Latest Posts
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Confucian and Taoist Perspectives on the US Economic Crisis
When stock markets made back some of their losses at the end of 2008, I was hopeful that the economic decline in the US might be easing. But no. The past few weeks have brought markets down once again. Credit… Continue reading
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Sun Tzu on the American Exit from Iraq
One of the benefits of teaching is the new ideas that are generated in conversation with students. That happened the other day. My class was discussing Sun Tzu and the impending US withdrawal from Iraq, focusing on a recent report… Continue reading
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Obama’s Mencian Themes
I was as happy as all of those cold people out on the Mall in Washington DC yesterday, even though I watched the proceedings in the warmth of the local movie theater, transformed into a public square for Obama's inauguration. … Continue reading
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The Natural Order of Things
This morning I followed a link posted by Andrew Sullivan that led me to an article by Matt Ridley in The Spectator entitled, "The Natural Order of Things." Of course you know what I was thinking. And while I found… Continue reading
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One Last Time with Gusto: Bush Lost the War!
With the impending inauguration of Obama, a lot of revisionism about the Bush years is streaming forth from various sources. But as far as Iraq is concerned, I'm sticking with my old friend the Aardvark, who is now blogging under… Continue reading
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Women and Children First: Confucius Would Agree
The hair-raising crash landing and rescue of flight 1549 has been all over the news the past couple of days. It is mind-boggling that no one was seriously injured. As I processed the news I noticed something: the invocation of… Continue reading
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Freedom of Speech in China (with a bit of Chuang Tzu thrown in for good measure)
Over at ESWN, Roland has translated a rather remarkable commentary from The Beijing Daily News, by Shin Minte. (original Chinese here). It's title says a lot: "The Pursuit of Truth is Tied in with Freedom of Speech." I don't… Continue reading
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The Tao of Personal Genomics
When I saw the cover story in the Sunday Times Magazine by Steven Pinker, "My Genome, My Self," I was ready to pounce. I thought: here comes a biological determinist trying to assert that we can understand personal identity and… Continue reading
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Modernization is not Americanization
David Marash, a veteran journalist who just spend four months in Shantou, notices how American consumer culture has become common in China: In the United States of the late 1940s and 1950s, people once-shackled by Depression-era want and caution and… Continue reading
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The Useless Tree and The GlobalPost
Starting on Monday, January 12th, The Useless Tree will be linked to the Globalpost, a new international news service. They will pick up my feed every day and post it, in full, on their site. I have put a button… Continue reading
The Useless Tree 