Thomas Friedman was on a roll last week, putting forward one sweeping declaration after another – as he is wont to do. Some of it was kind of interesting, made you stop and think. Like the idea that we find ourselves at the mercy these days of the "two most merciless forces on earth: the market and Mother Nature." The latter, which caused the Japanese nuclear energy crisis, we can't do much about but it does underscore the fact that the country has neither an

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