What's the matter with voting Republican if you're poor?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1874934,00.html
Low-income Americans don't necessarily vote in their own economic
interests; but it doesn't mean they're patsies
Gary Younge
Monday September 18, 2006
The Guardian
'In a sense I have always felt something of a kinship with the coloured
race because its position is the same as mine," says Ignatius J Reilly,
the hopeless protagonist of John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of
Dunces. "We both exist outside the inner realm of American society. Of
course, my exile is voluntary. However, it is apparent that many of the
Negroes wish to become active members of the American middle class. I
cannot imagine why. I must admit that this desire on their part leads
me to question their value judgments. However if they wish to join the
bourgeoisie, it is really none of my business. They may seal their own
doom."
We cannot afford to maintain these ancient prejudices against Islam
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1874786,00.html
The Pope's remarks were dangerous, and will convince many more Muslims
that the west is incurably Islamophobic
Karen Armstrong
Monday September 18, 2006
The Guardian
In the 12th century, Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Cluny, initiated a
dialogue with the Islamic world. "I approach you not with arms, but
with words," he wrote to the Muslims whom he imagined reading his book,
"not with force, but with reason, not with hatred, but with love." Yet
his treatise was entitled Summary of the Whole Heresy of the Diabolical
Sect of the Saracens and segued repeatedly into spluttering
intransigence. Words failed Peter when he contemplated the "bestial
cruelty" of Islam, which, he claimed, had established itself by the
sword. Was Muhammad a true prophet? "I shall be worse than a donkey if
I agree," he expostulated, "worse than cattle if I assent!"
A train ticket to America, please
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1874769,00.html
Karl Sabbagh
Monday September 18, 2006
The Guardian
Last week, the idea of a high-speed rail link between north and south
was raised yet again by the Department of Transport as a way of
bridging the regional divide in the UK. Journey times of two hours
between London and Edinburgh on trains running at 300mph were
brandished as if these were somehow the ultimate limit of future rail
technology.
But this will cut no ice with Frank Davidson, a pioneer of what is
called macroengineering, the art and science of huge engineering
projects. For the past two decades, Davidson and a small group of
engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have been
advocating a transatlantic rail line, running in a tube under the ocean
from, say, Bristol to Boston, using "maglev" trains. The technology
involved in both ideas - magnetic levitation - uses the repulsion
between magnets on train and rail to create a frictionless cushion for
the carriages to ride on, and there is a test track in Japan showing
that the system can reach speeds of 300mph.
India's literary elite call for anti-gay law to be scrapped
http://www.guardian.co.uk/india/story/0,,1874833,00.html
=B7 Academics join 100-plus signatories to open letter
=B7 Nobel and Booker winners condemn 'colonial' bigotry
Randeep Ramesh in New Delhi
Monday September 18, 2006
The Guardian
More than 100 leading figures of literature, film and academia in India
rallied this weekend against a "colonial-era" law making homosexuality
a criminal offence.
In an open letter, more than 100 influential signatories, including the
Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen, the Booker prizewinner Arundhati
Roy, and author Vikram Seth, said the law had been used to
"systematically persecute, blackmail, arrest and terrorise sexual
minorities" and had spawned intolerance.
They argued that section 377 of the Indian penal code perpetuated
Victorian-era antipathy and bigotry towards gay people. "This is why we
..=2E. support the overturning of [the law that criminalises] romantic
love and private, consensual acts between adults of the same sex," they
said.
Mexico's uncertainty grows with 'parallel' government
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article1616626.ece
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
Published: 18 September 2006
The uncertainty over Mexico's political future has taken a new twist
after supporters of the defeated presidential candidate elected him to
lead a "parallel" government that will spend the next six years
opposing the man who won the election.
By a show of hands, hundreds of thousands of supporters of Andres
Manuel Lopez Obrador voted for the former mayor of Mexico City to head
the alternative government that will oppose the administration of the
president-elect, Felipe Calderon. Suitably enough, the vote was taken
in the central plaza, or Zocalo, which has been home to his campaign
for many months.
Sweden lurches to the right as era of Social Democratic rule ends
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article1616639.ece
By Stephen Castle
Published: 18 September 2006
Sweden suffered a political earthquake last night as the country's
centre-right emerged victorious from elections that ended the
near-hegemony of the country's Social Democrats.
With most of the votes counted, the opposition leader, Fredrik
Reinfeldt, declared victory for a coalition of right-wing parties,
ejecting from office the sitting prime minister, G=F6ran Persson, after
a decade in power. The result is a spectacular success for a
remodelled, centrist, Opposition party against the Social Democrats who
have held power in Sweden for all but nine years since 1932.
Business and Islam: Allies Against Anarchy in Somalia
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/18/world/africa/18somalia.html?ref=3Dafrica
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
Business leaders in Somalia who helped usher in Islamic forces now find
themselves in conflict with them.
Islamists' Rise Imperils Mideast's Order
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/18/world/middleeast/18unstable.html?ref=3Dmi=
ddleeast
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
From Egypt to Saudi Arabia, the order that emerged after World War II
has seen its influence challenged in the wave of instability washing
across the Middle East.
For This Red Meat Crowd, Obama's '08 Choice Is Clear
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/18/us/politics/18obama.html?ref=3Dpolitics
By ANNE E. KORNBLUT
Senator Barack Obama of Illinois made his first trip to Iowa, a visit
that was likely to set off fresh speculation about his presidential
ambitions.
As Senator Falters, a Democrat Rises in Virginia
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/18/us/politics/18webb.html?ref=3Dpolitics&pa=
gewanted=3Dall
By ROBIN TONER
According to the polls, Democrat James Webb's emblematic battle
against Senator George Allen, a Republican, has become truly
competitive.
Emerging States Seek Clout at World Bank and I.M.F.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/18/business/worldbusiness/18imf.html?ref=3Db=
usiness
By STEVEN R. WEISMAN
China and other developing countries are demanding a bigger say in the
aging institutions that superintend the world economy.
Migrating To Modernity
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/17/AR200609170=
0544.html
By Sebastian Mallaby
Monday, September 18, 2006; Page A17
After the terrorist attacks of 2001, voters understood that poor failed
states could hurt them. President Bush launched a smart new foreign aid
program and multiplied the U.S. commitment to fighting HIV-AIDS, and
rich countries around the world boosted development spending. But our
approach toward poor countries remains confined, idiotically, to the
debt-aid-trade box. People don't see that other policies in rich
countries have a major impact on poor ones.
Consider immigration. Just about all rich countries are arguing about
border enforcement, employer sanctions and so on, but nobody relates
this stuff to the parallel arguments about development. Contemplating
the noisy immigration politics in the United States, Gawain Kripke of
Oxfam confesses, "we've been mostly bystanders in the debate, and I
really regret that."
Europeans Trying to Grease Wheels for U.S. Talks With Iran
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/17/AR200609170=
0681.html
By Dafna Linzer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, September 18, 2006; Page A14
NEW YORK, Sept. 17 -- European efforts to get Iran and the United
States around the same negotiating table are at an advanced yet
sensitive stage, with a small number of remaining differences to be
tackled this week when world leaders gather at the United Nations,
according to several American, Iranian and European officials involved.
President Bush plans to make Iran a centerpiece of his speech Tuesday
before the U.N. General Assembly, explaining to the annual meeting of
presidents and prime ministers why he regards the Tehran government as
a grave threat yet is willing to support negotiations to ease those
concerns.
Science and the Gender Gap
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14868473/site/newsweek/
A generation ago, women physicists and chemists were rare in the lab,
but their number is increasing every year.
By Barbara Kantrowitz and Julie Scelfo
Newsweek
Sept. 25, 2006 issue - To get a sense of how women have progressed in
science, take a quick tour of the physics department at the University
of California, Berkeley. This is a storied place, the site of some of
the most important discoveries in modern science-starting with Ernest
Lawrence's invention of the cyclotron in 1931. A generation ago, female
faces were rare and, even today, visitors walking through the first
floor of LeConte Hall will see a full corridor of exhibits honoring the
many distinguished physicists who made history here, virtually all of
them white males.
India's Mr. Big
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14788768/site/newsweek/
The nation's top tycoon wants to kick its widening boom into overdrive
by creating high-tech farms, new cities and an Indian spin on Wal-Mart.
By Ron Moreau and Sudip Mazumdar
Newsweek
Sept. 18, 2006 issue - Mukesh Ambani has been India's Mr. Big for a
long time. By all accounts, he is the country's most influential
private citizen, and the businessman who thinks bigger than the rest in
this rising economic superpower. He was all that even before a bitter
internal feud led to a split in his family conglomerate. The breakup,
finalized in January, left Ambani in control of the larger (and largely
petrochemical) share, Reliance Industries, and that behemoth has seen
its fortunes soar ever since. It is now India's largest private-sector
enterprise by any measure: revenue ($20 billion in 2005), profit ($2
billion) or share of Indian GDP(3.5 percent). Its stock has shot up
dramatically since January, rising 62 percent to make Reliance India's
biggest company by market cap (about $41.5 billion). Ambani, who was
already the world's 38th richest person before the split, according to
Forbes, is now considerably richer. He says that while most family
empires destroy wealth when they divide, the parting of the Ambanis was
a "win-win" proposition.
The Next Invasion
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14788775/site/newsweek/
Chinese cars are coming, for better or worse.
By George Wehrfritz
Newsweek
Sept. 18, 2006 issue - Two decades after Japan took the U.S. auto
market by storm, here comes China. Dozens of Chinese automakers are
eying the U.S. market, with some hoping to arrive as soon as next year.
That may be too optimistic. While the Japanese cracked a slumbering and
protected U.S. field, the Chinese face a deregulated and highly
competitive market, dominated now by the Japanese. Most analysts expect
the first Chinese to arrive, yes, but not until 2009, at the earliest.
Here are some of the leading contenders, and their strikingly different
strategies and prospects:
Goldwater Today
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14863898/site/newsweek/
CC Goldwater on what her grandfather would make of today's GOP.
By CC Goldwater
Special to Newsweek
Updated: 2:03 p.m. ET Sept. 16, 2006
Sept. 16, 2006 - As the granddaughter of Barry Goldwater, I am often
asked what I think my grandfather would have felt about the direction
of today's Republican Party. What I found in the past year I spent
making a documentary about the man, "Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on
Goldwater," is that my grandfather is one person for whom it is
pretty hard to speak. He was vocal about his opinions, which he
presented with a rare clarity.
Everyday Equality
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14869070/site/newsweek/
Each of us rose on the shoulders of women who had come before us. Move
up, reach down: that was the motto of those worth knowing.
By Anna Quindlen
Newsweek
Sept. 25, 2006 issue - I came to feminism the way some people come to
social movements in their early years: out of self-interest. As a
teenager, I was outspoken and outraged, which paired with a skirt was
once considered arrogance. When I was expelled from convent school I
was furious. Now I am more understanding. Would you have wanted to be
the nun teaching me typing?
Make Room on the Couch for Steve
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14868469/site/newsweek/
Our computers have become great media devices for songs, pictures and
now TV and movies.
By Steven Levy
Newsweek
Sept. 25, 2006 issue - Steve Jobs's talk last week was nearing an end
and coming dangerously close to a letdown. The stuff he introduced-a
freshening-up of the iPod line and the ability to download movies on
iTunes-had been largely expected. And he'd already used his famous
fanfare-"One more thing ... "- that usually precedes the
introduction of a mind-blowing new product. But Jobs, with something
still up his sleeve, this time announced "one last thing," and, in a
break from tradition, unveiled a product that will not ship until next
year. It's code-named iTV, a small box (the size of a sushi tray)
intended to bridge the gap between the way we entertain ourselves on
our computers and the way we distract ourselves in the living room.
I=2ER.S. Eyes Religious Groups as More Enter Election Fray
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/18/us/politics/18church.html?ref=3Dwashington
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
The Internal Revenue Service announced a renewed effort to enforce laws
that limit charities' involvement in partisan campaigns.
Online: A Virtual Gold Rush
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14871320/site/newsweek/
Foreigners think Chinese are money-grubbing and untrustworthy even in
the realm of dwarves, orcs and elves.
By Melinda Liu
Newsweek International
With his longish hair, casual polo shirt and baggy shorts, Li Zhi looks
like the entrepreneurial boss of a small-town computer company, which
is what he used to be. Now the thirtysomething Li runs an unusual
sweatshop in the Hubei-province city of Wuxue, the kind of place where
a farmer might buy a computer in town and transport it home by donkey
cart. Wuxue also has high-speed Internet access and hundreds of
residents playing the popular online role-playing game called World of
Warcraft. Some 200 of them work for bosses such as Li, single-mindedly
playing Warcraft to collect in-game currency and trade it for
real-world cash. Li's so-called gold-farming operation is modest, but
profitable.
Global Investor: Jeffrey E. Garten
Rebel With Authority
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14870278/site/newsweek/
Newsweek International
Sept. 25, 2006 issue - The high priests of global finance continue to
embrace a smug consensus that globalization has been a wild success. In
recent days, for example, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Fed
chairman Ben Bernanke and British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon
Brown have all talked about globalization in glowing terms.
Who Needs the IMF?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14870272/site/newsweek/
The organization is facing serious questions about its makeup, and its
purpose.
By Kenneth Rogoff
Newsweek International
Sept. 25, 2006 issue - As the international Monetary Fund holds its big
fall meetings in Singapore this week, it faces a financial world that
has been turned on its head. Traditionally, the Fund has helped out
bankrupt emerging-market governments using loan money collected mainly
from Western nations. But now, the Fund is being asked, in effect, to
play a much broader role in helping maintain financial stability in a
world where the lenders and creditors are trading places. With the
United States borrowing two thirds of global net savings and Euro-zone
countries like Italy, Greece and Portugal struggling to control their
government finances-while emerging markets sit on mounting
foreign-exchange reserves-many worry that ground zero for the next
big global financial crisis could be somewhere in the wealthy West.
Given that Asia now accounts for almost 40 percent of global income,
and an even larger share of its surpluses, it makes no sense that IMF
voting rights and leadership posts are still dominated by the United
States and Europe.
They Don't Play Fair
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14871218/site/newsweek/
A strident critic says the IMF should confront China, possibly with
sanctions, over its trade practices.
Newsweek International
Sept. 25, 2006 issue - Allan Meltzer ranks as one of the most strident
critics of the IMF. As head of a 2000 U.S. congressional inquiry into
the Asian financial crisis, which became known as the Meltzer
commission, he drew conclusions that were seen as archly conservative
at the time but have since become mainstream, including a call for the
IMF to quit poverty relief and return to its original
mission-fighting financial crises. The Carnegie Mellon University
economist spoke to NEWSWEEK's George Wehrfritz about what he considers
the IMF's central challenge, the cheap Chinese yuan. Excerpts:
Welcome to Samurai 2.0
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14871322/site/newsweek/
Entrepreneurialism has had a tough time in Japan, but a coterie of
Internet startups are reviving the art.
By Brad Stone
Newsweek International
Sept. 25, 2006 issue - Isamu Kaneko hopes to avoid the same grim fate
that has struck other prominent Japanese entrepreneurs-not
bankruptcy, but jail. A few years ago Kaneko, a 35-year-old former
researcher at the University of Tokyo, created Winny, a peer-to-peer
file-sharing program that millions of Japanese used to illegally trade
songs and TV shows over the Internet. Kyoto police arrested Kaneko in
2004 for abetting mass copyright infringement, and his trial is
scheduled for later this year. But while he prepares his legal defense,
Kaneko is also building a new company, Dreamboat, which aims to
distribute full-length TV shows, concerts and movies-legally-over
the Web. "I got into trouble for making a fast car that goes everywhere
and breaks the speed limit," says Kaneko of Winny. "Dreamboat is a taxi
that responsibly drives you where you want to go."
One small step for neo-Nazis
Francis Sedgemore
September 18, 2006 09:49 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/francis_sedgemore/2006/09/german_neonaz=
is_poised_to_win.html
In elections held on Sunday, the neo-Nazi Nationaldemokratische Partei
Deutschlands (NPD) broke through the 5% barrier for electoral
representation in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, a region of eastern Germany
suffering 20% unemployment and a host of other problems. It is of
concern, but given the support that the British National Party (BNP)
commands in certain parts of England, I wouldn't get too worried about
the development in Germany. It's not as if the NPD are poised to take
over an entire Land assembly, or even a parish council.
According to an article last week in the Times, NPD members control a
number of businesses in the region, but the article is rather vague on
the details. Are we talking about self-employed builders of a
right-wing persuasion who take on casual workers and apprentices, and
favour young lads who think like them? Or is it more serious, with
systemic employment bias affecting larger enterprises?
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