I have a flight to catch to New Jersey in a couple of hours. Blogging will be light over the next few days as I enjoy the holidays with my wife. Regular blogging will resume on monday. Enjoy your turkey.
Year: 2002
Mitzna and the Settlements
Unqualified Offerings and Talking Dog have joined me in supporting Amram Mitzna for the Israeli PM. Now, as Jim says: “if he can just bring some actual Israeli voters into the tent he’ll be cooking with gas.” The Talking Dog also mentions: Israel invested BILLIONS in the settlements — this investment can be traded against… Continue reading Mitzna and the Settlements
Tax the Poor
It seems like the Wall Street Journal editorial I mentioned before was inspired from Neal Boortz. Writing on his website on Aug 1, Boortz describes “THE DEMOCRATS’ (SECRET) PLAN FOR AMERICA”: Remove a majority of voters from responsibility for income taxes This is the biggie —- and they’ve made no attempt to hide their goals… Continue reading Tax the Poor
Voting Systems
I have always felt that the first-past-the-post (or plularity) voting system as practised in the US (except the Louisiana senate seat) and the UK is flawed since a house elected using this system does not reflect the will of the voters. A political party can easily get a two-thirds majority in parliament with only a… Continue reading Voting Systems
Iraqi No Fly Zone
Jim of Objectionable Content writes well-argued and thought-provoking posts. Yesterday, he took on the no fly zones in Iraq: As policy, the no-fly zones appear both poorly conceived and executed… The no-fly zones have been a mixed bag at best when it comes to their stated purpose of protecting dissidents… The no-fly zones make normalization… Continue reading Iraqi No Fly Zone
Kurds
Unqualified Offerings is surprised to hear about Syrian Kurds. In fact, Kurds are mainly divided in four countries: 13 million in Turkey, 4.6 million in Iran, 4.2 million in Iraq, and up to 1.6 million in Syria. In addition, there are around 65,000 Kurds in Armenia. There might even be a small number in Azerbaijan.… Continue reading Kurds
Free Trade But Only If It Helps Us
According to AP, The Bush administration, trying to energize flagging global trade talks, announced Tuesday that it will seek the total elimination of all tariffs on manufactured goods [emphasis mine] over the next 13 years. When I read this news, the words “manufactured goods” jumped out at me. I would guess that this proposal will… Continue reading Free Trade But Only If It Helps Us
WSJ Editorial: The Non-Taxpaying Class
E.J. Dionne, Tim Noah and Josh Marshall are making fun of the Wall Street Journal editorial last week which basically says: [A]s fewer and fewer people are responsible for paying more and more of all taxes, the constituency for tax cutting, much less for tax reform, is eroding. Workers who pay little or no taxes… Continue reading WSJ Editorial: The Non-Taxpaying Class
Frontline “In Search of Al Qaeda”
I just watched the PBS show online. It’s interesting. The complete show in available online in Media Player and Real media formats. There is also some material on the website that wasn’t on the show itself. The Al Qaeda supporting woman, from Yemen I believe, near the end of the program spooked me: “I love… Continue reading Frontline “In Search of Al Qaeda”
Movies
Here are the movies we are planning to see over the thanksgiving weekend: Die Another Day: I have always been a fan of James Bond movies. They are basically mindless fun. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: My wife likes Harry Potter.