As a student of politics and a passionate believer in globalization, I have become increasingly frustrated by the sense that we, the next generation of world leaders, have been completely marginalized by selfish and unimaginative lawmakers in capitols around the world. It is my hope that this blog can serve as a forum for young, ambitious and articulate men and women who get it. What kind of world do you want to inherit?
2/26/2007
Faith is strong, but the internet is God now...
BREITBART.COM - Scholars, Clergy Slam Jesus Documentary
Just one year ago today, HBO began its Entourage mega season (which it absolutely was) hype, and between every feature or film, you (we) were getting fixated on the Premiere of Aquaman, Directed by James Cameron and starring Vincent Chase opposite Mandy Moore. In an amazing twist of events, James Cameron has this week nominated himself for Anti-Christ and more intriguingly may have uncovered the secrets of the most miraculous of all men, Jesus of Nazareth.
Frankly, I would like to think that Cameron is wrong, as I always pictured a far greater man or woman presenting the truths (i suppose arguably) before the faithful about 200 years from now, when everyone still alive is in Chicago living the good life on the great lakes with Daley XXIII continuing on the Royal order founded by his ancestors. But if this is truly the first day of the beginning of the end for traditional religion, then so be it.
The possibility that everything Christians have held so dear for nearly two thousand years is, for me, both distressing and exciting. On the one hand, the possible ramifications of such a development could turn the world upside down unlike anything since the 17th century English revolution. On the other hand, the myopic world-view of uber-religious Christians around the country and world may finally be awaken to the realities of life in the 21st century, where information and connectivity rule over the will of God.
Pro Golfer Fuzzy Zoeller Sues Wikipedia Over Alledgedly Slanderous Entry...
Pro Golfer Zoeller Sues To Identify Author of Wikipedia Entry - Tech News - Playfuls.com - Science & Technology
Pro Golfer Fuzzy Zoeller has decided that a paragraph in his Wikipedia profile (since removed) is so offensive that it is worth suing the popular Web-based encyclopedia for the identity of the original poster. I haven't yet located the exact content of the supposedly salacious paragraph, which was posted in two separate parts late last year, but it definitely didn't include a subjective account of Zoeller's controversial comments about Tiger Woods during the 1997 Masters. In fact, according to Zoeller's updated Wiki-profile, the comments involved allegations of alcohol, drug and domestic abuse.
According to the Associated Press, the following statement comes from paragraph 11 of the lawsuit and includes the alleged remarks: “Later (Mr. Doe) went public with his alcoholism and prescription drug addiction, explaining that at the time he made those statements, he was ‘in the process of polishing off a fifth of Jack (Daniels) after popping a handful of Vicodin pills’.” (source)
I doubt Mr. Zoeller is the first person to take issue with the way in which he is portrayed on Wikipedia, which is open to all users to be edited, which makes the quality of information contained therein to be questionable. The service is particularly popular among college students and internet junkies, but because of the lack of quality assurance, it is not permitted as a cited source on anything, though it has been judged an equally useful and accurate resource as some of the most respected encyclopedias in the world. I am a big Wikipedia fan, and eagerly anticipate the day when people around the world want to post lies about me under my personal Wiki-profile, and don't worry, I won't take anything to seriously. I mean, I can always change anything I don't like. I wonder if anyone ever bothered to tell that to Fuzzy?
According to the Associated Press, the following statement comes from paragraph 11 of the lawsuit and includes the alleged remarks: “Later (Mr. Doe) went public with his alcoholism and prescription drug addiction, explaining that at the time he made those statements, he was ‘in the process of polishing off a fifth of Jack (Daniels) after popping a handful of Vicodin pills’.” (source)
I doubt Mr. Zoeller is the first person to take issue with the way in which he is portrayed on Wikipedia, which is open to all users to be edited, which makes the quality of information contained therein to be questionable. The service is particularly popular among college students and internet junkies, but because of the lack of quality assurance, it is not permitted as a cited source on anything, though it has been judged an equally useful and accurate resource as some of the most respected encyclopedias in the world. I am a big Wikipedia fan, and eagerly anticipate the day when people around the world want to post lies about me under my personal Wiki-profile, and don't worry, I won't take anything to seriously. I mean, I can always change anything I don't like. I wonder if anyone ever bothered to tell that to Fuzzy?
Labels:
Freedom of Speech,
Fuzzy Zoeller,
Wikipedia
2/25/2007
Imagine the violent response this poster would receive on an American campus...
What type of physical violence and ridicule do you think these two guys would be subject to if they brought their poster over to an American college campus?
I agree completely with there sentiment, and I don't think I would have the guts to hold that sign up on my college campus. On election day in 2004, my friend John and I both wore Bush-Cheney gear around campus, and the response we received was nothing short of hostile. John had a cigarette flicked in his face, and was spit at.
In my office in the Lewis Center, DePaul University's Law School, one of the professors has on his door a post-it note with a number under the heading, "Number of days until the end of the reign of terror," clearly a reference to the Bush presidency. What type of school hires idiots like that?
Ignorance is bliss I guess, but maybe it isn't safe to allow these morons to vote? I guess I shouldn't say that.
The world needs more men like John Howard too! I love Australia!!
Labels:
American Politics,
Australia,
Dick Cheney,
George W. Bush,
Washington DC
2/24/2007
The return of Tom Daschle?
With Senator Tim Johnson of South Dakota undergoing intensive rehab at George Washington University Medical Center, the question of whether he will be able to run for reelection for his Senate seat in 2008 has yet to be asked, primarily out of respect. However, while I was thinking about this very question the other day it occurred to me that the former Senate Majority and Minority Leader Tom Daschle, who was ousted from his Senate seat in 2006 by John Thune, could make an easy trip back to Washington if he were to run for Senator Johnson's seat. I have not run across anything so far in the media indicating that Daschle has even considered retaking his seat, but I assume it has at least occurred to him.
If he were to run again, Daschle could throw a wrench in the gears currently running the Democratic Majority, which has scored its first electoral victory in over a decade. I am not sure how the Democratic caucus accounts for temporary absence when determining seniority, but it could make for interesting C-SPAN drama if a Daschle return sparked a battle among Dems for party leadership.
If he were to run again, Daschle could throw a wrench in the gears currently running the Democratic Majority, which has scored its first electoral victory in over a decade. I am not sure how the Democratic caucus accounts for temporary absence when determining seniority, but it could make for interesting C-SPAN drama if a Daschle return sparked a battle among Dems for party leadership.
Labels:
2008 Election,
American Politics,
Democrats,
Politics,
Senate,
Tim Johnson,
Tom Daschle,
Washington DC
2/21/2007
China sentences man convicted of "ant" fraud to death..
BBC-- Death Penalty Over China Ant Scam
Google News Related Links
The Chinese government has sentenced a man convicted of defrauding several unsuspecting investors out of millions by selling them ants at a disgustingly inflated price. Wang Zhendong promised investors returns of up to 60% if they put their money into the fake ant-breeding program. Wang's scheme caused great distress to his victims, with one man committing suicide because of the despair he suffered after learning that he had squandered his savings on a false investment opportunity.
Human rights activists will likely strike out at the disturbing impudence used by Chinese officials when it comes to the liberal use of the death penalty for matters of economic corruption and fraud. Rent seeking and favor-trading dominate in local Chinese economies, and fraudulent scams are common, but it is difficult for a Western perspective to ever understand how death is a proportionate penalty for fraud. However, it is impossible for a Westerner to ever truly understand the pressures of governing a country of the size and complexity that characterizes modern China.
I suspect that a government truly of the people would never endorse such Draconian policies, but it is unclear to me whether a government "of" 1.4 Billion people could ever effectively manage the development the country has undergone in the post-modern era under the authoritarian Chinese Communist Party.
I originally published this post at one of my other weblogs, China Wakes, and have crossed listed here as I usually do.
I originally published this post at one of my other weblogs, China Wakes, and have crossed listed here as I usually do.
Labels:
China,
Death Penalty,
Law and Order,
Legal Proceedings
Polling myself daily in the run-up to the 2008 Presidential Elections: Day 1 goes to Romney...
I recently added a poll widget to the sidebar on the right using the handy step-by-step process provided by Poll Daddy, the best free, Web 2.0 poll creator on the internet. It was my hope that random visitors and my friends would each vote so I could better gauge who has emerged as the early Republican favorite in the 2008 primary amongst the readers of TWWI. After a few weeks I became discouraged because nobody seemed to take notice, and my result remained largely unchanged until today. I have decided that in honor of the greatest media frenzy in the history of presidential politics, I will vote again and again, each time basing my choice on the most recent hype and hubris extolled by the pundits on Fox, MSNBC and maybe even CNN. I must admit up front, I have a bias; Rudi is my man and no matter what my reasoning for voting one way or another on a given day, I see nothing that could sway me from my deeply held convictions that Rudi G. is unbeatable.
However, today I have chosen Mitt Romney, as he is the first to have launched a national advertisement and it was impressively non-partisan. Additionally, Romney has been impressive on the stump and in front of cable news anchors having fine tuned his image to come across as not only looking presidential, but well versed in the nuances of language that any aspiring presidential candidate must be the master of during the early legitimizing stages of the race. He has a long way to go in terms of name recognition and consistency of reasoning, but the former-Hedge Fund manager is slick and rich, which are the only two requirements of any potential nominee to begin with. So far the Romney camp gets high marks from this casual observer.
ATTENTION CHICAGO: Sign up today, Interficio, Kill or be killed...
Interficio Blog
Top 10 Assassin Movies
My friend Robert has alerted me to this new real life role player game which involves hunting and eliminating individuals that you have been contracted to kill, using a water pistol. Then, once the kill has been made, you text message confirmation to the website and the casualties are logged, with the last man standing winning $1,000. There is currently a 90-player game underway in Washington, DC, and there are still two months to sign-up for the next planned rounds in Austin, Texas and Chicago. I am in and I hope that those of you who have a beef with me will take this opportunity to stalk and kill me over the course of the spring. Just make sure you are always looking over your shoulder, cause you never know where Sir Walks-a-lot (a.k.a. Sketchwards) is lurking....
My friend Robert has alerted me to this new real life role player game which involves hunting and eliminating individuals that you have been contracted to kill, using a water pistol. Then, once the kill has been made, you text message confirmation to the website and the casualties are logged, with the last man standing winning $1,000. There is currently a 90-player game underway in Washington, DC, and there are still two months to sign-up for the next planned rounds in Austin, Texas and Chicago. I am in and I hope that those of you who have a beef with me will take this opportunity to stalk and kill me over the course of the spring. Just make sure you are always looking over your shoulder, cause you never know where Sir Walks-a-lot (a.k.a. Sketchwards) is lurking....
2/19/2007
Custom Search is the next big thing...
Google Operating System: Custom Search Engines Could Replace Web Directories
This post from the Google Operating System (the most Google obsessed non-employee in the world) sums up very well what I have been thinking for some time about the use and importance of Custom Search. Finally I have at my fingertips the ability to shape the way Google searches through information for any topic we as casual users, invent on a whim or compulsion. I too am a Google fanatic (as my friends will all tell you), and I check out the Official GoogleBlog and Google MacBlog daily.
An RSS feed with all of the Google Blog posts can be found HERE.
Labels:
Blogging,
Custom Search,
Google,
Innovators
2/16/2007
Mayor Daley annouces Chicago China Development Corporation based in Shanghai...
Google News Related Links
Chicago's Mayor Richard Daley announced on Thursday the creation of the Chicago China Development Corporation, a non-profit economic development agency under the administration of the the Mayor's office and charged with exposing the benefits of Chicago as a location for investment and US-based operations for Chinese companies. Contrived during a 2004 visit to the Chinese mainland, the group will bring much needed and deserved exposure to the Second City as it continues to expand its sphere of influence around the world. With expectations of hosting the Olympics in 2016, Chicago is anticipating a surge in direct investment.
In political terms, China and Chicago share many similar characteristics. Effectively, both have a political structure akin to a publicly-endorsed monarchy, with formal dissent all but silenced. A fair argument could be made that this a common-flaw shared by the two far-left political administrations. In my opinion, as long as a constructive and prosperous partnership can be established between the Chicago and China, political reform can wait...
In political terms, China and Chicago share many similar characteristics. Effectively, both have a political structure akin to a publicly-endorsed monarchy, with formal dissent all but silenced. A fair argument could be made that this a common-flaw shared by the two far-left political administrations. In my opinion, as long as a constructive and prosperous partnership can be established between the Chicago and China, political reform can wait...
What would a "not guilty" verdict in Libby trial mean for the mainstream media?
It is difficult to watch media coverage, mainstream or otherwise, of the ongoing Scooter Libby trial without coming out of the experience with the overwhelming impression that Libby must be guilty of something. For months now, ever since the Time Magazine and New York Times reporters were tossed in jail for refusing to expose their source when ordered by a federal judge, the media has been convulsing before our eyes. No rational observer would contend that Libby, or Vice President Cheney for that matter, have been given the respect deserved of the nation's executive branch officials either during the investigation by US attorney Patrick Fitzgerald or during the lead-up to and during the trial proceedings.....
This case has fascinated me since the day Joesph Wilson wrote is ridiculous op-ed piece in the New York Times accusing George W. Bush of distorting the intelligence report he filed with the Vice President's office upon returning from the fact finding trip to Niger that his wife so kindly volunteered him for while working "clandestinely" in Langley, Virginia, behind a desk at CIA headquarters. Interestingly, Wilson accused the president of falsely asserting in his now famous 18-words during his 2002 State of the Union speech, that Iraq had "purchased" yellow-cake uranium from Niger. He would have been correct, if in fact that was what the president said, but as we have all seen and heard over and over and over again, Bush's exact words were, "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." In a simple Google search I discovered a timeline published by the BBC which lists the statements made by British intelligence, the US president and his then National Security Adviser Condolezza Rice, IAEA nuclear inspector Mohammed El-Baradi, Ambassador Wilson, then CIA director George Tenet and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair among others regarding the accuracy and basis of this assertion. They are listed as follows...
- 24 September 2002- "There is intelligence that Iraq has sought the supply of significant quantities of uranium from Africa. Iraq has no active civilian nuclear power programme or nuclear power plants and therefore has no legitimate reason to acquire uranium." (Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction: The assessment of the British Government)
- 28 January 2003- "The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." (US President George W Bush's State of the Union address)
- 7 March 2003- "Based on thorough analysis, the IAEA has concluded, with the concurrence of outside experts, that these documents - which formed the basis for the reports of recent uranium transactions between Iraq and Niger - are in fact not authentic. We have therefore concluded that these specific allegations are unfounded." (UN nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei's report to the UN Security Council)
- 3 July 2003- "It is very odd indeed that the Government asserts that it was not relying on the evidence which has since been shown to have been forged but that eight months later it is still reviewing the other evidence... We recommend that the Government explain on what evidence it relied for its judgement in September that Iraq had recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa. We further recommend that in its response to this Report the Government set out whether it still considers the September dossier to be accurate in what it states about Iraq's attempts to procure uranium from Africa in the light of subsequent events." (House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee report)
- 6 July 2003- "It was highly doubtful that any such (Niger-Iraq) transaction had ever taken place."- (Wilson writing in the New York Times in February 2002)
- 8 July 2003- "The president's statement was based on the predicate of the yellow cake [uranium] from Niger. So given the fact that the report on the yellow cake did not turn out to be accurate, that is reflective of the president's broader statement." (White House spokesman Ari Fleischer)
- 8 July 2003- "The evidence that we had that the Iraqi Government had gone back to try to purchase further amounts of uranium from Niger did not come from these so-called "forged" documents, they came from separate intelligence." (British Prime Minister Tony Blair testimony to the House of Commons Liaison Committee)
- 11 July 2003- "The CIA cleared the speech in its entirety... Some specifics about amount and place were taken out. With the changes in that sentence, the speech was cleared. The agency did not say they wanted that sentence out. If the CIA - the director of central intelligence - had said "Take this out of the speech," it would have been gone. We have a high standard for the president's speeches." (National security adviser Condoleezza Rice on US President George W Bush's State of the Union address)
- 11 July 2003- "These 16 words should never have been included in the text written for the president. The president had every reason to believe that the text presented to him was sound. I am responsible for the approval process in my agency." (CIA Director George Tenet)
- 12 July 2003- "The CIA expressed reservations to us about this element of the September dossier... However, the US comment was unsupported by explanation and UK officials were confident that the dossier's statement was based on reliable intelligence which we had not shared with the US... A judgement was therefore made to retain it." (UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in a letter to Donald Anderson MP, Chair of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee)
To quote one of my favorite Sesame Street skits, "Which one of these is not like the others, which one of these just doesn't belong?" For those of you out there who excelled at this section of the SATs, I assume it was pretty easy to single out the assertion of former-Ambassador Wilson that it was "highly doubtful that any such transaction ever took place." Once again I return to my trusty Google companion to find out what impact Wilson's statements may have had on the inclusion of that controversial assertion made by the president, and sure enough, an article posted on factcheck.org, under the title, Bush's "16 Words" on Iraq & Uranium: He May Have Been Wrong, But He Wasn't Lying, it became clear that Wilson had in fact given credibility to intelligence gathered from other sources that in 1999 an Iraqi delegation had traveled to Niger and it was the impression of the Nigerian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mayaki that they were obviously intent on purchasing Uranium from his country. Additionally, the Ambassadors oft cited assertion that his trip had been the primary basis of the president's comments is also easily rejected in the web-site's article, which cites both the 2003 Senate Intelligence Report and the UK's Butler Report (equivalent), both of which claim that the president's statement had been entirely consistent with intelligence gathered and confirmed regarding Iraqi contacts with Niger, as well as with Somalia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The reason I have taken the effort to thoroughly discredit the Ambassador again is because if you watch the media reports on Scooter Libby's trial it would be entirely reasonable to conclude that the president had in fact lied and his administration had, upon being outed by Wilson, embarked on a mission to destroy not only Wilson's reputation and credibility, but that of his "covert" wife too.
When I was working in Washington as an intern, I went to watch a lecture and Q & A session with Sam Donaldson, former-host of Dateline. For the most part, his talk was engaging and his demeanor pleasant- but then he started talking about the Judith Miller situation. Miller was facing serious jail time if she refused to come forward with the name of her source in the White House, and Donaldson was noticeably disgruntled. His rant was soaking with self-righteousness, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt, because I assumed he had once hidden behind such journalistic privilege and had spoken with Miller about the situation and trusted in her journalistic integrity. Then it became aware to everyone in subsequent weeks and months that Donaldson, and pretty much every other big name journalist and editor, could not have cared less about Miller, who in fact went to jail, and were ready to sell her up the river based on (hilariously) her reporting of intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq War.
A simple search of Google News will yield proof that the media is biased beyond humility, and equally as opportunistic as the embarrassingly unprofessional legislators on both sides of the aisle. I have previously cited my feeling that history will look upon this generation of civil servants to be particularly unenlightened and driven by opportunistic impulsiveness, but how will we look back on the media?
Don Imus seriously considered the possibility that the members of the mainstream media may have lied under oath, and his buddies at NBC, Andrea Mitchell and Tim Russert, are in the center of the storm. I have a feeling that the Imus Show is right on the money, even though they have already risen Russert to the producer's studio this morning to have Imus sound little bit more like he is kidding, as the translation of his sarcasm is sometimes that it was not in fact sarcasm.
What if this whole experience, which has been given little, if any, serious thought and reflection since it began following Ambassador Wilson's editorial in the New York Times, comes full circle? What if in the end Libby gets off? My guess is that it would be a hard pill for Chris Matthews to swallow. I expect that "they" would immediately jump to a defensive posture, with Matthews screaming about injustice. I would not put it past the Gonzalez justice department to file perjury charges against the Meet the Press host, for they have already proven by taking the case this far that they are serious about the problem (or at least making sure that somebody takes the fall for it).
2/15/2007
Next Path reviews freeware must-haves for college students...
NextPath, a self-proclaimed education finance newsletter for students profiled their top ten freeware applications for college students. Some of them I use everyday, including Google Docs, Wikipedia, Google Reader and Del.icio.us, and now that I have read the reviews of the others I plan on integrating a few into my routine as well. In particular, Meebo, an instant messaging client that integrates Yahoo, GTalk, AIM, and MSN all into one interface. Also, Zoho is a Web 2.0 Power Point program which I have tried in the past and which appears to have a great deal of potential.
Interestingly, just this week Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska proposed legislation that would ban Wikipedia from use in US colleges. Though I agree with the premise that students should not be permitted to cite Wikipedia as a reference, I do not think that there is anything inappropriate about its general usage as a vehicle for driving inspiration on different ideas or interests students may have. It is a lot more useful that MySpace at least, which I consider to be the most substantial waste of time of all the internet social networking sites, and should absolutely be banned from college campuses (well, maybe not).
Interestingly, just this week Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska proposed legislation that would ban Wikipedia from use in US colleges. Though I agree with the premise that students should not be permitted to cite Wikipedia as a reference, I do not think that there is anything inappropriate about its general usage as a vehicle for driving inspiration on different ideas or interests students may have. It is a lot more useful that MySpace at least, which I consider to be the most substantial waste of time of all the internet social networking sites, and should absolutely be banned from college campuses (well, maybe not).
Labels:
Google,
Innovators,
The Internet,
Web 2.0
2/14/2007
BBC summarizes nuclear enrichment; Bush press conference on North Korea negotiations...
BBC NEWS | INDEPTH | THE NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
With the focus of the news decidedly shifting from Iraq to North Korea and Iran this week, I thought it may be helpful to include a link to and some excerpts from the BBC compiled summary of the process taken from uranium mine through enrichment cycle and ultimately to the creation of a nuclear weapon. If anything, it makes it clear that, given the requisite time, any country with enough uranium and centerfuges should have little problem building their own plutonium-based weapon.
North Korea, which the president is expected to have a news conference on this morning from the White House to announce a tentative disarmament agreement reached during the recent negotiations in Beijing, has supposedly already developed a nuclear weapon. If such an agreement has truly been broached, it is an historic day in the history of nuclear technology, particularly in light of the decades-long stand-off between the US and its North Korean enemies since the cease-fire agreement that ended the Korean War. However, given the North's history of abiding by the agreements that result from long, arduous negotiation processes, any end-zone dance the president may be gearing up for this morning better be subtle. Any grandstanding, or disrespect implied in the president's news conference could undue any of the progress that US negotiator Christopher Hill was able to make in Beijing. Also, Bush could hurt himself badly if he tries to take premature credit for a "deal" that has only limited possibilities of ever being fully carried out. It has long been thought that collapse of the North Korean regime, or at least its ability to withstand the pressures of the international community which demanded it cooperation with international inspectors and IAEA oversight, were only sustainable for a limited time frame. Maybe we have reached the tipping point...
Iran professes its undeniable "right" as a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to develop peaceful nuclear technology. The US has insisted that regardless of Iran's assertions that they seek only a peaceful program, the regime in Tehran should not simply be trusted to comply with the NPT, though as of today no international consensus on how to proceed has been reached. With hope any agreement, or negotiating paradigm established by the Bush administrations diplomatic approach to North Korea, will provide the basis for engaging the Amadine-jihad regime in Tehran. I get the sense as of late that Bush is growing extremely impatient with the Iranian's insistence that it be allowed to proceed unchecked. Also, the Bush White House has stiffened its rhetoric regarding the role of Iranian supplied insurgents in Iraq, which has only precipitated tension on Capitol Hill.
We will see this morning what exactly Bush thinks his guy in Beijing has brought home, but only time will tell what is in store for the US in Iran...
North Korea, which the president is expected to have a news conference on this morning from the White House to announce a tentative disarmament agreement reached during the recent negotiations in Beijing, has supposedly already developed a nuclear weapon. If such an agreement has truly been broached, it is an historic day in the history of nuclear technology, particularly in light of the decades-long stand-off between the US and its North Korean enemies since the cease-fire agreement that ended the Korean War. However, given the North's history of abiding by the agreements that result from long, arduous negotiation processes, any end-zone dance the president may be gearing up for this morning better be subtle. Any grandstanding, or disrespect implied in the president's news conference could undue any of the progress that US negotiator Christopher Hill was able to make in Beijing. Also, Bush could hurt himself badly if he tries to take premature credit for a "deal" that has only limited possibilities of ever being fully carried out. It has long been thought that collapse of the North Korean regime, or at least its ability to withstand the pressures of the international community which demanded it cooperation with international inspectors and IAEA oversight, were only sustainable for a limited time frame. Maybe we have reached the tipping point...
Iran professes its undeniable "right" as a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to develop peaceful nuclear technology. The US has insisted that regardless of Iran's assertions that they seek only a peaceful program, the regime in Tehran should not simply be trusted to comply with the NPT, though as of today no international consensus on how to proceed has been reached. With hope any agreement, or negotiating paradigm established by the Bush administrations diplomatic approach to North Korea, will provide the basis for engaging the Amadine-jihad regime in Tehran. I get the sense as of late that Bush is growing extremely impatient with the Iranian's insistence that it be allowed to proceed unchecked. Also, the Bush White House has stiffened its rhetoric regarding the role of Iranian supplied insurgents in Iraq, which has only precipitated tension on Capitol Hill.
We will see this morning what exactly Bush thinks his guy in Beijing has brought home, but only time will tell what is in store for the US in Iran...
Labels:
George W. Bush,
Iran,
North Korea,
Nuclear War
al-Sadr flees to Iran? Bush ups the rhetoric against Tehran...
U.S.: Radical cleric al-Sadr in Iran - CNN.com
The high-profile pain in the ass of the US Marine Corp, Shiite cleric and part-time mercenary Muqtada al-Sadr, may have high-tailed it toward his brothers in Iran. His associates dispute the claim, made by US military officials, and his where-abouts are yet to be determined.
At the same time, President Bush has subtly upped the ante with the Iranian administration. For its part the Amadine-jihad administration has also become much more aggressive in its rhetoric, and unusually candid with the American media. Mahmoud gave an interview to Diane Sawyer, who has been undercover in Tehran (complete with veil) and often looking like she is trying to avoid attention, did a great job probing the mind of the one of the world's most under-investigated and understood figures. Mahmoud has long asserted that he welcomes the American public to come and judge his policies on their merit, but rarely (as Amadine-jihad in fact mentions sarcastically during the interview) do we in America get any more than a sound-bite.
Rumor has it that al-Sadr fled Iraq as a direct result of the much publicized troop surge that has been embraced by the Bush Administration as their victory strategy in the war-torn capitol city of Baghdad. This alone should make his idea seem a little more attractive than most of the officials in Washington would like you to believe it is, but what more should be expected from a majority that gained its power through a campaign predicated on the strategy of making the president look bad all day every day. How should they be expected to defer to his authority on such matters as making and implementing foreign policy? Everyday it becomes apparent that we live in the Age of Opportunism...
Rumor has it that al-Sadr fled Iraq as a direct result of the much publicized troop surge that has been embraced by the Bush Administration as their victory strategy in the war-torn capitol city of Baghdad. This alone should make his idea seem a little more attractive than most of the officials in Washington would like you to believe it is, but what more should be expected from a majority that gained its power through a campaign predicated on the strategy of making the president look bad all day every day. How should they be expected to defer to his authority on such matters as making and implementing foreign policy? Everyday it becomes apparent that we live in the Age of Opportunism...
2/04/2007
Chinese GPS rival Beidou launched...
FT.com / Asia-Pacific / China - China launches first navigation satellite
Beidou Navigation System
After nearly twenty years of geo-spacial monopoly, the US GPS system, which so many people around the world have come to rely on when traveling to an unknown destination. The European Union has recently closed in on full operational capability of their real-time navigational system Galileo, and the Chinese took major steps toward implementing a third in the launch of a key satellite over the weekend in their Beidou Navigation System.
There exists fundamental differences between the US system and its EU contemporary which are as indicative of the fundamental differences in the guiding economic philosophies of the two continents. The GPS system that has been in operation under the Department of Defense since the 1970's has, since its declassification, been open for use at no cost to any company that can harness its vast capacities for use at the level of the individual consumer or corporate entity. Since that time the US has embraced GPS culture and all of our ground based commercial traffic is guided by the pulsing satellites that make up the GPS network. Galileo will take a different approach, instead charging its users a fee for usage with the value-added benefits not entirely clear as of yet, though to be fair, the system is hardly up and running.
The Beidou (Chinese name for the "Big Dipper" constellation) Navigation System is even further down the road than Magellan, and just as the US and EU networks are reflections of the fundamental economic differences that exist between the two Western civilizations, the Chinese strategy for its commercialization strategy is like all other economic policies in China: vague and highly speculative.
As the Chinese become wealthier and their country-sides are transformed into concrete jungles awash in semi-trucks and FedEx vans, their decision to enter the Global-Positioning market early and aggressively will likely prove to have been wise. If they choose, as I suspect they will, to follow the path of the free markets paved by their American competitor they will most likely outshine the Galileo network even if they are years behind in bringing the service to consumers.
Considering China is still a developing economy by official classification, it should be noted that they are making aggressive commercial, and not just militaristic advances in the space industry. If American policymakers, entrepreneurs and bankers heed the warnings that such an aggressive push by a growing competitor into an industry with limitless potential the US should have no problem competing with the Middle Kingdom anywhere in the known universe.
2/03/2007
Roy G. Biv, Inc.?
Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Arts & Entertainment
So I was watching Primary Colors this afternoon and I was curious about the real life identity of the characters, so I did what I always do, a Google search. As usual I found what I was looking for and then some. I accidently hit the Google News button with the search term "primary colors" typed in the search bar in Firefox, I was fortuitously guided to an intriguing story about the coming wave of copyrighting and trademarking of colors.
As noted in the story, Oprah has pursued branded the letter O, and Trump payed big bucks for the phrase "Your Fired", but colors have never formally been claimed as a corporate identity. Companies like UPS and American Express have tried to use color association as a marketing ploy, but this breaks new and interesting ground.
What I find most intriguing is that once one company secures the sole proprietorship of a color, all the rest of the colors of the rainbow are fair game, not to mention the many thousands of variations. I think it would be fun and interesting to try to claim an obscure color, like turquois or magenta, and make it my own. Then I could charge clothing companies royalty fees. I guess I wouldn't do that, but it would be an interesting documentary to follow the litgation that would go into determining the sensibleness of such a phenomenon of the free markets.
If anyone would like to share their ideas on what color I should claim and why please feel free to leave them.
If anyone would like to share their ideas on what color I should claim and why please feel free to leave them.
Tags: markets, primary colors, Roy G. Biv
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