Sunday, August 31, 2003

Mini essay, should curbing Terrorism be the top priority? Posted here Sunday, August 31, 2003 at 8:33:38 PM     I am not sure that "curbing terrorism" is a first priority goal. If the larger issue is how to manage a post colonial world and avoid doing so by moving towards a new totalitarian empire, then would not simply curbing terrorism mean a support of business managed globalization for narrow economic interests?   If we take the view that the first step is to (re) create a rich multilateral approach to transborder problems AND MEAN IT (unlike what happened in eastern Europe), then terrorism wilts slowly. That would mean the US embracing all the institutions: courts, protocols, treaties,  that we have backed away from and leaving the rest of the world without a procedure for dealing with major issues.   Such a move would create a world culture of complex dialog rather than a world culture of dumb alignment (England), feigned dumb alignment (Australia), or opposition (France), with insincere dialog that is meaningless and uninforming.   Such a world would attract bright people to try to figure it out, artists to tell the stories, and complex economic relationships that would be smaller scale and less based on bribery.   One can argue that such a mixed world parliament of the birds and beasts could never take on the hard issues and dealing  with the real threats. But the current approach certainly cannot. We can either chose a military solution or a design solution.   I once did a workshop with the CIA on its future and at one point had to take on a brash fellow in a blue cashmere sports jacket and rep tie who was arguing for "taking them out before they get us" (about 1997), by saying "would you rather be firemen or architects? The group got it right away, and he was effectively cut off.   I would like to try some combination of the medical model and teh architectural model, with due regard for the ills of social engineering.   i currently believe that we are doing the French revolution in reverse: that is, the FR was a reaction of the middle class to the disparity between its increasing power economically without increased political power. Today, rich elites have regained the wealth into smaller hands, but do not control the political apparatus. the Bush administration if redressing the balance, and Blair can be said to be doing the same. But what is needed is not the defenestration (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=defenestration) of the middle class but its increased wealth and health to use well the power of the democracies of which they could form the major part, with invitations for those above and below to join. ********

aside: Tony Robbins Posted here Sunday, August 31, 2003 at 11:31:34 AM     Significance, monopoly, alienation? I think there will emrge a life sytle industry where you sign up a your salary level, they get it all, and deliver living place, aeshetics, friends... But no one is going after the much larger business known as "wellness," a broad term for the multibillion-dollar arena that includes things like vitamins and Pilates exercises, with quite the fervor of Mr. Robbins. "I want to own it," Mr. Robbins said. In a new book, "The Next Trillion," Paul Zane Pilzer, the Reagan administration economist turned wellness guru, estimates that the industry is worth $200 billion in sales a year and will expand fivefold over the next seven years as baby boomers splurge on products and services that they hope will make them feel healthier, look better and slow the effects of aging. ********

Dianne Kirby. _Religion and the Cold War_. Cold War History Series. Posted here Sunday, August 31, 2003 at 10:41:47 AM       Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. xiv + 245 pp. Notes, index. $72.00 (cloth), ISBN 0-333-99398-5. Reviewed for H-Diplo by John T. McNay, Department of History, University of Cincinnati Exploring Religion's Place in the Cold War In the waning years of the nineteenth century, President William McKinley reported that he prayed for divine inspiration before deciding it was necessary that the United States maintain control of the Philippines after the Spanish-American War. Over a century later, speaking to a friendly Texas audience in January 2003, President George W. Bush argued "our nation is chosen by God and commissioned by history to be a model to the world." see h-hist list ********

mini essay on citizenship Posted here Sunday, August 31, 2003 at 9:25:25 AM     It seems to me that we need, for a functioning democracy, citizens who know how to participate. That means participation opportunities at neighborhood, town, city, geo-region, state, and national. We do not have these. Add the separation of rich from poor in the US and we see that we have a major problem. To me, the first questing is, what forces have produced this condition, then, with some perspective on what we are up against, to begin to imagine and act on alternatives. Of course world events keep happening, and we have to assume that many may others will be doing their part.   They are unlikely to care about what we do here, but there is always the possibility. ********