Ecuador and DrugsNarcoNews.com, an odd, grassroots-style Web site devoted to drug news from Latin America (and decidedly in favor of decriminalization), recently published an interview with Fernando Buendia, leader of the Pachakutik Movement. It’s a thought-provoking piece.
Dowd on DubyaMaureen Dowd writes well, but her rhetoric is sometimes over the top. In her latest column, though, she makes this excellent observation:
“It still confuses many Americans that, in a world full of vicious slimeballs, we’re about to bomb one that didn’t attack us on 9/11 (like Osama); that isn’t intercepting our planes […]
NaNoHuh?Although the world surely doesn’t need any more mediocre novels, I’ve always admired the spirit–the camaraderie, the forced creative production–of National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. So maybe National Novel Editing Month is a good idea. Too bad the latter (in March) doesn’t immediately follow the former (in November).
“The Balloon Goes Up”The Economist reports on “Plan Colombia”–the US’s attempts to curb coca cultivation in Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia. “But the ‘drug war’ has imposed its own costs. One is known as the ‘balloon effect’: local squeezes simply move the industry elsewhere, spreading violence and corruption with it.”
“Russian Fat Cat Creams the Rest”Here’s one big feline.
I Spent a Week in Loja Sunday NightWe had yesterday and Monday off school for Carnaval. So on Sunday, I decided to bus six hours south to Vilcabamba, a sleepy little resort town.
It was not to be, however: in Loja, where I’d planned to spend the night, I fell ill. Ate something bad.
So […]
The World Economic Forum and “Accidental Privacy Spills”My friend Colin emailed me a couple of fascinating links. The first is this–the text of a private email that a well-respected journalist, Laurie Garrett, sent to a group of friends after attending the recent World Economic Forum. The message, informally written and full of behind-the-scenes observations that […]