…. if Iraq is full of people who hate America with a seething passion, don’t be surprised. After all, the only thing they’ll have to go on is what their parents said, and their own vague memories of scenes like this. In this photo by Ashley Gilbertson (from the New York Times), this boy is standing in what used to be his kitchen. Have you ever stood in what used to be your kitchen? I never have. I’ve been fortunate never even to have experienced this via something as pedestrian as a housefire. And the take home message is that …

I just read a very interesting article over at reason.com titled Reason: Stand and Deliver Revisited: The untold story behind the famous rise — and shameful fall — of Jaime Escalante, America’s master math teacher. This courtesy of Brenda, a post at isomorphisms: representations of the identity. A blog which, by the way, absolutely rocks. Anyone who starts the bio on her about page with the following is gonna be interesting as hell: My name is Brenda, and I study mathematics. An unusual introduction, I know; there is other information, answers to more conventional questions, that could have served as …

Tell you what. Let’s make a deal. You believe what you want. I’ll believe what I want. If you agree to this deal, I’ll go into battle side by side with you to safeguard it. I’ll write books about it. I’ll wade through swamps under-munitioned to make sure it isn’t ripped from us, and I’ll cradle you in my arms when you’re shot to pieces, as I hope you will me. I’ll spend my life building machines that will safeguard our freedom, I’ll pay taxes to fund a governmental organization that will protect this sacred right of ours. If you …

… at the field of economics altogether. Why? Here’s a little taste of what was written in an internal memo about “Dirty Industries”. The memo was dated December 12, 1991, and penned by the head economist of the World Bank at that time, Lawrence H. Summers. Just between you and me, shouldn’t the World Bank be encouraging MORE migration of the dirty industries to the LDCs [Less Developed Countries]?… I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable and we should face up to that… I’ve always though that under-populated …

I just ran across a story online about a Korean farmer who killed himself in Cancun during the protests, a kind of public martyrdom in protest. I didn’t heard about it it at the time, because I was so busy moving in to Jeonju and adjusting, but now that I’m reading it, I am shocked. I didn’t even know that a group of Korean farmers had gone over to Cancun for the protests, much less one of them committing a protest suicide! I can admire the strength of his will to protest, and what he gave up for his cause, …