Punctuation

This is different than my usual posting topics, but I still think I'm going to post it anyway.

Anyone ever have trouble with finding the right sentence punctuation--particularly when deciding between an exclamation mark and a period? Sometime the period comes off as condescending but other times the exclamation mark sounds much too enthusiastic or as if you're nearly shouting. I find this is largely the case in online writing like blogs, emails, or even texting.

Example:

I hope her hair looks better this time.

I hope her hair looks better this time!

There almost needs to be something between that would connote a strong statement, but not quite to the point of exclaiming it--just purporting it. A purportion point would suffice I should say.

Losing Focus

Johnathan Chait, senior editor at the New Republic, made an interesting--not entirely genius, but interesting--in the recent online publication noting that,

Obama has come into office having won the popular vote by seven percentage points, along with a 79-seat edge in the House, a 17-seat edge in the Senate, and massive public demand for change. But it's already clear he is receiving less, not more, deference from his own party. Democrats have treated Obama with studied diffidence, both in their support for the substance of his agenda and (more importantly) their willingness to support it procedurally.

It really makes one wonder where the President's focus really is.

http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=07bd4a20-60a7-44a9-ab92-115eeb62bd92

North Korean Missiles

It appears as though North Korea is preparing for a missile launch--to the backlash of South Korea, and the rest of the free world. They just can't seem to figure it out can they?

http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-03-26-voa6.cfm

Global Currency

Geithner 'open' to China proposal
By: Ben Smith
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0309/Geithner_open_to_China_proposal.html?showall

Geithner, at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the U.S. is "open" to a headline-grabbing proposal by the governor of the China's central bank, which was widely reported as being a call for a new global currency to replace the dollar, but which Geithner described as more modest and "evolutionary."

"I haven’t read the governor’s proposal. He’s a very thoughtful, very careful distinguished central banker. I generally find him sensible on every issue," Geithner said, saying that however his interpretation of the proposal was to increase the use of International Monetary Fund's special drawing rights -- shares in the body held by its members -- not creating a new currency in the literal sense.

"We’re actually quite open to that suggestion – you should see it as rather evolutionary rather building on the current architecture rather than moving us to global monetary union," he said.

"The only thing concrete I saw was expanding the use of the [special drawing rights]," Geithner said. "Anything he’s thinking about deserves some consideration."

The continued use of the dollar as a reserve currency, he added, "depends..on how effective we are in the United States...at getting our fiscal system back to the point where people judge it as sustainable over time."

President Obama flatly rejected the notion of a new global currency at last night's press conference.

UPDATE: Evidently sensing a gaffe, moderator Roger Altman told Geithner that it would be "useful" to return to the question, and asked if he foresaw a change in the dollar's centrality.

"I do not," Geithner said, adding several forceful promises, including, "We will do what's necessary to say we're sustaining confidence in our financial markets."

Every Single Day