Latest Analysis, Commentary and Opinion*
(The title of each article is linked to the complete article)

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Crisis in Turkey
   Middle East piece by Daniel Pipes (3/2/10)

The arrest and indictment of top military figures in Turkey last week precipitated potentially the most severe crisis since Atatürk founded the republic in 1923. The weeks ahead will probably indicate whether the country continues its slide toward Islamism or reverts to its traditional secularism. The denouement has major implications for Muslims everywhere.

Monday, March 1, 2010

The “Price Principle” Of Software
   Software piece by Malcolm T. Hedges (3/1/10)

Over some several years I have formulated a ‘general’ principle regards commercial software.  Freeware and Shareware don’t fit in this model.

Ask Not For Whom the Bell Tolls, MSM: It Tolls for Thee
   MSM piece by Offsite (3/1/10)

With a whiff of nostalgia, I can imagine the old time journalist with the smell of coffee and cigarettes wafting through the click and clang of the typewriter.  Fifty years ago, a “journalist” had the ring of a dispassionate, creative, honest, fair, and trusted detective/storyteller.  Fifty years ago, if you graduated from an accredited journalism school, you were presumed “unbiased.“  Much as the physician takes an oath that she will “first, do no harm,“ the “journalist” title meant that you were first, unbiased and balanced. Neutrality in the story was as necessary as it was assumed.

Hyperinflation Special Report (Update 2010)
   Economics piece by Offsite (3/1/10)

First published December 2nd of last year to SGS paid subscribers, this report has been opened to all - (December 2nd, 2009)—A Great Collapse. The U.S. economic and systemic solvency crises of the last two years are just precursors to a Great Collapse: a hyperinflationary great depression. Such will reflect a complete collapse in the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar, a collapse in the normal stream of U.S. commercial and economic activity, a collapse in the U.S. financial system as we know it, and a likely realignment of the U.S. political environment. The current U.S. financial markets, financial system and economy remain highly unstable and vulnerable to unexpected shocks. The Federal Reserve is dedicated to preventing deflation, to debasing the U.S. dollar. The results of those efforts are being seen in tentative selling pressures against the U.S. currency and in the rallying price of gold.

Report Finds College Students Fail Basic Civics Test
   EdukShun piece by Offsite (3/1/10)

“Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it” is one of the most oft-quoted aphorisms of Edmund Burke, an 18th-century Irish-born member of the British Parliament and fearless friend of liberty. Judging from the results of a recent survey conducted by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI), most of the 14,000 college students who participated sadly will be repeating history.

American reliance on government at all-time high
   Welfare State piece by Offsite (3/1/10)

The so-called “Great Recession” has left Americans depending on the government dole like never before.