China Bill All about Saving Lawmakers’ Jobs by Daniel Griswold
President: “We Need More Teachers.” Reality: “Yoohoo! I’m Right Over Here! Hellooo!” by Andrew J. Coulson
First World War Ends by Marian L. Tupy
Targeted Killing of U.S. Citizen a State Secret? by David Rittgers
End Drug War, Save Billions in Wealth by Tim Lynch
KO por twitter por Arcadi Espada:
Por si fuera poca desgracia sindical tampoco se puede sostener que la principal imagen resultante de esta huelga sea un recorte sesgado de la realidad. Nunca hay sesgo en mostrar la violencia. La violencia tiene siempre un valor absoluto. Pero es que, además, la de ayer no era la orgiástica violencia posterior al partido de fútbol. Era la violencia que explicaba el partido de fútbol.
When do rules for the common good cross the line? by
Kathleen Parker
But Bloomberg cares about my cable guy's arteries. He figures New Yorkers will be better for these rules, which is the thinking behind all decisions that ultimately remove the decision making (i.e., freedom) from our lives. It is one thing to create laws that protect us from another's stupidity, but shouldn't the cable guy have the right to be stupid? Every now and then? I haven't eaten a doughnut in 20 years, but suddenly I have a nearly uncontrollable urge to hit Krispy Kreme.
Kathleen Parker on the Density Divide The Washington Post columnist has recently been living in New York City, and the former "smallish town girl" has discovered that living in a high density area entails succumbing to lots of rules. "Simply put, the more people cram themselves into small spaces, the more government will be involved in their lives," she writes. But all these sometimes-necessary rules that are intended for the "common good" can often overstep basic boundaries. She uses Mayor Bloomberg's ban on trans-fats (which affects her "cable guy," who likes to eat doughnuts) as an example: "shouldn't the cable guy have the right to be stupid? Every now and then?" This is the "fundamental area" where Republicans and Democrats currently square off, she concludes: "At what point is the common good bad for people?"
Brian Whitaker on the Heavy Price of Blogging in Iran Hossein Derakhshan, one of Iran's most prominent bloggers, has been jailed 19 years for his writings, and The Guardian columnist pauses to discuss his plight. The "shocking" sentence, which was apparently for, "spreading propaganda against the establishment," illustrates how things work in the Middle East. "Blogging can get you a heavier sentence than commissioning a murder," observes Whitaker. "Much, of course, depends on who you are, what you represent, and the strength of your wasta (connections)."
Janel Lynch on Growing Up in Boston Lynch, a student in Boston's METCO program, which enables inner-city students to attend suburban schools,
writes a first-person Boston Globe account of how difficult it is to deal with a cycle of crime and poverty that can make education feel like an afterthought. Even physical removal from the city has its limits. Lynch recalls the fear of returning at the end of the school day: "I knew that once 2:50 p.m. hit, I would be back to face my enemy after a 45-minute bus ride." Lamenting friends who were killed by violence or incarcerated, she concludes with a pledge addressed to the city: "I will end my last year in high school on honor roll; and I will never leave you. My goal is to reform you and make you a positive city."
Holman Jenkins on 40 Years of Energy Panic The Wall Street Journal columnist reflects on 40 years of energy panic in the United States, concluding that "the most mischievous and misleading trope in American politics is the idea that our energy supplies are in danger, that foreigners are out to get us, that a crisis is upon us." It's not that energy concerns aren't valid, contends Jenkins, but they've helped bring about an unhealthy culture of fear regarding shortages. "Americans might be more amenable to modest energy taxes to fight global warming (if that's your cup of tea)," says Jenkins, "if not preached into constant fear of energy shortages." Instead of worrying about access to oil, we'd be better off acknowledging that "the global oil market has proved to be anything other than what it is: robust, reliable, unfailing, if frequently volatile."
Esta es la idea principal: “El estado de Palestina no podía fundarse sobre una base vacía, sino sobre la fuerza de unas instituciones sólidas, eficaces y que funcionen bien. Esa era la idea”. Empezó a hacerlo. Primero, la seguridad. Luego, si los palestinos querían vivir en paz, el único modo era asentar su estado. Por las armas no habían conseguido nada más que sufrimiento. Según Fayyad, la historia de los palestinos se había movido entre la sumisión y la beligerancia: “Siempre he defendido, y lo mantengo, que nosotros los palestinos no llegaremos adonde vamos -la libertad, ser capaces de vivir como gente libre en un país propio- si somos sumisos o beligerantes”. Había que cambiar de estrategia, “pasar de reactivos a proactivos”.
Take That, Xiānshēng! by Don Boudreaux
Russians catching up by Donald J. Boudreaux
Minimum Wage Hurts The Poor by John Stossel
The U.S. Has More than 12,000 Tariffs by Mark J. Perry
Recycling is Garbage, Part II by Mark J. Perry
New weapon against regime: Immediacy by YOANI SANCHEZ
Chaplinescas por Yoani Sánchez
Mi perfil por Yoani Sánchez
En ninguna parte, pero en todas por Yoani Sánchez
Promesa rota por Yoani Sánchez
A Convenient Myth by Don Boudreaux
People, Not Nations, Trade by Don Boudreaux
29-S, trabaja por tu libertad por Gabriel Calzada
Contra la megafilantropía por Juan Ramón Rallo
Turing, el Coloso que descifró el Enigma por Daniel Rodríguez Herrera
¿Ahora toca el concierto?, de Francesc de Carreras en La Vanguardia
Memoria y olvido en la era de Internet por Ernesto Hernández Busto.
Los defensores de la democracia han celebrado el paso de una Red concebida como herramienta para acceder a la información en herramienta para compartir información (¡viva el prosumer!). Pero no se han debatido lo suficiente las implicaciones de otra transformación: el paso de un mundo donde recordar era la excepción (y olvidar era "lo natural") a un orbe digitalizado donde la tecnología invierte esos términos; ahora mantener el máximo de información digital disponible no solo es una meta alcanzable, sino un proceso mucho más fácil y económico que el que implica borrarla u olvidarla.
DE QUE VIVEN LAS CELULAS CANCERIGENAS? por Luis Fernando Araiza Soto