Here is another gem suggested by Richard H.
Follow this link to an article that will appear in this Sunday’s New York Times Magazine. It gives the most detailed view of Obama’s thinking on economics that I have seen so far. It is what gives me hope that there might be a group of people who really care about making this country work better even when all else looks like despair. (For despair, see my preceding post What’s The Matter With America)
Follow this link to Bill Moyers’ interview of Andrew J. Bacevich.
The description of this interview on the Moyers’ web site is as follows:
Is an imperial presidency destroying what America stands for? Bill Moyers sits down with history and international relations expert and former US Army Colonel Andrew J. Bacevich who identifies three major problems facing our democracy: the crises of economy, government and militarism, and calls for a redefinition of the American way of life.
Do not bother asking yourself what is the matter with Kansas. We had better start asking ourselves what is the matter with America.
The change that Bacevich says we need is unlikely to occur until we can ask this question.
I came across this interview because of the amount of discussion that it engendered on the Web. It is well worth listening to.
Follow this link to a piece by Patrick J. Buchanan. His answer is not what you might expect. There is no doubt that this was written by that Pat Buchanan.
Richard H sent me this link to an article that explains why the print versions of newspapers are so important even in this internet age.
As I read this, I kept thinking back to my experience at DEC.
When Sun started producing workstations, DEC laughed. Knowing the
huge investment that DEC had in developing its operating system,
there was no way that some pipsqueak upstart could afford the
investment.
Surely the almost free version of UNIX that they acquired would be
no match for the mighty VMS. As Professor Richard Newton used to
say of the huge, cumbersome hardware sold by DEC, all that stuff in
there isn’t for nothing. Surely there must be a reason why DEC’s
hardware is more complex than SUN’s.
Yet, SUN ate DEC’s lunch. After being partially responsible for
putting DEC out of business, SUN is suffering the same fate from the
likes of Intel and Linux based machines. Interestingly enough, Sun
is making the same arguments DEC used to make to explain why their
proprietary version of UNIX called Solaris, is better than the
Linux free software.
The huge presses, tons of ink, and massive fleet of trucks of the
newspaper business does not necessarily add to the reader’s
experience of getting the news. Ultimately, if the huge effort
and expense you put out does not have as huge an impact on
the customer’s experience of your product, then you are nothing
more than an Ed Sullivan Show act. Ed Sullivan frequently had
circus type performers on his TV show. Sure, what they did was
complicated and very hard to do, but I kept asking “is it
entertaining”. Apparently the answer was “not for long”.
It is not the barrier to entry that makes the reputation of the
major dailies, it is the quality of the news reporting and the
quality of the other features. As the NYT lets that quality
slip away, their dominant position will disappear.
Follow this link to an article that puts some perspective on John McCain’s choosing John Lewis as one of the three wise men that he would consult during his Presidency.
Follow this link for an item on Cindy McCain’s half sister.
I think it explains a lot, but I’ll leave it your own judgment as to what it says to you.
Follow this link to see a presentation by MoveOn.org on the challenges we face and what we have to do to win this election.
Follow this link to a story on how California is reminding its licensed doctors that they could face disciplinary measures if they participate in interogations involving torture.
For Richard H. who does not have cable, here is the information you requested.
Follow this link to CNN’s links to their video of “The Saddleback Civil Forum on Presidency”.
I haven’t seen it yet, as CNN requires you to accept cookies to view their videos.
Follow this link to a web site that rearranges the video so that the both persons’ answer to each question are next to each other.
I did find one letter to the editor in the Worcester T & G that I liked very much.
Follow this link to read the letter. This letter wisely suggests that instead of trusting what somebody tells you, that you should look at the original sources. Original sources is how the book Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong claims to refute some of what you learned in school.
There is a good deal of controversy in the comments to the letter. Some of which I instigated.