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Political Discussion / Politics / General Political Discussion / The Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2009

Posted:  14 Dec 2009 13:37
So, I had spotted this magazine on the rack and checked it out. It's called Foreign Policy and it's somewhat similar to the level of reporting you get in The Economist. Really not a bad magazine at all. Two articles stuck out greatly from the pack. The first is about those 10 stories I mentioned in the thread title. All are rather important to us here at home except for maybe 3 & 8. Check out this article here:

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/11/30/the_top_10_stori ...

The other is the cover story of the top 100 thinkers of the year. I had to take a pause at Ben Bernanke's entry and after some careful consideration, I see the man in a slightly different light than I did before reading the article. Shockingly he was number one on the list, with President Obama trailing right behind him at number two. I know that might strike some of you(ok, most) as a bad list, but it is worth looking over just the same. Try and keep an open mind as you check out the list here:

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/11/30/the_fp_top_100_g ...
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But the backdrops peel and the sets give way and the cast get eaten by the play, there's a murderer at the matinee, there are dead men in the aisles

And the patrons and the actors too are uncertain if the show is through and with sidelong looks await their cue, but the frozen mask just smiles
Posted:  14 Dec 2009 16:51
So I guess I wasn't on the list as the world's top thinker?
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Lucas McCain the Rifleman: A man doesn't run from a fight, Mark...but that doesn't mean you should go running *to* one, either.
Posted:  14 Dec 2009 20:21
I think it's important to realize with most list of the X top people, it's not necessarily an assessment of value of their thinking more than influence of thier thinking.

While I do think Ben Berneke did keep us out of a global depression and all that this would entail (world wars, facism, mass starvation, but on the upside a better market for comic book superheroes)even if he hadn't he would still be influential.  As the cheif of the world's most important Central Bank (sorry china) he is the one who decides if we have a cold, or cancer.  And as we know when the U.S. has a cold the world has pneumonia...goodness knows what the world gets when we have cancer. 

Dick Cheney is also on the list, and I doubt he has that much in common with Barak Obama philosophically, but both men are leaders in their own right at this time in history.
Posted:  15 Dec 2009 23:45
Cheney was a surprise, as was Ahmedinejad(sp?). Both seemingly reviled by most of the civilized world but influential nonetheless. I wonder how the list would have changed if they had to make a determination between positive and negative influences.
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But the backdrops peel and the sets give way and the cast get eaten by the play, there's a murderer at the matinee, there are dead men in the aisles

And the patrons and the actors too are uncertain if the show is through and with sidelong looks await their cue, but the frozen mask just smiles
Posted:  16 Dec 2009 18:21
Well, it would depend on who is compiling the list.  Obvioulsy there are Iranians who think Ahmedinejad is a positive influence on the world, and Americans who think that Chenney or Obama isn't.

I think they intentionally avoid the positive negative quesiton because it is so subjective.  Just look at how controversial the nobel peace prize always is (not just recently) one man's peace maker is oftern another's warmonger.  It's just hard to have a qualitative answer to something so subjective.

For Example, Ed Brubaker is nowhere on the list nor anyone currently working for Marvel, and yet I find their works influence me to no end.