false2134235MVictoria, BC, Canada03/200912/200924646true6134294read0true4632523currently-reading0true4632522to-readThe Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism (Hardcover) by Andrew J. Bacevich]]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/80378472
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Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:36:49 -0800The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre: A Novel (Paperback) by Dominic Smith]]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/80378356
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Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:34:20 -0800Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle (Hardcover) by Chris Hedges]]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/80378302
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Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:33:00 -0800The Winds of War (Paperback) by Herman Wouk]]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/80378229
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Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:32:22 -0800One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War (Hardcover) by Michael Dobbs]]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/71359318
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Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:29:59 -0800
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/35563-what-field-of-history-interests-you
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Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:23:29 -0800
Lori wrote: "I haven't really narrowed it down yet. At the moment I would like to find material on the beginnings of the US, from discovery (whoever it was) to the Revolution. I'm especially interested in our..."
You might enjoy "Ghost Empire" by Philip Marchand. It is an offbeat account of the French in America, 1500-1763.
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http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/218931-migration
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Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:22:00 -0700 This is not the only place where the division of wealth is so great that people take great risks to cross boundaries. The US / Mexico border is another major example.
It brings the question to mind, what is to be done? How can people be helped, and more specifically how many can be helped? One wants to say, well, all of them. The vast majority of economic refugee had no say in the geopolitical maneuvering, natural disasters, or corrupt government practices that put them in the plight that they are in. They just want a life.
But what are the practicalities? I’m going to skate perilously close to the abyss of political incorrectness, and even the “R” word here, to explore some scenarios.
Muslim minorities number close to ten percent in some European countries today. There have been culture clashes on many fronts. In Holland, a filmmaker was murdered for making a movie critical of Islam. A politician in the same country had her life threatened, and went into hiding, for similar reasons. Oppressive practices toward women, accepted in North Africa, have collided head on with the liberal culture of Western Europe. Would a wholesale transfer of populations, and culture, be successful?
In never ending conflict in central Africa, as many as five million may have died from conflict and also from resulting starvation, in the D.R. Congo and neighboring countries. If President Obama offered some relief by accepting up to one million of the most tragic cases, and resettled them in, let’s say, California or Florida……how would they fare? Some in those countries believe in witchcraft, and that sometimes young children are possessed by demons, and consequently must be (and are) killed. What I am saying is that culture clash would feature highly in this scenario.
And how about those left behind? If immigration laws were relaxed, it is likely that the most educated and competent would find the most successful transition. That would mean a drain of professionals from countries that desperately need them. This is already happening in Africa: many who find training as nurses or paramedicals make straight for Europe.
The broader question is: how much, if any, should established societies change in order to accept newcomers? And how much, if any, should immigrants be expected to change their values and beliefs in order to make the transition to a new life? How much migration should be accepted at all? Unless there is a broader distribution of wealth in the world, one way or another, I think these are questions that will not go away. It’s either migration or ever more elaborate fences.
It would be great to all live as one, in an enlightened world community. But how to get from here to there, with the fewest number of casualties?
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Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:17:34 -0700