Unca Darrell

JULY 31 / M. Friedman would have been 100 today

NEXT TO RONALD REAGAN, in the second half of the 20th century there was no more influential voice for economic freedom world-wide than Milton Friedman. Small in stature but a giant intellect, he was the economist who saved capitalism by . . .

JULY 31 / Let's play

I SAY CRUZ by eight. What say you?

Predictions:

JULY 31 / Style, usage, journalism

The thing to read this month

Managers are fighting an epidemic of grammar gaffes in the workplace. Many of them attribute slipping skills to the informality of email, texting and Twitter where slang and shortcuts are common. Such looseness with language can create bad impressions with clients, ruin marketing materials and cause communications errors, many managers say.

There's no easy fix.

(Sue Shellenbarger, "This Embarrasses You and I*, Wall Street Journal, June 19, 2012)

JULY 30 / Who reads Chronicle editorials?

Well, I do. And the editorialists' mothers presumably. After that, who knows? But let's admit it: One recent editorial actually influenced an election, big time. It's the one back before the May GOP primary in which the Chronicle riffed on . . .

JULY 29 / The parable of the trees

"The trees once went out to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, 'Reign over us.' But the olive tree said to them . . .

JULY 28 / RCP has just awarded Missouri to . . .

. . . "Leaning Romney," cutting President Obama's Electoral College lead to back to 40 points. Details, as usual, at "Following the Polls" in the right column.

JULY 28 / Let's give today to Every Village

EVERY VILLAGE IS A HOUSTON-based charity that exists "to bring glory to God through the transformation of every village in South Sudan by the spread of the gospel and community development." My friend Kerrie Snow, a nurse, spends most of each year on the ground in South Sudan -- a newly independent country south of Sudan and west of Ethiopia. 

JULY 26 / Cranky Boomer at the Chronicle misses the point

Today's Chronicle editorial on low interest rates illustrates a degree of financial and political naivete so thoroughgoing that it might be endearing, were it not so sad.

JULY 26 / George F. Will on Dewhurst/Cruz

Here. Best line:

JULY 25 / President Obama just picked up . . .

. . . ten electoral votes in "Battle for the White House," the estimate of electoral votes maintained by Real Clear Politics. Details, at usual, in "Following the Polls," stage right.