1. The field of stem-cell research continues to be plagued by ethics problems (in this case legitimate, i.e. not religious, ones). But the core problem remains Bush administration restrictions on funding. In his book Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond notes that technological progress always happens, because there are so many societies that at least one or two will adopt useful innovations. Historically, societies that absorb technology the best are those that conquer, kill, or displace societies that reject new technology. While there's less conquering and killing going on at the present moment, there is still economic conquest...and it looks far less certain nowadays that the U.S. is going to maintain its recent technological dominance.
2. The Bush administration continues to showcase its amazing managerial incompetence. Who needs to run things efficiently when 40% of the American electorate would vote for you even if you had red horns and carried a pitchfork?
3. The Bush administration, in this case Dick Cheney, continue their strategy of branding all critics of the Iraq war as unpatriotic and detrimental to the war effort. The implication here is that any war, once started, should never even have the possibility of being stopped, and that any and all critics of executive policy during "wartime" are national traitors. Does anyone else see show trials coming?
4. A very good but very long article on why French people distrust the U.S.
5. A very good but very long Pew Institute Poll about American elites' opinions regarding foreign affairs (hint: they're not particularly optimistic...).
6. Oh yay.
Well, there's a hefty helping of mildly overblown doom and gloom. On a positive note, the fourth Harry Potter movie did not suck, although Ralph Fiennes did suck. And for the record, I did get out of bed with a spring in my step, but it might have been because I got out of bed at 3:15 in the afternoon. I later took a two-hour nap, and as I write this, I am now back in bed. Viva la revolucion!
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