Analyzing the Revolts In a long analysis of the Egyptian unrest and the possibility of the overthrow of the Mubarak presidency, long-time left-of-center middle east observer Juan Cole wrote in “Egypt’s Class Conflict“: Why has the Egyptian state lost its…
Author Archive of Jeremiah Bourque
Stretching The Human Psyche
An Idea That Didn’t Come Easily It is not an exaggeration to say that I spent a large chunk of my life working towards what I am writing in this article. I knew there was something here, and I was…
Leadership, Business, and Animal Spirits
The Spiritual Core As readers of this blog may be aware, I am a person who has thoroughly read and studied Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. I even wrote a book explaining the terse passages at some length, with…
BP Oil Spill: A Disaster of Leadership and Strategy
A Failure In Leadership This article is based on a historically important article in the New York Times on the BP oil disaster. I will be referencing this article. Point of Failure #1 The article, which is important and should…
9th Innings, Closers, and Politics
Baseball Idioms In Politics Here’s an excerpt from this article on a bill to boost health compensation to “first responders” (health workers, firefighters, police officers) who responded to the World Trade Center attacks and are believed to have suffered higher…
So-Called Canadian Culture
A Contradiction In Terms The problem with trying to write an article about Canadian culture is rather simple. As a Canadian, I am well placed to be fully aware that most Canadians have renounced any concept of a Canadian culture….
American Culture: The Imperfect Hero
Movie Logic In American television and film culture, or put another way, movie logic, we encounter, with overwhelming frequency, the flawed, imperfect action hero. The flaws in this hero are usually obvious. They are easy to see, and easy to…
A Flower Pot
A Flower Pot By Jeremiah Bourque This is a flower pot. What is a flower pot for? It is not for cooking. It is for holding flowers. One puts the flowers into the pot. The flowers are displayed while in…
Mongering Hope
Deny Not Others Their Hope. Semi-occasionally, I glance at the blog by Andrew Sullivan. Not that this is his fault, as he’s quoting two other people having an online argument, but this post is grievously depressing. Essentially, it began with…
The Ass In The Lion’s Skin
A Fable from Aesop It’s this kind of “ass.” As in, a donkey. The Ass in the Lion’s Skin AN ASS, having put on the Lion’s skin, roamed about in the forest and amused himself by frightening all the foolish…
Zen and English, Part 5: Intangibles
The Post of Intangibles The void of space represents that which is intangible. Though objects exist within this otherwise empty space, it is filled by neither water, nor air; it is for this reason that it is known popularly as…
Zen and English, Part 4: Wind
The Post of Wind Wind represents not only the flow of air, but the sky itself; that which is real, which we can feel, but which cannot be held by the hand. We know it is there, we see it…