Ideas to Kickstart New Firms & New Jobs

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Later today in Washington, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation will release a proposal and report titled “The Startup Act’.  it’s not legislation but rather a package of proposals designed to facilitate growth of young firms, which interestingly, are responsible for “all” new net jobs created in our economy in recent years.

Forward and Backward on Latin America

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Over the last couple of years, I have been increasingly impressed by the work and thinking of Georgetown scholar and now outgoing Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemispheric Affairs Arturo Valenzuela. I didn’t start there.

Israel Kicks Down its own Democratic Hill?

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Part of the annual foreign policy ritual in Washington is that the US President, Vice President, and leading Members of Congress make major campaign and fundraising speeches, sign on to resolutions, and pledge unconditional support to Israel, often referring to it as “the only genuine democracy in the Middle East.

Pakistan-US Relations: The Worst Co-Dependency

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Christopher Hitchens just pulled all the sticky veneer off of a cancerous Pakistan-US relationship — that has been going into the muck not just since we learned that Osama bin Laden was living somewhat pleasantly just down the street from Pakistan’s West Point but much before, particularly when A.Q.

Ahmed Wali Karzai Assassinated

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Watching on a long flight the other day the classic 1966 Sergio Leone spaghetti Western The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly I couldn’t help but think that Afghanistan would make a great backdrop for a remake of the Clint Eastwood classic.

Aix/Le Cercle des Economistes

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For the next couple of days, some of the world’s leading thinkers will be spending time in Aix-en-Provence wrestling through “The State of the World” organized by Le Cercle des Economistes.

Two Surprising Gay Pick-ups

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West Point now has its first “openly gay” member on its Board of Visitors thanks to the appointment of former Army captain Sue Fulton, a founding Board Member of OutServe, by President Obama.

Annie, Oakley & Buddy

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(click image for larger version) A semi-occasional feature of The Washington Note, which is in process of moving to this new spot at The Atlantic is a snapshot now and then of three awesome pups. Meet Annie (on left) and her two brothers, Oakley the Amazing Weimaraner, and Buddy. More soon.

Duty, Honor, Country, a Big Tent & July 4th

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(photo credit: Gary Burke) “Duty, Honor, Country: Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be,” General Douglas MacArthur said in August 1962. I’ve often thought about these words and whom we owe for our nationhood.