Bush Tax Cuts

“…the same faction that spent...

“…the same faction that spent the last decade demanding fealty to the Commander-in-Chief in a Time of War upon pain of being accused of a lack of patriotism (or worse) now openly sides with a foreign leader over their own President. The U.S. Congress humiliates itself by expressing greater admiration for and loyalty to this foreign leader than their own country’s. And because this is all about Israel, few will find this spectacle strange, or at least will be willing to say so.”

- Glenn Greenwald (via azspot)

The World Is Flat by Thomas Freidman

I do not normally not finish books, I guess it is a form of OCD or wishful thinking. I always think I am going to miss something or the good part of the book starts the very next page from where I quit and I need to give the author just one more chance. But then again it is I who is looking for entertainment and education thus perhaps I need to honker down and finish reading and quit expecting the author to entertain me and make things easy. However, whatever may be the case I have decided to stop reading The World is Flat. The following is my review of what little of the book I did read, and dear reader you are welcome to stop reading my review prematurely just like I had stopped reading the book.

First of all, I would like to state that when I read books I view them as a research paper that sets out to prove some point to me. It is the job of the author to make sure that I believe his argument and take his side, or at the very least accept that his points are valid and argument is structurally sound. What I found in Freidman’s book, all too often, was the mention of how many other people agree with his argument. Personally I do not care if the rest of the world agrees with the author it is his job to tell me why I should believe along with the rest of the world.

Second, I find that there is very little room in an argumentative book for personal prose. I see it as perhaps a necessity when making connections between the chapters, or points but in no way should it be the main portion of the book. Just as I do not care about how many of the author’s personal friends agree with his opinion I do not care whether or not the flight that he took for his next interview was in first class or coach, and how many times he called his wife during the trip.

Third, personally it seemed to me that the book had accumulated water weight during its many revisions. I have only read the very beginning of the 600+ pages but the fact that those first 30 pages could have been condensed into 5 killed all desire to continue reading. Yes sir I understand that the internet shrunk the world, but do I really need to know about the different types of browsers and languages and startup companies in order to understand your argument that the world is shrinking? I do not think so. Walking away from this book I do not want to know more about the internet than a computer science graduate, I want to walk away believing that, in fact, the world shrunk.

Finally, while I do agree with the idea of the shrinking world, I have issues with the opinion of the author that the shrinking is good for everyone, and that you better learn to adapt or be left in the dust. Is it really good that US jobs are shipped overseas? Sure it’s cheap and it increases productivity of the doctors and tax accountants and hedge fund managers, but what about those who did not have access to top notch education? What about those who are just not as smart as doctors or nuclear physicists? What about those who would be perfectly happy with a middle class job of being an assistant or a secretary? Yes the world is shrinking, but I would not be so hasty in deeming it a good thing.

“There is a cult of ignorance...

“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’”

- Isaac Asimov (via azspot)

“America is the wealthiest nation on Earth,...

“America is the wealthiest nation on Earth, but its people are mainly poor, and poor Americans are urged to hate themselves. To quote the American humorist Kin Hubbard, ‘It ain’t no disgrace to be poor, but it might as well be.’ It is in fact a crime for an American to be poor, even though America is a nation of poor. Every other nation has folk traditions of men who were poor but extremely wise and virtuous, and therefore more estimable than anyone with power and gold. No such tales are told by the American poor. They mock themselves and glorify their betters. The meanest eating or drinking establishment, owned by a man who is himself poor, is very likely to have a sign on its wall asking this cruel question: ‘if you’re so smart, why ain’t you rich?’ There will also be an American flag no larger than a child’s hand – glued to a lollipop stick and flying from the cash register…

Americans, like human beings everywhere, believe many things that are obviously untrue. Their most destructive untruth is that it is very easy for any American to make money. They will not acknowledge how in fact hard money is to come by, and, therefore, those who have no money blame and blame and blame themselves. This inward blame has been a treasure for the rich and powerful, who have had to do less for their poor, publicly and privately, than any other ruling class since, say Napoleonic times. Many novelties have come from America. The most startling of these, a thing without precedent, is a mass of undignified poor. They do not love one another because they do not love themselves.”

- Kurt Vonnegut (via whiporwill)

“We love America...

“We love America just as much as they do. But in a different way. You see, they love America like a 4-year-old loves his mommy. Liberals love America like grown-ups. To a 4-year-old, everything Mommy does is wonderful and anyone who criticizes Mommy is bad. Grown-up love means actually understanding what you love, taking the good with the bad and helping your loved one grow. Love takes attention and work and is the best thing in the world. That’s why we liberals want America to do the right thing. We know America is the hope of the world, and we love it and want it to do well.”

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Al Franken (via greaterthanlapsed)

“…for each generation, America...

“…for each generation, America is a very different place, and the America we lost on 9/11 — the America that didn’t profile citizens, torture people, or monitor their phone calls — isn’t even a distant memory for the children and teenagers of today’s America.”

- The Mystery of Osama bin Laden