Democrats vs. Oil and Auto

I’ve been meaning to write something about recent energy and environment politics, especially in light of the G8 summit and all the recent unilateral initiatives from some of the worst polluting countries (eg US, China, Australia).  Unfortunately i dont have time.
I did, however want to point to the Democrats’ perhaps recent legislative pushes. They’re working [...]

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Of Slums and Suburbs

I caught this article in the LA Times several weeks ago about the recent mushrooming of cairo’s elite new suburbs. It’s been lingering in my firefox tabs since as i’ve tried to locate several other articles i’d come across in recent months. Unfortunately, poor memory and lack of time have gotten in the way. But [...]

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Silverstein on Islamists

Just caught an article in the March Harper’s by Ken Silverstein. It’s one of the most measured looks at “Islamist” movements/parties in the region and the West’s (particularly, the US) approach to dealing (or, rather, decidedly not) with them.
Naturally, he touches on the oxymoronic so-called “Bush Doctrine”:
Notwithstanding President Bush’s new “forward strategy of freedom,” the [...]

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Finklestein and Larudee Letter

[PLEASE NOTE: If this letter has been forwarded to you, and you would like to sign on or have questions, please send an email to depaul.letter@gmail.com]
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The letter’s after the jump.
UPDATE: thought i would point to the [...]

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The Face of Tomorrow

I came across this website. Basically, 100 pictures are taken of people’s faces (in a single city/location) and then some sort of algorithm is used to estimate what the average person born of this gene pool would look like many generations down the line. It seems to have been borne of the contrast between the [...]

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Of Slums ands Skyscrapers

I caught this article on Forbes a couple of days ago. A couple of excerpts:
This year, the world will pass a milestone so profoundly significant that 2007 will become a touchstone for future historians. For the first time, more people will be living in cities than in the country.
and
By 2030, an estimated 5 billion of [...]

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Court: AUC can’t ban niqab

While i am generally for personal freedoms, i draw the line at niqab. Primarily because, at the risk of sounding like a government, i do believe that it does cross into that zone where it transgresses others’ security (or senses thereof). I, personally, do not feel safe in the presence of people whose faces i [...]

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Google on Immigration

Google entered the US immigration debate as business leaders testified in congress. Generally my inclination is to agree that in order to keep up with international competition in knowledge-based industries, particularly ICT, the US will as ever have to rely on human imports. There’s no way they can keep up with India, China, SE Asia [...]

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