Quoted: If, as Paul Valéry put it, “the artist’s whole business is to make something out of nothing,” then, unable to meet this demand, he will find himself wandering alone among the shadows cast by the world he forsook in order to salvage his freedom and creativity.

Quoted: I'm a fan of Thatcher; I revere her; she saved my native country; she didn't just break a glass ceiling, she pulverized it into a million little pieces. And she did this, whatever you think of her policies, by always being accountable, always available, always engaged, always eager for an argument on the toughest of grounds, armed with facts and figures and passion. Democracies allow citizens as well as the press to question their potential leaders - rudely, aggressively, relentlessly. The exchange above was one of her lowest points, and she had many high ones. The reason I'm posting this is to remind American voters what a real democracy sounds like.
The horrifying sequestering of Sarah Palin from a press conference and anything like this kind of public interrogation is a scandal. Thatcher was already prime minister, about to be re-elected in a landslide when this debate happened. And she was happy to be subjected to this from an average citizen. This is what feminism looks like in action - from citizen to leader. It's important to remember how deep a decline in female political equality Sarah Palin represents.

Quoted: Worldmapper is a collection of world maps, where territories are re-sized on each map according to the subject of interest.
There are now nearly 600 maps. Maps 1-366 are also available as PDF posters. Use the menu above to find a map of interest.

Quoted: Conservatism to me is less a political philosophy than a stance, a recognition of the fallibility of man and of man’s institutions. Conservatives respect the past not for its antiquity but because it represents, as G.K. Chesterton said, the democracy of the dead; it gives the benefit of the doubt to customs and laws tried and tested in the crucible of time. Conservatives are skeptical of abstract theories and utopian schemes, doubtful that government is wiser than its citizens, and always ready to test any political program against actual results.
Liberalism always seemed to me to be a system of “oughts.” We ought to do this or that because it’s the right thing to do, regardless of whether it works or not. It is a doctrine based on intentions, not results, on feeling good rather than doing good.
But today it is so-called conservatives who are cemented to political programs when they clearly don’t work.

Quoted: Palin’s political style is the logical extreme of the Bushian folksiness-trumps-expertise and McCainesque “authenticity”-trumps-policy approaches. She is a natural product of mass democracy’s ongoing pursuit of charismatic mediocrity, in which voters not only seek someone with whom they can identify but also actively discourage politicians’ cultivation of expertise. Expertise grates against their egalitarianism, and so they try to avoid it in their political leaders.

Quoted: If Matt Simmons is right, the recent drop in crude prices is an illusion - and oil could be headed for the stratosphere.

Quoted: A hedge fund shake-out is likely, says Nouriel Roubini

Quoted: It’s helpful to think of how to address the current financial crisis (and I don’t use that word casually) in terms of the end-state we want to achieve, and the transition plan to get there.
...
The problem we face is often described as mind-bendingly complex, but in its essentials, it is simple.

The fact that we're hoping that the next President is benevolent enough to give up the new Presidential powers is proof that the system of checks and balances has failed.

Quoted: How far apart are Barack Obama and John McCain on the expansion of executive power—whether or not to shrink down the presidency on steroids that has characterized the Bush administration? What's the evidence that one or the other would pump the other branches of government back up rather than pounding them down?