Category: Politics
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No One Can Terrorize Us Without Our Consent
As we approach the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, some politicians and members of the media are promoting and perpetuating terror, consciously or unconsiously. I’m reminded of a famous quote from the former First Lady of the United States, Eleanor Roosevelt: No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. I would…
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Influence in Digg Nation: Democracy, Meritocracy or Aristocracy?
There appears to be rising indignation in Digg nation over the perception that some users have undue influence in the ranking of articles posted in this popular "user driven social content website" (cf. articles at InformationWeek, Wired Blog, and Wikipedia, the last of which also notes that "diggnation" was one of the names originally considered…
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CSNY vs. GWB at WRA (A Concert Review)
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young rendered a rousing rock and roll revue that combined retrospection with rekindled rebellion at the White River Amphitheatre last night. While I don’t believe U.S. President George W. Bush was physically present at the concert, representations of him — including his words and actions (and their consequences) — were front…
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Hearts and Minds, Us and Them, War and Peace
Curtis Johnson shares some insightful — and potentially inciteful — views on new ways of thinking about — and acting on — the issue of terrorism in an article entitled "Towards Effective Global Influence". After starting off with a quote from Marine Lt. Gen. Wallace Gregson "Hearts and minds are more important than capturing and…
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The Health of Nations: Inequality, Stress and Dissatisfaction
Stephen Bezruchka wrote an article in Sunday’s Seattle Post-Intelligencer noting the higher average health found in nations with more egalitarian distributions of wealth. The article, "Economic equality is best medicine" bore the subtitle "Health of societies mostly relies on political and economic policies, not the individual treatment of disease." Bezruchka notes that Japan has the…
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An Inconvenient Truth, and a Call to Action
For Father’s Day, our family went to see An Inconvenient Truth, a movie I wanted to see … and wanted my children to see. In the film, Al Gore poignantly highlights many of the disturbing impacts of global warming, including natural disasters, droughts, sea level rise, epidemic illnesses and species extinction. Gore makes a compelling…
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The Art, Science, Business and Politics of Happiness
The Wall Street Journal ran an article entitled "Happiness, Inc." in this week’s Weekend Edition, which described how research into happiness is being applied in business contexts. I’ve encountered a whole bunch of happiness-related pieces recently, and this one prompted me to weave them together. The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living, by His…
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Intelligence, Advice, Investment and Politics
Yesterday I read a Seattle Times article about Paul Pillar, a former high-ranking CIA official who has raised important questions about the intelligence that was collected before and during the Iraq war, the advice that was given about this to the Bush administration, and the extent to which the intelligence advice was acted upon. This…
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Business is Good
Doug Rushkoff recently wrote an article for his Arthur Magazine column entitled "Business is Good" in which he articulates a very positive view of commerce, arguing that the problems with our current corporate culture are inherited rather than inherent, and inviting bizfolk to [re]orient themselves toward intentionality, integrity and passion. His title reminded me of…
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The Price of War … and Peace
The Seattle Times published an article yesterday on "What will war cost? Studies weigh oil prices, lost produtivity, more", based on two recent studies on the topic: "The Economic Costs of the Iraq War: An Appraisal Three Years after the Beginning of the Conflict" by Linda Bilmes (The John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard…