By Paolo von Schirach February 12, 2013 WASHINGTON – Pope Benedict XVI announced that he will resign on account of his advanced age (85) and increased frailty. This unexpected (and unprecedented) move provides the opportunity to give a look at the Catholic Church and its prospects as the institution that for two millennia gave spiritual guidance, education and refuge to a [...]
By Paolo von Schirach February 5, 2013 WASHINGTON – Thanks to outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti, Italy’s overall fiscal picture improved. But at a huge price. The combined effect of spending cuts and tax hikes is even lower growth in an already non competitive economy. Beyond stagnation, Italy’s economy is damaged by rampant corruption among office holders and civil [...]
By Paolo von Schirach January 21, 2013 WASHINGTON – Nothing I have heard from Barack Obama since his November clear, (albeit not triumphant), re-election convinces me that this President has anything even close to a meaningful economic growth and fiscal reform agenda that can receive bipartisan approval. His Inaugural Address, if anything, would indicate that between growth [...]
By Paolo von Schirach December 1, 2012 WASHINGTON – It will be impossible to engage in serious public education reform efforts in America until the key actors will recognize the full extent of the deep crisis we are in. But many players are in denial. They fool themselves or are trying to fool society by hiding [...]
By Paolo von Schirach November 15, 2012 WASHINGTON – The Romney campaign post-mortem analysis on the unhappy ending of their campaign is that they could not win against Obama, a Democratic candidate offering a lot of free “stuff” –benefits, subsidies, cash handouts– to its large and growing constituencies of self-described “needy people”. People want free stuff, lament the Republicans, and they [...]
By Paolo von Schirach Related story: http://schirachreport.com/index.php/2012/08/22/the-todd-akin-rape-remarks-disaster-may-become-big-enough-to-cost-romney-the-elections-his-stupid-comments-on-legitimate-rape-confirm-all-the-ugly-stereotypes-about-anti-women-gop-this-is-a-gi/ November 10, 2012 WASHINGTON – Last August, when GOP Missouri senatorial candidate Todd Akin came up with his incredibly stupid and ignorant comments about raped women shutting off their bodies so that they could avoid pregnancy, (see link to related story above), I argued that this was a [...]
By Paolo von Schirach October 8, 2012 WASHINGTON – Democracy is about certain institutional features, such as representative government exercised through freely elected representatives; a republican ethos is another matter. We can have democratic trappings with little or no republican ethos. Conversely, if we have a deeply rooted republican ethos, most likely we shall have also have fair [...]
By Paolo von Schirach August 22, 2012 WASHINGTON – Make no mistake, in a close election like this one, the scandal caused by Todd Akin’s rape and abortion debacle can make a real difference. Akin, a Missouri Representative, is now candidate for the Senate. The fall out from his unbelievable remarks about “legitimate rape” and how women can shut [...]
By Paolo von Schirach Related story: http://schirachreport.com/index.php/2012/07/21/the-aurora-movie-theatre-massacre-is-about-a-deranged-individual-who-could-easily-buy-guns-almost-unrestricted-access-to-weapons-is-part-of-the-american-system-so-lets-not-act-surprised/ August 7, 2012 WASHINGTON – Regarding the Aurora movie theatre massacre, I wrote just a few days ago (see above link to story) that, given how easy it is for practically anybody to purchase weapons here in America, we cannot be surprised when some deranged individuals buy guns [...]
By Paolo von Schirach August 4, 2012 WASHINGTON – An interesting radio report from Warsaw dealt with the story of Polish people who now have the opportunity to consult Jewish archives and other documents. In some doing, some discover that they are in fact of Jewish origin.