Archive for January, 2003
Ministry policy misguided
My letter to the Taipei Times was published!
“I was dismayed to read that a Ministry of Education official said that since "English is not a native language of the Philip-pines and India, Filipinos and Indians speak English with non-native accents" ("Ministry cool to teachers from India, Philip-pines," Jan. 21, page 1). The inference is that [...]
Police: Peace rally in SF drew more than first estimated
“A peace march and rally held here last weekend drew at least twice the number of people originally thought, police said Tuesday.
Approximately 100,000 to 125,000 people attended the protest, according to police spokesman Neville Gittens. On Saturday, the day of the march, police estimated there were 50,000 attendants. Organizers pegged the crowd at more than [...]
Brian Eno: A European View
“Europeans tend to regard free national health services, unemployment benefits, social housing and so on as pretty good models of human progress. We think it’s important
Bush shows his true colors:
“The Bush administration has chosen Jerry Thacker, a Pennsylvania marketing consultant who has characterized AIDS as the "gay plague," to serve on the Presidential Advisory Commission on HIV and AIDS.”
Eschaton
Never Mind. By Robert Kuttner.
“A friend who is a U.S. businessman based in the Far East recently called our attention to a right-wing outfit called New American Century. On the organization’s Web site (www.newamericancentury.org) is a manifesto dated June 3, 1997, that is absolutely chilling in its overreach. "We need to accept responsibility for America’s unique role in preserving [...]
Look Away, Dixieland
“George W. Bush issued a stern rebuke to Senator Trent Lott in December for his praise of the segregationist 1948 presidential bid of Strom Thurmond. But Bush has revived a practice of paying homage to an even greater champion of the Confederacy
Where the nation’s priorities are:
“$70 million to investigate the activities of Clinton’s penis.
$3 million to investigate the attacks on September 11.”
Eschaton
Stiglitz dismisses arguments that “War is good for the economy.”
In this article Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz argues that war is bad for the economy, and arguments to the contrary are “nonsense.”
“War is widely thought to be linked to economic good times. World War II is often said to have brought the world out of the Great Depression, and war has since enhanced its [...]
One Factor Out of Many
“Condoleezza Rice says affirmative action is OK:
I believe that while race-neutral means are preferable, it is appropriate to use race as one factor among others in achieving a diverse student body.
This, of course, is exactly what the University of Michigan does: it considers race as one factor out of many. Here’s the whole dreary list:
80 [...]
US marchers take to streets in echo of 60s
It looks like there were between 200,000 and 500,000 people who showed up at the two protests in Washington DC and SF. Although the official police estimates put the combined total at 100,000. Photographs and videos available on many web sites show that there were clearly many, many, more people than that.
“Police did not quarrel [...]
An anthropologist and documentary filmmaker, 
