The Flashlight, Feb. 9-15, 2008
THE FLASHLIGHT
February 9-15, 2008
No Peace without Justice, no Justice without the Facts
Mary K. Matossian
US Presidential Primaries
CNN, PBS, 9-14. Obama surged ahead of Hilary Clinton this week, winning decisively in Maine, Louisiana, Washington State, Nebraska, Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. At the end of the week he was ahead by 50 delegates. Further, he was cutting into constituencies that had previously favored Clinton: Latinos, older voters, women, and blue collar workers.
John McCain became the Republican front-runner, almost assured of nomination. Romney announced his support. Huckabee still campaigned, demonstrating his popularity in states with substantial numbers of religious conservatives, like Kansas and Louisiana. But commentators gave him no chance to get the nomination.
Hilary Clinton focused her attention on three big states, Texas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, where she has been leading in the polls. Obama was campaigning actively in Texas and is expected to do the same in all the big states.
US Economy: the Big Picture
NYTimes op ed. 2-13. Robert Reich, Professor of Economics, said that the US was sliding into a recession or worse. The value of houses has been falling faster than interest rates can be lowered. He attributed this to the problem that for three decades many US consumers have been spending beyond their means. There has been little improvement in wages for 35 years. In order to acquire more goods and services 1) wives have gone to work outside their homes 2) many paid workers are working overtime and 3) many are borrowing, using and losing home equity . This permitted higher spending only while home prices were rising. Now home prices have started to fall.
Little can be done to raise the world price of labor of a given quality. A measure that can fundamentally improve the US situation is to improve American schools (K-12) so that students can improve the quality of their labor. This can be done by establishing more and better pre-schools, paying teachers more so that more able people are drawn to teaching, and by improving teacher/student ratios.
The Internationalization of Universities
NYTimes 2-10. The pool of college age students in the US is starting to shrink. American universities are rushing to set up outposts abroad, especially in the oil-rich parts of the Middle East, such as the small Persian Gulf States. Students from China, India, and Singapore are moving to these outposts of American universities. Foreign students in American universities abroad avoid the expense, culture shock, and visa problems that they might have if they tried to study inside the US.
The greatest demand abroad is for courses in business, engineering, computer science, and various other sciences. Foreign students want to learn cutting edge technology to qualify for high paying jobs. In all cases English is the language of instruction, so American professors need not learn a foreign language. Many foreign government pay subsidies to lure American branch institutions to their realms.
Famous Assassin Is Assassinated
Haaretz 2-14, PBS 2-14, and BBC 2-15. Amad Mughniyeh, Lebanese-born master of terrorism, died instantly Feb. 13 by a car bomb explosion in an upscale district of Damascus, Syria. The explosive-laden car was parked next to Mughniyehâs vehicle and was detonated by remote control.
Mughniyeh is best known to Americans for the car bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983. This was the most famous early case of car bombing, since it killed more than 200 marines inside. He also was responsible for highjackings, kidnappings, destroying the American Embassy in Beirut and the Jewish Embassy and Community Center in Buenos Aires. He was chief of the military operations of Hezbollah.
Around 1994, at the age of about 30, Mughniyeh retired, but led an elusive existence, never leaving a building by the same door he entered it, and changing his appearance, name, and address often.
The US and Israel denied responsibility for the assassination, but expressed satisfaction that it occurred. Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Hezbollah, appeared by recording at the burial of Mughniyeh, blaming Israel and vowing revenge. Nasrallah is famous for fulfilling such threats.
Iran and Syria blamed Israel for the assassination. Damascus promised to name the killer soon. Israel put its embassies around the world on high alert and increasedAC troop levels in northern Israel.
February 9-15, 2008
No Peace without Justice, no Justice without the Facts
Mary K. Matossian
US Presidential Primaries
CNN, PBS, 9-14. Obama surged ahead of Hilary Clinton this week, winning decisively in Maine, Louisiana, Washington State, Nebraska, Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. At the end of the week he was ahead by 50 delegates. Further, he was cutting into constituencies that had previously favored Clinton: Latinos, older voters, women, and blue collar workers.
John McCain became the Republican front-runner, almost assured of nomination. Romney announced his support. Huckabee still campaigned, demonstrating his popularity in states with substantial numbers of religious conservatives, like Kansas and Louisiana. But commentators gave him no chance to get the nomination.
Hilary Clinton focused her attention on three big states, Texas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, where she has been leading in the polls. Obama was campaigning actively in Texas and is expected to do the same in all the big states.
US Economy: the Big Picture
NYTimes op ed. 2-13. Robert Reich, Professor of Economics, said that the US was sliding into a recession or worse. The value of houses has been falling faster than interest rates can be lowered. He attributed this to the problem that for three decades many US consumers have been spending beyond their means. There has been little improvement in wages for 35 years. In order to acquire more goods and services 1) wives have gone to work outside their homes 2) many paid workers are working overtime and 3) many are borrowing, using and losing home equity . This permitted higher spending only while home prices were rising. Now home prices have started to fall.
Little can be done to raise the world price of labor of a given quality. A measure that can fundamentally improve the US situation is to improve American schools (K-12) so that students can improve the quality of their labor. This can be done by establishing more and better pre-schools, paying teachers more so that more able people are drawn to teaching, and by improving teacher/student ratios.
The Internationalization of Universities
NYTimes 2-10. The pool of college age students in the US is starting to shrink. American universities are rushing to set up outposts abroad, especially in the oil-rich parts of the Middle East, such as the small Persian Gulf States. Students from China, India, and Singapore are moving to these outposts of American universities. Foreign students in American universities abroad avoid the expense, culture shock, and visa problems that they might have if they tried to study inside the US.
The greatest demand abroad is for courses in business, engineering, computer science, and various other sciences. Foreign students want to learn cutting edge technology to qualify for high paying jobs. In all cases English is the language of instruction, so American professors need not learn a foreign language. Many foreign government pay subsidies to lure American branch institutions to their realms.
Famous Assassin Is Assassinated
Haaretz 2-14, PBS 2-14, and BBC 2-15. Amad Mughniyeh, Lebanese-born master of terrorism, died instantly Feb. 13 by a car bomb explosion in an upscale district of Damascus, Syria. The explosive-laden car was parked next to Mughniyehâs vehicle and was detonated by remote control.
Mughniyeh is best known to Americans for the car bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983. This was the most famous early case of car bombing, since it killed more than 200 marines inside. He also was responsible for highjackings, kidnappings, destroying the American Embassy in Beirut and the Jewish Embassy and Community Center in Buenos Aires. He was chief of the military operations of Hezbollah.
Around 1994, at the age of about 30, Mughniyeh retired, but led an elusive existence, never leaving a building by the same door he entered it, and changing his appearance, name, and address often.
The US and Israel denied responsibility for the assassination, but expressed satisfaction that it occurred. Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Hezbollah, appeared by recording at the burial of Mughniyeh, blaming Israel and vowing revenge. Nasrallah is famous for fulfilling such threats.
Iran and Syria blamed Israel for the assassination. Damascus promised to name the killer soon. Israel put its embassies around the world on high alert and increasedAC troop levels in northern Israel.
posted by THE FLASHLIGHT at 9:10 AM
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