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Good News..
California to the
Rescue
By enacting a lavishly financed stem cell program,
California voters helped keep this nation in the forefront
of a promising area of biomedical research.
Caught Up in the
Underground Blues
By
FRANCIS X. CLINES There are many intrusions in the average subway ride but a bit of decent live music counts as an antidote.
Bush Leaves the White House in
two Years, or Hopefully Sooner...
Confidence
in Israel. The American state of New York is to buy $50 million worth of Israel
Bonds, one of the largest such purchases ever. Israel Bonds are "secure and good
investments that will bear fruit," New York State comptroller Alan Hevesi said,
expressing confidence in the Israeli economy. In another example of foreign
confidence in Israel, Finland and Israel last month signed a communications and
information technology research and development agreement.
Israeli make
molecules form nano containers. Researchers from Israel's Technion Institute of
Technology (and the University of Minnesota) have found a way to coax the
self-assembly of minuscule multicompartment structures. The structures could
eventually be used in drug delivery systems, according to the researchers. They
would be especially appropriate The nanostructures could be used in practical
applications in two to five years, according to the researchers. The work appeared
in the October 1, 2004 issue of Science.
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The Bad News is...
George thinks that a 3% margin
is a mandate
"Let me put it to you this way: I earned
capital in the campaign, political capital,
and now I intend to spend it."
PRESIDENT
BUSH
The whole problem with the world is that fools
and fanatics are always so certain of themselves,
and wiser people so full of doubts.
-Bertrand Russell: philosopher, mathematician,
author, Nobel laureate
(1872-1970)
The Red
Zone
By MAUREEN DOWD
The president got re-elected by dividing the country along fault lines of fear,
intolerance, ignorance and religious zealotry
Insurgents Blow Up Iraqi Oil Pipeline
By EDWARD WONG A severe blow was
dealt to the national economy, even as car bombs and gun battles across the country
left at least 12 Iraqis dead. The nation is
still insecure with too few troops and too
little reconstruction.
New
Violence Hinders Relief Efforts in Western Sudan
By SOMINI SENGUPTA Violence made it
impossible to deliver relief to
tens of thousands of Sudanese.
Here is how ignorance works:
First, they put the fear of God into
you—if you don't believe in the literal word of the Bible, you will burn in hell. Of
course, the literal word of the Bible is tremendously contradictory, and so you must
abdicate all critical thinking.
Next, they tell you that you are the best of a bad lot (humans, that is) and that as
bad as you are, if you stick with them, you are among the chosen. This is flattering
and reassuring, and also encourages you to imagine the terrible fates of those you
envy and resent. American politicians ALWAYS operate by a similar sort of flattery,
and so Americans are never induced to question themselves. The history
of the last four years shows that red
state types, above all, do not want to be told what to do—they prefer to be ignorant.
As a result, they are virtually unteachable.
Third, and most important, when life grows difficult or fearsome, they (politicians,
preachers, pundits) encourage you to cling to your ignorance with even more fervor. If
you are sufficiently ignorant, you won't even know how dangerous your policies are
until they have destroyed you, and then you can always blame others.
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