Given a free press with minimal oversight and regulation, such as we have in the United States, and given very minimal media financing from the government, such as we have in the United States, and given a free market with minimal oversight and regulation, such as we have in the publishing industry in the United States, why would the media bias itself in any particular direction? [...]
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So we outspend China almost 7-to-1 in defense in real dollars, and almost 3:1 in terms of percentage of GDP. And don’t forget, China is #2 in the world in defense spending. To put it in perspective, if the US did not increase its defense budget, but simply kept it at the current level, and the Chinese increased their defense budget by 10% a year for the next 20 years, they’d finally be at the same spending level we are at right now. [...] It’s just after 7pm and I’m debating whether to open the window of my taxi to allow in some fresh air. The sour old-sweat smell of the beat-up Suzuki Maruti hatchback is a bit nauseating, but that is the smell of taxis in India. You hire a car and a driver and then the driver [...] Sigh. I fly a lot. Too much, but such is life. Every month I get updates on my frequent flier status from United, Delta, and, as you will see, American. United and Delta are set to send me updates in English, but American defaulted to sending them to me in Japanese when I changed my [...] In the end, the only thing we should be targeting is our lack of honesty as a citizenry. When we accept utter lies as truth because it makes us feel better about who we are and what we believe, how can we expect those who lead us to take the more difficult road of introspection, honesty, integrity, and tough decisions? We flap about and expend great energy demanding these qualities from those whose ideas we oppose, but the truth is that we should demand an even higher level of commitment from those we support. [...] Define the American Dream. Is it that three-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath home in the suburbs? As our politicians talk about the current financial morass, they’d have you believe that. Change the channel, and still another politician or pundit will tell you of an American Dream where all children are covered by healthcare and where getting sick [...] It’s just before 2am in Bangkok. The sidewalks on Sukhumvit are busier now than they were at 2pm, and everyone is concerned with the order of the hour. Beet-nosed expats slough on down a side soi toward their homes. Sweaty tourists with bleary eyes and sweat dribbling down their necks laugh at each other and [...] Over the past two weeks I have had the very interesting, and in some ways motivating, experience of dropping into an “Alice in Wonderland” world where things are not as they seem, people agree to battle and then run off at the sight of something scary, and arbitrary shrieks of “Off with his head!” ring [...] The outrage from conservative America over Obama’s bows to Asian leaders borders on the ridiculous. First of all, if we felt secure about our role and standing in the world community I’m quite sure that the reaction would be much more muted, after all, it was with President Eisenhower here. Eisenhower bows to Pope [...] Ok, this is some stinky fish. I wanted to try the my.hamachi.cc website with our Hamachi network, so went to go create an account there. Only I can’t, because I won’t accept the license agreement for a license that is "TBD". Uff Da! [...] |
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