Friday, January 28, 2005

Eric's thoughts about the CIA report

"with writing like they were talking to
someone with alzheimers."

4 possible futures

Take note on page 20 it states the 4 types of futures the CIA sees possible.
1. A more Asian world- Basicly globalization will eventually help China/India become an economic leader
2. US Hegemony-We are able to keep on top in spite of big changes
3. Islam stands up- The huge muslim population decides to transcend national boundries to excert it's power.
4. 1984- The world gets so anti-proliferation that everyone uses any means necessary to keep scary weapons away from scary people, including the proliferation of totalitarian states.
Peace,
Chris

What we really need to know about

Above is the NCI's prediction of what the world will look like in 2020. Multipolar global power, the US middle class will have it's economic back broken, China, Brazil, the EU, and India will be real players on the world stage.
Interesting how I've been saying this for a while...
For an abridged version of the 123 page report go here.
Peace,
Chris

Thursday, January 27, 2005

We are losing the moral high ground

The interrogator left the room to ask a Muslim linguist how she could break the prisoner's reliance on God. The linguist told her to tell the detainee that she was menstruating, touch him, then make sure to turn off the water in his cell so he couldn't wash.


Strict interpretation of Islamic law forbids physical contact with women other than a man's wife or family, and with any menstruating women, who are considered unclean.


"The concept was to make the detainee feel that after talking to her he was unclean and was unable to go before his God in prayer and gain strength," says the draft, stamped "Secret."

The interrogator used ink from a red pen to fool the detainee, Saar writes.

"She then started to place her hands in her pants as she walked behind the detainee," he says. "As she circled around him he could see that she was taking her hand out of her pants. When it became visible the detainee saw what appeared to be red blood on her hand. She said, 'Who sent you to Arizona?' He then glared at her with a piercing look of hatred.

"She then wiped the red ink on his face. He shouted at the top of his lungs, spat at her and lunged forward" — so fiercely that he broke loose from one ankle shackle.

"He began to cry like a baby," the draft says, noting the interrogator left saying, "Have a fun night in your cell without any water to clean yourself."

Hillary's views on abortion, they will surprise you

Clinton's speech basically updated the pro-choice message for the age of terrorism. She began by talking about Romania and China, two regimes that in the last two decades forced women to abort (in China's case) or not to abort (in Romania's case) pregnancies. Fifteen years ago, when legal abortion in this country was in doubt, pro-choice Democrats framed abortion laws as big government to turn libertarian voters against pro-life Republicans. Now that abortion's legality seems more secure, it's harder to scare libertarians about government in their bedrooms. And post-9/11 conservatism differs in emphasis from the conservatism of the late 1980s and 1990s. It's more like the Cold War, focused on right and wrong and freedom abroad. Tyranny overseas resonates at home. Bush says he's liberating women around the world; Clinton said Bush is repressing them with a "global gag rule" against internationally funded family planning.
Not this time. Abortion is "a sad, even tragic choice to many, many women," said Clinton. Then she went further: "There is no reason why government cannot do more to educate and inform and provide assistance so that the choice guaranteed under our constitution either does not ever have to be exercised or only in very rare circumstances."Once you embrace that truth—that the ideal number of abortions is zero—voters open their ears. They listen when you point out, as Clinton did, that the abortion rate fell drastically during her husband's presidency but has risen in more states than it has fallen under George W. Bush. I'm sure these trends have more to do with economics than morals, but that's the point. Once we agree that the goal is zero, we can stop asking which party yaps more about fighting abortion and start asking which party gets results.


Rise of the beast-men

"And at Stanford University in California an experiment might be done later this year to create mice with human brains."
"For example, an experiment that would raise concerns, he said, is genetically engineering mice to produce human sperm and eggs, then doing in vitro fertilization to produce a child whose parents are a pair of mice."
It is an interesting world we live in.
Peace,
Chris

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

pollution saves us from another ice age

Interesting... Still, I don't know if I like us messing with the weather. Who knows.

I'm not the only one obsessed with China

In the next couple of years we will be hearing story after story about business people doing stuff in China, its the new exciting market.
Peace,
Chris