An email to my very republican uncle:
It would be nice. I was brought up in the methodist church, though did go to a Lutheran school for quite a while. The bible was one of my first hard reads... one of these days I will get to the Torah.
Thank you for the recommendations. What is your underlying message by recommending these books? America's great tide has floated all ships? I cannot help but think back to my own history classes about wartime (WWII in particular) and my realization for the first time that great things do come out of war such as penicillian (though a bit of an accident) and man-made rubber (how integral it is to war was also a shocker) among other things (nuclear power). I think about how great our world is now that people do not have to deal with bacterial infection as they might have used to (and according to one professor, do have to deal with asthma due to the 'dust' from man-made rubber - his own random hypothesis that he was working to test).
I truly hope that as a world wide community, with America leading of course, we could put this same sort of war-like effort towards solving our environmental problems. I hate that Japan is ready to boast the number one car companies in the world as we fucking sit on our hands. GM and Ford have been downgraded to junk bond status!? Did you think you would see this in your lifetime? I fondly remember Dad being very proud of purchasing only US made cars until the Turbo Dodge Lancer wasn't Turbo anymore. It makes me sick that the smart decision these days is to look outside of America for car/transportation manufacturing prowess.
It makes me sick as well that we have not led the way in the internal development of humans (we have a lot of work to do!) and the truly smart development of our natural environment. These are areas where I expect us as Americans to not only excell at, but be the very fucking best at. I remain hopeful.
On other subjects here is some things I have found interesting as of late:
http://www.wnyc.org/stream/ram.py?file=/lopate/lopate050205d.ra
A fascinating interview with Dr. Tadatoshi Akiba, mayor of Hiroshima and president of Mayors for Peace. Dr. Akiba is in New York for the UN conference on the Nuclear Nonproliferation treaty, and he took the time for some eloquent straight talk about the nuclear weapons and international politics. (First link is to a real audio file.)
http://cunningrealist.blogspot.com/
A lifelong Conservative with a strong independent streak, I am a late-30's resident of New York City and an executive in the financial industry. I have a BA from a top-ten school and an MBA from Columbia University.
He writes some very interesting things. His recent writings about the Fed have really piqued my interest. The 'housing bubble' is something I wonder about intensely (though I have thought it was bound for a correction 2 years ago - shows what I know).
It would be nice. I was brought up in the methodist church, though did go to a Lutheran school for quite a while. The bible was one of my first hard reads... one of these days I will get to the Torah.
Thank you for the recommendations. What is your underlying message by recommending these books? America's great tide has floated all ships? I cannot help but think back to my own history classes about wartime (WWII in particular) and my realization for the first time that great things do come out of war such as penicillian (though a bit of an accident) and man-made rubber (how integral it is to war was also a shocker) among other things (nuclear power). I think about how great our world is now that people do not have to deal with bacterial infection as they might have used to (and according to one professor, do have to deal with asthma due to the 'dust' from man-made rubber - his own random hypothesis that he was working to test).
I truly hope that as a world wide community, with America leading of course, we could put this same sort of war-like effort towards solving our environmental problems. I hate that Japan is ready to boast the number one car companies in the world as we fucking sit on our hands. GM and Ford have been downgraded to junk bond status!? Did you think you would see this in your lifetime? I fondly remember Dad being very proud of purchasing only US made cars until the Turbo Dodge Lancer wasn't Turbo anymore. It makes me sick that the smart decision these days is to look outside of America for car/transportation manufacturing prowess.
It makes me sick as well that we have not led the way in the internal development of humans (we have a lot of work to do!) and the truly smart development of our natural environment. These are areas where I expect us as Americans to not only excell at, but be the very fucking best at. I remain hopeful.
On other subjects here is some things I have found interesting as of late:
http://www.wnyc.org/stream/ram.py?file=/lopate/lopate050205d.ra
A fascinating interview with Dr. Tadatoshi Akiba, mayor of Hiroshima and president of Mayors for Peace. Dr. Akiba is in New York for the UN conference on the Nuclear Nonproliferation treaty, and he took the time for some eloquent straight talk about the nuclear weapons and international politics. (First link is to a real audio file.)
http://cunningrealist.blogspot.com/
A lifelong Conservative with a strong independent streak, I am a late-30's resident of New York City and an executive in the financial industry. I have a BA from a top-ten school and an MBA from Columbia University.
He writes some very interesting things. His recent writings about the Fed have really piqued my interest. The 'housing bubble' is something I wonder about intensely (though I have thought it was bound for a correction 2 years ago - shows what I know).
One of these days I am going to get around to writing a letter to my republican uncle. Thanks.
The best to you.
Terry Finley
commentary.fin@gmail.com
http://finleyone.commodore.at/
Posted by
Terry Finley |
12:24 PM
I would recommend it. We have had some great email discussions back and forth.
The conclusion to the story though is even better. He took this hard right stand and talked towards the policies he did only to provoke conversation with me and to challenge me. He is in fact left-leaning though it is hard, right now, to determine the full truth. I think the reality is, with him as so many of us, we are conflicted and do not fit in any handy boxes.
Thanks for your comment.
Posted by
Nathan |
12:31 PM