Alarming News: I like Morgan Freeberg. A lot.
American Digest: And I like this from "The Blog That Nobody Reads", because it is -- mostly -- about me. What can I say? I'm on an ego trip today. It won't last.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: We were following a trackback and thinking "hmmm... this is a bloody excellent post!", and then we realized that it was just part III of, well, three...Damn. I wish I'd written those.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: ...I just remembered that I found a new blog a short while ago, House of Eratosthenes, that I really like. I like his common sense approach and his curiosity when it comes to why people believe what they believe rather than just what they believe.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is brilliant.
Dr. Melissa Clouthier: Morgan Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes (pftthats a mouthful) honors big boned women in skimpy clothing. The picture there is priceless--keep scrolling down.
Exile in Portales: Via Gerard: Morgan Freeberg, a guy with a lot to say. And he speaks The Truth...and it's fascinating stuff. Worth a read, or three. Or six.
Just Muttering: Two nice pieces at House of Eratosthenes, one about a perhaps unintended effect of the Enron mess, and one on the Gore-y environ-movie.
Mein Blogovault: Make "the Blog that No One Reads" one of your daily reads.
The Virginian: I know this post will offend some people, but the author makes some good points.
Poetic Justice: Cletus! Ah gots a laiv one fer yew...
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Heard it on the radio yesterday morning, I knew I’d heard it before, and used my Madd Googel Skilz to hunt it down.
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has pointed out what he calls the Big Mac thesis: that no two nations with McDonald’s franchises have ever gone to war. A nation open enough and developed enough to be a profitable home for an established international franchise such as McDonald’s will generally find war an unattractive foreign policy option.
Of course, free trade does not guarantee peace, just as protectionism does not guarantee war. Enduring human vices such as greed, envy, racism and intellectual hubris, combined with the power of government, can overwhelm the beneficial influence of peaceful commerce. But free trade among nations does make war less likely, bringing us a step closer to the promise of peace on earth recorded 2,000 years ago. [emphasis mine]
I found a literal, quotable search string and was able to verify it’s accuracy word-for-word. It seems the original source doesn’t exist on the web; perhaps it was given verbally. I’ll keep looking.
Some of the “Roots Of Terrorism” folks point out problems with it, which exist only in their minds. They see America as an invading force and can’t differentiate between our invasion of Panama and the Iran/Iraq conflicts; and, they argue that Friedman is confusing cause and effect, since war-torn little hellholes aren’t attractive locations for McDonald’s franchisers. Giving the benefit of the doubt to the latter, McDonald’s (or to follow the spirit of the thesis more closely, capitalism) still deserves credit as a preservative agent for peace, if not an inspirational one.
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“All we are say…ing, is give us Big Macks”
- tim | 05/02/2008 @ 13:49Well, I don’t think the Big Mac thesis is long for the world. There are McDonalds in Moscow and in the former republics of the Soviet Union on the periphery of what is now Mother Rossiya. And ol’ Vlad The Impaler (of dissent) has been doing some serious saber-rattling of late.
We’ll see now, won’t we?
- Buck | 05/02/2008 @ 15:26