Otto's Random Thoughts

I wish everybody reading this a Happy New Year. This year was pretty good, but I am going to try and make next year more productive. If you ...

I have now finished reading Salaita's essay collection. It was quite enjoyable. His essays on Virginia Tech where he works as an English...

I am reading Steven Salaita's collection of essays, The Uncultured Wars: Arabs, Muslims, and the Poeverty of Liberal Thought - New Essay...

I have noticed a new leftist strategy to denigrate Africa and particularly Ghana on the Internet. This consists of dismissing all of the pol...

I just want to note that Bloomberg the mayor of NYC does not think that the deliberate murder of a Hindu man because somebody thought he was...

I am currently reading Gilbert Rist, The History of Development: From Western Origins to Global Faith  (London: Zed, 2008 [1996]). One thing...

One of the first heroic defenses against Nazi aggression by the Soviet Red Army took place at Brest Fortress on 22-29 June 1941. The fortres...

The international liberal human rights paradigm has had limited success. One big problem is that it has never been universal. Almost nobody,...

I identify myself as a "right winger" I prefer that term to conservative because the latter term is far too closely linked to spec...

To all my readers who celebrate Christmas on the 25th of December, Merry Christmas. For the last week I have been taking it easy and hearing...

I have started reading Peter Uvin's Life after Violence: A People's Story of Burundi.  I must say other than the 1972 massacre of Hu...

I like Chuck Hagel. I like him precisely because he is not a tool of the Israeli lobby and puts the interests of the US before that of the s...

Today I purchased five books. I got three scholarly books published by Zed and two novels. I have listed the publishing information below. ...

The literature on racism is vast. But, despite the large amount of writing on the subject, the definition of racism is more often assumed r...

Today I got my check for my teaching at City Campus. The Union has gotten the amount we make from teaching at there more than doubled from l...

Today I accomplished no actual work. Instead I went to buy a new MTN modem. The old one vanished, actually I think it was stolen. But, it ha...

My colleague across the hall also told me today that we are supposed to get a book and research stipend this month as well. So I will have s...

It turns out my union, UTAG, is still getting me back pay. Today I got an extra month's salary deposited in my bank account from the Uni...

In my continuing effort to enlarge my knowledge about African history I am now reading Linda Melvern, A People Betrayed: The Role of the Wes...

Last night there was a Commonwealth Hall Fellows meeting to go over the Hall Master's annual report. Commonwealth Hall is the largest do...