Slow Posting Here For A While

In the meantime there will probably be more posting action over on my financial blog : click HERE if you are interested.

'Turkishness'

HERE is a thoughtful and thought provoking post on the the subject.

Looking out on the intellectual landscape I can only see Murat Belge and Mustafa Akyol who are not afraid to take this subject on head on.

What distinguishes Akyol even further is that he does not shy from taking an almost humourous and light hearted approach (THIS recent post from his blog is a perfect example).

Is he the first 'Turk-in-essence' , to borrow a phrase from Ziya Meral, in all of recorded history to be able to laugh at himself and his Turkishness ?

Maybe.

The U.S. Presidential Election

Milton Friedman on YouTube : what is libertarianism ? it's only a 2 minute 23 second video but covers the subject pretty comprehensively

Libertarians Rising - TIME : that would be Ron Paul

Christians for Ron Paul .com - home page : the only candidate that makes sense

It's not funny anymore, it really isn't : a small indication of the lost opportunities under Bush. can the next prez clean up this global mess ? who is up to the task ?

Why He's Rooting for John McCain : the guy makes a pretty good case; but, as someone said in the comments the lot for the Republicans could be to "sit in the corner and think about what they have done" for (at least) the next 4 years.

Obama, Huckabee sweep to Iowa victories : They each seem to have pretty slick political machines. This is what is needed to become President these days, especially as people are generally too mentally lazy to discern beyond the PR to real issues and to real potential. So while Ron Paul is the first and only true and consistent libertarian presidential candidate, he seems to have hurt himself by coming across as an "America blamer". Will it then be a Obama/Huckabee horse race in November ? We will see.

UPDATE : Libertarian or not, there is simply no excuse for racism. I am withdrawing my personal support for Ron Paul : right ideas, but the wrong man.

Linkestan 2008 01 01

Kemalist Science and Its Perpetual Motion Machine and
Israeli UAVs For Turkey : 2 pointers that all is not healthy in this country which has been coming into the world's spotlight in the past 5 years.

New Year's Resolutions

1) no snacking at bedtime
2) replace lunch with a snack of brazil nuts and dried fruit
3) to go down to 75 kg by 01.01.2009

Bye Bye Miss American Turkish Pie