A Very Good Article from the New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28iran.t.html?ex=1327640400&en=35a71407de394f69&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

I must admit the article insight is unique. highly recommended

Milton Friedman Documentary

People WATCH this, it is really great !

I love this line:
"If a country chooses equality before freedom it will end up with neither, should it chooses freedom before equality it will end up with plenty of both."

why this makes so much sense?

Air Trans wants Midwest

Midwest Airlines has sent out this email to its customers:
To Our Customers,

Shareholders and the Communities We Serve:The Board of Directors of Midwest Air Group (AMEX: MEH), parent company of Midwest Airlines, today announced it has unanimously rejected as inadequate AirTran Holdings, Inc.'s (NYSE: AAI) unsolicited exchange offer to acquire all outstanding shares of Midwest for $13.25 per Midwest share and strongly recommends that its shareholders not tender their shares at that price.

The board reached its conclusion after careful consideration, including a thorough review of the AirTran offer with its independent legal and financial advisors. Complete details of the board's position, including related SEC filings, are available from the special page we've set up to share the latest information with our customers.Thank you for your support of Midwest Airlines.To view more information regarding Midwest's response to AirTran, click here:http://www.midwestairlines.com/mymidwest

My note: I wonder if they can hold off, it would be interesting to notice that how much Air Trans is eager to pay above market price to make this merger happens. It also is equally interesting to see who would sell? just a wild guess those who want to gain because of business cycle would be selling however their shares do not constitute a majority of vote to force merging with Air Trans upon Midwest.

Great Article

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/25/AR2007012502087.html
I like this article a lot. Read it!

Data Lessons

1. Always check data distribution with respect to:
a. TIME
b. Locations (Regions, Cities, etc)
c. Age
d. Gender
e. Income
f. Any other characteristics that one cannot have 95% of observations from only one category in them!!!!

2. Never EVER think data is SAFE! No data is!!!!
Be PARANOID ABOUT IT!!!!!!

Milton Friedman Day

Monday (Jan. 29) has been declared Milton Friedman Day. For some information about Friedman and activities associated with the day commemorating him, please see http://www.miltonfriedmanday.org/ and links therein.

You may also be interested to know that on Monday PBS will air a new documentary entitled "The Power of Choice: The Life and Ideas of Milton Friedman." (See http://www.freetochoosemedia.org/ for more information.)

International Herald Teribune Article

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/15/news/iran.php

and there is more:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20070115-0722-saudi-iran-.html

Guardian Article

Very Scary! You can read this article at Guardian.

I am thinking of a Basque philosopher; Miguel de Unamuno who responding to General Astray in front of a crowd of Falangists at University of Salamanca said:

"You are waiting for my words. You know me well, and know I cannot remain silent for long. Sometimes, to remain silent is to lie, since silence can be interpreted as assent. I want to comment on the so-called speech of General Millán-Astray, who is with us here. I will ignore the personal offence to the Basques and Catalonians. I myself, as you know, was born in Bilbao. The Bishop," Unamuno gestured to the Archbishop of Salamanca, "Whether you like it or not, is Catalan, born in Barcelona. But now I have heard this insensible and necrophilous oath, "¡Viva la Muerte!", (Viva Death) and I, having spent my life writing paradoxes that have provoked the ire of those who do not understand what I have written, and being an expert in this matter, find this ridiculous paradox repellent. General Millán-Astray is an invalid. There is no need for us to say this with whispered tones. He is an invalid of war. So was Cervantes. But unfortunately, Spain today has too many invalids. And, if God does not help us, soon it will have very many more. It torments me to think that General Millán-Astray could dictate the norms of the psychology of the masses. An invalid, who lacks the spiritual greatness of Cervantes, hopes to find relief by adding to the number of invalids around him.

This is the temple of intelligence, and I am its high priest. You are profaning its sacred domain. You will succeed, because you have enough brute force. But you will not convince. In order to convince it is necessary to persuade, and to persuade you will need something that you lack: reason and right in the struggle. I see it is useless to ask you to think of Spain. I have spoken."

I think this applies here. Many are screaming: “Long Live Death” and they have enough brute force to destroy and even to win. But they will not succeed, because for that they need to convince. It seems it is useless to ask them to think of humanity, of innocent people, of children who would die if they carry these horrendous plots of theirs. Let us remember to remain silence is to lie.

Very Interesting Interview

Read This:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/16/144204
Scott Ritter is talking about Iran and it is very interesting.

PBS Documentary on Milton Friedman

Monday, January 29, PBS will air a 90-minute documentary on Milton Friedman. I hear it is a really good program, it is highly recommended to watch.

interesting links

Some are old, but still recent about Iran's economy. Let's see how in future declining oil revenue affect government's policies regarding energy subsidies, so far they have been preserved at a great cost.
on reforms necessary:
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/09/f485ed2b-74f0-43ef-9bb7-68d99d97404e.html
on oil energy:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/25/AR2006122500486.html