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Month: November 2003

Eisenhower read nine newspapers a day; Bush prefers his news ‘filtered’

Editor and Publisher’s Carl Sullivan noticed an interesting item about previous presidents’ appetite for news and how they compare with the current occupant of the Oval Office…. Dwight Eisenhower read nine newspaper a day. Bush likes to get his news “filtered.” “I glance at the headlines, just to get kind of a flavor,” Bush told Fox News… “I rarely read the stories, and get briefed by people who probably read the news themselves….the best way to get the news is from objective sources. And the most objective sources I have are people on my staff who tell me what’s happening…

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Fast Company: The Walmart You Don’t Know. …

what originally inspired the post was below an article in fastcompany about walmart. the scale of walmart’s operations is unbelievable. they are four times larger than the second biggest retailer in the us and larger than exxon or mobil. while this article focuses more on the issue of losing jobs overseas, it does not ignore the consequences of the walmartization of all aspects of life. walmart is leading the charge to lower prices and lower quality of life. americans seem to be waking up to the consequences. Wal-Mart has also lulled shoppers into ignoring the difference between the price of…

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how higher prices improve life

here in vienna, prices at the supermarket are magnitudes (between one and half and two times) higher than in toronto or elsewhere in north america, especially for cheese and produce. happily, the cheese and the produce are far better than what one is accustomed to in toronto. after a summer in carinthia and on the island of hvar, i became even more particular, so i still try to buy my fruits and vegetables at the freyag market on thursdays. the native fruits and vegetables of austria (apples, onions, beets, carrots, lettuce of various sorts, squash of all kinds, brussel sprouts,…

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one honest man

one of the few americans to have made sense throughout the entire 9/11-afghanistan-iraq fiasco still unfolding is gore vidal. a man with his views, despite his enormous reputation, is not going to get a lot of air time in george bush’s america. but this week the la weekly interviewed him. vidal did not mince words, nor does it look like they edited him down much. run, do not walk, to one of the darkest and most amusing evaluations of the contemporary american and world political situation. on electronic voting machines: We don’t want an election without a paper trail. The…

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favorite late night haunt in vienna | best friends

strange how life can turn out. my best friend in vienna is the best friend of my once and future princess (aka, ex-girlfriend). confusing? both of them are called anna. i see anna more than anna. here we are together in my favorite late night hangout in vienna. it’s called alt wien and is one of the few cafés open really late in vienna. closing hours are variable, says anna, depending on the humour of the waiters and ambience, but on this wednesday night we were there until three-thirty in the morning, recounting mutual tales of romantic woe and exploring…

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in fairy tales

there was girl named for a star fair and small, she grew and twinkled always like a jewel: saphires, rubies and diamonds most of all she loved . astrid sparkled in the morning and at night. her mother loved her and took care that nothing hurt fair astrid for she was lovely and unique, a mind full of words and books a fairy tale princess who lived in a tower, the miller’s daughter, cinderella, all the roles of the world lived in her heart. she grew and grew and finally had to leave for the city to study all by…

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