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December 26, 2004

Friedman And The Country's "Messed Up" Priorities

Thomas Friedman cites ten recent stories to argue that America is a "country with a totally contradictory and messed-up set of priorities."

Hindrocket takes apart Friedman's insistence that America's priorities are "out of whack because we are not spending enough money on education and foreign aid."

On Friedman's contention that 9/11 has been "deftly exploited to choke any debate" on the issues of defense, education and taxes, Hindrocket writes that "Actually, Tom, there is a debate going on. The New York Times just isn't part of it, because it operates at too low a level of information to be useful to knowledgeable news consumers."

Ouch! Large Ouch!

A note to Mr. Friedman: The beginning of research into possible missile defense was not a "military commitment" that was a direct result of "new terrorist threats." The major impetus behind missile defense is to prevent a blatant missile attack on the United States by a foreign power, whether terrorist or otherwise. The concept of missile defense was introduced long before "new terrorist threats" emerged. It is very surprising that you do not understand that.

Posted at 09:49 PM Pacific