One of the reasons why I love STRATFOR is that its analysis of international relations is succinct and no holds barred. And it's right on the money when it concludes that American forces are under-manned to keep fighting the War on Terror.

Will we see any federal indictments in the coming months over the White House leaking a CIA agent's identity to the press?

Voting is a right of citizenship, even though many of us don't exercise that right. For ex-cons and those in the slammer, however, the franchise is far more precious.

Brooklyn's Franklin Avenue Shuttle is a quaint piece of New York's subway system that refuses to become obsolete.

Here's why Cancun failed, and why a Korean farmer even committed suicide. Forget Willie Nelson and FarmAid. Farm subsidies benefit nobody but big agribusiness.

In light of the drama surrounding Bartlet's use of the 25th Amendment on the West Wing, is it really a good idea for Congress to be in the line of succession?

Former Clintonite Labor Secretary Robert Reich closes his article in the American Prosepct with an interesting notion. Supply-side theory can indeed work - if it's applied toward "human capital" instead of "financial capital".

Plus, you've heard the one about how a butterfly's fart in the Amazon starts a chain-reaction leading to a hurricane in Florida right? Here are more of history's odd twists and turns.

 
Hard to believe maybe, but it's been 10 years since the making of "The War Room", the seminal documentary of the '92 Clinton campaign, and by extension, the entire Clinton era.

Inside the mind of Charles Handy, the management guru behind Understanding Organizations.

What economic recovery? The jobless and poverty rates are still dangerously high. Plus: how today's other half lives.

As the fall fashion shows wrap up in NYC, Time Magazine looks at the role race plays in tastemakers' definition of fashion, with accompanying pictures of models of course.

And, the censored official Chinese version of Hillary's "Living History" is yet another sign that getting rich in China is no substitute for real political freedom.

 
Do black kids with Afro-centric names face a disadvantage in getting jobs?

 
"I shot Uday Hussein": a fascinating interview with the man behind the 1996 attempted hit on Uday.

 
I first heard Shashi Tharoor speak at the opening ceremony of NMUN 2002, and I was impressed by his candor and his articulate speaking style. As a higher-up at the UN, he's of course got a pro-UN agenda to push whenever he speaks or writes publicly in defense of the organization, but I find his arguments nonetheless compelling and worth heeding. Here's his latest article in Foreign Affairs. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if Tharoor turns up some day as UN Secretary-General.

 
Found this cool pic while randomly web surfing on my lunch break:


(caption: "Kremlin: That's Russian for fortress." picture from Studied Authenticity).

 
I love Unicode. It does wonders for non-Romanized languages online and allows me to view websites in Chinese, Cyrillic, Arabic, Farsi, Japanese, Urdu, Greek, and Korean all without downloading special fonts like I used to have to do.

I'd also love to be driven in a motorcade, or drive in one as police cars block off all other traffic on the road. Tales of the presidential motorcades, from Johnson to Clinton.

It's been widely maintained on this blog and others that without fundamental reforms, China's economy is a volcano of socio-economic and political unrest waiting to erupt.

SCARY: John Ashcroft embarks on a witch hunt like no other to stop disclosure of even non-classified government information.

Cool! Giving up a single Starbucks latte a day can save you up to $1 million by retirement age.

 
The controversial Columbia University professor and Palestinian activist Edward Said is dead.

Coming soon: your cell phone is also a TV.

 
Hillary for Prez? Timothy Noah on why this is a Republican's wet dream: Part 1 Part 2

Plus: The RIAA fucks up again.

Thrills and spills from last month's World Congress of Philosophy in Istanbul.

And, on the pecularities of the etymology of the singular pronoun they.

 
Lawyers do what they do best: litigate!

Law schools that do not allow recruiters with discriminatory policies on campus are suing to overturn the Solomon Amendment. The amendment requires all universities that receive federal aid to allow military recruiters on campus. Since the military discriminates against homosexuals under "don't ask, don't tell", the law schools (and by extension all schools) have a valid shot at getting rid of this stupid provision, which is similar to some provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act (requiring disclosure of student records to recruiters). Maybe the courts will rule against No Child Left Behind's military provision as well. That's not to say I'm against military recruiters on campus, but the decision to let them come should be left to school administrators, not Congress.

(see also: The Misedumacation of George W. Bush)

 
"Hard Times": How the people of Ozone Park, Queens deal.

Live from New York, it's the George and Kofi show! Plus Frère Jacques!
(Analysis of the Bush speech by Fred Kaplan at Slate.)

If the Constitution was a brand-spankin' new document today, who'd want to sign it? Speaking of the Constitution, the full 9th Circuit sez the show must go on in California.

Is there such a thing anymore as "pure science"? Universities are addicted to corporate money.

"Imaginary power"? It's just a tad above blaming gremlins for last month's massive blackout.

Roller coasters are good for you.

Are you having a bad day? It could be worse...

 
Greg Halpern was a typical Harvard student until, one day, he decided to chat with the campus hired help.

"Houston, we have a problem." Congressional advisory panel on NASA's safety policies effectively dissolves itself in protest.

The ADL is caving in to pro-Israel interests at the expense of its own historical legacy, in giving an award to Silvio Berlusconi.

Cool! Scoopy has a blog.

 
Suicide bombers are not driven by religion, but by nationalism.

Ever wonder how stock symbols get to be what they are? Slate explains.

More from Slate: on the different types of press leaks out there, and the motives of each.

Is there profit in corporate social responsibility? Yes, if it's done right.

And, what business schools aren't teaching their students.

Why "Law & Order" is the linchpin of the GE/NBC merger with Universal.

Can garden weeding ever be leisure? Only in suburbia.

America as the haven of liberal democracy? There are snakes in Eden.

When policy wonks create a teeny-pop magazine, the result is Hi.

"The more one learns the more he understands his ignorance. I am simply an ignorant man, trying to lessen his ignorance."
— Louis L'Amour To the Far Blue Mountains

 
Long day's journey into night



The Galileo spacecraft has completed its final mission.

 
What is Chinese? For that matter, what is identity? Is identity determined on the basis of blood, culture, or habit? Gish Jen ponders identity, culture, and race in modern China.

And, the price wars heat up in the Chinatown express bus business, as New York City police and prosecutors investigate charges of arson, assaults, and organized crime links.

Plus, you've seen those switch to Apple ads. Introducing the switch to Howard Dean website.

 
The Misedumacation of George W. Bush

Surprise! "No Child Left Behind" is leaving children behind by creating unfair burdens on schools. It's not that teachers, administrators, and lawmakers don't want higher education standards, it's that the Bush administration isn't giving schools enough money to meet these new standards. $87 billion for Iraq? How about $87 billion for the schools of Harlem and South Central?

On a side note, did you know the NCLB law requires disclosure of students' information to military recruiters? (I might have sent this item out before on infOrgasm e-mail.)

 
The great New York department stores were once "cathedrals of ... material aspiration". Now they're dying amid a sea of Gaps, Victoria's Secrets, Barnes & Nobles, and Starbuckses.

It took the Vatican 600 years to proclaim Joan of Arc a saint. Why, then, the rush for Mother Teresa?

Reviewed: Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and the invention of the electric chair.

See, this is why I love The Economist:

And you thought the British were a stodgy bunch.

Where's the beef? A tribute to the big men of the NFL.

 
The Dalai Lama isn't as warm and fuzzy as you think.

Former Army Secretary Thomas White speaks out on his differences with Rumsfeld.

A month ago, in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech, TomPaine.com interviewed law prof Frank Wu on the Asian-American dream. And, a transcript of the panel discussion on race that was part of Fox's Charlie Chan film festival.

Like all FOBs, foreign carmakers sell out once they make it in the US market.

Judges in that Confederate states' rights bastion of Alabama find limits on states' sovereign immunity in a disabilities discrimination case.

New TV ad campaign uses Letterman to slam the Bush/Cheney/Halliburton axis.

Reform ferver once again grips First Avenue as the UN struggles to redefine itself.

Howard Kurtz in today's Washington Post on hurricane hype, the Clinton-Clark connection, California, and Tom Friedman's bitch-slapping of France.

 
Reason #843 why America's occupation of Iraq isn't going so well: the Coalition's cell phones suck. And, on the criticality of power-sharing in the occupation.

 
Duh. Bush admits there's no Iraq-9/11 connection. It's about time you did that, President Dumbass.

The Soviet Union is alive and well in Trans-Dnestr, a Russian enclave in Moldova long suspected of being an arms dealing haven.

2 stories about DC's Emery Elementary School: 1 bad, 1 good.

Inside the mind of Silvio Berlusconi. Kinda scary...

Cool! First camera phones, now camera sunglasses! Taking pictures further, indeed.

I can just see it now - a new hour-long drama on Al Jazeera called Kabul Law.

Americans are fat and lazy. No surprise.

 
You've heard of French language purists. Then came the Germans. Now, are the Spanish starting to send out language police?

Also, why the Boehner-McKeon report on public higher education gets it wrong.

 
Someone in government (a Republican, no less) does care about stopping the RIAA's gestapo tactics. According to Ars Technica, relief may come in federal legislation that amends the odious Digital Millenium Copyright Act to address privacy issues. It's about time.

 
He can play fair: Spanish "superjudge" Baltasar Garzon has issued an indictment for Osama bin Laden. This is the same guy who tried to put Pinochet on trial and who tried to get Henry Kissinger to talk, and got a lot of flak for both. Now he's going after somebody that even Bush has to admit is a bad guy.

 
Low-power radio stations that cost less than $50 to set up is empowering India's rural villages.

The United Nations and its discontents: calls for reform at the opening of the new GA session. And, what the UN can do for Iraq. Plus, a review: Stephen Schlesinger's new book on the UN's founding ...

A NY Times reporter blows the whistle on embeds in Iraq.

Identity politics revisited: what is citizenship and what is national interest? Also, limiting the rights of aliens ultimately limits the rights of citizens as well.

 
Once again, the government seals off Area 51.

And, rebuilding Afghanistan's air force.

 
Isabel update

OK, so maybe the storm's not as bad as it was before, but it's still got 100+ mph winds. Eek... Both my office's building manager and Hunter's facilities management have sent out advisories to lock windows and turn off computers, etc.

 
Wesley Clark is in.

 
Hugh Hefner must be really running out of ideas. From the people who brought you the "Women of Enron," here's "The Women of Wal-Mart".

And, reality TV marriages have more in common with Jane Austen than you might think.

 
UPDATE: Galileo will soon be no more.

The US wants more peacekeepers in Liberia, but doesn't seem to want to commit American forces. Brilliant Africa policy there, Dubya.

Speaking of UN missions, here's why the UN should stay in East Timor.

The Public Interest asks, who are the peaceniks? Plus: revisiting Leo Strauss, patron saint of today's neo-cons.

And yes, Virginia, there are people in California with working brains. Plus: what California can learn from Bush v. Gore.

Another run for Nader? Not again, please. The damn idiot's why we got stuck with Bush right now.

A last requiem for Idi Amin.

China and Taiwan are on the verge of an agreement on the "three links". Again. Don't hold your breath. The anti-mainland, independence faction in Taiwan is still charging on with the name change campaign. More from the Taiwan Solidarity Union...

 
One more link before I go to bed:

The British are coming! Well, at least London's classic black taxis are. They'll be hitting the streets of Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco, and maybe even New York soon. =)

UPDATE: As the London cabs are crossing the pond, are we gonna see more Tatas and Ambys at the heart of the Empire?

 
What is Asian America? Yet another article.

 
Isabel is a bitch of a storm heading toward the east coast. At least NYC/NJ isn't dead in its sights... yet.

UPDATE: Holy fucking shit.

 
Why can the Dalai Lama visit the US at will, but Chen Shui-bian can't?

Also, is Fox finally coming around on Asian-Americans in film?

 
How the fucking RIAA gathers info on file-swappers.

And, in the wake of the EPA inspector-general's report on how the White House covered up post-9/11 air quality data in NYC, a new group has formed to demand more government accountability.

Tom Friedman puts forward an interesting idea for the Middle East in today's NY Times: instead of a 2-state solution, the Palestinians might want to throw in the towel and become Israeli citizens.

 
Cingular service (which bought out Cellular One) used to suck in NYC. It still sorta does, but at least they're trying to make up for it.

 
NJ federal judge orders lawyer to go back to law school. Finally, tort reform that works...

 
The Germans decide to become French in their pursuit of linguistic purity.

 
Hits and misses of our techno age.

 
The "King of All Media" is now officially a newsman. Edward R. Murrow is spinning in his grave.

 
RIAA to kids: fuck you! This is just stupid... the RIAA was gonna sue a 12-year old kid before she settled by agreeing to pay $2000. Yeah, way to sound out the music of a generation.

More on the RIAA's shock troop tactics and the farcical amnesty program (it forces you to admit guilt while not giving enough immunity from further lawsuits - no defense lawyer would agree to that). And, one woman fights for her right to party. And, the Canucks weigh in.

 
The land of Starbucks is gonna start taxing your cup of joe.

Battery sugar? UMass scientists develop a battery that runs on sugar-eating bacteria.

 
"This is the end... This is the end, my only friend, the end..."

The New Yorker has a great article on the Galileo spacecraft's final mission - a suicide plunge into the atmosphere of Jupiter.

You want tangible proof that the difference between Taiwan and China is too great for "one country, two systems"? Here's proof: Beijing would have never allowed a march like this to take place. In Taiwan, such is the norm. Yet it's democratic Taiwan that's been shunned by Kofi's club. The joint communique can kiss my ass. I will be the first to apply for dual Taiwan-US citizenship when Taiwan becomes independent.

Mahmood Abbas has had enough. Bad things will now happen in Palestine, I think. Appointing Mahmood Abbas (or is it Abu Mazen? I never understood why he's got 2 names...) as Palestinian PM was the only thing Yasser Arafat's been able to do right in the year. What's Arafat gonna do now? Israel is even thinking of exiling him. Why can't the Palestinian people see that keeping Arafat and Hamas around will only extend their misery? Sure, Israel could have done a lot more to help strengthen Abbas' position within the PLO, but Arafat must take the blame for refusing to cooperate with his own PM.

Here's an article in Foreign Policy that takes a biological evolution approach to homeland security. One of the things that the article calls for is for the US to make more alliances that can help this country fight terrorism. It praises our recent cozying up with Musharraf's Pakistan, but overlooks all the other anti-alliance mistakes of the Bush administration including the ICC.

 
Bush promises money to fight AIDS in Africa. Yet another big lie.

And, China's an economic house of cards. Perhaps on the verge of collapse?

 
Why Gary Coleman is still a news story.

And while it's still in the news, take a look at Kim Jong-Il's blog featuring his IM conversations with various world politicians. Oh also a cool site: Pyongyang Metro, an unofficial site with maps and photos culled from various sources and maintained by a guy in Germany. More North Korean fun... And, into the mind of Kim Jong-Il.

And:

- Mother Jones takes a look at the people drafting Wesley Clark for president.

- Utne Reader asks why more Americans aren't learning how to cook. Well cook healthy at least. Frozen dinner from a box doesn't cut it. Speaking of which, I still need to learn how to cook better...

 
OK so here's the post I was gonna write before Blogger fucked up...

Your reading list:

- Last week's NY Times Magazine has a good article on China's Three Gorges Dam and how it's changing China's rural landscape (for the worse if you ask me).

- Jonathan Yardley reviews a book on FDR. Not just any book, but one written by the man who would later be the chief US prosecutor at the Nuremberg tribunal.

- Jonathan Cole, Provost of Columbia University, urges academia to fight John Ashcroft and the USA Patriot Act. Nick de Genova's "million Mogadishus" remark just might have been on Cole's mind in some way...

- Companies, more specifically corporations, are a convenient legal fiction for economists, lawyers, and of course tycoons. But is it really capitalism?

- Fake beaches, token jibes at America. Yep, it was another long, hot summer in Paris.

- The late Richard Feynman was a genius who could make complex physics concepts seem so easy you'd think you were a rocket scientist. David Kaiser examines Feynman's work.

- Attention all y'all still holding NJ fake ID's. The digital license is coming. Time to find another easy state, or actually turn 21.

 
Blogger sucks. I had this whole post written, and I hit "publish" to fire it off to the blog.

Then Blogger times out. Stupid server problems. I lost the entire post.

I think I might move to MovableType or some other blogging engine. Damn.

 
It's my first day at work today... blogging during my lunch break.

I think this is as good a time as any to start yet another blog. From now on, infOrgasm 'blog will be news-oriented the way the old infOrgasm was. My new blog will be a personal space.

 
So Labor Day weekend seemed rather productive. Got a lot of good ideas rolling for UNSA. I think Jeni and Mo will do a great job of leading the club.

J's going through some trouble though, and that's what's worring me right now... it's just not fair, the way she's under virtual house arrest. Come on, how many 21 year olds have a 9pm curfew? I hope we can work out a solution. It's just gonna get worse as things drag on...

Music: Blessid Union of Souls - I Wanna Be There (for a friend who needs to hear this right now)