Bob Morris @ Jan 11th 2008 23:47 - Category: Blogging ;
For the “crime” of filming a confrontation by police with villagers.
The killing has sparked outrage in China, with thousands expressing outrage in Chinese Internet chat rooms, often the only outlet for public criticism of the government.
Bob Morris @ Jan 11th 2008 13:41 - Category: Unfiled ;
Bob Morris @ Jan 11th 2008 10:27 - Category: Politics Tags: Iran;
Juan Cole has a detailed analysis of this pitiful (and failed) propaganda attempt.
The Iranians analyzed the Pentagon video released to the US media and found that the audio track was not synchronized properly with the video, pointing to serious tinkering.
And sure enough, we now know that the tape is a fabrication in the sense that the Pentagon says the video and the audio were recorded separately and then combined. And they can’t even be sure where the audio came from!
This episode is just about the most pitiful thing I have seen since Bush came to power, and believe me I’ve seen plenty.
More MSU (Making Sh*t Up) from the Bushies. Do they ever stop lying?
Bob Morris @ Jan 11th 2008 07:21 - Category: Energy conservation ;
Allowing utilities to automatically change settings via the Internet for water heaters, dryers, and thermostats cuts bills 10% and reduces load on the grid, a test study has found.
Consumers can override the settings if they want. But most found the settings to be fine.
Bob Morris @ Jan 11th 2008 00:12 - Category: Socialism Tags: Hugo Chavez, Venezuela;
Chavez is abandoning his socialist agenda “for now,” granting amnesty to right-wing coup plotters, replacing left-wingers in his cabinet, and signaling he wants to build alliances with the bourgeoisie.
New Statesman opines the recent defeat of socialism at the Venezuela polls had little to do with socialism and quite a lot to do with Chavistas becoming insiders.
A closer look at electoral patterns reveals a clear protest vote, not against a socialist agenda, but against corrupt administrations, at the national and the regional level.
The vote outcome has everything to do with the accession of many a Chavista to the rank of “insider” over the past eight years. This process has been gradual, and perhaps inevitable in a society in which institutionalised rentier-mechanisms have been endemic for decades.
But the contradiction between a radical socialist government agenda and the “Chavista elite”, bent on defending its share in the oil rent, effectively came to a head last year.
In other words, it’s a battle between the left Chavista street and the right Chavista elite, many of whom hold positions of power in the administration, and pretended to back the reforms while working against them and destabilized markets to create food shortages.
Thus, says the New Statesman, a weakened Chavez hasn’t the power to fight them and must make accommodations, at least for now, until he strengthens his mass party - assuming he can.
In any system of government, a primary task is to insure that a privileged elite does not gain control, enriching themselves at the expense of others. This clearly has happened in socialism (USSR managerial class and current day China) as well as capitalism. Somehow, we need governments beholden and responsive to all, and not primarily to the few at the top.
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