NationStates Jolt Archive

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=58494
I'm posting this because it is from one of my favorite and most insightful columnists, Thomas Friedman.

While I agree with what he's saying,
Results 1 - 10 of about 58,300 for "Yasser Arafat" +Education +Palestine.
The fifth link, of over 58,000, is what he's claiming doesn't exist. Searching "Yasser Arafat and Palestine and Education" returns nothing, because it looks for that exact phrase- the only context I'd expect it in is an essay on exactly that. Mine includes any time all three are in one article.

Google isn't all that hard to use, yet so many people are absolutely ignorant of it's use. For instance, "The Mycon" "Juffo-wup" returns about 50 pages, whereas "The Mycon and Juffo-wup" returns none. It takes about 15 minutes for a reasonably bright person to learn SQL. Why the fuck don't they burn this stuff into kids heads?

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=58494
I'm posting this because it is from one of my favorite and most insightful columnists, Thomas Friedman.

Sometimes Friedmand is insightful, sometimes he is an ass. I think it is a 50-50 chance with this guy. Unfortunately this was one of his ass days.

First, he blames Arafat for worrying about land more than education? The israels keep building settlements so that pretty soon they won't have any land left to build mr Friedman's schools. How are you supposed to build a university in an land plauged with military incursions, checkpoints, and pscyhotic settlers who go around murdering people while the government turns a bind eye? Who would they get to teach there?. Would students get excused from their tests if the IDF detained them at a checkpoint?

He accuses Arafat of stopping the peace process by not accepting the camp david proposal? At Camp David Barak, offered Arafat a state in the West Bank, where many of the illegal settlements were incorporated into Israel, the West bank was divided up into three seperate territories surrounded on all sides by Israel, and they would have to give up all of East Jeruselum. There was no realistic offer to accept so of course Arafat walked out.

Anyway Friedman was certainly full of shit today, Palestine's problems come from the illegal settlements and the military occupation-- buying more computers as friedman suggests won't help them. I really resent how the Palestinians are constantly blamed for their own oppression, and how Jews scream "anti semite" or "appeaser of terrorism" when you point out the real causes of the violence in the middle east. Friedman is often times pretty good, I certainly support him when he criticizes Sharon or the settlers but this was't one of those times.
Yeah Arafat is incompetent and corrupt, but that doesn't mean that if he dies anything will be solved unless there is finally an Israeli PM who grows some balls and a conscience and dismantles the illegal settlements and military outposts.

The fifth link, of over 58,000, is what he's claiming doesn't exist. Searching "Yasser Arafat and Palestine and Education" returns nothing, because it looks for that exact phrase- the only context I'd expect it in is an essay on exactly that. Mine includes any time all three are in one article.
He didn't mean that exact string. He said: "I spent time the other day Googling every variation I could of the words: ‘‘Yasser Arafat and Palestine and education.’’’ He also didn't say it came up with no results he said: ‘‘I couldn’t come up with a single speech, or even full paragraph, in which Arafat laid out his vision for how Palestinians would educate their youth and nurture their talents.’’

He didn't mean that exact string. He said: "I spent time the other day Googling every variation I could of the words: ‘‘Yasser Arafat and Palestine and education.’’’ He also didn't say it came up with no results he said: ‘‘I couldn’t come up with a single speech, or even full paragraph, in which Arafat laid out his vision for how Palestinians would educate their youth and nurture their talents.’’
Note the first sentence in my reply.