The New York Times today reports that the Republicans are up to it again, trying to censor information that they don't approve of:
You can't fool all of the people all of the time, but you can sure fool enough people to get re-elected.
Evidently, Qatari is thinking of selling it. Can Rupert be far away? Welcome to Fox, Middle-Easterners. Get ready for a full scale assult of flesh and BS.
Obviously, the administration's pressure on Qatar fits in nicely with Bush's pronouncements on bringing freedom and democracy to the region. "Let everyone have his say, as long as what he says parrots me!"
Taxes: The Republicans, reportedly, are turning their attention to "changing the tax code." What are they going to change it to? Are they going to eliminate the the huge holes that allow partnerships among the top one percenters to avoid paying tens of billions of dollars in taxes? Does anyone really believe that they would do that to the people who bought them the election?
Computing: Steven Johnson has a NYTimes article in today's edition on the ways that new search tools might change the way we (writers) think. What he describes is equivenlant to what real writers have known all along about the value of dictionaries, among other tools. You look something up in a dictionary and low and behold, there is a wealth of other infromation you hadn't even thought of, leading you to new ideas.
This will work for that handful of people who are actually interested in thinking. I couldn't help but wonder how many people might be reading this article and become disappointed that the computer program Johnson describes wouldn't actually be doing the thinking for them.
Regime change: Tom Friedman's Op-Ed piece in todays NYTimes points out the most effective, and likely, means of bringing regime change in Iran: lowering the price of oil. This was the method used to bring about the destruction of the USSR. Russia had huge oil reserves; we all know that from the recent energy issues coming out of the country and from even the lightest study of WWII. The West helped bring about an extended period of low oil prices, helping to keep the price per barrel down to as low as ten dollars. That bankrupted the USSR's economy.
Friedman has pinpointed an eighteen-dollar-per-barrel goal for achieving regime change in Iran. He's probably right. The question is how to do it. He's arguing for conservation and development of alternative energy sources. In the long run, these have to be the answers. We've got to recycle our Hummers into cheap hybrids. Time to get started folks, unless the Neo-cons plan on bringing back the draft. Let's see, what are the odds they'll stay in power if they do that?
Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and other Bush administration officials have complained heatedly to Qatari leaders that Al Jazeera's broadcasts have been inflammatory, misleading and occasionally false, especially on Iraq.So the "broadcasts … [are] inflammatory, misleading and occasionally false, especially on Iraq?" It's good to see Cheney outraged over this sort of misbehavior, especially when it results in the loss of thousands of lives.
(Weisman, Steven R. "Under Pressure, Qatar May Sell Jazeera Station." 30 Jan 05)
You can't fool all of the people all of the time, but you can sure fool enough people to get re-elected.
Evidently, Qatari is thinking of selling it. Can Rupert be far away? Welcome to Fox, Middle-Easterners. Get ready for a full scale assult of flesh and BS.
Obviously, the administration's pressure on Qatar fits in nicely with Bush's pronouncements on bringing freedom and democracy to the region. "Let everyone have his say, as long as what he says parrots me!"
Taxes: The Republicans, reportedly, are turning their attention to "changing the tax code." What are they going to change it to? Are they going to eliminate the the huge holes that allow partnerships among the top one percenters to avoid paying tens of billions of dollars in taxes? Does anyone really believe that they would do that to the people who bought them the election?
Computing: Steven Johnson has a NYTimes article in today's edition on the ways that new search tools might change the way we (writers) think. What he describes is equivenlant to what real writers have known all along about the value of dictionaries, among other tools. You look something up in a dictionary and low and behold, there is a wealth of other infromation you hadn't even thought of, leading you to new ideas.
This will work for that handful of people who are actually interested in thinking. I couldn't help but wonder how many people might be reading this article and become disappointed that the computer program Johnson describes wouldn't actually be doing the thinking for them.
Regime change: Tom Friedman's Op-Ed piece in todays NYTimes points out the most effective, and likely, means of bringing regime change in Iran: lowering the price of oil. This was the method used to bring about the destruction of the USSR. Russia had huge oil reserves; we all know that from the recent energy issues coming out of the country and from even the lightest study of WWII. The West helped bring about an extended period of low oil prices, helping to keep the price per barrel down to as low as ten dollars. That bankrupted the USSR's economy.
Friedman has pinpointed an eighteen-dollar-per-barrel goal for achieving regime change in Iran. He's probably right. The question is how to do it. He's arguing for conservation and development of alternative energy sources. In the long run, these have to be the answers. We've got to recycle our Hummers into cheap hybrids. Time to get started folks, unless the Neo-cons plan on bringing back the draft. Let's see, what are the odds they'll stay in power if they do that?
posted by Jim | 1:55 PM
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