Google Watch, Pakistan Watch, Kirk-Watch

All I have left is a judicial process take-home test, but it’s a doozy and my brain is dying.

So keeping it brief.

Google-Apple Monopoly Watch. Google CEO Eric Schmidt says it’s no big deal.

In a media session held Thursday before Google’s shareholders meeting in Mountain View, Schmidt said he hasn’t considered stepping down from Apple’s board because he doesn’t view the maker of the iPhone, iPod and computers as a “primary competitor.” He echoed that sentiment when a shareholder later asked him to step down from Apple’s board to avoid further government scrutiny.

…Walker told reporters that Google is “comfortable” that it doesn’t generate enough revenue in the same markets as Apple for Schmidt’s and Levinson’s dual roles on the companies’ boards to violate antitrust law.

Color me cynical. But I think antitrust laws are antitrust laws. They’re both tech. They’re both producing phones. It’s the principle of the thing. It sets a bad precedent. I think both these companies are good for the future of tech…they should set a good example.

Switching gears to Pakistan watch. Warring in the Swat Valley is producing thousands of refugees and people who are stuck in the middle of the violence.

A half a million people have either already left the Swat Valley and nearby districts or want to leave but can’t because of the fighting, Pakistani officials and the U.N. say, bringing the number of people likely to be displaced due to anti-militant offensives across Pakistan‘s volatile northwest region to 1 million.

..

Tens of thousands of people remain trapped in Mingora. Some have said the Taliban are not allowing them to leave, perhaps because they want to use them as “human shields” and make the army unwilling to use force.

“We want to leave the city, but we cannot go out because of the fighting,” said one resident, Hidayat Ullah. “We will be killed, our children will be killed, our women will be killed and these Taliban will escape.”

“Kill terrorists, but don’t harm us,” he pleaded.

Reading that gives me a pit in my stomach…I don’t feel good about the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan at all. Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t the U.S. have some sort of involvement in this fighting. I mean, it’s the Big Bad Taliban and part of Obama’s plan to “refocus” on Afghanistan. But if we’re getting civilians tangled up in this, what do you think that will do to the perceptions abroad that we’re supposedly trying to fix with this new administration?

Where do you think terrorists come from, anyway?

I have no problem with Pakistan taking control of its country. But you don’t make things more stable by killing your innocents. Being humane reaps a lot more benefits than merely a clear conscience.
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Today’s controversy: Star Trek, which I am seeing tonight in Christiansburg. Since it’s not a real controversy, here’s a video from Not a real news network:

Vodpod videos no longer available.