Better Late Than Never
Actually, this explains both the Raven's late start today (which was for all the right reasons) and also our leading story.
It must be snowing in Hell right now, because the Pentagon has announced that it intends to scale back its $1-billion War on Drugs program. Oddly enough, one reason for this is that the military never wanted to get into this unwinnable fight in the first place—can't blame 'em for that. Second, Donald Rumsfeld has never been gung ho on the drug war either:
- Before becoming secretary, Rumsfeld described military efforts to stop drugs as "nonsense" and said during his Senate confirmation hearing in January 2001 that drugs were "overwhelmingly a demand problem," meaning the problem can only be solved when Americans quit using them.
Somebody pinch me. Intelligent and rational ideas coming out of these people... what's next, socially conscious telecommunications? The short story is that the military thinks counter-terrorism is much more important right now, and chasing drug runners is a losing proposition that wastes resources, and—somebody catch me, I'm fainting again...
A Dollar a Day
A headline in my local paper this morning announces the closing of the last Hawthorne shirt factory in America, meaning that no major shirtmaker exists within the borders of this country. I know, it's hard to go around crying because you can't buy a domestic-made shirt anymore. We have more important stuff to worry about. But how did this happen? A great story on Chinese competitiveness by the LA Times explains a lot.
- Despite its spectacular progress in recent years, China remains an impoverished country: Two-thirds of its people live on less than $1 a day. Its industries remain far behind their U.S. counterparts in technology, innovation, managerial expertise and marketing know-how.
That's going to change. Real fast. Our kids better quit worrying about self-esteem and Gameboy and start hitting the books.
Las Ketchup
 Remember "The Macarena"? Oh, you were trying to forget, excuse me. Well, three Spanish sisters have launched yet another dance craze with a song that's currently number one in a dozen European countries and bound to start getting airtime over here. So brace yourselves for Las Ketchup. Their hit single "The Ketchup Song" is basically a Latin re-make of the Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight":
- "The Ketchup Song" tells the story of Diego, a young fashion-conscious gypsy with Rastafarian leanings who loves dancing and hip-hop and sings his own Andalusian rap: Asereje' ja de je de jebe tu de jebere seibiunouva/Majavi an de bugui an de buididipi...
Listen to the song here if you want, and this fansite has some pictures of kids doing the dance. Brace for impact.
2:35:52 PM 
|
|
Sunday, October 20, 2002
