Monthly Archives: October 2009

A Quick Note on President Obama and the Nobel Peace Prize

1. Less to do with politics, more to do with punditry: Jonah Goldberg, whose opinion on Glenn Beck I not only think ill-informed but actually dangerous, has said something incredibly wise about President Obama’s receiving the Peace Prize. From NRO’s “The Corner:” The only thing that really bothers me is that this comes just days …

October 10, 2009 – 6:16 am | By ashok | Posted in politics | Comments (4)

Should Political Science Receive Money from the Federal Government?

I only indirectly am involved in this fight: given the nature of what I do, I might apply one day for an NEH grant if it were possible. I doubt I’ll be studying electoral models or conducting surveys any time soon, and applying to the NSF for a grant is rather unlikely for me. I …

October 9, 2009 – 5:21 am | By ashok | Posted in academia, politics | Comments (0)

Links, 10/9/09

I get my new computer today, so I’m a bit too excited right now. It’s not here yet. *sigh* Charles Rangel is head of the House Ways and Means Committee: to say this is one of the most powerful positions in American politics would be understating the obvious. He is also one of the most …

October 9, 2009 – 3:51 am | By ashok | Posted in links | Comments (0)

Links, 10/8/09

Karl Rove, “The GOP is Winning the Health-Care Debate” – Two things: 1. Did we need the tea parties in order to get poll results that doom a takeover of anywhere from a 1/7 to a 1/5 of the US economy during a recession? I’m uncomfortable saying “yes,” but it is perhaps the case that …

October 8, 2009 – 2:52 am | By ashok | Posted in links | Comments (1)

If someone is trolling in the comments, let me know asap

I don’t get that many comments, so it’s not like this is the biggest problem in the world yet. If someone gives you grief, just use the contact form and point out what’s problematic. – If I start getting that many more comments, I’ll probably have to switch to making people register an account, which …

October 7, 2009 – 4:54 pm | By ashok | Posted in blogging | Comments (0)

Rant: Some Atheist Bloggers Need to Watch Their Tone

Pascal, Pensees (244): “Why, do you not say yourself that the sky and the birds prove God?” – “No.” – “Does your religion not say so?” – “No. For though it is true in a sense for some souls whom God has enlightened in this way, yet it is untrue for the majority.” – There …

October 7, 2009 – 8:22 am | By ashok | Posted in blogging, christianity, personal | Comments (6)

Links, 10/6/09

Still without a computer – yes, I’ve lost a lot of documents on which I was working or which I was reading, not to mention a lot of music that meant a lot to me. The dissertation though has been saved to several places online, but I’m working on that with pen and paper right …

October 6, 2009 – 9:41 am | By ashok | Posted in links | Comments (0)

On Robert Bly’s “Driving to Town Late to Mail a Letter”

Driving to Town Late to Mail a Letter (from poetry180) Robert Bly It is a cold and snowy night. The main street is deserted. The only things moving are swirls of snow. As I lift the mailbox door, I feel its cold iron. There is a privacy I love in this snowy night. Driving around, …

October 5, 2009 – 10:21 pm | By ashok | Posted in poetry | Comments (9)

A Public Note of Thanks

Just wanted to say thanks to two sets of people: firstly, Charles Johnson and the whole community at LGF for linking to me, visiting, and standing up to the boors who decided that my blog could be a place they could spread and make excuses for hate. I very much appreciate the attention and concern. …

October 5, 2009 – 9:49 pm | By ashok | Posted in blogging, personal | Comments (0)

My computer is officially out of action…

…I’m using my brother’s right now, and I want to minimize my time using his stuff. My own computer has the Google Redirect virus; after running a virus scan at boot-time, so the scan would be more thorough and not cause any more problems with existing programs running, my computer now cannot start properly at …

October 4, 2009 – 12:52 am | By ashok | Posted in blogging, personal | Comments (4)