TNR this week

The New Republic this week deals with the question of Iraq. I would recommend reading this because it covers a wide range of ideas. Here is a quote from the editors.

"At this point, it seems almost beside the point to say this: The New Republic deeply regrets its early support for this war. The past three years have complicated our idealism and reminded us of the limits of American power and our own wisdom. But, as we pore over the lessons of this misadventure, we do not conclude that our past misjudgments warrant a rush into the cold arms of "realism." Realism, yes; but not "realism." American power may not be capable of transforming ancient cultures or deep hatreds, but that fact does not absolve us of the duty to conduct a foreign policy that takes its moral obligations seriously. As we attempt to undo the damage from a war that we never should have started, our moral obligations will not vanish, and neither will our strategic needs."

XM Radio and Copyright Infringement

After reading Who Control's the Internet?: Illusions of a Borderless World, by Jack Goldsmith and Tim Wu, I thought about what other forms of technology may be experiencing this same path of creating borders that prevent users from crossing the line between what is legally, morally, or socially acceptable and what is not. The first thing I thought of was the XM Satellite Radio. So I searched for some news articles on the relatively new technology (it has been around for several years now) and found several law suits involving the XM Satellite Radio. Major record labels have filed suits against XM Radio because of copyright infringement. The recording capabilities of the new XM Radio receivers allow users to record save music, similar to how TiVo records on one's television.

So it appears that XM Radio has comparable issues to those of the Internet. There must be some limit to what a user can do with these new technologies so that legal boundaries, such as copyrights, are not crossed.

I do not really understand how this is different from recording music from a normal radio station to a cassette tape, but apparently that is illegal too, unless authorized by RIAA (there is a small subsection about this at the bottom of the article found below).

So what next, ban recordable CDs for recording music?

You can read the article here.

When ya gotta go....

I guess when nature calls, there is no choice but to relieve yourself of it. When you are dedicated, you'll go to any lengths to win. For some, that can mean urinating in public, or on themselves. Check this out.

It is amazing what you can find on a topic when you start searching google for wierd stuff. Another thing mentioned in class was the so called "Runner's trots" as many call it. Apparently running for long periods of time causes gastrointestinal problems in some runners. There are even published articles on this topic from journals of medicine.

Funkadelics

The Funkadelics were mentioned in class the other day, so I went to look up some lyrics. I found some pretty interesting lyrics, and have copied some below. You can find more lyrics here at songlyrics.com

{assorted groans, whispers, wails & moans}
{spoken}
A luscious bitch she is, true
But it's not nice to fool mother nature
The proud mother of god like all ho's

Is jealous of her own shadow
So who is this young Vic Tanny bitch
Who wish to be queen for a day?
Who would sacrifice the great grandsons and daughters
Of her jealous mother
By sucking their brain
Until their ability to think was amputated
By pimping their instincts
Until they were fat, horny and strung-out
In her neurotic attempt to be queen of the universe
Who is this bitch?

Iraq?

Iraq seems to be getting worse by the day. Hundreds dead on Friday with more certain to come. The Iraq Study Group is working behind the scenes to come up with some solution to save face. John McCain said we should deploy the requisite troops needed to get the job done or find a way out if we do not have the will to do so. Meanwhile the Democrats are discordant in their policy with ABSCAM-participants being put up for election to the majority leader seat in the House due to political debts (Thankfully he lost). What if anything can be done or thought of?

I do not wish to propose any ideas because the ideas are useless unless we first determine what our goals are. The nation may wish to remain uninformed about the true motives or goals of the Iraq war. Whether it is to bolster oil, slow China’s progress, create political diversions at home, or to reshape the Middle East in an attempt to further its efficiency in the world system; the American public does not appear overtly willing to consider these ideas.

It troubles me what the effect of American involvement or withdrawal will be? Will it be better for us to do what is necessary to create some form of stability? While many Americans have now found it beneficial to call for withdrawal, it seems that withdrawal is akin to Vietnamization. Instead of fixing the mess, we appear to be ready to leave. It may be in the American thought to now dissolve ourselves of guilt and instead engage in some form of orientalism and claim it is “their” fault things are not working instead of acknowledging our own guilt. People on both sides who completely failed and emasculated themselves by refusing to question entry or the initial conduct of the war now say “not our fault, not our problem”. Maybe the question should now be, “our fault, how do we fix it so that Iraq works for their benefit and our own”, yes I said our own because it is our mess to clean up and as a realist sympathizer, a benefit to our own state power. Without endorsing Bush we need to be willing to take military, economic, and diplomatic measures necessary to fix the problem. This may be unpleasant but I think it is in our own interest and responsibility to find a solution that works without us leaving a bigger problem then we started with. This may be what our goal should be. Good Night.

Bookstore...

I went to the bookstore and checked out some of the clothes they got:

Most of the product were made in Guatemala, Mexiko, Vietnam and Phillipines. Only one item was made in the US (IL). Be aware!

Darwin's Nightmare III

Indeed, the documentary does a real good job. There are two interesting points that I wanted to add:

Firstly, what I also found quite striking is that the poorest of the poor are really self aware of their situation. During the documentary a Tanzanian security guard points out that he is very aware of the fact that international institutions as the IMF and the World Bank are ran by people from the Western world and that they are not interested in the common good of the Tanzanian people. In addition he says that only education would help to change the negative trend in Tanzania, but is also aware that he does not have the money to allow his children to study and go to school.

Secondly, besides the fact that the Tanzanian people are exploited by the Western world, I found it also interesting, how we employ Russians in order to transport weapons to African ( and even to Afghanistan) and transport fish to Europe. This documentary shows how global capitalism works and how the market is looking in all directions in order to find the cheapest labor (Russians, old Russian cargo-planes, Tanzanians).

The Path to Wealth

The article I read from New York Times, "Lure of Great Wealth Affects Career Choices", points out how people are choosing Wall Street oriented careers over other careers which provide "useful" services. There are graduate school and medical school graduates who are experts and specialists in their prospective fields but choose the path to wealth through Wall Street. Some qualified medical doctors never even practice medicine because they enter into another career path through Wall Street, perhaps advising people on where to invest their money. The difference is that as a doctor they would only make $100,000 but on Wall Street they could be making upward of several millions.

Dr. Glassman, a graduate of Harvard Medical School, stated:

"I wasn'’t sure that I was willing to take the risk of spending many years applying for grants and working long hours for the very slim chance of winning at the roulette table and making a significant contribution to the scientific literature”".

As a hematology-oncology specialist, Dr. Glassman earned about $150,000 in 1996. He recently changed his career path to management consulting. He never stated how much he now makes on Wall Street or his net worth, however, experts estimate he brings home an annual income in the seven figures and estimate his net worth to be more than $20 million.

So as more people choose to enter Wall Street to find their own path to wealth, what will happen to the fields of academia and scientific research? What about the lawyers who graduate law school but choose to make more money on Wall Street?

John Moon, a managing director of Metalmark Capital, said that, "“If Wall Street was not there as an alternative, I would have gone into academia."” So, perhaps with more people leaving their specialized fields to enter Wall Street there will be a larger demand for people who wish to enter academia.

Darwin's Nightmare

I saw a documentary a couple weeks ago, called "Darwin's Nightmare", that made me aware of some of the problems that have occurred and are occurring in Africa, namely Tanzania. The documentary looks at the poverty, health issues, crime, and the import of weapons to fuel the war in southern Africa (Congo, Rwanda, etc).

The main source of income for the people of Tanzania is now commercial fishing. The introduction of the Nile Perch into Lake Victoria has disrupted the socioeconomic local system, and has forced the country into the world trade system. To exacerbate the situation further, the planes from Europe which were exporting the Nile Perch had also been importing weapons to fuel the war being fought in southern countries of Africa.

I found this film to be a very effective way to open the eyes of the public to these problems occurring in Tanzania. The documentary, although it pointed out problems with poverty and the exploitation of the resources extracted from this area, also brings up health issues that are causing problems. The largest of these health problems is the spread of AIDS. A priest who was interviewed in the film said that the use of condoms was a sin, therefore he is not allowed to recommend that people practice safe sex. So it seems that this issue, though it is able to be prevented, is more related to cultural and religious beliefs. Methods of preventing AIDS are available to the people but are not commonly practiced.

I would recommend seeing this documentary if you have not seen it already. I think this is a great film that relates to globalization. It definitely shows how a country with very few resources has come to be a part of the world system by shipping out several tons of processed meat from the Nile Perch in order to supply many countries in Europe with a food in fairly high demand.