In France the Revolution is commonly seen as the triumph of a new
concept of the nation. Armed with the enlightenment concepts of reason,
will and individualism, the Revolution established the nation as a
voluntary association or contract between free individuals.

This concept of the nation triumphed over the other major model
for the formation of modern nations, that of the concept of a
predetermined community bound by blood and heredity.
-- Silverman: 1992 p.19.

Remain Calm

More more !
Oxblog has landed (Patrick Belton)
Tony McNeill: 1, 2, 3

Maxim Silverman, Deconstructing the Nation: Immigration, Race and Citizenship in
Modern France Critical Studies in Racism and Migration. London:
Routledge, 1992.

Personally, I don't want to mine. I want to do something valuable and
sustainable.

Here's an alternative paradigm: data farming. In farming, you start
from a seed or an immature plant, place it in an appropriate growth
medium, and tend it with nutrients. Crops, and perhaps seeds for the
next cycle, repay your efforts.

You also have a centuries-old tradition of testing and variation from
which to improve yields over time, and reduce wasted effort and
excess fertilizer. This cycle of planting, nurturing, harvesting,
and learning is how less than 2% of our population now feeds the
rest of America, and beyond.

I contend that we should look at direct marketing analysis as data
farming, and to use the metaphor to justify (with ample support)
investments that will pay off marketing cycle after marketing cycle.

And many of us are already doing data farming: extending successful
promotional elements to new prospect lists and new vehicles, learning
from last season in ths season's re-activation programs. This is
farming, sustainable and nurturing, not at all like mining. And smart
farmers don't just produce; they learn so that next season will be
even better.

-- Ken Novak

It amazes, simply amazes me, that this claim to superior intelligence
and imagination and moral acuity floats as a proprietary privilege here.
It is a warning: do not aspire.

-- from lengthy how-to-argue demonstration at TPM.

Krugman's columns are reposted on blogs, but with obscure
bylines.

BY P*A*U*L K*RU* GMAN
BY P. DIDDY GMAN

Jane Galt would not approve.

-- Joel Kotkin.

And San Francisco, despite all its natural advantages, has lost
jobs and much of its middle class, mutating into a playground for
young, affluent liberals.

-- Joel Kotkin, again.

Americans are suspicious of labels and suspicious of jargon.
They don't think George Bush is mean-spirited or prejudiced, but
have become aware that his administration is irresponsible and
often incompetent. They don't think that corporations are inherently
evil (a lot of them work in corporations), but they recognize that
big business, unchecked, can fix the game to the detriment of working
people and small entrepreneurs. They don't think America is an
imperialist brute, but are angry that the case to invade Iraq was
exaggerated, are worried that we have unnecessarily alienated
existing and potential allies around the world, and are ashamed
by events like those at Abu Ghraib which violate our ideals as a
country.

W: 2005 August, New Orleans' Katrina flood.

Source: *

Arnold: 2005 January, Southern Californian landslide.

Source: **

See previous, Pitch 2004: W vs Kerry.

As Jude Wanniski knew, and expounded, "Economies are driven not by the
dollars in people's pockets but by the ideas in their heads." By that
measure, the U.S. economy still rides high on Jude's ideas and Jude --
who for many years wrote editorials on economics for this newspaper --
ranks high on the lists of the world's richest men. As a prime legatee
of this wealth, I find it grows ever faster with the passing years. As
countries from Russia to New Zealand follow the lead of his low-tax
vision, I cherish more and more my winnings and my memories of him.

GEORGE GILDER

In the 1990's, he said, I.B.M. was widely perceived in Silicon Valley
as a "gentle giant" that was easy to partner with while Microsoft was
perceived as an "extraordinarily fearsome, competitive company wanting
to be in as many businesses as possible and with the engineering
talent capable of implementing effectively anything."

--- Joe Kraus, a founder of the 1990's search firm Excite.

cf capable of implementing anything effective.