30
November: Intense firefights in Iraq today turned
bloody... 2 South Koreans killed in attack... while
numbers of specific attacks are in flux, the intensity
of the attacks seems to be increasing, prompting
officials to warn the insurgency is more organized
than previously thought...
27
November: US President Bush jets to Iraq in secret
to surprise troops for Thanksgiving... reactions
range from shock to sympathy: the height of marketing
or a necessary act of support?
25
November: Medicare redesign passes Senate, with
fanfare among lobbyists and supporters and dismay
and foreboding among opponents... Sen. McCain had
spent Monday working to facilitate and protect a
Democratic filibuster, in hopes of making Medicare
"better, not bigger"...
23
November: Chinese
Premier, Wen Jiabao, says China will "pay any
price" to oppose Taiwanese independence...
Shevardnadze resigns under pressure, after consulting
with Russian Foreign Minister... Europe uneasy after
week of bombings in Istanbul; Turkish leader condemns
anti-semitism as alien to Turkish culture... Sen.
John McCain said this morning that he would join
a Democratically organized filibuster of the Republicans'
bill to overhaul Medicare and provide prescription-drug
coverage through private accounts... This, along
with blockage of Republicans-only Energy Bill means
increasing difficulty, or at least debate, for Bush's
rubber-stamp Congress... CBS/AP
reporting that the FBI may be tracking anti-war
activists; FBI says memo sent to law enforcement
only seeks to inform agents of how to deal with
stategic confrontations...
20
November: Schwarzenegger opens with tax cuts and
bond issues, amplifying California's budget deficit.
Republicans introduce massive subsidy package in
form of energy bill. Contentious prescription drug
plan (which some say raises hurdles to Medicare
assistance) also introduced. Wall Street traders
are raided and arrested by federal invesigators.
The History Channel shows documentaries claiming
to know who
killed JFK.
13
November: US Senate held marathon 30 hour debate
session, in which Republicans hoped to bring attention
to Democratic filibusters used to halt the appointment
of Bush nominees considered to be radical by moderates
and Democrats.
[12
May 2003]
Reports
are coming in of explosions in Riyadh, near large
concentrations of westerners. It is suspected to be
a terrorist car-bombing. Iraq is still a land in disarray:
the US is overhauling its civilian administration
in the country, even as religious leaders demand an
end to the fledgeling occupation.
SARS
outbreak continues to affect travel to China, raising
serious questions about the future of solid economic
growth for the communist nation. As Iran comes under
the critical eye of the Bush administration, a series
of secret talks between Iran and the US have been
revealed. Will it be dialogue or confrontation?
The
Euro climbs higher still against the US dollar, nearing
record highs, raising questions about room for growth
in exports on each side of the Atlantic.
Culture
During
the last two years, the issue of compatibility between
democratic principles and traditional cultures has
risen to prominence. Western governments have taken
great pains to demonstrate the inclusive nature of
their political systems, hoping to warm world opinion
to the system of the developed western powers.
At
home, however, the effort has been mixed. Many developed
countries are seeing aggressive pursuit of immigrant
populations, in the wake of fears sown by terrorist
atrocities.
Opinion
War-proposal
is countered with peace-proposal. Talk of a "war
of words" across the Atlantic (and, incidentally,
the English Channel) has come to prevalence in American
media. Yet the difference of approach seems to rest
more on the shoulders of staunch war advocates, who
have roundly criticized whole nations and cultures
as being cowardly and selfish. Critics of the war
planning have been specifically critical of the planners
of the war themselves and their motives, not of the
people over whom they preside and for whom they purport
to speak.
We
need to talk more about the civil, if heated, conversation
among partners, which is both characteristic and necessary
to our proud heritage of democratic, diplomatic cooperation.
Science
The
Internet is entering a new era, after the dot-com
bubble burst, after tech purchases dropped, and now
as wireless technology openly seeks ubiquity in millennial
culture. New models for content delivery and user-end
functionality are feeding into web development and
innovation.
As
world events move closer to crisis, the question of
fuel sources and the capacity of renewable-resource
technologies is gaining momentum. Across the American
Midwest, beleaguered farmers have begun to seek the
opporunity to farm the winds which are so plentiful
and potent a resource in the region. This places the
science of wind-farming on a higher plateau in the
general economic interest...
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