How things change
In 1980, if someone came up to me and said "listen buddy, soon you're going to need to know how to operate this flat glowing box on your desk by sliding a plastic thing around" I would have thought he was a mad man. Back then I still thought of a mouse as just a rodent. I'm sure by 2020, I will need to learn things I can hardly guess today.

You've heard all this before. You're hip to this technology thing. You know the drill: Gadgets change; you adapt to the gadgets. you learn new buzzwords, talk the talk and keep going forward as humans have for millennia. But in doing so, are we reducing technology into a heap of glorified hand tools? I think not.

Technology never really just hands us tools, it gives us choices, our desires are ignited, our senses are assaulted by too much information and we are granted a passport to explore the world. But, we are also moving closer to George Orwell's nightmare: The truth ceaselessly modified, altered, edited or altogether obliterated. Here today, gone tomorrow with nothing but a bewildering ERROR 404 FILE NOT FOUND left in its place.

PHOTO GALLERY: Samba dancers turn on a fiery display of flesh and feathers in downtown Tokyo for the 22nd Asakusa Samba carnival.

Overview of Changes to Legal Rights

Some of the fundamental changes to Americans' legal rights by the Bush administration and the USA Patriot Act following the terror attacks

President Clinton Says Get bin Laden Before Pursuing Hussein

"Former President Bill Clinton urged the Bush administration Thursday to finish the job with Osama bin Laden before taking on Iraq. 'Saddam Hussein didn't kill 3,100 people on Sept. 11,' Clinton said. 'Osama bin Laden did, and as far as we know he's still alive.'...Clinton...said news reports citing American officials say the al-Qaida network remained a threat. 'I also believe we might do more good for American security in the short run at far less cost by beefing up our efforts in Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere to flesh out the entire network,' Clinton said. [more]

Lawyers: 5 Teens Innocent

DNA, confession key in 1989 jogger rape

I remember the case well. I was in my 20's then, the case created such a racially inflamed climate that it made headlines internationally. I believed everything that the news media spoon-fed me, didn't know any better.

Now this,

convicted rapist Matias Reyes unexpectedly confessed to the crime. He said he did it alone. Several months later, DNA tests showed that Reyes “proved beyond question” that he raped the jogger, according to a law enforcement official quoted in the New York Times.

Why am I not surprised? Is it because I've been desensitized by so many similar stories of DNA evidence proving the innocence of convicted criminals? I'm not sure ... but I will follow this case closely.

Much hinges on whether any connections can be found between the man that confessed and the convicted youths, and on the validity of the original evidence, including confessions that were the heart of the prosecution's case.

The first hearing on the case will be on Monday. The Manhattan District Attorney’s office said it is reviewing the case.

Opinions Opinions

We live in a media intensive culture where we are inundated with differing opinions daily. It is often difficult to decide which opinion to agree with or which "expert" seems more credible.

This is where reading and thinking skills become critical in order to evaluate ideas and, in formulating one's own ideas. The ability to compare and contrast an author's credibility, facts, resources and augmentation style become important to you and I as readers.

Personally, I enjoy reading opposing viewpoints. Doing so gives me a good appreciation of the complexity of even seemingly simple issues, even when I disagree. This awareness is particularly important in a democratic society such as ours in which people enter public debate to determine the common good.

Thomas Jefferson said "Difference of opinions lead to inquiry and inquiry leads to truth" Jefferson argued that "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free ... It expects what never was and never will be." As individuals and as a nation, it is imperative that we consider the opinions of others and examine them with skill and discernment.

America's 40 richest people under 40

The Fortune list of the forty richest people under forty has lost a little weight over the years. The combined wealth of those who made the list has been chopped in half since 2000. Many techies are still at the top, I was surprised to see that the top 5 are worth over a billion each.

The Racial Lessons Of 9/11 by Carol Chehade

Black Electorate has this article

Profiled, feared, detained, assaulted, accused, interrogated, harassed, hated, and collectivized. Since 9-11, Arab Americans have been recipients of what it feels like to be temporarily Black. Although it is wrong to treat Arab Americans like criminals, we shouldn't be surprised when we are treated in ways African Americans have been treated for centuries. Still, many in my Arab American community are surprised when we are treated un-White. We figured that if we played by the racial rules of this country, we would be bypassed in receiving some of the bigotry that Blacks routinely receive. [More]

What will I be doing on Patriot Day? Most likely staying home glued to the TV set.

Attack on Iraq will open the gates of hell, Arabs warn

Arab News has this article.

Arab League chief Amr Moussa rounded off a foreign ministers meeting in Cairo with a warning that a US strike against Iraq would “open the gates of hell” in a region already “angry and frustrated” at Israel’s actions against the Palestinians during their nearly two-year conflict.

“We will continue to work to avoid a military confrontation ... because we believe that it will open the gates of hell in the Middle East,” Moussa told a news conference after the two-day meeting ended with a statement rejecting “any threat of attack” against Iraq.