Another terrorist attack could drastically impact traffic between the U.S. and Canada:

The United States would virtually close the Canada-U.S. border if a terrorist attack were launched anywhere near it, according to documents obtained under access-to-information legislation.
“One additional terrorist attack, that had its origins in Canada or occurred at, or along, the Canada-U.S. border, would likely cause Congress to lift the drawbridge,” warn the documents from the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade.

The article touches on the huge economic effect such a move would have on both sides of the border.
It also makes me wonder–what if there was a terrorist strike linked to our southern border? Do you think we’d shut down the flow of human traffic coming in from Mexico?
I wouldn’t bet on it.

Per Google’s 2003 Year-End Zeitgeist:

1. britney spears
2. harry potter
3. matrix
4. shakira
5. david beckham
6. 50 cent
7. iraq
8. lord of the rings
9. kobe bryant
10. tour de france

The page says “zeitgeist,” a German-derived term, is “defined in English by Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate� Dictionary as “the general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of an era.”
Based on these rankings, I wouldn’t rate this era’s intellectual climate as one of its strong points.

Many argue that it will be China. But Peter Drucker, in a subscription only article (excerpted at Talking Points Memo) says to keep an eye on India:

India is becoming a powerhouse very fast. The medical school in New Delhi is now perhaps the best in the world. And the technical graduates of the Institute of Technology in Bangalore are as good as any in the world. Also, India has 150 million people for whom English is their main language. So India is indeed becoming a knowledge center.
In contrast, the greatest weakness of China is its incredibly small proportion of educated people. China has only 1.5 million college students, out of a total population of over 1.3 billion. If they had the American proportion, they’d have 12 million or more in college. Those who are educated are well trained, but there are so few of them. And then there is the enormous undeveloped hinterland with excess rural population. Yes, that means there is enormous manufacturing potential. In China, however, the likelihood of the absorption of rural workers into the cities without upheaval seems very dubious. You don’t have that problem in India because they have already done an amazing job of absorbing excess rural population into the cities–its rural population has gone from 90% to 54% without any upheaval.
Everybody says China has 8% growth and India only 3%, but that is a total misconception. We don’t really know. I think India’s progress is far more impressive than China’s.

Time for another constitutional amendment.

Interesting how a power shift changes things. Once upon a time the Democrats were the big spenders and the Republicans complained about it. Now that they control the federal government, Republicans have increased spending faster than the Democrats ever did, while the Democrats campaign of deficits.
Likewise, when they were the minority in Congress, the Republicans championed state’s rights, while the Democrats operated on the federal level. Switch party control, and again we see just the opposite power paradigm unfolding.
Funny how that works.