Month: May 2006

Socialism Dead?

TCS Daily – Why Isn’t Socialism Dead?

The Christian’s life is transformed because he accepts the myth that Christ will one day return and usher in the end of time; the revolutionary socialist’s life is transformed because he accepts the myth that one day socialism will triumph, and justice for all will prevail.

How many times have Christians in the last two thousand years been convinced that the Second Coming was at hand, only to be bitterly disappointed — yet none of these disappointments was ever enough to keep them from holding on to their great myth. So, too, Sorel argued, the myth of socialism will continue to have power, despite the various failures of socialist experiments, so long as there are revolutionaries who are unwilling to relinquish their great myth.

Men need myths — and until capitalism can come up with a transformative myth of its own, it may well be that many men will prefer to find their myths in the same place they found them in the first part of the twentieth century — the myth of revolutionary socialism.

The falling prices of organic food

The falling prices of organic food
For that sea of humanity known as Baby Boomers, “organic food” conjures images of hippies in painted VW buses, Earth Shoes, hemp-growers and commune dwellers.

But the Hummers and Mercedes parked at Whole Foods — not to mention the Manolo high-heels and Louis Vuitton handbags sported by shoppers inside — illustrate the seismic shift in the organic food world over the last several years. Starting this month, that world may shift again when Wal-Mart doubles its line of organic foods.

Mexico’s economy grows, but job creation ‘missing’

Mexico’s economy grows, but job creation ‘missing’ – Business – insider.washingtontimes.com
“But with all of the good news on the real economy front, there is one missing piece: formal job creation,” Luis Arcentales, a vice president with Morgan Stanley, said this week in a research report.
Many new jobs are only temporary or are informal positions such as street vendors, Mr. Arcentales said. Meanwhile, Mexico’s labor force is growing faster than the economy is creating formal jobs.
Mr. Arcentales blamed foreign competition — especially pressure from China — and a rigid labor market — including high severance and hiring costs — for dampening the labor market.

The median wage in Mexico is a little under $2 an hour, while a foreign-born Mexican worker in the United States earns $9 to $10 an hour.

This ties back to an earlier post “Make Mexico Rich” to solve the Border problem.

Bird Flu Expert Says H5N1 Worst He’s Seen

ABC News: Bird Flu Expert Says H5N1 Worst He's Seen

Webster predicted it would take at least 10 more mutations before the H5N1 virus could potentially begin spreading from human to human, but said there's no way to know when or if that will ever happen.
Webster said much more research is needed to understand the virus' behavior and how it is spread. Research is being hindered, he said, by cultural issues preventing autopsies of victims. In many Asian countries, where most of the human deaths have occurred, many people do not believe in disturbing the body after death.

He said autopsies have been done on only six of the 113 people killed by bird flu since the virus began ravaging Asian poultry stocks in late 2003.

The Caged Virgin: An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam

The Caged Virgin: An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam (Hardcover) > Read an Excerpt

The first of these is that a Muslim’s relationship with his God is one of fear. A Muslim’s conception of God is absolute. Our God demands total submission. He rewards you if you follow His rules meticulously. He punishes you cruelly if you break His rules, both on earth, with illness and natural disasters, and in the hereafter, with hellfire.

The second element is that Islam knows only one moral source: the Prophet Muhammad. Muhammad is infallible.

The third element is that Islam is strongly dominated by a sexual morality derived from tribal Arab values dating from the time the Prophet received his instructions from Allah, a culture in which women were the property of their fathers, brothers, uncles, grandfathers, or guardians. The essence of a woman is reduced to her hymen. Continue reading “The Caged Virgin: An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam”

Was Stephen Colbert Funny?

TIME.com Print Page: Nation — Was Stephen Colbert Funny?
This insistence on the hilarity of Colbert's routine has a bullying quality, implying that jokes which adhere to the correct ideology are hilarious and failure to find humor in the party line is a kind of thought crime. By this logic, Cindy Sheehan should be hosting the Academy Awards.

Jury Duty Scam

Urban Legends Reference Pages: Crime (Jury Rigged)
Con artists have been contacting people by phone to assert those they've targeted have evaded jury duty and announce warrants are being issued for their arrest. When the about-to-be-duped protest they never received such notifications, that surely a mistake has been made, the sharpies go after what they really want, which is their pigeons' personal and financial information. Under threat of being hauled off in paddy wagons unless they succeed in straightening out this terrible mess, many folks who would otherwise be more wary about what they reveal of their personal data will find themselves reeling off their birth dates and social security and credit card numbers in an effort to convince their callers the notifications that never arrived actually went to other addresses or were never meant for them in the first place.

Bolivian Gas Takeover Sets a Familiar Scene

Bolivian Gas Takeover Sets a Familiar Scene
A new government in Bolivia, anxious to win public support, charges the big foreign oil companies with fraud and confiscates their local properties. The move generates applause among Bolivian citizens and attracts attention throughout Latin America.

The year: 1937.

It just happened again, with the newly-elected President, Morales. With rebels in Nigeria, war in Iraq and tension in Iran, this might be a natural time for the United States to look to Latin America to diversify its sources of energy. But with nationalist anti-oil company fervor spreading, that opportunity is being lost. Mexico still restricts foreign investment; investment in Argentina's energy sector has plunged since its financial crisis; and elections in Peru, where one candidate has been endorsed by Chavez, could alter policies there.