Tom Friedman and other stuff

a new (to me) blog: enduring friedman, which makes a nice companion to the anti-friedman page, by Mark Rupert of Syracuse University.

Donald Johnson,a guest poster at Body and Soul, has a nice riff, "Friedman's World", also about our boy Tom. He writes:

Friedman seems to love competition for its own sake. The mere thought of it makes him prance about happily with his tail up the way one of my cats does when I head towards his food bowl. He is very fond of quoting people in the high tech field or CEO's telling the rest of us we'd better shape up and work harder. Is Friedman telling this for our own good, or does he like to hobnob with the rich and powerful and transmit their orders to society?

My friend Arvin Hill calls Friedman

a wide-eyed groupie who likes to survey the swank hotels beyond our borders...

(see acompanying graphic)

You might wonder: why are there so many people on the net eager to diss Tom Friedman? He celebrates a global economy that's going to screw 90 plus percent of his readers with an unspoken "but if you were a member of the overclass like me it'll be great." He's the Robin Leach of Globalization: "Your kid didn't make into Princeton? Too bad! Here's her one-way ticket to Putzville; but buy my books and watch me on PBS." That, and he's a pompous, disengenous butt-head. Otherwise, no reason.


Kevin Barbieux "the homeless guy", now has a home, or at least an apartment,as well as a new blog, at nashvilleis.blogspot.com
although he has an automatic redirect at the old blog which makes looking at his archives difficult. Kevin was homeless for 4 years, and I wish him well.

another new (to me) site: the Rick A. Ross Institute for the study of destructive cults, controversial groups and cult movements,
which includes this interesting story:
"[Polygamous] Mormons who banked on doomsday find the debt collector at the door"
(I guess it's different when the elect don't pay their bills.)

ok, perhaps I was a little unfair to Robin Leach-HZ.