Links 7/27/2010

Pretty Diverse group today

Amplify’d from www.ashokkarra.com

“Analysts Find Little New in Wikileaks Afghan Documents” – this “little new” came at a terrible, terrible price. I haven’t seen anyone else in the mainstream media focus on this [boldface mine]: Mother Jones’ Adam Weinstein worries about the safety of Afghan officials and individuals who meet with the U.S. in “what the military calls KLEs—key leader engagements. Military officers, as well as officials from State, USAID, and other agencies regularly meet with important players in a war zone to get their take on the situation. … If they were ever outed as collaborators with American forces, they’d be as good as dead. And Wikileaks has 16 pages of secret military KLEs with individuals and groups in Afghanistan, spanning six years. No names are redacted. In this case, what retired general James Jones, the White House national security adviser, said yesterday is correct: WL is putting some lives at serious risk with that particular data dump.”

Steven Malanga, “The Muni-Bond Debt Bomb” – long with lots of depressing detail. Sometimes I wonder why we get mad at the federal government for spending – a quick perusal of the profligacy of cities and states shows many in them to have almost no sense that money borrowed has to be paid back.

Megan McArdle, “Why Tax Estates Instead of Inheritances?” – from the article: what is the justification for taxing estates, rather than inheritances?  After all, why should we care if Bill Gates wants to leave $300 apiece to millions of people?

Liam and Me, “Say It Out Loud” – synth-rock in the style of The Killers, and they’re from Philly, and they’re gooooood. If you have Stumbleupon or Reddit or some other sharing service, put this on there please and vote it up. A friend of mine works with the band. Read more at www.ashokkarra.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/83hf