Archive for the ‘American current affairs’ Category
How much do American elections cost?
October 5th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
The last American presidential election in 2008 cost around $1 billion; the last mid-term congressional elections in 2006 cost about $2.8 billion; this November’s mid-terms are estimated to cost approximately $5 billion. That’s $5,000,000.000. How come? Thanks to a recent decision of the US Supreme Court, effectively corporate interests can spend as much as they […]
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What do Americans know about religion?
October 3rd, 2010 by Roger Darlington
It’s Sunday so let’s have a posting with a religious theme. We all know that Americans are very religious, right? But just how much to Americans know about religion? The answers come in a recent survey of religious knowledge conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life. The survey found that […]
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When the machines take over
October 2nd, 2010 by Roger Darlington
As a massive movie fan, I’m familiar with the theme of the machines taking over, whether it is “War Games”, “Terminator” or “The Matrix”. But that’s science fiction, right? Well, no. Financial markets are now so fast-moving and complex that increasingly decisions to buy or sell certain stocks or derivatives are made by computers using […]
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The poor of America
September 17th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
Around the world, the poor look at Americans with a degree of envy, aware of the high living standards and rampant consumerism of so many citizens of the United States. But in fact many Americans are poor and the number of such poor Americans is growing. According to the latest figures from the US Census […]
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Will Obama be a one-term failure?
August 29th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
As long-term readers of NightHawk will know, I backed Barack Obama for the US Presidency from the moment he was elected to the Congress. I first blogged about Obama in April 2004. Then I blogged 11 times on the Illinois Senate race which he won in November 2004. In my last posting on that election, […]
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What Americans believe
August 21st, 2010 by Roger Darlington
In the United States, a new national survey by the Pew Research Center finds that nearly one-in-five Americans (18%) now say President Barack Obama is a Muslim, up from 11% in March 2009. Only about one-third of adults (34%) say Obama is a Christian, down sharply from 48% in 2009. Fully 43% say they do […]
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The strange world of the Amish
August 17th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
I’ve just finished watching the last of the four fascinating television programmes in a Channel Four series called “Amish: The World’s Squarest Teenagers”. The Amish are an amazing religious community, based almost totally in the United States, who effectively live life as their predecessors did when they emigrated from Switzerland in the 1700s & 1800s. […]
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The American dilemma
July 18th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
From a non-American perspective, President Barack Obama seems to have done well in his first year and a half in the White House. He has managed to push through Congress three huge measures: an economic stimulus package, major healthcare reform, and a restructuring of the financial sector. And yet, and yet, his poll ratings are […]
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Can God stop the BP oil spill?
June 22nd, 2010 by Roger Darlington
The Louisiana Senate unanimously passed a resolution declaring a day of prayer in an effort to invoke God’s help in stopping the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. You can read the full text here. So, did it work? Well, the day of prayer was last Sunday. Noticed any difference at the spill? I […]
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The racial divide in the USA
May 19th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
As explained in this article, a report released this week by Brandeis University in Massachusetts reveals that a typical white American family is now five times richer than its African-American counterpart of the same class. White families typically have assets worth $100,000 (£69,000), up from $22,000 in the mid-1980s. African-American families’ assets stand at just […]
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