Flat Earth Society 2.0

I just finished Thomas L. Friedman's The World is Flat, which is a breezy read despite its 600 pages. Friedman's presents a series of vignettes gathered during his travels to such far flung places as Silicone Valley, Bangalore, and China, to illustrate the 10 technological, economic, and political factors that have converged within the last two decades to create an unprecedented period of global collaboration.

Friedman argues that this new era of globalization has not resulted in corporate homogenization nor U.S. domination as WTO protesters would have you believe. Because of "flatteners" a new middle class has emerged from poverty in China and India that no longer has to emigrate to the United States to achieve the American dream. However the U.S. stands to be shut out of the opportunities it has helped launch by cutting its investment in education at the same time China and India have generated millions of engineers and scientists.

Instead of restricting free trade to protect American jobs, Friedman argues, we should be engaging in an effort on the same scale as the space race to better educate future generations so that they can compete on the new level playing field. Globalization is here to stay, so it is up to us to shepherd the process so that workers rights do not succumb to the pressure for lower wages, and the carbon footprints created by new cars in China do not destroy the planet.

No Better Reason to Vote for Obama

Sarah Palin is only pro-life when it comes to humans. As the graphic video shows below, she supports the aerial hunting of wolves and bears.