Nation Topics - Technology | The Nation

The author comments on the U.S. economy. In the last quarter of 2005 the national economy plummeted. This development may be ominous, particularly for millions of struggling Americans. Forecasters expect slower growth in the next six months. Everything appears to be declining, except for household debt and the trade deficit. President George W. Bush's growing budget deficits led to a halting, lopsided recovery. American households experienced negative savings in 2005. For Democrats, the situation is an opportunity, if they will begin thinking again like economic liberals.

The article reports that University of California Los Angeles graduate Andrew Jones started a website aimed at exposing professors he perceived as radicals "actively proselytizing" their political beliefs. He paid students to tape and report on their professors lectures and posted the results, a list of the "Dirty Thirty," on his website. The university community has condemned Jones's attempt to curtail academic freedoms and conservative supporters have resigned from his advisory board.

The article discusses an advertisement found in the January 9, 2006 issue of "The Nation," announces a "Radio Nation" talk show that will be hosted by Laura Flanders on Air America Radio Network, and refers to articles by Katrina vanden Heuvel and John Nichols on the periodical's Web site.

The article looks at geopolitics and developments in the area of natural gas. Russia is restoring the flow of natural gas to Europe after it curtailed deliveries in a bid to force Ukraine to pay the market price for gas. China and Japan are involved in a dispute over the ownership of an undersea gas field. The U.S. is pressuring India not to build a natural gas pipeline from fields in Iran to its own territory. Countries are increasingly dependent on natural gas for their energy supplies. The demand for natural gas is affecting relations between the consuming nations and their suppliers.

The article examines the ethics of neuroscience. In recent years scientists have developed minimally invasive and comparatively benign techniques for exploring, and altering, the brain. Like advances in genetics, such developments raise philosophical, legal and ethical issues. Although neuroscience receives far less scrutiny, it raises troubling ethical issues. This is because it is easier to predict and control behavior by manipulating neurons than by manipulating genes. Broadly speaking, the latest developments in neuroscience can be divided into technologies that seek to map the brain and those that seek to alter it.

The article discusses recent events involving politics and government in Haiti. It is the author's view that history is repeating itself in Haiti as democracy is being destroyed for the second time in the past fifteen years. The author reviews the coup's that took place in Haiti in 2001 and 2004. According to the author, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the International Republican Institute spent hundreds of millions of dollars create and organize an opposition and to make Haiti ungovernable under former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

The article looks at the universal pre-kindergarten movement in California. Preschool activist Rob Reiner is pushing for a proposed measure that would guarantee access to preschool for every child in California. Florida, Oklahoma, Georgia, and New York offer universal preschool programs. The push for early childhood education comes from research on the cognitive and emotional development of children. The Perry Preschool study showed the advantages of preschool among poor children. The universal pre-kindergarten movement has created a media campaign to promote the benefits of early learning.

Presents the author's views on the concept of liberalism in the United States. Poll data related to the number of Americans who consider themselves "liberal" or "conservative"; View that the majority of Americans have liberal views on most issues, despite considering themselves conservative and that most Americans hold views well to the left of those espoused by any Democratic politician; Investigation of the issue by political scientists Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson.

Reports that the United States Supreme Court will hear the case of DaimlerChrysler v. Cuno to assess whether an investment tax credit given by the State of Ohio for a Jeep automobile plant in Toledo violated the commerce clause of the Constitution. Statement that the decision could impact job subsidies; Claim that companies fail to create or retain as many jobs as they promise when receiving subsidies from states; Discussion of Dell's deal for a computer assembly plant in North Carolina in which it negotiated state subsidies worth hundreds of millions.

Argues that accusations from the right have delayed the construction of two cultural institutions called for in architect Daniel Liebeskind's plans for the World Trade Center site in New York City. Report that the cultural center was to house two of four organizations chosen by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, including the Drawing Center art museum and the International Freedom Center (IFC); Report that the Drawing Center was driven away after censorship-like demands for oversight; Demands placed on the IFC by Governor George E. Pataki that the IFC not present exhibits that denigrate the U.S., New York or freedom; Reference to an article by Debra Burlingame in the "Wall Street Journal" that criticized the IFC; Criticism of the IFC for agreeing to Pataki's demands and for being unwilling to say a word in favor of freedom of expression.