21st Century Lifelessness

Our communication........Wireless
Our business......................Cashless
Our telephone..................Cordless
Our cooking.......................Fireless
Our youth.........................Jobless
Our food............................Fatless
Our labor...........................Effortless
Our conduct....................Worthless
Our relation......................Loveless
Our attitude....................Careless
Our feelings......................Heartless
Our politics......................Shameless
Our education...............Valueless
Our Follies.........................Countless
Our arguments...............Baseless
Our commitment..........Aimless
Our poor..........................Voiceless
Our life..............................Meaningless

Finally,
Our existence..................Useless????

Dirty Politics of Discreditation

It is one thing to disagree with someone and present arguements against his or her case and then let the best idea stand up. But when you activly try to discredit people and try to find and manufacture dirt, it can only point out the weakness of your argument.

The adminsitration is now looking for ways to get into Iran, now that it has egg on the face with Iraq. ElBaradei is not phrasing his words exactly the way the administration wants them to be phrased. Therefore, they take the liberty to tap his phones.

The first link below is a recent CNN article about this. The second is some of the analysis by Paul Craig Roberts about the readiness of the US to attack Iran, even with strong European opposition.

Here is an excerpt from the analysis (2nd link).

The important unanswered question is: why do the neocons with their proven record of duplicity and delusion still hold the reigns of power in the Bush administration? Why isn’t Feith in prison? Martha Stewart is in prison for "lying" about a noncrime. Feith’s lies have killed thousands. The Iraq war is based entirely on neocon lies. The war is costing the US a fortune it does not have. The war is producing US casualties comparable to those of the Vietnam war and has killed a minimum of tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians.

The neocons have destroyed Iraq’s infrastructure, alienated the entire Muslim world and made the US the most hated country on the planet.

U.S. taps ElBaradei phone

A Dose of Non-Delusional Reality for Douglas Feith

Google Is Adding Major Libraries to Its Database

Google is working with major institutions around the world to add digital libraries that are searchable on the internet. WOW!! This is going to be fantastic! Prestigious institutions like Oxford University, New York Public Library and our local Stanford University are joining this effort.

Now we have to account for our time even better than before and stop wasting so much of it. Here is an interesting short article by Salah Eddin Arqadan (sorry it is in Arabic, I will try to get it translated soon) about the power of the internet and our accountability for all the time that we save using it.

The internet and abuse of time and location

شبكة الانترنيت وسوء استخدام الوقت والزمان

A Stubborn Refusal to Die

Please take a look at this! I have added it as a permanent link on the right set.

Mounting Scandal at Aipac Prompts Talk of Lobbying Powerhouse's Demise

This is a very interesting article about AIPAC. You may need to register your email at the Forward website to read this article in full. But in case that you can't here are some excerpts from it.

Communal insiders warn that an indictment of an Aipac official or a trial that casts the association in a negative light could severely weaken the lobbying prowess of all Jewish organizations at a time when Israel and Jewish agencies are facing rising hostility in many corners, and depending increasingly on support from Washington lawmakers.

"If this goes to court, and I am not even talking about a guilty verdict, it will be very damaging to the community," said an official at one national Jewish organization. "If this goes to court, Aipac as Aipac will be on trial, and if Aipac goes down, it's a disaster for the whole community."

Also this

"It's okay to say once that the FBI is ticked at Aipac, but a grand jury with subpoenas — that's not someone running a grudge campaign," said an official with a major Jewish organization. "Clearly, somebody has thought this through. And they are looking for something."

Steve Pomerantz, a former FBI investigator who consults for Jewish organizations sounded a similar note. He said the nature of the subpoenas suggests that FBI investigators know what they're looking for.

"This is not a fishing expedition," he said. "It's clear to me they have some specific information which is leading them in a specific direction."

And finally this

"People, even in Washington, don't know the difference between some Jewish group and Aipac," said an official with a major Jewish organization. "For them, any Jew lobbying on the Hill is Aipac."

This perception of a stronger connection to Aipac often has been an asset for other Jewish organizations when attempting to advance issues unrelated to Israel, the official said. But with the current legal developments, some Jewish activists say they are beginning to feel uncomfortable with the link. "There are some who are beginning to think in terms of self preservation," the official said.

There are many more details in this. If you would like to see the rest of the article and don't want to register your email address, leave me a comment here and I will email you the full article.

U.S. Students Fare Badly in International Survey of Math Skills

No comments...speaks for itself

The Natalists -- The New Red-Diaper Babies

Guess what? This is an interesting coorelation. The states with the people who are more family oriented and are having more babies voted republican. Those that have a low birth rate (the coasts) are the ones that voted democrat. Interesting, isn't it?

However, where does that stand with the Muslim population of the US? Obviously, we have the family values down pat and the number of children. Yet this election was overwhelmingly democratic for Muslims. Seems that my previous post (yesterdays) about the view of Muslims towards the US policies is the key here.

US Has Zero Credibility Among Muslims – Pentagon Panel

Can you believe it? Even a penatgon panel says that the policies of the US in the Middle East need revamping. When will this administration get it? What is disturbing, though, is the report was finished in September, but somehow held until now to be revealed. Someone was eager to have someone lose.

Here is a quote

The document also called on U.S. policymakers to spend more time "listening" to their intended audience and use messages that "should seek to reduce, not increase, perceptions of arrogance, opportunism, and double standards."

And another

The DSB report also stresses that U.S. policies in the Mideast – notably Washington's support for Israel, the Iraq invasion, and its backing of autocratic leaders in the region – make it very difficult for Washington to persuade Muslims of its good intentions. The report, however, does not advise changing policies, which would be beyond its mandate.

A third

Thus, contrary to the mantra of the administration and its neoconservative advisers, asserts the report, "Muslims do not 'hate our freedom,' but rather, they hate our policies. The overwhelming majority voice their objections to what they see as one-sided support in favor of Israel and against Palestinian rights, and the long-standing even increasing support for what Muslims collectively see as tyrannies, most notably Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan, and the Gulf states."

It is amazing that this report finally makes it under a hawkish Bush presidency. Even though this report is not entirely representative of the views in the Muslim world, it is much closer to the real situation than the silly comments that the Muslim world hates the freedom of the west.

The 9/11 Bubble

Here is more fiscal bad news. Add this with the earlier post Contemporary Thoughts: Pass the Buck -- The approaching financial catastrophe This may be the main issue in the 2nd W Presidency.

The very reason Mr. Bush had the luxury of launching a war of necessity in Afghanistan and a war of choice in Iraq, without a second thought, was because of the surpluses built up by the previous administration and Congress. Since then, the Bush team has been slashing taxes in the middle of two wars, weakening the dollar and amassing a huge debt burden - on the implicit assumption that nothing will go wrong in the future.

But what if there is another 9/11 or war of necessity? We're cooked. The tax revenue won't be there, so the only option will be more borrowing and a weaker dollar. But what happens if the Chinese and other foreigners, who now hold over 40 percent of our Treasury securities, decide they don't want to hold these depreciating dollars anymore, let alone buy more?

The Case for Not Attacking Iran

Well, it seems that Iraq is not enough. We now need Iran too. This is getting ridiculous.

Do the last few days remind you of anything, by any chance? Presidential heavy breathing about a ‘rogue’ Middle Eastern state; a supporting chorus of exiles with dramatic new claims; and a senior member of the US government bearing intelligence which turns out to be more spin than spine-chilling. Less than a month after the presidential election, the Bush White House has begun its campaign against Iran. In the week that Americans break for Thanksgiving, it might seem that, for Washington, the festival of the moment should really be Groundhog Day.

And it seems that it all was serendipity

According to Ken Pollack, the highly respected Washington Middle East analyst, Iran’s current status as a fully-fledged US hate-object is partly the result of an accident. Since the embassy hostage-taking in 1979, relations have not been warm. But there have been several attempts at rapprochement since. And, by Pollack’s account, Iran only ended up in President Bush’s famous ‘Axis of Evil’ speech as little more than ‘padding’. Bush’s speechwriters ‘had come up with this great line, and they needed a third country to make up an Axis’, he quotes one administration official as telling him.

However, we hope that Iran is in a better position than what Iraq was in.

In discussions with journalists and British officials over the last six months, Iran has discreetly made it clear that if it should be attacked, it has the power to turn the current mess in Iraq into a Lebanon-in-the-1980s-style calamity, and send a lot more men of the British and American armies back home in boxes. That is the main reason why the current policy of negotiation, coupled with threats from each side to make life difficult for the other, will probably continue for some time, however tough the rhetoric from Washington.