Over the past few months, there has been a lot of debate about health care in the United States. Here are a couple of pieces I found interesting. I certainly didn’t agree with what everyone wrote below, but I found the pieces thought-provoking.
Foreign Policy posted an interactive map to failed states in June. Even though it’s a quite a few months later, it makes for interesting reading. You can check it out at 2009 Failed States Index – Interactive Map and Rankings | Foreign Policy
A few years ago, I wrote about the difference between the Kerry and Bush 2004 campaign websites. I noted that the Bush site had a significant amount of negative campaigning compared to a lack of any negative advertisements on the Kerry web site.
Last week, I went to the websites of the Obama and McCain websites to compare the two candidates’ sites again.
The first significant difference between the two sites was the use of an interstitial page prior to the main web site. The Obama web site had a large plea for money, while the McCain web site had a continuous stream of videos from his campaign. I found the Obama plea for money to be fairly obnoxious. However, it was probably successful based on the amount of money he has raised from small Internet donations. The advertisements on the McCain interstitial were positive and focused on McCain’s prior service.
I was pleasantly surprised after the interstitial: both campaign web sites contained a significant lack of negative advertising. The Obama web site seemed more focused on general feelings and optimism, while the McCain site seemed more focused on contrasting the two candidates. However, there was none of the invective found four years ago on the Bush web site.
Both sites this year were focused much more on individual participation than the previous election. Major elements of the McCain and Obama web sites are focused on volunteering and grass-root efforts.
As vicious as this year’s campaign with racism, sexism, ageism, and bigotry, I believe incidents like the swift-boating of Kerry or the Killian document controversy regarding Bush were a low point in American politics. In particular, the swift-boating of Kerry was a disgusting and heavily financed effort to impugn his military career that was made with the full support of the Republican establishment.
For the record, I believe Barack Obama is the best person to lead the country, and I recommend that everyone go out and vote for him.
It turns out that “Joe the Plumber,” described by John McCain in the McCain/Obama debate last night, may be related to Charles Keating of “Keating Five” fame. You can read about it on Martin Eisenstadt’s Blog and the Daily Kos.
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Don’t believe water-boarding is torture? Read Christoper Hitchen’s piece on undergoing waterboarding, Believe Me, it’s Torture from the August Vanity Fair.
You may have read by now the official lie about this treatment, which is that it “simulates” the feeling of drowning. This is not the case. You feel that you are drowning because you are drowning—or, rather, being drowned, albeit slowly and under controlled conditions and at the mercy (or otherwise) of those who are applying the pressure. The “board” is the instrument, not the method.
Last week, I wrote about the Mike McConnell profile in The New Yorker. In the profile, Ed Giorgio characterized security and privacy as a zero-sum game. This week, Bruce Schneier wrote an eloquent rebuttal to Giorgio’s assertion. Schneier’s thesis is concisely stated: “The debate isn’t security versus privacy. It’s liberty versus control.” His points are on the money, and I wish more people in the United States heeded his words.
[Schneier’s essay was also posted to wired.com.]
The January 22nd issue of The New Yorker (last week) has an in-depth profile by Lawrence Wright on the Director of National Intelligence, Mike McConnell. All executive-branch intelligence departments report to McConnell in one way or another. “The Spymaster” discusses many topics including: the use of torture, defending the U.S. infrastructure against cyber-attacks from foreign countries, FISA, security screening, the state of IT in our intelligence agencies, and the balance of privacy versus spying. I was not able to find an online version, but it is worth picking up a copy at your local newsstand or visiting the library. (If you decide to read this issue, also check out article on the MySpace hoax and subsequent suicide.
Some quotes from the McConnell profile include:
Wright also briefly discusses his own experience of being tapped by the U.S. government and visited by the FBI. McConnell’s response, while noncommittal, is quite interesting.
The article is 18 pages and required reading for anyone interested in U.S. policies regarding spying and privacy, and the agencies responsible for implementing those policies. It’s thought provoking and provides valuable insights into the man most responsible for spying in the world.
I originally submitted this to Slashdot, but they didn’t run the piece. Today they ran a one paragraph story on a one screen response on arstechnica.com to a single quote from the 18-page New Yorker article. Not surprisingly, The New Yorker article is better than either the Slashdot or ArsTechnica pieces. It has better writing, more sources, a higher quality of analysis, and a broader scope.
[Update: included link to article abstract. Thanks, Faisal!]
From the New York Times Magazine profile on Mike Huckabee by Zev Chafets:
Six weeks ago, I met Huckabee for lunch at an Olive Garden restaurant in Midtown Manhattan. (I had offered to take him anywhere he wanted and then vetoed his first choice, T.G.I. Friday’s.)
It’s not a matter of elitism or cost. In a city with over 18,000 restaurants with tasty and affordable food, many of them small businesses, it’s sad that a presidential candidate would choose to visit a large Florida-based chain restaurant with mediocre food that promotes overeating and homogeneity. At the very least, he could have chosen to dine at a restaurant owned by a company whose core values mention food beyond becoming “the best casual dining company.” (Check out Darden Restaurant’s core values; they are a cookie-cutter set of values that could describe almost any business.) Given the level of imagination and innovation Huckabee has in his restaurant selection, can you trust him to lead the country?
Link via Ed Levine