NASA mum on plane data that might scare you

NASA is currently witholding data from a federally funded study on airline safety, because it may frighten us (NASA mum on plane data that might scare you). This could (they presume) be damaging to the airline industry. Things are pehhaps worse than I had thought in the US. Unless I'm missing something here, the US government has declared that the profits of the airline industry are more important than your safety, or even your right to know how safe or unsafe it is to fly in the US today. And the solution to an unsafe environment is not to make improvements, but to hide the data.

Judy Miller's War

I confess to having to Google for Judy Miller's name in the last post (how soon we forget). But what it did turn up was a 2003 story from Counter Punch titled Judy Miller's War. Wow. And this was all known in 2003. Is anything on the up-and-up in America these days?

The ‘Good Germans’ Among Us

New York Times op-ed columnist goes on an extended rant against the war in Iraq and the administrations policies relating to the war ( The ‘Good Germans’ Among Us ). My only complaint is when he blames 'the press' for going along for too long. I recall many members of the NYT cheerleading for this one (Tom 'flat earth' Friedman and jailbird Judy Miller, anyone?).

Blackwater Security and Privatization

The recent events in Iraq involving Blackwater security has brought the issue of the privatization of the US military into discussion. There seems to be widespread belief that anything private is going to be cheaper and better than anything run by governments. Some quick math shows that the first $1 billion no-bid contract for the 800 Blackwater personnel in Iraq comes to $1.25M per man. Oft-cited numbers put the price tag at 5x the cost of military personnel. And let's not forget the fact that the owner of Blackwater is very well connected politically, and even personally worked in the Bush I White House.

Naomi Klein

I have only just run across Naomi Klein. She has been called the heir to Noam Chomsky and one of the leading anti-globalism voices. She also isn't shy about taking on heavyweight economists like Milton Friedman and the the Chicago School. Her new book, "The Shock Doctrine" looks like an interesting view of things. Is the biggest reason the US is still in Iraq the enrichment to large US multinational corporations? There are 500 billion reasons why she might be on to something.