Tuesday, July 27, 2004

Finally, Mari Iijima's music is available through the iTunes Music Store! 4:40:42 PM    comment () The Consent of the Governed. From Neal Ascherson's review of Richard Overy's The Dictators: Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia (link courtesy of Arts & Letters Daily): "Fear of the penalties for protest was important, of course, but both regimes drew wide consent from the majority who... [LewRockwell.com Blog] That certainly sounds familiar. 12:49:56 PM    comment () The BBC : Killings by pirates on the rise. Though to some modern pirates may seem to be anachronistic, absurd, and unimportant, the BBC recently reported that the International Maritime Bureau, the body that monitors pirate killings around the world, has observed a sharp and worrisome increase in the number of ship crews boarded and murdered by these very real and dangerous sea dogs. [kuro5hin.org] Unfortunately this is likely to get worse, because every government is intensely hostile to the very thought of allowing honest merchant ships to carry the means to defend themselves. 9:34:33 AM    comment () Jason does a good job with a wrap-up of the Halliburton overcharging/mismanagement hearings.  Frankly, the US is growing increasingly dependent on Halliburton in Iraq due to GG disruption.  I am surprised they aren't more upfront about their outrageous pricing.  Just put it out there and say take it or leave it. [John Robb's Weblog] It's interested that, based on that post, much of Halliburton's pricing comes from the company basically throwing away money. I'd figured they were just overcharging and pocketing the difference, but the testimony in the hearings suggest that it's more a case of waste and incompetence. In other words, Halliburton is behaving exactly like a government agency. 9:26:40 AM    comment ()

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