Author Archives: Mark

Therapeutic Counseling

NBC News reports that conservative pundit Dinesh D’Souza has been sentenced to a $30,000 fine, community service and ‘therapeutic counseling’ for illegally routing campaign contributions through other people in an attempt to circumvent donation limits. I’m not a fan of … Continue reading

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What Justifies Divorce?

From the Sydney Morning Herald, interviewing Orlando Bloom on his divorce from Miranda Kerr – The 37-year-old actor told the magazine that his split from Kerr was “amicable”. He says his ex is “a very supportive and understanding woman”, but … Continue reading

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The Will of an Ox

Charlotte Dawson was a media personality in Australia and New Zealand who died last week in Sydney at the age of 47. Though no one seems willing to say so explicitly, all the media reports seem to imply that her … Continue reading

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Crimes Against Journalism

Nothing makes me madder than stupid, incompetent journalism. The Sydney Morning Herald’s latest entry in this category is here. if you read nearly half way into the article you find this: This week the Independent Commission Against Corruption named Mr … Continue reading

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The Wealthy Get No Love From Hillary. At Any Cost.

The AP are reporting today that Facebook Mark Zuckerburg gave nearly $1 billion in stock to a California charity last year. Of course he is no stranger to philanthropy, having given, for example, $100 million to Newark public schools in … Continue reading

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John Key and David Cunliffe: Opponents of the Free Market

There has been a furious beat-up in the NZ press lately about Australia’s Coles and Woolworths supermarkets dropping NZ-sourced product lines as part of energetic ‘Buy Australia’ marketing campaigns by both companies. These companies evidently believe their customers have a … Continue reading

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Food Regulation? No Thanks.

An NBC News article today reports on a study headed by Dr. Roberto De Vogli of the department of Public Health Sciences at the University of California, Davis that found a correlation between increases in fast food purchases and average … Continue reading

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Media Self-Censorship

Whoa, it’s 2014 – guess it’s time to have another crack at blogging! So, the media seems to be abuzz this morning with a story about Madonna, who, it is said, has apologized for using a racial slur in an … Continue reading

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What Happened In Cincinnati

I read a piece by Bob Frum in the Daily Beast this morning in which he stated boldly – In the end, events and the evidence will lead to the overwhelming conclusion that IRS conduct in the Cincinnati field office … Continue reading

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Gender

Lying in bed this morning, reading the Washington Post sideways on my computer next to the me – as you do – I thought this was an interesting comment by Ruth Marcus in the context of the President’s recent remarks … Continue reading

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