What is more important than current controversies, [Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice] argued, slapping the table for emphasis, is how the decisions will look 25 or 30 years from now. “If you get very focused on whether someone thinks your policies are popular, you won’t do the right thing,” she said.
statements like this have always left me disquieted. i understand the importance of taking the long view, of necessary sacrifice today for more secure tomorrows. but the phrasing of rice’s statement above suggests to me that she takes a binary view of policy: that the right choices for are future are not the right choices for our immediate present, or that good decisions for today are bad decisions in the long term. this us-vs-history view troubles me – it seems to me that it’s just as easy to make bad short- and long-term decisions. and while good short- and long-term decisions may be the most difficult balancing act, might it not be better – and possible – to make mostly-good decisions in both the short- and long-term?
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first river road, then 16th st. NW, now 7th st. NW – what’s with the dc-area water mains?
update: and as of 2:54, the post is reporting another main break, on U place, SE.
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was steven chu not asked about renewable energy, did he not comment about it, or did the post choose not to cover that part of the hearing? i’ll have to read the full transcript1 to find out; while i agree that improving energy efficiency is a necessary step, we’re going to keep using energy, and i’d like to see the dialogue move beyond “clean coal” and nuclear technology.
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creative expression and cultural exploration through the cinematic medium are common in the west (although perhaps not common enough, if you look at the dreck hollywood keeps churning out). young saudi filmmakers, though, are having a difficult time of it. their subject matter – the role of women in saudi society – is fascinating.
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they’re the 3rd-highest GDP in the world today, so you’d better learn to like them, that’s what i say.
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“a time of great economic peril” is a throwaway line in an article on clinton, kerry, and obama, but it’s compelling nonetheless. the article itself is a good read for the backstory on the political dance of a sec’y of state nomination, and raises interesting questions about whether clinton actually has a developed thesis for the u.s.’ role in global affairs.
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and finally, zimbabwe. a “failed state,” by some accounts, where the fatality rate for cholera is about 5%, and the government serves only the increasingly isolating self-interest of mugabe. the life expectancy today is 58% of what it was fifteen years ago. twenty years ago, 85% of the country had health services within six miles of where they lived. today, the health care system has “essentially ceased to function,” and physicians for human rights wants the u.n. security council to refer the issue to the international criminal court. we’ll see how that goes – the u.s. has never been a fan of the icc.
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1 that’s odd, no written transcript is immediately accessible. i may have to watch the webcast instead.