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| There are great benefits to connectedness, but we haven't wrapped our minds around the costs. |
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| Topic: International Relations |
9:03 am EST, Nov 24, 2004 |
Increasingly, a new division has become apparent, defined not by competing political ideologies but by competing economic and political interests and contradictory ideas about what democracy represents. Increasingly, they seem to be talking past each other. They happen to be talking about Russia and the West, but could just as easily be talking about Red and Blue in the United States. A Tug of War |
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Rumsfeld's war-on-terror memo |
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| Topic: War on Terrorism |
10:34 am EST, Nov 22, 2004 |
The questions I posed to combatant commanders this week were: Are we winning or losing the Global War on Terror? Is DoD changing fast enough to deal with the new 21st century security environment? Can a big institution change fast enough? Is the USG changing fast enough? It's been 13 months. How are we doing? Rumsfeld's war-on-terror memo |
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| Topic: Arts |
10:18 am EST, Nov 22, 2004 |
20,000 insurgents in Iraq,
20,000 hardened insurgents,
take 1,000 down,
move to another town,
22,000 insurgents in Iraq. "It is pretty clear that the coalition can win in Afghanistan and Iraq in one way or another, but it will be a long, hard slog." So if Bush is following the One Way, what's that "another way", again? |
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Costly Troop Deficit in Iraq |
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| Topic: Military Technology |
9:08 am EST, Nov 22, 2004 |
Shifting more of the Pentagon's well-padded budget into manpower has few supporters in a Defense Department transfixed with faddish theories of quick war-fighting, outsourced peacekeeping and minimal ground forces. Iraqi civilians without jobs and clean water and American soldiers without relief and a clear strategy for winning the peace have been paying the price for those seductive theories long enough. "It is pretty clear that the coalition can win in Afghanistan and Iraq in one way or another, but it will be a long, hard slog." How "transfixed" is that? Costly Troop Deficit in Iraq |
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A Victory, But Little Is Gained |
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| Topic: War on Terrorism |
8:56 am EST, Nov 22, 2004 |
History suggests that our best chance for "success" in Iraq depends on redefining what we would consider a victory. As T. E. Lawrence famously described it, fighting rebels is "like eating soup with a knife." The Soviet Union killed more than a million people in Afghanistan, but never broke the will of the insurgents. "It is pretty clear that the coalition can win in Afghanistan and Iraq in one way or another, but it will be a long, hard slog." A Victory, But Little Is Gained |
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The Under-Funded Global Fund to fight AIDS |
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| Topic: Society |
8:40 am EST, Nov 22, 2004 |
The secretary general of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, had said in early 2002, when he announced the formation of the fund, that he hoped it would increase global financing for AIDS to as much as $10 billion a year. The reality has been a far more modest average of about $1 billion annually at the fund. That is far below the $20 billion or more a year that it is estimated the world will soon need to combat AIDS. The Under-Funded Global Fund to fight AIDS |
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| Topic: Society |
8:37 am EST, Nov 22, 2004 |
According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Web site (as of Sept. 4, 2004), the total federal inmate population is 180,318. About 54 percent of that population are drug felons. The total cost for each prisoner was $61 per day; for the entire population, almost $11 million a day or $4 billion a year. It is predicted that by 2010 there will be more than 216,000 individuals serving time in federal prisons. Thirty years ago, the prison population was less than 200,000. But mandatory sentencing policies for drug offenses have driven the prison population across the nation to a staggering 1.4 million. Among the 10 states that have experienced the most prison growth, there are more than a dozen counties where at least one in five "residents" is an inmate. Rehab Justice |
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Desperate Housewives on Monday Night Football |
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| Topic: TV |
12:03 am EST, Nov 22, 2004 |
Edie (aka Nicolette Sheridan) drops her towel to keep Terrell Owens in the locker room. Gary Schneeberger of Focus on the Family says he was "encouraged" by her "sexed-up opening." Uh huh. No kidding? At least he's honest. (Or was it the complaints that got him excited? Is there a difference?) Desperate Housewives on Monday Night Football |
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'Values' Voters Still Like Their Television Sin |
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| Topic: TV |
11:57 pm EST, Nov 21, 2004 |
If it is true that the public's electoral choices are a cry for more morally driven programming, the network executives ask, why are so many people, even in the markets surrounding the Bush bastions Atlanta and Salt Lake City, watching a sex-drenched television drama? In the greater Atlanta market, reaching more than two million households, "Desperate Housewives" is the top-rated show. Nearly 58 percent of the voters in those counties voted for President Bush. The password is ... "Vicarious." Gary Schneeberger of Focus on the Family, an influential evangelical Protestant group, said that "History has shown that even people who could be described as Values Voters Are Prone To Sinful Behavior and watching representations of sinful behavior. Is it shocking that people would be enticed by it? It's not shocking, but it is tragic." If you recall, that is precisely the logic I laid out a week ago, in response to Frank Rich's column in the Sunday NYT. Mr. Schneeberger said he was encouraged by the criticism heaped on ABC last week for using a sexed-up opening for its "Monday Night Football" coverage. Ha! "Sexed-up!" Nicolette Sheridan's WMDs are real, baby, and they're spectacular. (Or something.) 'Values' Voters Still Like Their Television Sin |
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| Topic: Games |
7:49 pm EST, Nov 21, 2004 |
My significant other works for Electronic Arts, and I'm what you might call a disgruntled spouse. Our adventures with Electronic Arts began less than a year ago. I remember that they asked him in one of the interviews: "how do you feel about working long hours?" When asked for specifics about what "working long hours" meant, the interviewers coughed and glossed on to the next question. Now we know why. EA: The Human Story |
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