I agree, more or less. At the very least, the US
has quite a little glass house it shouts its
moral paeans from regarding forced labor and
indentured servitude; in the form of a little
island and US territory known as Saipan. Made
In China is ubiquitous, but Saipan is a) ignored
in US domestic policy, b) a haven for garment
moguls and sweatshop profiteers, and c) officially
a US territory, so sweatshop clothing can be
legitimately tagged with that ever-popular
symbol of American pride, "Made in the USA".
saipan doesn't need time. Saipan needs an enema,
as do the US congressmen who protect its ability
to get away with this BS (Jim Kolbe, Dick Armey
and Tom "The Man from Saipan" DeLay). Note that
2 out of 3 bastards listed above is Texan, lucky
me:(.
Longshot/Blusher
I agree with the premise of what you're saying,
here. It's the very bedrock of George Soros'
Open Society Institute. Please note that "open"
markets does not necessarily (and should not,
IMHO) mean "free" markets. Reasonable regulation
will always be required. But an open society is
a freer society. Feeding China the net is just
like printers and photocopiers in Hungary & Romania back in the 70's & 80's; open
dissemination of ideas, once it has a medium,
is damn hard to put back in the box.
Gee, I wonder if 'white flight', and the consequent funnelling of local, state and federal dollars away from urban centers might have something to do with it as well. Tell ya what: I'll take my kid and put her in a Plano or Frisco public school, and you take *your* kid (I will simplify by assuming out hypothetical kids are equal in mental capacity) and put her in a school in Oak Cliff or Lancaster. You'd be surprised at the difference between learning chemistry with a gleaming, accessorized lab and learning it in a lab that hadn't been upgraded in 30+ years (including the gas nozzles), assuming the inner-city school can afford the labs at all.
Or a school district that can afford the latest in teaching tools (computer labs, new books, vcrs, etc) and one that is still recycling 20-30 year old, yellowed, manhandled MacMillans that crow about that funky 'new math'.
No, no, of course. If the MINOR doesn't learn, it's the MINOR's fault. Forget all that b.s. about adequate funding and qualified, well-paid teachers. It's the kid's fault he can't see his future. It's so clear to me now.
Bullshit. As a dittohead once said on Jim
Hightower's "Chat 'n Chew Cafe" radio show, "You
know, Rush is right. Racism in this country is
dead. I don't know what them niggers will find to
complain about now."
If you believe the NAACP doesn't have its hands
full just trying to keep the US 'Justice' system
from strangling *all* urban black males, then
friend, you've been spending too much time on the
Bush campaign trail.
Check the quotes Haldeman attributed to Nixon in
his diary for some damn fine examples of why there
needs to be an NAACP even now, thirty-plus years
later.
Blusher
For a less male-supremacist view of what his writings may have looked like if written in this modern day, try his protege, David Gerrold. His War vs. the Chtorr series kicks fucking ass. It also deals with VERY strong women and some homosexual issues as well.
How likely is an engineering college that gets scads of auto industry largesse to fund a researcher who suspects excessive environmental damage or unacceptable safety risks in a vehicle produced by one of its donor companies? Better yet, how likely is any collete to study how assembly-line machinery produced by oh, say, Bridgestone, can be made safe enough to not kill or maim the huma operators, if Bridgestone is among their corporate benefactors? Especialy considering that Bridgestone is historically more likely to SHUT A PLANT DOWN, PUTTING 1500 WORKERS ON THE STREET, rather than comply with a federal order to install a piece of safety equipment costing SIX DOLLARS PER INSTALLATION that would have saved 18 workers in Oklahoma City from death and scores other from amputations and other mutilations? Do you think such a corporation would not pul its funding at the first sign of potentially unfavorable (read: unprofitable) findings? Do you think the university people who decide whether to allow such research to begin or continue believe otherwise?
Think Wackenhut would give money to a school of liberal arts to fund research on inmate conditions at public vs. private prisons, taking history and financial incentives into account? HELL, no. They'd find and fund whatever college blinks, drops its integrity, and takes the lucre.
Doesn't necessarily mean the college is bad; just as a woman posing nude in Penthouse isn't necessarily a slut. Both were young, they needed the money. But the perception remains. Wackenhut doesn't have that kind of power, you say? Think again. The private prison industry is the nation's 7th-largest.
And so it goes. The people who decide whether to grant tenure to a professor are the same peope who want money for the school, plain and simple. The state politician who champions this school or that is frequently either on the tape from the same corp interests that fund research, or they *are* those corporate interests, or both (see also "Clayton Williams Alumni Center").
Let's not mince words. We're talking about a very few, seriously evil, seriously rich people (note to fellow Texans: *frustrated sigh* No, I'm
*not* talking about Jews) who are unduly influencing politics (meant to represent the people in general, not the financial interests of the already-wealthy), academe (meant to enlighten and inspire people to learn as much as possible about the universe and all in it, not to be led by the nose (sorry, wallet) down the primrose paths laid down for them, lest the powes that be decide to yank their money over to East Jesus Tech, where the university people are more willing to do bidness), and mass media. That's the worst one, in my opinion. Meant to inform, entertain, and keep up-to-date the populace, instead we get the following:
"...And that's Sally Stricken, head of 'Benzene Kills Austin Chilluns Dead'; now, to prove how balanced and unbiased we are in our reporting, we give you the head of PolluteCo, David Dumpmeister..." "You know, Kathy, poll after poll shows that the people believe benzene is safe, healthy, and clean. In fact, our researchers found that most people polled don't even know what benzene is! And so you see, Kathy, why we need to deregulate the oil industry even more; so that we can legally sue people like Stricken, who have takena few isolated unrelated events like miscariages, birth defects, and 10-year-old kids dying of cancer, and assumed just because they were al within 2 miles of our plant, and just because our takns were leaking into their groundwater, and turned it into a personal crusade against our product and profits". Et fucking cetera.
Corporations are NOT people. They are legal fictoins that allow people to take chances with little personal consequences to them. But plenty to those not fortunate enough to be major shareholders. They should be kicked in the teeth for every life ruined in the name of Higher Profits. They should be shut down when they act monstrously. They should be *heavily* regulated, to say the least. Maybe Bill Gates and Bo Pilgrim disagree with me. That's their right, and I can think of little else in politics that would make me happier than standing chest-to-chest against crooks like these.
Universities could be temples of human enlightemnment. But instead they're turning into Wholly Owned Subsidiaries of the Corporate State of America. Makes me wish Adlai Stevenson were still kicking, but even if he were he probably still wouldn't be elected on account of his mouth.
Blusher/Longshot
Slashdot Mirror
I agree, more or less. At the very least, the US has quite a little glass house it shouts its moral paeans from regarding forced labor and indentured servitude; in the form of a little island and US territory known as Saipan. Made In China is ubiquitous, but Saipan is a) ignored in US domestic policy, b) a haven for garment moguls and sweatshop profiteers, and c) officially a US territory, so sweatshop clothing can be legitimately tagged with that ever-popular symbol of American pride, "Made in the USA". saipan doesn't need time. Saipan needs an enema, as do the US congressmen who protect its ability to get away with this BS (Jim Kolbe, Dick Armey and Tom "The Man from Saipan" DeLay). Note that 2 out of 3 bastards listed above is Texan, lucky me :(.
Longshot/Blusher
I agree with the premise of what you're saying,
here. It's the very bedrock of George Soros'
Open Society Institute. Please note that "open"
markets does not necessarily (and should not,
IMHO) mean "free" markets. Reasonable regulation
will always be required. But an open society is
a freer society. Feeding China the net is just
like printers and photocopiers in Hungary & Romania back in the 70's & 80's; open
dissemination of ideas, once it has a medium,
is damn hard to put back in the box.
Longshot/Blusher
*laugh*laugh*laugh*laugh*
What I want to know is why a guy who can afford
his own lobbyist is afraid to post with his own
ID rather than as an anonymous coward.
Communist Russia, indeed.
Longshot
Gee, I wonder if 'white flight', and the consequent funnelling of local, state and federal dollars away from urban centers might have something to do with it as well. Tell ya what: I'll take my kid and put her in a Plano or Frisco public school, and you take *your* kid (I will simplify by assuming out hypothetical kids are equal in mental capacity) and put her in a school in Oak Cliff or Lancaster. You'd be surprised at the difference between learning chemistry with a gleaming, accessorized lab and learning it in a lab that hadn't been upgraded in 30+ years (including the gas nozzles), assuming the inner-city school can afford the labs at all.
Or a school district that can afford the latest in teaching tools (computer labs, new books, vcrs, etc) and one that is still recycling 20-30 year old, yellowed, manhandled MacMillans that crow about that funky 'new math'.
No, no, of course. If the MINOR doesn't learn, it's the MINOR's fault. Forget all that b.s. about adequate funding and qualified, well-paid teachers. It's the kid's fault he can't see his future. It's so clear to me now.
Blusher
Bullshit. As a dittohead once said on Jim Hightower's "Chat 'n Chew Cafe" radio show, "You know, Rush is right. Racism in this country is dead. I don't know what them niggers will find to complain about now." If you believe the NAACP doesn't have its hands full just trying to keep the US 'Justice' system from strangling *all* urban black males, then friend, you've been spending too much time on the Bush campaign trail. Check the quotes Haldeman attributed to Nixon in his diary for some damn fine examples of why there needs to be an NAACP even now, thirty-plus years later. Blusher
THE MAN WROTE IN THE FIFTIES AND SIXTIES, PEOPLE!
Were you perhaps expecting Gloria Steinem?
For a less male-supremacist view of what his writings may have looked like if written in this modern day, try his protege, David Gerrold. His War vs. the Chtorr series kicks fucking ass. It also deals with VERY strong women and some homosexual issues as well.
Blusher
How likely is an engineering college that gets scads of auto industry largesse to fund a researcher who suspects excessive environmental damage or unacceptable safety risks in a vehicle produced by one of its donor companies? Better yet, how likely is any collete to study how assembly-line machinery produced by oh, say, Bridgestone, can be made safe enough to not kill or maim the huma operators, if Bridgestone is among their corporate benefactors? Especialy considering that Bridgestone is historically more likely to SHUT A PLANT DOWN, PUTTING 1500 WORKERS ON THE STREET, rather than comply with a federal order to install a piece of safety equipment costing SIX DOLLARS PER INSTALLATION that would have saved 18 workers in Oklahoma City from death and scores other from amputations and other mutilations? Do you think such a corporation would not pul its funding at the first sign of potentially unfavorable (read: unprofitable) findings? Do you think the university people who decide whether to allow such research to begin or continue believe otherwise? Think Wackenhut would give money to a school of liberal arts to fund research on inmate conditions at public vs. private prisons, taking history and financial incentives into account? HELL, no. They'd find and fund whatever college blinks, drops its integrity, and takes the lucre. Doesn't necessarily mean the college is bad; just as a woman posing nude in Penthouse isn't necessarily a slut. Both were young, they needed the money. But the perception remains. Wackenhut doesn't have that kind of power, you say? Think again. The private prison industry is the nation's 7th-largest. And so it goes. The people who decide whether to grant tenure to a professor are the same peope who want money for the school, plain and simple. The state politician who champions this school or that is frequently either on the tape from the same corp interests that fund research, or they *are* those corporate interests, or both (see also "Clayton Williams Alumni Center"). Let's not mince words. We're talking about a very few, seriously evil, seriously rich people (note to fellow Texans: *frustrated sigh* No, I'm *not* talking about Jews) who are unduly influencing politics (meant to represent the people in general, not the financial interests of the already-wealthy), academe (meant to enlighten and inspire people to learn as much as possible about the universe and all in it, not to be led by the nose (sorry, wallet) down the primrose paths laid down for them, lest the powes that be decide to yank their money over to East Jesus Tech, where the university people are more willing to do bidness), and mass media. That's the worst one, in my opinion. Meant to inform, entertain, and keep up-to-date the populace, instead we get the following: "...And that's Sally Stricken, head of 'Benzene Kills Austin Chilluns Dead'; now, to prove how balanced and unbiased we are in our reporting, we give you the head of PolluteCo, David Dumpmeister..." "You know, Kathy, poll after poll shows that the people believe benzene is safe, healthy, and clean. In fact, our researchers found that most people polled don't even know what benzene is! And so you see, Kathy, why we need to deregulate the oil industry even more; so that we can legally sue people like Stricken, who have takena few isolated unrelated events like miscariages, birth defects, and 10-year-old kids dying of cancer, and assumed just because they were al within 2 miles of our plant, and just because our takns were leaking into their groundwater, and turned it into a personal crusade against our product and profits". Et fucking cetera. Corporations are NOT people. They are legal fictoins that allow people to take chances with little personal consequences to them. But plenty to those not fortunate enough to be major shareholders. They should be kicked in the teeth for every life ruined in the name of Higher Profits. They should be shut down when they act monstrously. They should be *heavily* regulated, to say the least. Maybe Bill Gates and Bo Pilgrim disagree with me. That's their right, and I can think of little else in politics that would make me happier than standing chest-to-chest against crooks like these. Universities could be temples of human enlightemnment. But instead they're turning into Wholly Owned Subsidiaries of the Corporate State of America. Makes me wish Adlai Stevenson were still kicking, but even if he were he probably still wouldn't be elected on account of his mouth. Blusher/Longshot
George Orwell: Only in a police state is the job of a policeman easy.