Browsing the San Francisco Chronicle

The SF Chronicle makes one feel at home, like I'm back in Palos Verdes fuming at the LA Times. On the front page is the standard Monday story about bloody Sunday in Iraq; a piece about new immigration laws harming foreigners seeking asylum; a warning about the "House of Worship Freedom of Speech Restoration Act" that would allow religious leaders to speak out on political matters; and the previously mentioned coverage of the "freaky race."

Inside on page A4 one finds that "Newsweek is sorry for Quran fallout," but not for their irresponsible and anti-American behavior in publishing an unsubstantiated report about Quran flushing at Gitmo that incited rioting in Islamic countries.

Moving to page A9 we find that the "Russians profited from oil-for-food." Shocking! More than 30% of the bribery money went to high level Russian officials, including Putin's chief of staff. Could this explain why Russia opposed the Iraq war? One wonders.

Sunday's front page featured an opinion piece titled "Importing power, fostering polution." Apparently Gov Arnold is encouraging Nevada, Utah and Wyoming to sell electricity to California. Those states are planning a 1300 mile long electricity transmission line to California that could provide the 1000 additional megawatts per year to keep up with our growing economy. Sounds good, right? No, not according to the Chronicle since N,U,W are building coal fired power plants to generate the megawatts. Though new coal burning plants can be nearly pollution free, they do generate that dreaded carbon dioxide that contributes to GLOBAL WARMING.

Turning to the book review section, Roberto Gonzalez, anthropology prof at San Jose State, blasts Thomas Friedman's book " The World is Flat" for being "culturally misinformed, historically inadequate and intellectually impoverished." He did like the book's "lighthearted style." Friedman's thesis is that global competition has increased in a world that has become more interconnected by the internet. The economic playing field has been "flattened."

Gonzalez thinks it's terrible that "capitalism has spread like wildfire to China, India, Russia" since their workers are happy to receive a fraction of what Americans are paid. He also decries the widening gap between rich and poor in those countries. One wonders what this moron wants. Maybe it's the Mexican economic model?