tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post111675800260231333..comments2005-08-08T00:11:06.146+09:00Comments on Riding Sun: Newsweek: America is deadUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger145125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1122492389226080732005-07-28T04:26:00.000+09:002005-07-28T04:26:00.000+09:00To all those trolls, bunkerbuster in particular, w...To all those trolls, bunkerbuster in particular, who routinely refer to the "right-wing" blogosphere as being masterbatory or just one giant circle jerk...<BR/>I presume that you all read Daily Kos or Democratic Underground or any other left/liberal blog. I presume that you also notice how the commentators reinforce each other. One posts "Bush Lied" another posts "Right on..." and so forth. How, I ask you, is this any less of a circle jerk? Because the opinions expressed there agree with your own, and therefore are not just masterbation sessions? And isnt true that there is indeed a site that calls for "Masterbation for Peace" and "Masterbation, Not War!"<BR/>In effect, who is participating in the real circle-jerk here?<BR/>Aside from which, if you find so many things disagreeable on this site, then why expend so much energy posting to it?<BR/><BR/>Whatever. <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://randomatom@blogspot.com" REL="nofollow" TITLE="love_n_rage at yahoo dot com">Eve</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1121826875164386152005-07-20T11:34:00.000+09:002005-07-20T11:34:00.000+09:00Looking forward the the International Edition of N...Looking forward the the International Edition of Newseek showing the Kuran in trash can. That should go over well. <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://ridingsun.blogspot.com/2005/05/newsweek-america-is-dead.html" REL="nofollow" TITLE="sbaumann at aol dot com">Hoopla</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1120765811569448002005-07-08T04:50:00.000+09:002005-07-08T04:50:00.000+09:00Excellent artice on Newsweek. I am impresed. I nev...Excellent artice on Newsweek. I am impresed. I never thought other editions could be so misleading. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!! <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://libraryguysblog.blogspot.com" REL="nofollow" TITLE="schaum at scc-fl dot edu">Mike</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1120259865458568032005-07-02T08:17:00.000+09:002005-07-02T08:17:00.000+09:00Sick, half-assed, delusional, Liberal tripe. I wo...Sick, half-assed, delusional, Liberal tripe. I wonder why it wasn't published in this country? It's not much different than the nonsense that MoveOn.org or the NY Times prints. It's just less cryptic.  <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A>Slick MickAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1119416651946207702005-06-22T14:04:00.000+09:002005-06-22T14:04:00.000+09:00I totally agree with you as a Japanese in the Unit...I totally agree with you as a Japanese in the United States. <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A>AnonymousAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1119293050612157992005-06-21T03:44:00.000+09:002005-06-21T03:44:00.000+09:00Is it that newsweek hates america? Or do they just...Is it that newsweek hates america? Or do they just hate the administration? Making America look bad to make the administration look bad is not a great idea.<BR/>It's like telling the whole neighborhood your family sucks, just because your mother yelled at you for pissing on the toilet seat. <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A>RonAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1118826908266511792005-06-15T18:15:00.000+09:002005-06-15T18:15:00.000+09:00It's good! Posted by online degreeIt's good! <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://online-degree.topnewscast.com" REL="nofollow" TITLE="online-degree at hotmail dot com">online degree</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1118191080296443162005-06-08T09:38:00.000+09:002005-06-08T09:38:00.000+09:00Someone mentioned that the flag on the cover is a ...Someone mentioned that the flag on the cover is a US flag, but the trash can is Japanese. TRASH CANS OF THIS TYPE ARE NORMALLY LIGHT BLUE AND PLASTIC. I've never seen such a trash can in Japan, except as part of an interior (or exterior) decorationin in businesses that try to present an American image. The brick-walled alley in the background also portrays an American image; brick buildings are also a rarity in Japan which is a country prone to earthquakes.<BR/><BR/>It's true that some of the Japanese msm is trying to get its readers to hate the US and shift towards Asia (that's what they like to call China), but it doesn't seem to be working. More people have realized that the US is the best ally we have, and it's a democracy without leaders killing people for simply saying something they don't like. Interesting though, that both countries seem to be afflicted with the same media malady - leftists who criticize seemingly out of hatred for their country. Japanese leftists use the same tactic of criticizing in foreign media instead of giving it straight to its own people. I wonder why. If they've got any constructive, criticism, they should be presenting it to those who count. <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A>From JapanAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1117841083753835142005-06-04T08:24:00.000+09:002005-06-04T08:24:00.000+09:00Bravo bunkerbuster....!? I guess... Why did you no...Bravo bunkerbuster....!? I guess... Why did you not put in the little "News<B>weak</B> " excerpts? That's ok. I'll do it for you.. Just to be fair to the remarks that you "disagree" with. Anyone could do the same with all of the ridiculous, smartass comments you've made on this one page alone. So I hope you don't think you're "holier than thou" just because someone didn't take the time to sift through all of your comments and point out the hateful remarks. <BR/><BR/><B>So here's the Newsweek excerpts bunkerbuster so kindly edited out of his latest post that had JUST the comments of someone on another blog...</B><BR/><BR/><BR/>The truth is that Americans are living in a dream world. Not only do others not share America's self-regard, they no longer aspire to emulate the country's social and economic achievements.<BR/><BR/>The loss of faith in the American Dream goes beyond this swaggering administration and its war in Iraq.<BR/><BR/>A President Kerry would have had to confront a similar disaffection, for it grows from the success of something America holds dear: the spread of democracy, free markets and international institutions—globalization, in a word.<BR/><BR/>Countries today have dozens of political, economic and social models to choose from.<BR/><BR/>Anti-Americanism is especially virulent in Europe and Latin America, where countries have established their own distinctive ways—none made in America.<BR/><BR/>Futurologist Jeremy Rifkin, in his recent book "The European Dream," hails an emerging European Union based on generous social welfare, cultural diversity and respect for international law—a model that's caught on quickly across the former nations of Eastern Europe and the Baltics.<BR/><BR/>In Asia, the rise of autocratic capitalism in China or Singapore is as much a "model" for development as America's scandal-ridden corporate culture.<BR/><BR/>Much in American law and society troubles the world these days. <B>Nearly all countries reject the United States' right to bear arms as a quirky and dangerous anachronism.</B><BR/><BR/>They abhor the death penalty and demand broader privacy protections.<BR/><BR/><B>Above all, once most foreign systems reach a reasonable level of affluence, they follow the Europeans in treating the provision of adequate social welfare is a basic right.</B><BR/><BR/>All this, says Bruce Ackerman at Yale University Law School, contributes to the growing sense that American law, once the world standard, has become "provincial."<BR/><BR/><B>The United States' refusal to apply the Geneva Conventions to certain terrorist suspects to ratify global human-rights treaties such as the innocuous Convention on the Rights of the Child or to endorse the International Criminal Court (coupled with the abuses at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo)only reinforces the conviction that America's Constitution and legal system are out of step with the rest of the world.<BR/></B><BR/><BR/>The American Dream has always been chiefly economic—a dynamic ideal of free enterprise, free markets and individual opportunity based on merit and mobility.<BR/><BR/>Certainly the U.S. economy has been extraordinarily productive.<BR/><BR/>Yes, American per capita income remains among the world's highest.<BR/><BR/>Yet these days there's as much economic dynamism in the newly industrializing economies of Asia, Latin America and even eastern Europe.<BR/><BR/>All are growing faster than the United States. At current trends, the Chinese economy will be bigger than America's by 2040.<BR/><BR/>Whether those trends will continue is not so much the question.<BR/><BR/>Better to ask whether the American way is so superior that everyone else should imitate it. And the answer to that, increasingly, is no.<BR/><BR/>Much has made, for instance, of the differences between the dynamic American model and the purportedly sluggish and overregulated "European model."<BR/><BR/>Ongoing efforts at European labor-market reform and fiscal cuts are ridiculed.<BR/><BR/>Why can't these countries be more like Britain, businessmen ask, without the high tax burden, state regulation and restrictions on management that plague Continental economies? Sooner or later, the [conventional wisdom] goes, Europeans will adopt the American model—or perish.<BR/><BR/>Yet this is a myth.<BR/><BR/>For much of the postwar period Europe and Japan enjoyed higher growth rates than America.<BR/><BR/>Airbus recently overtook Boeing in sales of commercial aircraft, and the EU recently surpassed America as China's top trading partner.<BR/><BR/>This year's ranking of the world's most competitive economies by the World Economic Forum awarded five of the top 10 slots—including No. 1 Finland—to northern European social democracies.<BR/><BR/>Lorenzo Codogno, co-head of European economics at the Bank of America, believes the British, like Europeans elsewhere, "will try their own way to achieve a proper balance."<BR/><BR/>Certainly they would never put up with the lack of social protections afforded in the American system.<BR/><BR/>Europeans are aware that their systems provide better primary education, more job security and a more generous social net.<BR/><BR/>They are willing to pay higher taxes and submit to regulation in order to bolster their quality of life.<BR/><BR/>Americans work far longer hours than Europeans do, for instance.<BR/><BR/>But they are not necessarily more productive —nor happier buried as they are in household debt without the time (or money)available to Europeans for vacation and international travel.<BR/><BR/><B>George Monbiot, a British public intellectual, speaks for many when he says, "The American model has become an American nightmare rather than an American dream."</B><BR/><BR/>Just look at booming bri-tain.<BR/><BR/>Instead of cutting social welfare, Tony Blair's Labour government has expanded it. According to London's Centre for Policy Studies, public spending in Britain represented 43 percent of GDP in 2003, a figure closer to the Eurozone average than to the American share of 35 percent. It's still on the rise—some 10 percent annually over the past three years<BR/>—at the same time that social welfare is being reformed to deliver services more efficiently.<BR/><BR/>The inspiration, says Giddens, comes not from America, but from social-democratic Sweden, where universal child care, education and health care have been proved to increase social mobility, opportunity and, ultimately, economic productivity.<BR/><BR/>In the United States, inequality once seemed tolerable because America was the land of equal opportunity. But this is no longer so. Two decades ago, a U.S. CEO earned 39 times the average worker; today he pulls in 1,000 times as much.<BR/><BR/>Cross-national studies show that America has recently become a relatively difficult country for poorer people to get ahead. Monbiot summarizes the scientific data: "In Sweden, you are three times more likely to rise out of the economic class into which you were born than you are in the U.S."<BR/><BR/>When the soviets withdrew from Central Europe, U.S. constitutional experts rushed in. They got a polite hearing, and were sent home. Jiri Pehe, adviser to former president Vaclav Havel, recalls the Czechs' firm decision to adopt a European-style parliamentary system with strict limits on campaigning. "For Europeans, money talks too much in American democracy. It's very prone to certain kinds of corruption, or at least influence from powerful lobbies," he says. "Europeans would not want to follow that route."<BR/><BR/>The truth is that Americans are living in a dream world.........<BR/><BR/><B>And that is what Newsweek magazine thinks of America. Of course America is where the magazine started. And the RIGHT to freedom of speech allowed them to write hate for the country that gave them the right. <BR/><BR/>So there ya go bunkerbuster... Hopefully your dislike for America will keep you from residing here.</B> <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A>Chris KAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1117518722702906242005-05-31T14:52:00.000+09:002005-05-31T14:52:00.000+09:00Justin case anyone's interested: Here's the respon...Justin case anyone's interested: Here's the response to the Newsweek article GB links too above. It's on a blog called Ambient Irony. Apparently, it has been the porno de jure in the circle jerk that is right-wing blogland.<BR/>Just to give a clearer idea of how dogmatic, nuance-challenged, foul-mouthed and self-involved the author is, I've excerpted his comments only, cutting out the parts of the Newsweek article he comments on.<BR/><BR/>Excerpted from the Ambient Irony blog:<BR/><BR/>Now Can We Question Their Patriotism?<BR/>Well, yeah, we noticed that. Anti-Americanism goes hand-in-hand with social and economic dysfunction. <BR/>Fuck you too, Newsweek. <BR/>Yes. <BR/>Democracy - bad! Free markets - bad! International institutions - well, if you're talking about QUANGOs - the U.N., the World Bank, IMF and suchlike, I'm inclined to grant you that one.<BR/>But there's a certain irony when Newsweek is saying they hate us because of our freedom. About 8.5 on the Irony Richter Scale, I'd say. <BR/>Most of which have been proven not to work. <BR/>That is a bizarrely twisted statement. <BR/>America didn't invent democracy or free markets, though it did give them some unprecedented guarantees in its Constitution. Since the year that document was signed, France has changed its form of government - not just the ruler or leader, but the very nature of the government itself - twelve times.<BR/>The made-in-America product seems to be somewhat more reliable than what many European countries have managed, with the exception perhaps of Britain. I won't even mention Latin America. <BR/>Along with high taxes, high unemployment, low economic growth, negative population growth. <BR/>Yes, who needs civil rights? <BR/>Sadly, this includes my beloved Australia, which is in alignment with the freedoms America espouses in almost every other respect. <BR/>The death penalty is not, I would think, a key part of the American dream. Hang the bastard, electrocute him, let him sit in jail until he rots - whatever. <BR/>And that is the problem. <BR/>Adequate social welfare is not a basic right. This is where the UN Declaration on Human Rights also goes off the rails. You guarantee adequate social welfare by taking money from someone and giving it to someone else. That's not a right, that's redistribution.<BR/>A right is something that someone has unless you forcibly take it away. Freedom of speech. Freedom of assembly. Freedom of religion. The right to own property. The right to bear arms. You can't give any of those to someone, because you're born with them.<BR/>Welfare payments aren't something that every human is born with; they aren't in any way a right. That doesn't mean they're wrong, or a bad idea, though poorly planned they can (and do) lead to economic disaster. They can be analysed as an investment, as insurance, as a maintenance cost, but they are not a right. <BR/>And a growing sense that the rest of the world is nuts. <BR/>The Geneva Conventions specifically state that they do not apply to terrorists. That whole bit about illegal combatants? Straight out of the Geneva Convention. Read Bill Whittle's essay, Sanctuary for an explanation of what the Geneva Convention is designed to protect. <BR/>I haven't read that, I must admit. Hang on while I do. <BR/>Right, as I thought. Article 17, state interference in the media. Article 26, conflation of human rights and socialism. Article 27, ditto. Article 28, more of the same. Article 29, wank. Articles 43-45, interfering busybodies. Not bad compared to the Declaration on Human Rights, but ample reason not to ratify - unless you don't intend to uphold the Convention in the first place. <BR/>That one has been amply dealt with elsewhere. <BR/>(coupled with the abuses at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo)<BR/>Yadda yadda. <BR/>Damn straight, and a good thing too. <BR/>Not as much as it should have been, but essentially true, and even more so in the past three decades. <BR/>Oh, you noticed? <BR/>The highest, among major states. <BR/>Two points: <BR/>First, it's a lot easier to double per-capita GDP from $1000 to $2000 than from $40,000 to $80,000.<BR/>Second, guess where a lot of the money for that economic growth is coming from? Guess who's buying all those cheap goodies from Chinese factories? <BR/>About bleeding time, given that it has four times the population. <BR/>Why the hell not? <BR/>You are assuming that since China's economy (for example) grew by 9.1% in 2004, that it will sustain that growth rate for another 35 years. Well that's one hell of an assumption. <BR/>Is it, then? <BR/>So it has, and the widening gap in standards of living highlights this. Indeed, Australia now has a higher per-capita GDP than any of the major European states. <BR/>Rightly so, because they are going nowhere. <BR/>Sadly, true. <BR/>No it's not. <BR/>Yeah, big surprise. Postwar Europe and Japan were economic basket cases, utterly destroyed by five years of insanity. And the reconstruction was extensively funded by - guess who? <BR/>Yes. So? <BR/>On what criteria, pray tell? <BR/>A proper balance is not a problem. Seeing social welfare as a fundamental right is a problem. <BR/>What lack of social protections? Exactly? <BR/>Better primary education is questionable. More job security is only accurate in that once a company has hired someone, it is almost impossible to get rid of them. That makes companies reluctant to hire, and that leads to unemployment. Have you looked at European unemployment figures lately? <BR/>They do not seem to be getting a very good return on their investment. <BR/>Productivity throughout Europe, measured in per-capita GDP, is significantly lower than in America and growing more slowly. That means that no matter how you redistribute the pie, no matter where you decide is the proper balance, there's less pie to hand around. <BR/>True <BR/>Per capita, or per hour? Per capita, they clearly are far more productive. The statistics are perfectly clear; America's per-capita GDP is one-third or more higher than any of the major European nations. <BR/>—nor happier<BR/>Says who? <BR/>buried as they are in household debt<BR/>Compared to? <BR/>They have more money than the Europeans, dumbass. We've already established that. <BR/>available to Europeans for vacation<BR/>Yes. Europeans can take their summer holidays - while the elderly die in their thousands because they don't have air conditioning. But hey, they chose their proper balance. <BR/>and international travel.<BR/>For most Europeans, that's a two-hour drive. <BR/>Another piercing insight there from Monbiot. <BR/>I'm so glad Newsweek has editors. <BR/>Holy crap. <BR/>And guess what? Britain's economy has consistently achieved lower growth than America's. Britain's per-capita GDP is only three-quarters of America's, and the gap is growing. <BR/>Because taking people's pie away and shuffling it about doesn't create any more pie.<BR/>America is about making pie.<BR/>Europe is about cutting the pie into ever-finer slices, and deciding who gets what based on an increasingly arbitrary set of rules. <BR/>Per-capita GDP of Sweden is 30% lower than America, and growing more slowly. <BR/>Two decades ago, the restructuring of U.S. industry was just beginning, and a CEO still had little to do and little at risk. That's changed. <BR/>Since then, the rich have been getting richer, and the poor have been getting... richer too. The rich have been getting richer faster than the poor have, but I'm not at all convinced that that is a problem. <BR/>Two points here. Maybe three. <BR/>First, poverty in the U.S. is something that most countries in the world even today would not recognise as anything of the sort.<BR/>Second, Sweden has economic classes? Isn't that illegal or something.<BR/>Third, no-one ever said it should be easy to "rise out of the economic class into which you were born". It's a bit of a mouthful, anyway. What's immportant is that everyone has the opportunity, that there are no artificial barriers put in the way.<BR/>I can't take any more of this. It just goes on and on in the same noxious, factually-challenged way.<BR/>You want to know why people don't like America? I suggest that Newsweek has something to do with it.<BR/>Oh, one last quote. Unfortunately, the only appropriate response to this bit is strange choking noises: <BR/> <BR/>Glrrk. Rrrrrgh. Glfffk.''<BR/><BR/>end of excerpt<BR/><BR/> <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://ridingsun.blogspot.com/2005/05/newsweek-america-is-dead.html" REL="nofollow" TITLE="realandpositive at yahoo dot com">bunkerbuster</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1117500481813699722005-05-31T09:48:00.000+09:002005-05-31T09:48:00.000+09:00GB writes: But to really make it work, you've got ...GB writes: But to really make it work, you've got to provide links to credible sources for your assertions. So, let's see your links to Swedish GDP and unemployment rates.<BR/>Really? Is that a double standard, or am I missing something. AmbientIrony provides no links to his few spare, and as I point out, misleading factual claims. None of the anti-Newsweek diatribes here alleging inaccuracies link to any factual sources. None, not one. Then, when someone points out an inaccuracy, or, in this case, what turns out to be a dubious statistical interpretation, you insist on links.<BR/> Here's the deal: either you're interested in actually knowing the economic facts about U.S. economic performance relative to Sweden, et.al. or you're not. If you can't be bothered to Google for it yourself, I think that's a pretty good sign that you're more interested in being "right" ideologicallyi than in knowing the facts. <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://ridingsun.blogspot.com/2005/05/newsweek-america-is-dead.html#comments" REL="nofollow" TITLE="realandpositive at yahoo dot com">bunkerbuster</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1117496203818543602005-05-31T08:36:00.000+09:002005-05-31T08:36:00.000+09:00Well, as it turns out, Ambient Irony does have a l...Well, as it turns out, Ambient Irony does have a leg to stand on, though it's a shamefully thin one. He used PPP adjusted GDP statistics, which do show Sweden's GDP in the range of 30 percent less than that of the U.S. But, those very same statistics show that Norway's GDP per capita is virtually the same as that of the U.S., a fact that clearly contradicts AmbientIrony's theme. The omission of that also raises questions about AmbientIrony's intellectual integrity. Moreover, according to PPP adjusted figures, China's economy is the world's second-largest!! So go figure.<BR/> And...I'd just love to hear what GB thinks the "other" good points made in the rambling diatribe by AmbientIrony. My reading is that the only factual point he had was based on his highly selective, PPP adjusted GDP per capita figures.<BR/> If Newsweek was one-tenth as sloppy, rhetorical or counterfactual as AmbientIrony, the MSM-haters would be having a field day.<BR/> As it is, every fact presented in the Newsweek piece stands and if it doesn't, you can be sure Newsweek will publish a correction, whereas AmbientIrony will hide behind dubious statistical interpretations. <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://ridingsun.blogspot.com/2005/05/newsweek-america-is-dead.html#comments" REL="nofollow" TITLE="realandpositive at yahoo dot com">bunkerbuster</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1117468322966037622005-05-31T00:52:00.000+09:002005-05-31T00:52:00.000+09:00Fuck Bush....there....to your face....it brings jo...Fuck Bush....there....to your face....it brings joy to my eyes when I read that US soldiers were killed. How many tears do we shed for Iraqi civilians killed? <BR/><BR/>Posted by hehe <BR/><BR/>Anonymous<BR/>..........<BR/> Does it also bring joy to your eyes that more liberal bong huggers are killed in America over narcotics. It makes Iraq look like only a crack house in detroit.<BR/><BR/> Liberals are good at hiding there fears of whats to come.And this will be there downfall, as they are growing desperate and taking cowardly cheap shots at the enemy! But wait",it's not foreign,but domestic in nature.<BR/><BR/> When Iraq is liberated and standing on it's own,only then will they switch back to gun control and ,"well I told you so"! <BR/><BR/> But the American flags are headed back to the classrooms in "Every state in the union",and this will start a new generation of patriotism in America. She will once more stand tall and be blessed by "ALL". <BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/> <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://ridingsun.blogspot.com/2005/05/newsweek-america-is-dead.html" REL="nofollow" TITLE="mymailb at gmail dot com">Liberator</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1117433116988273112005-05-30T15:05:00.000+09:002005-05-30T15:05:00.000+09:00"I recall reading on this very blog that the blogo...<I>"I recall reading on this very blog that the blogosphere corrects itself. GB, help me out here: let's make sure the article you linked to above doesn't spread the fuzzy math any further than it already has."</I> <BR/><BR/>Well, bunkerbuster, by calling attention to the statistics in the post, you yourself are playing a part in the blogosphere's self-correcting mechanism.<BR/><BR/>But to really make it work, you've got to provide links to credible sources for your assertions. So, let's see your links to Swedish GDP and unemployment rates.<BR/><BR/>If you are indeed correct, that would certainly be a fact to take into consideration while reading PixyMisa's post. But I would not de-link it all together, because it makes many other points that do not depend on Swedish economic data. <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://ridingsun.blogspot.com" REL="nofollow" TITLE="gaijin_biker at yahoo dot com">GaijinBiker</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1117431025927958512005-05-30T14:30:00.000+09:002005-05-30T14:30:00.000+09:00GB: the article you link to above contains some ke...GB: the article you link to above contains some key factual errors. It says U.S per capita GDP is 30 percent more than Sweden's. It's actually 3 percent more, in other words, virtually the same. References to high unemployment in Europe relative to that of the U.S. are also off the mark. Sweden's unemployment is 5.5% compared with 5.2% in the U.S.<BR/> Is that what Sweden pays for all that welfare? A 3% difference in GDP per capita and 0.3 percentage points of unemployment. I'm sure you'd agree that's a bargain. (I do think the morality of welfare is debatable, but that's a completely different subject.) <BR/> I recall reading on this very blog that the blogosphere corrects itself. GB, help me out here: let's make sure the article you linked to above doesn't spread the fuzzy math any further than it already has. Firstly, I'd suggest you delink it from here, then, you may want to point out the errors to the author... <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://ridingsun.blogspot.com/2005/05/newsweek-america-is-dead.html" REL="nofollow" TITLE="realandpositive at yahoo dot com">bunkerbuster</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1117421465309075352005-05-30T11:51:00.000+09:002005-05-30T11:51:00.000+09:00In the meantime, you can read someone else's thoug...In the meantime, you can read someone else's thoughts on it <A HREF="http://ambientirony.mu.nu/archives/2005/05/now_can_we_ques.php" REL="nofollow">here</A> . <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://ridingsun.blogspot.com" REL="nofollow" TITLE="gaijin_biker at yahoo dot com">GaijinBiker</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1117417773825649142005-05-30T10:49:00.000+09:002005-05-30T10:49:00.000+09:00Cool Gaijin Biker. I'm sure that some parts of the...Cool Gaijin Biker. I'm sure that some parts of the article warrant more scrutiny than they've received so far. I thought the article was a bravura piece of news analysis, developing its thesis directly from the polling data and news events, rather than the other way around.<BR/> That data are in: America's reputation abroad has plummeted under Bush, and it did so from an unprecedented peak just after the Sept. 11 attacks.<BR/> The caterwauling here on Gaijin Biker shows that an extremely vocal portion of America cannot accept basic criticism of their country. I think it's rational to conclude that vociferous attempts to delegitimize criticism, rather than rebut it, are unhealthful for democracy and reflect a profound intellectual insecurity and desperation. But all these points are developed much more carefully in the Newseek article. I hope Gaijin Bikers promotion of the piece will gain it as wide a readership as possible. Indeed, the most important audience is in America, where it is a shame Newsweek lacked the courage to print it. <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A>bunkerbusterAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1117416152038747322005-05-30T10:22:00.000+09:002005-05-30T10:22:00.000+09:00I will be writing a post about the article. Patie...I will be writing a post about the article. Patience. <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://ridingsun.blogspot.com" REL="nofollow" TITLE="gaijin_biker at yahoo dot com">GaijinBiker</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1117415025253748972005-05-30T10:03:00.000+09:002005-05-30T10:03:00.000+09:00I'm still waiting to hear a single word from Gaiji...I'm still waiting to hear a single word from Gaijin Biker or anyone else on this blog about the content of the Newsweek article in question.<BR/> I see no factual errors in it and it all seems perfectly rational to me. But I'm just one opinion. It's disappointing the Gaijin Biker, et al, have no rebuttal, no rejoinder, no real, mature response to the Newsweek article.<BR/> Surely, the articulate, prolific thinkers here have some critique, some insight, some facts that show Newsweek's article is inaccurate or irrational in some way. <BR/><BR/> Enough whining self-pity already about your<BR/>FEELINGS of betrayal, etc. Instead of discussion about WHY and HOW Newsweek's article is wrong, all we get here is juvenile remarks about, that one's born abroad and likes wine. This one's "elite" that one's "effete" the staff of Newsweek are "middle class white boys." C'mon, which one of you has a word to say about what's in the Newsweek article. You want to worship America? Then shoot down the Newsweek article. Surely it's facts are wrong or it's analysis in err. Show us how! Or start, at least, by giving the juvenile insults about nationality, class and race a rest... <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A>bunkerbusterAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1117388891951028682005-05-30T02:48:00.000+09:002005-05-30T02:48:00.000+09:00Sorry, how is criticizing American policy the same...Sorry, how is criticizing American policy the same as supporting terrorism?<BR/><BR/>Your logic fails.<BR/><BR/>If I was in any position to speculate, which I'm not, I'd say the country is suffereing from mass cognitive dissonance. <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A>AnonymousAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1117290321737152142005-05-28T23:25:00.000+09:002005-05-28T23:25:00.000+09:00PPS – For example, here's one link  on Tabass...PPS – For example, here's one <A HREF="http://www.ncoic.com/binladin.htm" REL="nofollow">link</A>  on Tabassum Zakaria – a March 2001 article going into great detail on CIA 's computer tracking capabilities of terrorists: (This was pre-9/11)<BR/><BR/>"So for example if a broadcast by Saudi-exile Osama bin Laden, whom the CIA considers a major threat to Americans, was transcribed and labeled, every time his voice was detected the computer would automatically label it."<BR/><BR/>There are other links on <A HREF="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Tabassum+Zakaria+nsa&btnG=Google+Search" REL="nofollow">Tabassum Zakaria writing re NSA</A>. He seems to have deep access. <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://ridingsun.blogspot.com/2005/05/newsweek-america-is-dead.html" REL="nofollow" TITLE="villamail at mindspring dot com">BR</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1117288599970247382005-05-28T22:56:00.000+09:002005-05-28T22:56:00.000+09:00Indiankafir - in case you check back here: I saw ...Indiankafir - in case you check back here: <BR/>I saw your comment at aarons:cc and replied to you there, but then his Comment section became unusable for a while. Here it is again:<BR/><BR/>5/24/05 To IndianKafir: <BR/>I first noticed Editor of Newsweek International, <A HREF="http://www.nndb.com/people/315/000044183/" REL="nofollow">Fareed Zakaria</A>, on May 18th while reading at <A HREF="http://www.chicagoboyz.net/archives/003156.html" REL="nofollow">chicagoboyz thread</A> on Koran/Flushgate. More info on Fareed Zakaria <A HREF="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4917093/site/newsweek/" REL="nofollow">here</A>, <A HREF="http://wizbangblog.com/archives/005957.php" REL="nofollow">here</A>, <A HREF="http://wizbangblog.com/archives/006009.php" REL="nofollow">here</A>, <A HREF="http://www.fareedzakaria.com/articles/newsweek/102703.html" REL="nofollow">here</A> and <A HREF="http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/000220.php" REL="nofollow">here</A>. <BR/><BR/>Since then, the Jan/Feb 05 Japanese trashcan edition has been exposed [here by Gaijinbiker] and last night (5/23/05), I saw that his name actually appears on both the cover pages of the 1/31/05 Int'l edition in English and the US edition.<BR/><BR/>Do you have links for the data you wrote above: "Zakaria family… known jihadi supporters" ? If this is common knowledge in India, is there specific data you could link please? Does the family support any specific jihadi groups financially or otherwise? <BR/><BR/>In the biographical link, above, it states:<BR/>"Father: Rafiq Zakaria (former deputy leader of the Congress party)<BR/>Mother: Fatima Zakaria (former Sunday editor, Times of India)"<BR/><BR/>What else do you know about Fareed Zakaria that can throw more light on Newsweek's actions? (Hee, let's do a joint India/USA people's investigation of the MSM.)<BR/><BR/>PS: Since then I've noticed that "Tabassum Zakaria" is also in the MSM - reporter for Reuters, one of his articles was about sensitive NSA matters. Is he any relation to Fareed Zakaria?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1117206224909526962005-05-28T00:03:00.000+09:002005-05-28T00:03:00.000+09:00If you want to stop Newsweek, stop buying their pr...If you want to stop Newsweek, stop buying their product... it worked for getting rid of Ricky Martin. <BR/><BR/>You gotta love a free economy. <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://ridingsun.blogspot.com/2005/05/newsweek-america-is-dead.html" REL="nofollow" TITLE="westiemike at hotmail dot com">Mike</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1117006110831307892005-05-25T16:28:00.000+09:002005-05-25T16:28:00.000+09:00Love your sense of humor, welcoming those raving l...Love your sense of humor, welcoming those raving lunatics from Instapundit and LGF. The good news is that liberal blog site DailyKos has a link to you also, so you should get some help swatting those LGF buzzing flies!<BR/><BR/>And there's even more good news: Scott McClellan has just <A HREF="http://lawnorder.dailykos.com/story/2005/5/25/0959/35444" REL="nofollow">recanted the Newsweek smear</A> . I wonder where that leaves the Freepers at reich wing sites such as InstaWrong and LGF.<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/5/25/12341/2253" REL="nofollow">Daily Kos :: "Old Glory" goes toe to toe with The Qur'an</A> <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/5/25/12341/2253" REL="nofollow" TITLE="">lawnorder</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9395124.post-1116995428780367352005-05-25T13:30:00.000+09:002005-05-25T13:30:00.000+09:00From the article: "Blinded by its own myth, Americ...From the article: "Blinded by its own myth, America has grown incapable of recognizing its flaws."<BR/><BR/>Sums it up quite nicely. <BR/><BR/><A></A><A></A>Posted by<A><B> </B></A><A HREF="http://ridingsun.blogspot.com/2005/05/newsweek-america-is-dead.html#comments" REL="nofollow" TITLE="aceccombs at yahoo dot com">Rorschach</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com