[Futurework] Gleanings from the back pages

[Karen Watters Cole]

Bringing broadband to rural areas @ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9955-2003Sep14.html, one wireless barn at a time The barn, routinely used by the local children for paintball practice, doubles as a radio receiver and retransmitter that enables residents and businesses in western Loudoun County to get something that can be hard to come by in rural places such as this: high-speed Internet service.  "I'm extremely impressed," Powell said after touring the barn, which has six discreet antennas, ranging in size from four to 18 inches, planted firmly on its roof. "This is what we've worked so hard to create. This is the face of things to come." Age Matters.  Bill would modify pension plan rules @ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10617-2003Sep14.html    Near-Sighted complications: Bush and the Americas split on terrorism agenda @ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62405-2003Sep11.html By shifting the central battleground to Iraq, Bush once and for all changed the focus of the war on terrorism to a country whose ties to the larger terrorism threat have long been questioned. On Sunday, he asked United Nations members to recognize their "responsibility" to help rebuild Iraq. Barely a year earlier, he had tried to rally them to war against a "grave and gathering danger" of weapons of mass destruction in the same land. Some in the region may waste time complaining about the arrogance of telling other nations they have a responsibility to help fix something they took no part in damaging, especially those who went to great lengths to avoid the war. But the ultimate significance in Bush's latest twist is that it reveals Washington to be so distracted by an ever-evolving war in Iraq that what the Americas believe to be the greater war on terrorism is put at risk …Last week, diplomats preparing for next month's special security conference for the Americas in Mexico agreed to a "multidimensional" definition of the issue that includes a laundry list of nontraditional threats. When the already once-postponed meeting actually takes place, delegates are expected to declare that extreme poverty, disease and even Mother Nature are as threatening-- if not more threatening--to countries in the region as terrorism. If that suggests a lack of focus or clarity, Washington should be the last to criticize. It was Madeleine K. Albright, the former U.S. secretary of state, writing in the journal Foreign Affairs well before Bush's Sunday night speech, who observed: "By complicating its own choices, the (Bush) administration has ... complicated the choices faced by others." Once upon a time, countries might have chosen to turn the war on terrorism into an opportunity to accelerate needed and crucial reforms, and to cooperate for the benefit of their own democracies. Then Bush started down the path of going it alone. Increasingly, that has left these countries also fending for themselves, unclear about their larger role in the global war on terrorism. The Blame Game: Evans to deliver harsh criticism of China for trade policies @ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10328-2003Sep14.html "American manufacturers can compete against any country's white collars and blue collars, but we will not submit to competing against another country's choke collars," he said. The speech is the administration's latest attempt to show it is working to restore the 2.7 million jobs lost since President Bush took office. If you are going to blame China for job losses, then why not indict Wal Mart, Home Depot, Target as a co-conspirators and fine all the consumers who purchased goods made in China?  Just the latest attempt to blame others after making promises to create 5.5 million new jobs by end of 2004.  Go to http://jobwatch.org/ for August updates on that scorecard.  Also See http://www.epinet.org/subjectpages/stimulus.cfm?CFID=502820&CFTOKEN=67201492 on economic stimulus commentary.  - KWC