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Snippets of opinion
Jan. 6th, 2009 10:34 amAustralian Jews slam 'inhuman' Gaza conflict
Which contains the line from the Israeli ambassadorial staffer:
Yes, 15% of Israelis are in fear of being added to the half-dozen Israeli casualties so far, and are somewhat inconvenienced by rockets, as opposed to those cockroaches in their prison, of whom 100% are in somewhat more immediate fear of death because of airstrikes, and tanks and infantry in the street outside their houses. Oh, and months (years) of decreasing water supplies, medical supplies, food, fuel, power, dignity, hope. But we must instead think only of the suffering of the Israelis. (Which is not that they are not themselves suffering, but to compare person A who thankfully managed to be out when their house was destroyed by a rocket, with person B who had five daughters killed in an airstrike, and claim that person A is more worthy of sympathy, that's beneath contempt.
New Baghdad embassy symbolises shifting US role
And it is a new role, indeed. The troops will still be there, of course. And the ‘embassy’ is just like Soviet ‘embassies’ in Czechoslovakia and Poland and East Berlin, so we can make a good guess where decisions of import will be made and vetted.
The difference is that any further failures in Iraq will be the Iraqi's fault. Can't blame the yanks any more, there's a democratically electedVichy regime government of people acceptable to the US. Any further problems must, therefore, be that those towelheads can't really be trusted with ruling themselves, and never could.
Water retailers need a 'cultural change'
Now, most economists would say that if there is a limited resource, then the price should increase to decrease demand to the point where supply and demand match.
But when the privatised water companies use a decrease in consumption of water in a drought, a decrease in demand led by education and appeals to community, they respond by then raising prices, because there is not enough consumption... Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Over?
Maybe, just maybe, this is an indication that privatising common necessities like the water supply is a mind-blowingly bad idea, and that it turns out that private corporations really will gouge the population if they think they can get away with it?
Nah, that sort of thinking leads to socialism, and after you accept that the common good can be incommensurate with private greed, it's only a short step from there to Gulags. Just ask Bolt and Akerman.
PS After upgrading to 8.04, my firefox keeps crashing. Lots of errors, even before the profile is loaded. I think it's in the cairo libs. It's very annoying.
Which contains the line from the Israeli ambassadorial staffer:
"We are in a different kind of situation where 15 per cent of our population is now in shelters, our kids aren't going to school, people cannot go to the supermarket, people can't move around freely, because they're afraid of rocket attacks.
Yes, 15% of Israelis are in fear of being added to the half-dozen Israeli casualties so far, and are somewhat inconvenienced by rockets, as opposed to those cockroaches in their prison, of whom 100% are in somewhat more immediate fear of death because of airstrikes, and tanks and infantry in the street outside their houses. Oh, and months (years) of decreasing water supplies, medical supplies, food, fuel, power, dignity, hope. But we must instead think only of the suffering of the Israelis. (Which is not that they are not themselves suffering, but to compare person A who thankfully managed to be out when their house was destroyed by a rocket, with person B who had five daughters killed in an airstrike, and claim that person A is more worthy of sympathy, that's beneath contempt.
New Baghdad embassy symbolises shifting US role
And it is a new role, indeed. The troops will still be there, of course. And the ‘embassy’ is just like Soviet ‘embassies’ in Czechoslovakia and Poland and East Berlin, so we can make a good guess where decisions of import will be made and vetted.
The difference is that any further failures in Iraq will be the Iraqi's fault. Can't blame the yanks any more, there's a democratically elected
Water retailers need a 'cultural change'
Now, most economists would say that if there is a limited resource, then the price should increase to decrease demand to the point where supply and demand match.
But when the privatised water companies use a decrease in consumption of water in a drought, a decrease in demand led by education and appeals to community, they respond by then raising prices, because there is not enough consumption... Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Over?
Maybe, just maybe, this is an indication that privatising common necessities like the water supply is a mind-blowingly bad idea, and that it turns out that private corporations really will gouge the population if they think they can get away with it?
Nah, that sort of thinking leads to socialism, and after you accept that the common good can be incommensurate with private greed, it's only a short step from there to Gulags. Just ask Bolt and Akerman.
PS After upgrading to 8.04, my firefox keeps crashing. Lots of errors, even before the profile is loaded. I think it's in the cairo libs. It's very annoying.