Index for 2001


31: Will the United States follow Argentina? by Jack Powelson

"If you were an impartial observer in, say, 1890, you would not easily guess which country — the United States or Argentina — would be the dominant economic power in the Western Hemisphere a century later..." [19-Dec-01]

30: Global Warming, by Jack Powelson

"Of all the topics in the TQE letters, global warming has confounded me most..." [9-Dec-01]

29: The Skeptical Environmentalist, by Jack Powelson

"Lomborg was an environmentalist, a member of Greenpeace. Then he met Julian Simon, and he parceled out Simon's many statements about the environment to his students, asking them to do the research to prove Simon wrong. Instead..." [30-Nov-01]

28: The Disintegrating Corporation, by Jack Powelson

"Peter Drucker tells us that the corporation is disintegrating. Drucker is a widely-consulted management expert, possibly the brainiest in the world..." [19-Nov-01]

27: Pacifism in the Face of Terror, Part 3, by Jack Powelson

"I believe that whoever is a conscientious objector when his or her country is at war ought to have an alternative plan — something beyond 'Don't bomb Afghanistan.' Pacifism means 'to make peace,' from the Latin pax (peace) and facere (to make). I emphasize the 'make' ..." [5-Nov-01]

26: Is Life Sacred? by Jack Powelson

"When Henry V of England besieged Rouen in 1418-19, the starving French inhabitants pushed the noncombatants out of the gates, thinking the English would let them by..." [20-Oct-01]

25: American Imperialists, by J. D. von Pischke

"Little by little, through peaceful official intervention and through military adventures the West, with the US at the top of the pile, has made extraterritoriality a reasonable proposition in the popular mind here at home..." [11-Oct-01]

24: Why Do They Hate Us? by Jack Powelson

"Long before the tragedy of September 11, I have been aware that we are hated all over the world..." [3-Oct-01]

23a: Pacifism in the Face of Terror, Part 2, by Jack Powelson

"Those who call us 'The Great Satan" generally do not understand the values of Western society — freedom of speech, democracy, freedom to travel, and the rest. We encourage this misunderstanding when..." [24-Sep-01]

23b: Myths and Misunderstandings, by Janet Minshall

"Often anti-development activists speak out harshly about the need to preserve 'traditional beliefs, values and practices' in other societies. We have to decide, however, whether we can support those traditional beliefs, values and practices if they involve the subjugation of one group or sex by another..." [24-Sep-01]

22: Pacifism in the Face of Terror, Part 1, by Jack Powelson

"Why do I feel more strongly about the Terror of September 11 than I did about Hitler's concentration camps? Not knowing about them in 1941 is no excuse. I feel more strongly because..." [17-Sep-01]

21: A Few Questions, by Jack Powelson

"Upon leaving for Europe (back September 21), I entrust a few questions for you. Please tell me your opinions about these subjects, and which you would prefer to discuss in future Newsletters..." [3-Sep-01]

20: The International Monetary Fund, by Jack Powelson

"Back in 1950, the gag was "How do you get to Washington?" Answer: "Go to Harvard and turn left." So I did just that..." [28-Aug-01]

19: Our Reason for Existence, by Jack Powelson

"When I joined Friends 58 years ago, we were a diverse Society. Republicans sat in the benches in about equal numbers to Democrats. Men in uniform came to Meeting, then went off to war. Others went to CPS camps (for conscientious objectors) or ambulance service..." [13-Aug-01]

18: What is Seen and Not Seen, by Jack Powelson

"Frédéric Bastiat died of tuberculosis at age 49. But in the two hundred years since his birth (1801), his simple philosophies of economics have turned up time and again..." [3-Aug-01]

17: The World Trade Organization, by Jack Powelson

"Misinformation about the WTO that is currently making the rounds claims that..." [23-Jul-01]

16: My Ten Years in Marxistland, by Jack Powelson

"My first looking-glass world was Bolivia in 1960. There I taught for one year, whenever the students were not on strike, in the University of San Andres. The students — almost all Marxists who disliked my world — were lively and friendly..." [25-Jun-01]

15: Kenya: A Turning Point, by Jack Powelson

"Kenya may have been the turning point, but it was only the culmination of a long-growing suspicion: Was my career as advisor to Third-World governments doing more harm than good? ..." [18-Jun-01]

14: Land Seizure in Cali, by Jack Powelson

"As Luigi and I toured the slums of Cali in his Volkswagen, we found ourselves at a dead end before a large ceibo tree. Ahead lay a field, about a mile long and half a mile wide, dotted with what seemed like tents in a campground..." [11-Jun-01]

13: How do Friends Feel about Standardized Tests? by Jack Powelson

"On May 20, The New York Times ran a story about Jake Plumley, who had failed a standardized test, but only because the testing company had made an error. Jake had actually passed..." [4-Jun-01]

12: Trade Engenders Trust, by Jack Powelson

"A strange thing happened in the New York Times of May 15. It reported on Kunshan, a town that Taiwan had built in China, as follows..." [28-May-01]

11: How do Friends Feel about Torture? by Jack Powelson

"We keep hearing of torture and other abuses of human rights all around the world. How do we feel? Are we enraged, or do we just shrug them off as everyday things far from us? ..." [21-May-01]

10: Zoroastrian Quakers? by Jack Powelson

"Adherents to the ancient Persian religion of Zoroaster believe the world is engaged in a never-ending war between good and evil. Many religions — even Christianity — carry some of this sentiment..." [14-May-01]

9: Can We Understand Asian Values? by Jack Powelson

"I was once told that I could not understand Asian values because I am a Westerner. Believing that I can understand anything I want to, if the time is long enough (say, ten thousand years), I took up the challenge..." [7-May-01]

8: Protesting Globalization, by Jack Powelson

"We stood in a friendship circle, about fifty of us, arms intertwined, and singing. It was a high school institute of international affairs..." [1-May-01]

7: The California Energy Crisis, by Jack Powelson

"First, a bit of homespun philosophy. I believe that we in the United States want more than we are willing to pay for. This explains the explosion in consumer debt. But it also applies to how we use government..." [23-Apr-01]

6: What About the Population Problem? by Jack Powelson

"For decades we have been concerned with overpopulation. Now we discover that Europe, Russia, Japan, and other countries are deeply disturbed about loss of population..." [16-Apr-01]

5: Is Japan Quakerly? by Jack Powelson

"Competition — common to most capitalist countries — is unpopular in Japan. Innovations in production are often proposed to management by a whole work group so that no one person takes credit, even if one individual thought of the innovating..." [19-Apr-01]

4: Can Quakers Learn from the Russians? by Jack Powelson

"During the thirties my mother handed me a copy of The New Russia's Primer: The Story of the Five Year Plan, produced by the Soviet Government in 1930. I was most impressed by how the Soviets would hand power to the people..." [2-Apr-01]

3: The Drug War, by Jack Powelson

"If you want to see money thrown at a problem to no good effect, you need look no further than America's 'War on Drugs'..." [26-Mar-01]

2: School Shootings, by Jack Powelson

"I was given a scholarship at the most chic school in town, called Pebble Hill. It was populated by the "rich crowd," to which my family didn't belong. One day..." [19-Mar-01]

1: China, by Jack Powelson

"In 1433 the Chinese Emperor canceled the voyages of one of the world's greatest sailors, Zheng He, and from that point on China languished economically, and its people sank into poverty..." [12-Mar-01]

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