Tag: policy

2nd law of numbness

An increase in the bed capacity of a licensed skilled or intermediate care nursing facility shall be exempt from certificate of need review provided:
the increase does not exceed 10% of the total nursing home beds of the applying facility, rounded to the nearest whole number, or 10 beds, whichever is greater

that’s a snippet from one of the sample documents i’m working with. nightmarish. it makes me wonder if numbness is as bound to increase as entropy? i’m almost having a libertarian fit over this 🙂

Davos of the mind

They work very hard, attending sessions from dawn to nearly midnight, but expect the standards of intelligence and analysis to be the best available in the entire world. They are impatient. They have a hard time reconciling long term issues (global warming, AIDS pandemic, resource scarcity) with their daily bottom line foci. They are comfortable working across languages, cultures and gender.
Welcome to Earth: meet the leaders.

such starts an inside account of a WEF participant. the account is rather different from just 3 years ago. much gloomier. we learn that

The global economy is in very very very very bad shape. Last year when WEF met here in New York all I heard was, “Yeah, it’s bad, but recovery is right around the corner”. This year “recovery” was a word never uttered. Fear was palpable — fear of enormous fiscal hysteria. The watchwords were “deflation”, “long term stagnation” and “collapse of the $”. All of this is without war.

on the brighter side

Serious Islamic leaders (e.g. the King of Jordan, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, the Grand Mufti of Bosnia) believe that the Islamic world must recapture the glory days of 12-13th C Islam. That means finding tolerance and building great education institutions and places of learning. The King was passionate on the subject. It also means freedom of movement and speech within and among the Islamic nations. And, most importantly to the WEF, it means flourishing free trade and support for entrepreneurs with minimal state regulation.

time to add some analytical blogs to my daily dose. such as british think tank demos, novelist bruce sterling, and of course, former WEF co-organizer lance knobel.
apologies to lance for the blatant title rip-off.

Neocon blueprint

the Project for the New American Century whose goal is to promote American global leadership wrote this blueprint for american leadership in the new century.

As the 20th century draws to a close, the United States stands as the world’s most preeminent power. Having led the West to victory in the Cold War, America faces an opportunity and a challenge: Does the United States have the vision to build upon the achievement of past decades? Does the United States have the resolve to shape a new century favorable to American principles and interests? “What we require is a military that is strong and ready to meet both present and future challenges; a foreign policy that boldly and purposefully promotes American principles abroad; and national leadership that accepts the United States” global responsibilities. “Of course, the United States must be prudent in how it exercises its power. But we cannot safely avoid the responsibilities of global leadership of the costs that are associated with its exercise. America has a vital role in maintaining peace and security in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. If we shirk our responsibilities, we invite challenges to our fundamental interests. The history of the 20th century should have taught us that it is important to shape circumstances before crises emerge, and to meet threats before they become dire. The history of the past century should have taught us to embrace the cause of American leadership.