China: When is the price too high?

Mao declared he was willing to sacrifice one family to save tens of thousands. A noble idea, especially when the family being sacrificed is not your own. The Chinese are beginning to challenge the philosophy of sacrifice as they begin to realize their sacrifices are not so much about saving "the other" as they are about enriching the few.

Today's New York Times carries a story about a protest in Chengdu, China, "against a $5.5 billion ethylene plant under construction by PetroChina." China is perhaps the most polluted country in the world. Its air nearly unbreathable, its water often unfit even for irrigation.

China possesses about the same amount of water as The United States, but it has almost five times as many people. The Yellow River, the life blood of China, has been dammed more often than any river in the world, often with disastrous results. In the 1990s, the river often failed to reach its mouth.

The origin of the Yellow River, by the way, is in Tibet. And that's what the conflict with Tibet is about, something the American press has completely ignored.

China Facts: "67 percent of millionaires surveyed say they are sacrificing health for money." (Source: ngm.com)

Myanmar Death Toll exceeds 22,000:

Myanmar (also known as Burma) is reporting that the tsunami that struck recently has taken more than 22,000 lives. (See NPR.org) This is the worst tsunami disaster since the December 2004 tsunami which took well over 100,000 lives.

What Can $40 Billion Plus Buy?

Evidently not Yahoo. Speculation abounds. What will Microsoft buy if it has over $40 billion to spend. (See The New York Times story.) Everybody's trying to guess at what stopped Microsoft's big buyout bid of Yahoo, quickly followed by what the company might go after next. It must be terrible to have that much cash burning a hole in your pocket.

Keep in mind that Microsoft's big money makers are its operating system and office suit, both of which may become irrelevant in the near future, according to many prognosticators. Will the next big tech revolution be a Microsoft-less world?

Personal Note: So yesterday I'm driving through the middle of Pennsylvania on the Interstate, when I'm passed by this big four-wheel-drive SUV with police lights on it, but not in use, clearly exceeding the speed limit, and I'm thinking to myself "Who are these guys after?" And I read the insignia on the side of the vehicle, which clearly states, "Border Patrol," and I think, "Wait a minute! What border are these guys patrolling?" 'cause I'm not aware of any borders within the vicinity of where we are and they aren't even heading in the right direction to encounter either of the closest ones.

The vehicle is moving too fast for me to catch the license plate, so I can't determine if this is a U. S. vehicle or a Pennsylvania one, and I think does Pennsylvania even have a border patrol and why would they? Naturally it occurs to me that knowing how Pennsylvanians feel about their New Jersey neighbors the state might want to guard their border with that state, but it seems unlikely taking into account the amount of commerce that transpires between them.

So what was that vehicle doing there?

Webb Bill To Expand GI Bill:

Both sides of the government are in favor of expanding the GI Bill as proposed by Sen. Web (D-VA). Guess who's opposed. Sen. McCain and the current knuckleheads in the White House. Their argument is that if you expand benefits for veterans the guys in the service now will leave active duty to go to college, and then where will the all volunteer military be? Really tells us what the current denizen and the would be occupant think about the guys they conned into the war in Iraq, doesn't it? Of course neither Bush nor McCain had to worry about college or their education, certainly not as a vehicle for improving their lives, and then there's Dick Cheney, spelled "d-r-a-f-t-d-o-d-g-e-r."

The Dude's perspective on history: "You never know what your history is going to be like until long after you're gone." — George W. Bush, Washington, D. C., May 2006.

F.B.I. Raids Special Counsel Office:

The hot topic all afternoon has been the raid of special counsel Scott J. Bloch's office. The rational extends from accusations that Bloch has used his office for political purposes and has refused to pursue investigations that did not find in with the Bush administration's political agenda. According to The New York Times, Bloch has been "a target of a complaint filed by a group of employees who accused him of trying to dismantle his own agency, of illegally barring employees from talking to journalists and of reducing a backlog of whistle-blower complaints by simply discarding old cases."

Oil Closing Near $123:

Buyers in the futures market continue to push the price of oil higher as forecasts show oil going even higher now that summer approaches. (See The New York Times story.)