of sin

ARTICLE: Delaware Diocese Files for Bankruptcy in Wake of Abuse Suits, By IAN URBINA, New York Times, October 19, 2009

Frankly, a whole lot of priests and bishops and cardinals should have gone to jail for criminal conspiracy re: the priest sex-abuse scandals.

That would have been a lot more just than depriving parishioners of their churches.

If Christ tosses the money-changers from the temple, imagine what he does to the pedophiles.

Cardinal Law, our (then) man in Boston (we lived in RI when it broke finally), escaped his perp walk only to be rewarded--and rescued in Roman Polanski-like fashion--by the Pope with a cozy spot in the Vatican. It was easily the most shameful thing John Paul ever did. No sainthood for those who participate in the covering-up of crimes against children.

But Dante's got a circle for them all.

Parenting, spanking and yelling

ARTICLE: For Some Parents, Shouting Is the New Spanking, By HILARY STOUT, New York Times, October 21, 2009

I will confess to this one.

Problem is, my kids yell back.

I don't remember spanking working that way.

Good Economist overview on rise of decriminalization of drugs around the world

INTERNATIONAL: "Drugs: Virtually legal; In many countries, full jails, stretched budgets and a general weariness with the war on drugs have made prohibition harder to enforce," The Economist, 14 November 2009.

Fits very nicely with my recent WPR column: Europe and Latin America moving way out ahead on this, but signs that more and more states in the U.S. will be experimenting along these lines.

The surprising victim of the global economic downturn: the war on drugs.

Shortcut on Obama speech

Nicely delivered, but strategically unimaginative in an off-putting way. Too much talking down to the American people. We're more sophisticated; we can handle more complex arguments.

Overall then: good on the 30k decision, bad on specific timetable, and boat missed completely on articulating a larger regionalization of the solution.

Afghanistan is not a vacuum or an island. Just mentioning Pakistan isn't enough.

Check the map, Mr. President. China has a border with Afghanistan.

To be amplified in the my Thursday Esquire column.

Just finished 6,600-word essay for Esquire--the print magazine

Wish me luck actually getting it into "the book," as it is known (the major features part).

Since the financial crash, it's been an entirely different world when it comes to making it into any one issue. Since the 75th anniversary issue in the fall of 2008, I've only scored a small piece (Obama's New Map) in connection with the release of Great Powers, and that movie review last summer.

But it was fun to write this mini-behemoth over the past couple of weeks. Makes me realize I will inevitably want to do something book length on international affairs every several years--if only to keep the intellectual muscle tone.

Anyway, it's about time for me to publish something big like this, so rest assured, it will see the light of day somewhere. It's that good.

But no, even if it does get it, it will not be that large. Those days seem gone.