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graeme

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A valentiine to eastern orthodox

There is a man who was asst. scty. of the US Treasury, Associate Editor of Wall Street Journal,  and economic columnist for Business Week, and Scripps-Howard News Agency.

I know you are concerned with economic matters. And I know your respect for sources. Would this man meet your standards?

His thinks the whole US economic and political system is rotten to the core, and manned by scoundrels, thieves, liars and murderers. (Oh, my goodness. He must be anti-American)

You can read him at www.paulcraigroberts.org

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graeme

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sources a good idea?

It may sound strange to hear this from an academic historian - but Ii think sources are much overvalued in most areas of thought - especially in understanding the news.

When Staff Sgt. Major Bales killed 27 people, all the news reports carried the story that he had acted alone, left his camp in the middle of the night with his rifle and a few gallons of gasoline, walked a coujple of mlies to a village, killed 17 people, set fire to the bodies, walked back to the base, and surrendered and convessed.

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graeme

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sources and the "big picture"

People often place a great reliance on sources to "prove" their views. To do that is to misunderstand sources - and to completely neglect what I can only call common sense.

For example, today I heard, once again,  the speech by Roosevelt in  response to the Japanese surprise attack Dec 7, 1941. Ot cpnjured up all that was implied this "day of infamy" - good guys, bad guys, good, evil - with all the hints of racism, of Japanese natural cruely and deception (slanty eyes) and American purity.

That's a source. And surely a respectable one.

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