Krugman makes a great point here, and the banality of Mr. Jr. Bush;

And the reason S-chip was expanded in 2009 but not earlier was, of course, that former President George W. Bush blocked earlier attempts to cover more children — to the cheers of many on the right. Did I mention that one in six children in Texas lacks health insurance, the second-highest rate in the nation?

--Excerpt from a NYT article ( Is change really great ? I mean, is the globalization, we parade Apple- they are making a spaceship enterprise office near me here, in Cupertino) Do we really want other countries to emualte this type of civilization ?

Ms. Brown said she used to feel as if she were living in a surreal movie. From her window, she could see butchers “in white coats covered in blood, warming their hands over fires in oil cans as pig carcasses are flying by.”

Now she has a view of the Apple store, where lines wind around the block whenever a new gadget is released. “I’m used to seeing some things outside,” she said, “but not white people in sleeping bags.”

Won't you take me home, dancer in the sky?

In December 1991, while at the World Bank, Summers signed a memo that was leaked to the press. Lant Pritchett has claimed authorship of the private memo, which both he and Summers say was intended as sarcasm. The memo stated that "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 thought that under-populated countries in Africa are vastly underpolluted."^[9]

- Lawrence Summers, once President of Harvard, once chief economist at the world bank, once 71st United States Secretary of the Treasury from 1999 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton, once Director of the White House ,United States National Economic Council for President Barack Obama until November 2010.

Perhaps the most tantalizing reason for minimal depression in subsistence farmers is the notion that physical contact with the soil relieves depression. Soil microbes are believed to interact with the immune system in ways that boost neurotransmitters that are deficient in depression (7). This - admittedly strange - idea is supported by ongoing research. - psych today

"Remember that Moses led his people through the desert for 40 years, and that after 20 years people began to complain ... they told Moses that life in the desert was too difficult, and that at least when they were slaves they had food and water and places to sleep. Moses' friends asked him how long he thought people would be complaining like this and he replied, "Until the last person born under slavery has died". Our situation is very similar. The psychological gap between eastern and western Germany will last for at least a generation, or perhaps until the last person born under Communism has passed away.^[1]

-Lothar de Maizière

"Most of Europe's economies ... have been crippled by a combination of supply-side rigidity and monetary inflexibility. Does anyone seriously believe that an interest rate manufactured in Frankfurt will ever be right for Copenhagen, London, Madrid?" So said U.K. Conservative Party leader Ian Smith warning againstjoining EMU in 2003. He was booted from leadership shortly after. The U.K. may want to buy the man a drink.