Month: May 2004

National Census & Us

Two guys from the national census people passed by on Friday.
I was still at work but my wife had already made it home so she was the unlucky one who had to answer all their questions 😛

They had a list of around 50 questions targetted at knowing how many people lived in the household, their ages, education level, occupation, …etc.
They also asked a lot about what we had and didn’t have from cars to dishwashers to cellphones …etc.

What I found interesting are the questions about how many cellphones we had, how many regular phones, if we used the internet, how many daily hours we used the internet for, …etc.
I would be really interested in knowing the results they get for that. Shame the information collected is confidential.
Still I think they might release some general statistics and numbers.

Anyway, I hope the results come out to be good and that the government pushes even more for cheaper internet and telecommunications services and keeps encouraging wider adoption of new technologies.

Must Reads

> What We Have Become
An excellent blog by Lawrence.
One other thought on the “it’s just a few bad apples defense”. Why should the Arab or Muslim worlds care whether the torture and killing of their compatriots or coreligionists is the policy of our nation or the work of a few rogue elements? On September 11, 2001, the US was attacked by 19 members of al-Qaeda, a small rogue element on the very fringes of Islam, which enjoyed no significant public following in any Arab or Muslim country. And what was our response? … [Full Article]

> Racism at Core of Iraq Invasion
UN Observer
There is an arrogance in the West that everything Western is superior, exemplary and ideal for all cultures. In 2002, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Belusconi said that Islamic culture was inferior to the advanced Western civilization. This school of thought is prevalent throughout every sector of US society and has been nudged on by the various

Brits Can Torture Too

Not to be outdone by their fellow US partners in liberation, it seems UK soldiers are trying to be even worse to Iraqis.

British military officials confirmed Friday that they are investigating new allegations that their soldiers abused a prisoner in Iraq.

Photographs in the Daily Mirror show an Iraqi being battered with rifle butts, threatened with execution, and urinated on by British troops.

The Mirror told how the man was later driven away from the Army camp, still hooded, and thrown off the back of a moving wagon.

“We are not helping ourselves out there. We are never going to get them on our side. We are fighting a losing war,” one of the soldiers told the paper.

[Via Je Blog, Antiwar, CNN]