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Father of Chinas space tech program dies at 98

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:08:58 -0800

I can't help wondering if those responsible for immigration policy - and the political police - in the United States will pause to reflect on Dr Qian's biography. And if so, what their conclusions will be....

Tomgram: Dilip Hiro, Is Obamas Iran Policy Doomed to Fail?

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 09:33:06 -0800

Both those who realise that the times they are a-changing and those who find it difficult to accept this fact may do well to study Dilip Hiro's article here in some detail....

A Cartoon—By Mr. Fish (Harpers Magazine)

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 08:19:35 -0800

At last, the solution to all our educational problems ! No wonder we in Sweden have a major as Minister of Education and Schools - who says we are not are the very forefront of modernity ?!!...

Dissident Voice : Israel's European Lobby

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 15:46:54 -0700

As the hegemonic position of the US crumbles, the Israeli ruling elite is finding it necessary to devote more and more effort to influence other, rising powers. The political system in the EU is sufficiently similar to that of the US that the same methods of corruption and blackmail are likely to work here as well, as evidenced by our corporate media (including the so-called �public service� aether media here in Sweden), which seem to regard a love for Israel (�the Jewish state�, as if the Arabs who were not successfully driven out in 1948 and their descendents did not constitute a part of that state, who should enjoy the same civil rights as all others !) as the litmus test of correct political thinking, second only to a belief in the essential benevolence of US foreign policy, even if the latter is at times carried out in a bumbling, unsophisticated fashion....

uExpress.com: Ted Rall by Ted Rall -- (10/27/2009) OBAMAS REAL DEATH PANELS

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 15:20:41 -0700

Ted Rall is, of course, entirely right in pointing out the simple truth that :

Simply put, no one man--not even a nice, articulate, charismatic one--ought to claim the right to suspend a person's constitutional rights. Not in America. Certainly no one man--not even a young, handsome, likeable one--should be able to have anyone he wants whacked.
But let me here add that no one man or woman - or group of men or women - no matter how nice, articulate, charismatic, young, handsome, likeable he or she or they may be, has the right to commit the �the supreme international crime [initiating a war of aggression], differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole�. It is not only the lives and rights of US citizens that are to be protected in a world which we seek to make just....

7.3 Billion Light-Years Later, Einstein's Theory Prevails - NYTimes.com

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 05:34:16 -0700

Let us use our resources - material, financial, and not least, intellectual - to investigate the nature of the universe in which we live, rather than to devise new methods of killing each other. In that latter area, our expertise more than suffices....

Denying physics won&t save the video stars | Cory Doctorow - Times Online

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 04:01:44 -0700

Peter Mandelson is, not unnaturally, far more interested in protecting his relations with corporate copyright holders than with the interests of the British public. Were this sort of thing restricted to the UK, we could simply dismiss the government there as «quaint», but alas, we see the same sort of thing in France and, indeed, a «three-strikes» law remains on the agenda for the EU as a whole, while here in Sweden the Pirate Bay founders find it impossible to get a fair trail, as all the judges seem to be members of organisations sponsored by copyright holders (but, says the Higher Court - itself full of such judges - this fact does not establish «bias» !). And in the United States, absurd judgements for millions are being levied in civil cases, despite the fact that the level of damages - if any - done to the music industry in such cases has not been shown to be commisurate with the penalties. But in the end, Cory Doctorow is right, denying (the consequences of) the laws of physics (thank you, quantum mechanics !) is not a viable proposition....

Volcker Has Obama�s Ear, but Not on Overhaul of Banks - NYTimes.com

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:16:36 -0700

That the Obama administration, dominated as it is by Goldman-Sachs alumni, would listen to Paul Adolph Volcker's advice to reinstate a variant of Glass-Steagall Act in order to prevent a recurrence of the banking excesses which plunged the world into depression was a no-starter from the outset. Mr Volker's position as head of the so-called Economic Recovery Advisory Board is part of the smoke and mirrors so typical of this administration....

Johann Hari: The three fallacies that have driven the war in Afghanistan - Johann Hari, Commentators - The Independent

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 09:12:04 -0700

The war in Afghanistan was illegal when it started on 7 October 2001, and it remains equally illegal - and ill-advised today. The only distinction is the rivers of (mainly) Afghan blood that have flowed since then (not to say that Afghanistan was a peaceful place prior to the US/UK invasion - thank you, Messrs Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzeziński and James Earl Carter, Jr !). The longer the war is prolonged, the greater the damage done to the US Empire and the nearer its fall - something which many will hardly be sorry to see - but why should it be the Afghan people, or for that matter, the people of Pakistan to pay the price ?...

Z Magazine - Coups, UNASUR, U.S.

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 08:43:53 -0700

As the examples cited by Chomsky amply show, even a dying Empire can continue to cause immeasurable harm to countries and peoples who attempt to liberate themselves from its hegemony....