Fareed Zakaria joins the "Crappy Article Club"
I have found that much of my desire to blog comes from three main sources: (1) a really though provoking unique article/post/story, (2) something peaks my interest in conversation, or (3) a really BAD article/post/story I come across.

Today's post (from the 3 category) is dedicated to Fareed Zakaria. Normally I seek out articles by Mr. Zakaria because they are thoughtful, educated, and well constructed. Unfortunately he seems to have forgotten how to be correct and to the point in his most recent article published in Newsweek titled "Rejecting the Next Bill Gates".

The article is about the difficulties looming for American science due to the decrease in foreign born researchers coming to the States. He makes a number of good points, (1) competition from steadily improving international institutions, (2) improving work conditions in the home countries of many potential visitors, and (3) the hurdles placed in the path of international students trying to come to the States. Of all of these the third one is the most important in his article (and in my opinion). Back when I was president of the Graduate Student Association at the University of Tennessee the issue of visa restrictions was getting a lot of play from the administration and the international student body. For all the information I was privy to, the concerns were valid and the long term damage was being predicted.

My problems with Fareed's article is due to some misstatements:

"Yet that research is now done largely by foreign students."

"The dirty little secret about America's scientific edge is that it's largely produced by foreigners and immigrants."

"Americans don't do science anymore."

My big problem with the above statements is that it not only doesn't jive with what I know personally but it is promptly invalidated by a statement Fareed makes:

"The National Science Board (NSB) documented this reality last year, finding that 38 percent of doctorate holders in America's science and engineering work force are foreign-born."

Its a classic overstatement to make the suggestions that America is going to the dustbin of history because we no longer have our easy foreign researchers to save us. That is offensive to me for a thousand different reasons. Perhaps the biggest is that I DO do science.

I think the visa issue is a very complicated matter. Security after 9/11, issues with intellectual property rights, and worker health and safety come to mind as mitigating factors on a large part of the problems facing the visa hungry hordes.

But lets get one thing straight Fareed, American is not the leader in science and technology simply because we piggybacked on the work of others. The reason is because we foster the work in the first place.

- posted by Samuel @ 8:04 PM

 
Congratulations!!
A good day for football related to my academic existence. Put another check in the win category for both the University of Tennessee and Lafayette College.

Even though the MSSM (mainstream sports media) has forgotten about the oldest, continuously played rivalry in college football, fortune has not, as Lafayette goes on to a potential Division I-AA playoff berth by defeating archrival Lehigh by a score of 24 to 10.

UT has scrapped past a better than normal Vanderbilt team, 38-33, to clinch the SEC East championship slot against Auburn. I fear that game will not go as well for UT unless little brother Clausen really improves or one of our broken QBs return.

- posted by Samuel @ 11:47 PM

 
Shields... SHIELDS!
As if someone needed to pat the back of the science fiction authors anymore, it appears that MIT is working on shields for spacecraft! I used to read the New Scientist avidly (as Andrew can attest), perhaps I should see if Lafayette subscribes.

- posted by Samuel @ 11:39 PM

 
The loneliest blogger of them all
As best I can tell there have been less than 20 "hits" to this blog since Ben posted on the 6th of November. I also think that most of them might have been me.

Oh well. Perhaps it was all the political blogging or the really long posts. I will endeavor to publish a few non-political posts for a while. Maybe my co-bloggers will reappear and/or our handful of readers return.

- posted by Samuel @ 11:36 PM

 
I feel SO much better now.
Ahhhhhh...

I feel so much better, now that the following three issues of global importance are being handled so promptly:

(1) Tom Delay no longer has to worry about temporarily NOT being the majority leader of the House of Representatives due to his indictment by an obviously partisan and evil Democrat District Attorney in Texas, thanks to a quick House rules change [Hat tip Josh Marshall].

(2) There is serious work being done of the pandemic of porn addiction I feel so much better.

(3) There are plans to give relief for the ultra-rich with their over burden of taxes, by reducing the taxes of money earning money. As an added benefit the proposal is revenue neutral, since the plan is to eliminate the tax credit on state and local income taxes as well as the employer tax credit for health insurance.

I bet old Taft is laughing his afterworldly ass off.

- posted by Samuel @ 9:28 AM

 
The Solution to what is Wrong with Democrats
Hey... I am travel blogging (from the Lehigh Valley International Airport) so I won't have links in this post yet.

BUT... having read the internet to a detrimental level the last few day I have been reading various and sundry analysese of what went wrong with the Democrats.

I'll try to link to a few of the answers I have gleaned from the great jabbering mess that is he internet. It seems that everyone has a solution to fixing the Democrats, with most of the analysis coming from the right side of the political divide.

So I'll cut to the chase:

My fellow Democrats. It seems we were deluded in our beliefs. According to a great many if the backers of the winning team in this election, the solution to returning to relevance is...

...to become Republicans.

- posted by Samuel @ 11:39 AM

 
Wrong
That would be me. I'll no longer think that the election was won based on "morals issues". Andrew Sullivan says so as well as David Brooks so I'll just leave off with the me being wrong bit.

The new conventional wisdom (is the old conventional wisdom) that the election turned on terrorism and security. Fine, that is better that my origianl fears that hordes of bigots just selected the President, and would now demand their just rewards. I look for over pandering still though as there is not reason to burn any bridges.


- posted by Samuel @ 11:32 AM

 
Mandate and the Shaping of Government
Check out this article on Talking Points Memo (Josh Marshall). Its what I was trying to articulate, but I lacked the proper way of saying it.

Oh... that mandate... seems to have not really been about gay marriage, securty, or terrorism. Since Bush has now moved privitization of Social Security to the front of the list, it appears to have really been about the rights major agenda. Expect vouchers, significant tax code reform (national sales tax anyone), and maybe even the destruction of a few pesky Departments to be mentioned soon enough. If you can stand the MSM for a bit, here is an article all about it.

And so it begins.

- posted by Samuel @ 1:52 PM

 
Ex-Marine's Blog
If you want to see some excellent still-connected former "boots on the ground"Marine pondering you should check out The Adventures of Chester. This is the kind of analysis Belmont Club used to present before he went all political.
- posted by Samuel @ 5:23 PM

 
A Bit of Response... A Dash of explanation
Sid, sorry to have made you mad. I had just been reading endless screeds about how the Democrats use fraud and the incompetent as excuses for wining elections. Then listening to the crowing about the mandate that was just delivered. And I assume that I interpreted your writing through the lens of the others comments. I was tired and I really knew better. Its like stepping on your cats tail. It hisses and bites at you, but still wants you to pet it soon enough. I think I am done hissing.

What my post was really about was that mandate I mentioned above. From my losing 49% side of the country it doesn't really look like a mandate. However I think I said that it was all the values voters. Maybe not as I think Ben wanted to discuss with me this morning. However the states that had referendums to change their constitution (always bad in Sam's book) to either affect same-sex marriage or abortion alone counted for 2 million of the 3 million vote spread. He received more than 1 million more votes in 2004 in those states alone over what he got in 2000. Maybe there are elements of defense and security. However I still wonder about that, since he did not win the states that had experienced the terror attacks firsthand.

I want everyone to read this little note by Bill Bennet in the NRO. And I do think this is a real issue. I am afraid of what Grover Norquist opined today. I am afraid that now they think that with 1.1% of America more on their side they have all the authroization "go to town" on their agenda. Please tell me what part of the GOP agenda that covers terrorism and security that would lead to the above comments? I tell you this in honesty, because that is what happened to the Democratic party in the 60s and 70s. Its why my party is so weak right now.

I fear it because that is what the state legislatures do when they change hands. And what is to think anything else might change. A lot can happen both good and bad in 2 years (until the midterm elections), so I hope the better angels of the Republican party are going to work overtime.

Now... back to other issues.

NO... I think I want to give you this UPDATE: Check out Laura Rozens blog War and Peace. She gives us the text from a Wall Street Journal article about just what I was afraid of.



- posted by Samuel @ 4:51 PM