The Nature of Things

Former President Obama has continued his practice of sharing his summer reading list with us. It's always fun to compare his reading habits with my own to see where they overlap. His reading material tends more to nonfiction than my own, but it is refreshing to realize that he is also an enthusiastic consumer of great fiction. His list last summer included only five books , three fiction and two nonfiction, and I had read (or planned to read) and enjoyed the three fiction and one of the nonfiction. I was gratified that we were so in sync. This year's list contains works by eleven different writers , including, at the top of the list, the collected works of Toni Morrison, and our reading tastes are somewhat less in sync this year. I can only claim to have read one of Morrison's books, Beloved, which I read eleven years ago. I feel that I did not fully appreciate that book at the time and that I need to read it again. I would also like to read her other works. Second on his ...

Whenever one turns on the television or radio these days or looks at a newspaper, one is hit in the face with stories of the "fiscal cliff," that totally phony fiscal crisis that was manufactured by Republicans during the last budget negotiations. They didn't want to face up to the work that needed to be done so they inserted a time bomb into the agreement. The time bomb would go off on January 1, 2013. Taxes would be raised on everybody and military and discretionary spending would be automatically cut by drastic amounts through a process called sequestration. This would be a forced austerity program. It would definitely cut the deficit, but it would probably also plunge the country's economy into a recession, because austerity at this particular time is the last thing we need. Of course, the Republicans never intended for any of this to actually take effect. They were confident that they would win big in this year's election and then they could just rescind ever...

The drumbeat on the right has been increasing in volume for months now. The same people who talked up the unnecessary war in Iraq that has killed and maimed thousands of people, many of them Americans, are now panting to start such a war in Iran . What is it about these people anyway? Why is their only way of dealing with the world to start a war? Iran is no threat to us. Even if they had a nuclear capability, they would be no threat to us. Furthermore, they have more than enough problems to deal with in their society. Why should they be looking for another one? In fact, as far as I can tell from my reading, Iran is not looking for a war with anybody, least of all the United States, no matter what the right-wingers here and in Israel may be saying. The United Nations sanctions against the country seem to be working. Why would we not simply continue those and seek diplomatic solutions to any problems or disputes? Why would we want to jump in and kill thousands of innocent Iranians as we...