Gil Friend: PoliticsPolitical economy, political comedy, political tragedy, geopolitics, and other issues of our timesTsunamis, global warming, 'spin and hype'- December 31, 2004 Joel Makower blogs on the recent kerfluffle about the tsunami and global warming, Problem is, I couldn't find a single claim -- by an "environmental expert" or anyone else -- made in the past week that connects the Indian Ocean tragedy with global warming... A brilliant ploy: Condemn a ridiculous and outrageous claim by your opponents, or associate them with something for which they had no possible responsibility, thereby branding them as silly at best, dangerous at worse, despite the fact...http://radio.weblogs.com/0109157/categories/politics/2004/12/30.html#a830 Christmas Eve perspective (2)- December 24, 2004 The Darwin Project: In the Descent of Man Charles Darwin wrote only twice of "survival of the fittest" -- but 95 times about love! 92 times about moral sensitivity. And 200 times about brain and mind. Suppression over 100 years of the real Darwin has led to the social, political, economic, scientific, educational, moral and spiritual mess we are in today. The site features the book The Great Adventure: Toward a Fully Human Theory of Evolution, an...http://radio.weblogs.com/0109157/categories/politics/2004/12/24.html#a825 Christmas Eve perspective (1)- December 24, 2004 James Carroll, in the Boston Globe, via Shalom Center: The Politics of the Christmas Story THE SINGLE most important fact about the birth of Jesus, as recounted in the Gospels, is one that receives almost no emphasis in the American festival of Christmas. The child who was born in Bethlehem represented a drastic political challenge to the imperial power of Rome. The nativity story is told to make the point that Rome is the enemy of God, and in Jesus, Rome's day is over.... In modern times,..http://radio.weblogs.com/0109157/categories/politics/2004/12/24.html#a824 China and Sudan- December 24, 2004 (and Iran.) Another indicator of the tough geopolitical times ahead. Sudan Tribune: But the Chinese laborers are protected: They work under the vigilant gaze of Sudanese government troops armed largely with Chinese-made weapons -- a partnership of the world's fastest-growing oil consumer with a pariah state accused of fostering genocide in its western Darfur region.... The pressure to find new sources of oil has grown as China has swelled into the world's second-largest consumer and...http://radio.weblogs.com/0109157/categories/politics/2004/12/23.html#a823 And speaking of privatizing social security- December 22, 2004 KrugmanNY Times: Buying Into Failure In Chile's system, management fees are around 20 times as high. And that's a typical number for privatized systems. Read your prospectus before voting, folks.http://radio.weblogs.com/0109157/categories/politics/2004/12/21.html#a819 'I see it feelingly'- December 16, 2004 Pollard again, offering up Bill Moyers' frank and troubling speech on the state of things. Pollard: And he recently delivered, on receiving the Harvard Medical School Global Environmental Citizen award, what may be the most important speech of the 21st century so far. Moyers: And there is the danger: voters and politicians alike, oblivious to the facts. It's long. I'm not going to excerpt it right now (sleep calls). Read it.http://radio.weblogs.com/0109157/categories/politics/2004/12/15.html#a812 Worldchanging is not always in the direction you expect- December 15, 2004 What's New in the Legal World A Growing Campaign to Undo the New Deal. States' rights conservatives are making progress in their drive to restore the narrow view of federal power that predated the New Deal. By By ADAM COHEN. NYT Opinion In pre-1937 America, workers were exploited, factories were free to pollute, and old people were generally poor when they retired. This is not an agenda the public would be likely to sign onto today if it were debated in an election. But conservatives, who...http://radio.weblogs.com/0109157/categories/politics/2004/12/14.html#a810 Forgot to leave home without it- December 14, 2004 There are also important cases (not just high profile murder cases) at the San Mateo County courthouse -- ones that might even affect you. John Perry Barlow and the 4th Amendment -- you know, the one about unreasonable search and seizure -- take on the TSA and the Department of Homeland Security. On December 15, at 2:00 pm, I will pay yet another visit to the North San Mateo County Courthouse in South San Francisco. This time I expect I will actually get a chance to plead my case. (Any...http://radio.weblogs.com/0109157/categories/politics/2004/12/13.html#a807 |