whattheheck and wolf (you guys are still here?): I don't think it's a cop-out at all to give black Americans a unique place in our history. Furthermore, it's folly to lump all black Americans into the same level of experience. Mr. Muwakkil comes from one foreign to those street dwellers who produce the majority of hip-hop, yet holds the interesting perspective of one who has lived through some of the last worst moments of institutionalized US racial policy. I think his perspective holds more weight than your own, based on his relevant experience and his informed study. Is it not easy …
All 247 comments by...
rocco
-
-
Vanella - I think you have it right on both counts. Oaxaca is an extremely poor and oppressed state. Over 70% of the citizenry is indigenous, which in Mexico means dirt poor. The governor and staff are extraordinarily corrupt, and the military acts as a murderous and suppressive force, particularly post-Zapatista uprising, circa 1994. Those who organize resistance in southern Mexico are among the bravest people you'll ever meet. Disappearances of protest leadership are common. In short, we don't know how good we have it. Or, we do know, and don't feel like risking it anytime soon. I wonder, though: if …
Posted to Teacher Rebellion in Oaxaca
-
I have heard Lamont's win described by some in the MSM as a 'Pyrrhic victory' for the Democrats, as it will splinter the party and thrust it into the chaotic abyss that only southern Mediterranean countries know so well. This is entirely plausible. I could definitely forsee dangerous instability from a battle royal between young-turk firebrands fighting for revolution against the old Democratic guard. Like the DLC crowd, I too know that corporate donations would be drastically cut for a renegade party hell-bent on sustainable working-class conditions and enlightened self-interest globally, and it would not be pretty. The donations requested from …
Posted to It Came From the Beltway
-
Wasn't usury a sin against Christendom once upon a time? How do Republicans make for this distinction?
Posted to Economic Populism Proves Popular
-
To those that find this story, as one put it, outrageous: I would argue that the work of Colbert and Stewart is a formidable weapon in progressive movement, and thus worthy of investigation by a progressive magazine. If media analysis is a relevant study in the apparatus which largely determines popular will, which then shapes policy in a republic, than a branch of the media which actually acts to subvert that same media, it may behoove us to learn what effects this could have on popular will, and in turn on policy. Many bloggers pointed to Colbert's roast of GWB as …
Posted to In Politics, Comedy is Central
-
While I agree in sentiment, I am on board with the message Markos et al. have been pushing in Crashing the Gate, various talk shows, etc. - that at this juncture, strategy is the number one priority. Part of their strategy, for good or ill, revolves around a core message which resonates with the populace. As important as the labor issue is, I don't think it can ever be addressed in the current atmosphere. It would be folly to push something which has been framed by the Republican mob as "moonbatty" simply because it is the right thing to do. Are …
Posted to What Was Missing At YearlyKos
-
angrygreen - Compromising one's belief is different from prioritization. I'm not suggesting we suddenly jump on Republican bandwagons, and I don't think that anyone at YearlyKos, from what I've read, has either. That said, there are key points which resonate more strongly with the majority of voters, and that should be focused upon come election time. Sadly, labor is not one of those priorities. Yet, you would have liberals run on a 'labor' ticket simply because we believe it's the right thing to do? How about another tax? Better yet, let's call ourselves 'The party of agnostic humanism". This is a …
Posted to What Was Missing At YearlyKos
-
I voted for her! Thank me! Thank me!
Posted to Anarchist Cheerleader Elected
-
what happened to good old-fashioned thai sticks?
Posted to The Iraq War--On Drugs
-
winterchestnut - He'll kick your ass.
Posted to The Ultimate Fighting Anarchist
-
Wolf, While we are in accord with the 'melting pot' philosophy of America, I think we may disagree on the definition of a melting pot. For example, when I cook up a soup, I sautee some onions, carrots and celery in some oil, toss in a can of tomatoes, add the stock and some veggies, et voila. And everything has the flavor of everything else. To extend the metaphor, your version of a melting pot would have all the ingredients tasting like tomatoes, which would be a sign of a bad chef. In your opinion, all minorities should conform to the …
Posted to Acting Your Race
-
WingFlanagan, My only comment on your post: History has a life of its own, which does indeed affect our individual lives. It's not so much that your points are naive, but that they do little to address the historical markers that groups of people draw on our timeline of events. I do agree indeed that people should be judged individually; but cultures are amalgams of these individuals, who share commonalities which often conflict with the commonalities of other groups. The reasons for the arbitrary division of groups (genetics, religion, etc.) are irrelevant in this context. To remain above the fray, as …
Posted to Acting Your Race
-
To return to the thrust of the article: I don't think the author was necessarily advocating the views of Dobbs so much as she was looking to his style of rhetoric as an innovative method for conveying the news. As for Dobbs himself, I have never agreed with him, but I've respected him more than most talking heads for reasons similar to those listed above (having said that, I've heard he's a real asshole). Hopefully this conversation will bring the debate of New Journalism (dare I dream Gonzo Journalism?) back to TV Land. Poseurs like Tim Russert, who feign objectivity while …
Posted to Lou Dobbs, Now More Than Ever
-
First time I ever saw the teletubbies, I was coming off 4 tabs of acid at 5 in the morning. True story. I defy anyone to beat that, even Krautheimer. Ever seen those two Nazi teeny-boppers? Now that's freaky.
Posted to Lou Dobbs, Now More Than Ever
-
"Hero" is cutting it a little close, don't you think? I hate to think that Lou Dobbs is the best we can do. LB - I know. It would have been a great t-shirt in Venice Beach once upon a time. Damn neo-nazis.
Posted to Lou Dobbs, Now More Than Ever
-
Hattie, while I applaud the strength of your conviction, I disagree with both your political sentiments and your definition of the word 'hero.' However I only have the brain power, or perhaps the will, to tackle the 'hero' part. I use the term 'hero' sparingly, else the term is diluted. Not everyone who voices their opinion without thought of personal consequence is a bona fide hero (David Duke, Hitler, etc.). Not to put Dobbs in their company, but nevertheless... A hero is one who struggles through the miasma, dies in a sense, and returns to the world reborn and with a …
Posted to Lou Dobbs, Now More Than Ever
-
For a good look inside the strange mind of Il Cavaliere, click here. Eh, Silvio, quando crescera'?
Posted to Head of Stage
-
"I'd hate to hurt the li'l piece o' flesh..." Bill Hicks
Posted to Contraception in the Crosshairs
-
scorp and tina1 - You can feel it surrounding you, can't you? It's like a cold shadow, an icy blanket of doom. It is your death. "He or she who learns how to die unlearns slavery." - Seneca
Posted to Barbarians at the Helm
-
Creighton W. Abrams is dead. Incidentally, the first army Chief-of-Staff to die in office. Lung cancer...how inglorious for a tank commander. It doesn't come like you want it to, Scorp. Those who lack compassion usually go kicking and screaming...Republicans are so often bad at dying. In the Phaedo, Socrates describes life as nothing more than preparation for death, and philosophy as practice on how to properly die. Try it out. It may loosen up your back. You know how tight your disks are...
Posted to Barbarians at the Helm
-
scorp: Interesting take - crazy, too, might I add. I understand why my line of comments disturb you so. You could never be at peace with your own death and write as you do. And most of us practice non-violence. To link Stalin and Mao to the progressive movement is disingenuous. But I guess that's never stopped you before. As you're reading this, do you feel the buzzard atop your shoulder? The sands draining from your hourglass? How does it make you feel, scorp? To know you've wasted these last decades? Fascination with death? How could one not be?
Posted to Barbarians at the Helm
-
ah, dear scorp: wherefore thy vitriol? I never said you were disturbed. I never said you were anything. Though I did say some of your responses sounded insane. This may seem paradoxical, but one can have ideas which do not represent a being's whole persona. I pray this is the case for you. It is a common belief in the school of comparative religion that all religion began with the awareness of death. To not be curious about the apparent disappearing of consciousness strikes me as either the sign of an incurious mind, or just fear-based. You assume much in your …
Posted to Barbarians at the Helm
-
Scorp - I was referring to the 'death' of conservative representation, as per the article. Then I just got prosaic...I'm really full of whimsy. But, even taken literally, your eventual death is not a 'paranoid delusion.' You're really going to die. Also, way to completely ignore the evidence that Stalin and Mao were actually rightists. But it's okay. Your purpose here is only as a foil, like the villain in a bad movie. I appreciate your inability to absorb new info, as it allows others to learn from you indirectly.
Posted to Barbarians at the Helm
-
You’re full, all right, but it is not whimsy.
Ah, clever to the end. Your sitcom watching has served you well.So, why is it that every government that identifies itself as collectivist (communist/ socialist/ progressive) achieves bad-to-catastrophic results, as we saw in SU and as we see now in Old Europe, not to mention NoKo? There must be some reason that the wonderful Marxist theory always produces such pig-ugly results.
Socialist theory is often appealing to populations with large numbers of poor/working class. Therefore it's a way to galvanize large groups of people who are being screwed by oligarchic …Posted to Barbarians at the Helm
-
Last point, scorp: a lot of popular leftist movements were crushed by the United States or by US clients (see Nicaragua, Guatemala, East Timor, Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, Viet Nam . . .) Perhaps they would have denigrated into Cuban-like dictatorships, but we'll never know, because we subverted the popular process. So much for isolationist policy, huh?
Posted to Barbarians at the Helm
-
dougshaeffer, I apologize if my writing seems to you as 'garbled.' This comes from a habit of writing for those with a cursory knowledge of English syntax. And yes, by the true essence of the left/right spectrum, the fact that America is a republic makes it center-left. Look it up. And never trust anyone who tells you to see a shrin, yet doesn't use question marks. That's crazy. How do you ever know if you're asking something or telling something?
Posted to Barbarians at the Helm
-
scorp, scorp, scorp...always so abusive. First of all, you proved my point, so I shall thank you, instead of insult you. Small groups of socialists can often galvanize the poor and oppressed. I won't bother to tell you of peasant uprisings in detail, since you probably don't grant them the intelligence to think for themselves without being manipulated. However if you're interested in doing some research, check into the popular movements of Guatemala after 1944, East Timor, Chile, Nicaragua, Viet Nam. It may be more convenient to believe that Ho Chih Minh et al. brainwashed millions singlehandedly, but it's more efficiently …
Posted to Barbarians at the Helm
-
etrangere_001: Perhaps I can answer for our dear friend, scorp. 'Old Europe' are those who believe in multilateralism or, god forbid, multipolarism. France, Germany, now Spain, and, come April, probably Italy. Che sorpresa! Signor Prodi, non ci piace? 'New Europe' is comprised of 2nd world countries dependent on IMF loans, which we have veto power over. They pretty much do what we ask them to. Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, etc. Signers to the Vilnius Statement. Of course, since we've pissed off the economic powerhouses of the EU states, multipolarism is on the rise. Not good for us. If we lose European …
Posted to Barbarians at the Helm
-
dougshaeffer: A shrin is Gaelic for 'shrink'. For that matter, what's a 'youy'? Typos happen, my little snowflake. Am I being too condescending? Then perhaps you should quell your ire, and ask questions with respect, lest you open yourself up for ridicule. Yes, some may say that popular usage has altered the terms 'left' and 'right.' But I think the etymology grounds the terms. Otherwise they are indeed without context, hence without real meaning. Who is further to the right: Donald Rumsfeld or Jerry Fallwell? Who is further to the left: Hugo Chavez or the Dalai Lama? What do you base …
Posted to Barbarians at the Helm
-
A codicil: since the corporations are taking over, we are descending into oligarchy. That would make us center-right.
Posted to Barbarians at the Helm
-
dougschaeffer: Who told you I was an American? Even still, I didn't insult Americans. I bemoaned their educational levels. You on the other hand are acting quite rude. That's not very becoming of a 'world citizen'. If you just want to rant and insult, I'm sure www.redstate.com will be to your liking. Fascists dislike rational, intelligent arguments. They just want you to agree with them or die.
your usage is moribund and not at all utile in a new paradigm which you cannot yet envision being secured to the great pendulum right-left, just where they want you.
Who wants me …Posted to Barbarians at the Helm
-
yeah rocco. i reckon the oligarchy may actually be near it’s last gasp grasp. it’s that ol.
Clarification please.Posted to Barbarians at the Helm
-
dougshaeffer, You since you haven't addressed a single point, I'm going to assume you can't. Thanks for playing. Harrower, I think where we agree is in the level of control. Where we may disagree is in the ability to change things. In a republic such as ours, I agree with Chomsky's conclusion that the media must manipulate the population in order to achieve the goals of the powerful. I also agree with Chomsky that internal change is easier here than possibly anywhere else in the world. I'll give you a local, if quaint, example. In my district, we held a runoff …
Posted to Barbarians at the Helm
-
scorp We agree. Shocking.
Posted to Barbarians at the Helm
-
dougshaeffer, Ah. On the contrary, I do believe you are exactly as bright as you've protrayed yourself.
Posted to Barbarians at the Helm
-
scorp, Now that we've had our fun with tearing down the straw man of communism, what options are you proffering? Are you honestly satisfied with the direction the country has gone in? Do you not also used and lied to? Or are you continuing to hold on to a sinking ship, like Jeffrey Skilling or Ken Lay, which can only end in a few winners and a lot of losers? In less freedom? Aren't you worried about fascism, too? I'm still holding out hope for you.
Posted to Barbarians at the Helm
-
Harrower I meant (d)emocrat, not Democrat. Besides, what's extreme about a Democrat? In response: I was heartened by the victory of that 29 year-old who won in my city (see link here. it's not much, but it's something. That's why I'm very excited about the potential put forth by Kos & gang. There are ways still provided for by our system, but they have to be utilized. And it takes work.
Posted to Barbarians at the Helm
-
scorp, All of the facts you listed did indeed happen. I think where our seemingly irrevocable split lies is in the conclusion from the facts at hand. I would point to Major Major's last post as a summation more closely aligned with my own. It is, to me, a logical breakdown of cause and effect on a large scale, irrespective of ideology. Follow the money, in effect. I think that fits nicely with the peculiar warrior-monkey composition of our genetic nature. Your points have a ring of truth, in my opinion, if we clarified the use of the term 'fascist.' Fascism …
Posted to Barbarians at the Helm
-
scorp, If we are in the dangerous position which you describe, and I'm inclined to agree that we are, short of Bay of Pigs, as close to nuclear war as we have ever been. And so the worst course of action would be to send a clear message to small states which oppose our policies that they will be dealt with in preemptive attacks. Lesson: if you can hurt the giant, you're less likely to get invaded. See North Korea, Saudi dictatorship (they wired all their oil fields in the '70s). Our invasion of Iraq was such a message. And today …
Posted to Barbarians at the Helm
-
What Cook fails to grasp by writing of a "split on immigration between the GOP’s business faction and its culturally conservative base" is the potential political genius that could underlie this latest legislation. This is typical of so-called progressives to be so politically blind and unimaginative. By allowing for illegal immigrants to be arrested, rather than merely deported, would enable us to expand prison labor projects by outsourcing these prisoners - we could call them 'special prisoners', i.e. not really dangerous and good at unskilled labor - to the very jobs they were previously performing. Prison labor has a long and …
Posted to Theyve Come for Us All
-
whattheheck - By pointing out that I was being satirical will only embarrass the other posters who didn't pick up on it. Shame on you. I know you often bristle at historical arguments, WTH but there are a few political moves by the US that really sped up this influx of immigrants. To start from the beginning: we did conquer half of Mexico. And while this may seem like a long time ago, it wasn't until the post-war that we developed the border states, and then really until the late 60's and early 70's, so the only people who lived out …
Posted to Theyve Come for Us All
-
knocko: It will be difficult to respond to your posts coherently, since you don't seem to be addressing issues. I take it you have a strong belief in things, and feel the need to post them. If you don't believe in national sovereignty, fine. Just say so. This is confusing. I have no idea what you mean. I can only guess that this is in response to my above posts in which I made: 1) a satirical case for the imprisionment of immigrants, 2) a historical comparison of the Mexican-American War and corporate subversion of the Mexican Constitution. If anything, I'm …
Posted to Theyve Come for Us All
-
tina1: I thought you were a Christian? I guess not. Christians would be familiar with the story of the Good Samaritan.
Posted to Theyve Come for Us All
-
PS - There's no 'a' in the word 'border.' Lucky for you we don't also shoot the barely literate.
Posted to Theyve Come for Us All
-
whattheheck - Didn't mean to offend you...I was only referring to our debates re Civil Rights Movement, where your answer was often "That was a long time ago." Since I was making a similiar point, I was trying to head off a similiar response. But what do I know... You are correct that the Mexican government is complicit. Are they ever. Mexican politicians are either murderous thugs or corporatist weasels. But you won't see us preemptively rework their government a la Iraq anytime soon. We make a lot of money off them. This is admittedly a difficult issue. But here are …
Posted to Theyve Come for Us All
-
tina1: this has nothing to do with being a Christian? That's a marvelous ability you have to shelve your central belief system and the preaching of your deity when it conflicts with your gut patriotic emotions. By the way, in response to your dismissal of brotherly love in favor of higher employment rates, here's another Jesusism, from Mark 10: Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. …
Posted to Theyve Come for Us All
-
Here's an interesting story which relates to this legislation. Have they 'kicked the sleeping giant'? Could this be a second civil rights movement? 500,000 is a lot of protesters...
Posted to Theyve Come for Us All
-
wth: I agree with Hitchens on that. Hitchens is someone I hold a lot of respect for, even though I disagree with most of his post-9/11 writings. At any rate, Americans have to be among the least educated in not only history but current events, at least in the industrial world. And beyond. I recall a moment when an eight-year old Mexican girl in Oaxaca was giving me a history lesson about globalization and its effects. A humbling moment. Good points all. And I'm not a Christian either. But nothing gets under my skin as much as so-called Christians calling for …
Posted to Theyve Come for Us All
-
For those with NY Times subscription, check out this editorial by Paul Krugman. Good balanced assessment of the problem, with no solution given...
Posted to Theyve Come for Us All
-
knocko: are you carefully considering your points, are are you looking for excuses to attack straw-man points that no one has brought up? Where to you go from our discussion to disdainfully jumping on Cuba and Venezuela? It seems to me you are knee-jerk in your defense of anything white, Anglo, or stereotypically American. These are complex issues, regardless of how simple you'd like them to be. Yes, we do take care of them while they're here (in the Krugman article I put up, he quotes a Swiss writer, who put it well: "We wanted a labor force, but human beings …
Posted to Theyve Come for Us All
-
whattheheck: that wasn't me, it was frog. I don't know what 0946 means either. But, since you got me posting, I'll add 2 more cents. I really think this issue is so complex than no one has a good grasp of it. For me, "Stop the rape of Mexico" means stop supporting the paramilitary's political harrassment of the people, the corporate takeover of natural resources, and the confiscation of Indian reservations (ejidos). Frog's point I believe has something to do with the flooding of the Mex. economy with GMO corn, destroying the self-sufficient way of life for the poor, etc. Believe …
Posted to Theyve Come for Us All
-
cabdriverinchicago, you wrote:
Since there is a two tier labor market in the US, as there is in any place that has significant illegal labor immigration, the jobs being “taken” are actually intended for those who are migrating to them since no other laborers are willing to do them.
Here's a clip from Paul Krugman's article in yesterday's NY Times:The willingness of Americans to do a job depends on how much thhat job pays - and the reason some jobs pay too little to attract native-born Americans is competition from poorly paid immigrants.
Maybe that's what you meant, but I …Posted to Theyve Come for Us All
-
Jay Cline, you wrote:
Why do you think America lost so much of its manufacturing base? Undrepriced cheap labor overseas, or overpriced domestic labor?
True. Though our government could have interpreted our workers' rights laws to extend to US corporations regardless of the countries to which they relocate. That's a policy issue as much as an economic one. I'm not a knee-jerk anti-globalist, but I think it could have been adapted for the benefit of all, and not just as a cost-cutting bonanza. We're seeing the effects of those decisions now. Corporations, to the extent at which they should be …Posted to Theyve Come for Us All
-
Jay Cline, You make a good point, economically speaking, and I absolutely agree. However, as I wrote earlier, isn't this allowing the Mexican government to shirk responsibility to its own citizenry (this is also a conclusion I've arrived upon through debate on other sites)? Doesn't this overlook, or perhaps oversimplify, human rights violations? My experiences in Southern Mexico, and subsequent interest in following its politics, is one of racial oppression. The indigenous aren't just fleeing because of economics. In many cases, they've been chased off their lands. Can the market solve everything? Indeed, the market is metastasizing the problem, due to …
Posted to Theyve Come for Us All
-
frog, Another good point. So, I guess it would be up to citizens of a republic to work to change that, yes? I like to think of these forums as the kindling of democracy...but without the spark of action or the oxygen of participation, well, to quote Ben Kenobi, "the Emperor has already won."
Posted to Theyve Come for Us All
-
Jay Cline, The this I was referring, admittedly lazily, was the entirety of the Mexican immigration debate: that is, the fact that we are encouraging through policy that more Mexicans flee their lands for safety and prosperity. Even having debated this issue, and read as much as I can on it, I'm still torn and confused. I do stand by my 3 points as far as getting clear results. 1) We seem to more or less agree, but I'm inferring from your last statement that 'If Mexico lets us, it's not our fault', which could be my misread. Mexico may be …
Posted to Theyve Come for Us All
-
Jay Cline, Re US-Mexico relations, e can do a lot short of invasion. Like sanctions, or ending the supply of arms that they are using to advance low-intensity warfare in southern Mexico. Here's where I agree with frog and cabbie: we haven't engaged in such practices, because we're benefiting from it. In fact we're encouraging it. A memo was made public in the mid-90's from Chase Bank, effectively telling Mexico to eliminate the Zapatista uprising. I'm not holding my breath for it, but I think it would be sound policy which would work. Mexico is a sovereign nation - but in …
Posted to Theyve Come for Us All
-
major major: All Italians learn what wop means by the age of 7. It's a proven fact. My family, however, had papers, so I can act indignant when that term is applied to me.
Posted to Theyve Come for Us All
-
luminous beauty: Welcome. Re Obrador: interesting indeed. My irrational take: if he's not assassinated, they're not worried about him. It is scandalous how little day laborers are compensated, which your story illustrates. And yet the average wage in Mexico is less than $2 a hour (and the cost of living in many parts was still about 80% of ours when I was there 3 years ago). I am most intrigued by this story for its larger theme of our schizophrenic continent. It illustrates so well the architectural flaws in the current globalist structure. I believe that people casually assume that it's …
Posted to Theyve Come for Us All
-
While I'm not holding my breath for it, I think it'd be ideal to start seeing ourselves as multigendered beings. That might end this pointless binaried banter vis-a-vis men and women. It's why the term "feminist" - while I greatly appreciate the movement - gets under my skin. The genetic difference between men and women is infinitessimal. I think of that Far Side with two jellyfish outhouses, the caption reading "Only they know the difference." We obviously have sexual and intellectual proclivities which differ, due to the way we evolved, but we are incredibly adaptive. Think of all the hermaphrodites, bisexuals, …
Posted to Men Growing Up to be Boys
-
wileywitch - Yeah, I agree with you. I was generalizing for the sake of brevity. Sexual proclivities are of the two the easier to agree upon (men not having babies, women not fertilizing)...intellectual is the sticky one. Look what happened to what's-his-name at Harvard who suggested men might be genetically better at math. I am no expert on this, nor even a well-informed lay person, so I'm not going to hypothesize on a touchy subject. I do know a few interesting facts due to my fascination with ambidexterity and brain function: men are predominantly left-brained, which controls linear thinking, while women …
Posted to Men Growing Up to be Boys
-
I meant 10% are left-handed. Even more interesting postscript: 98% of chimpanzees are right-handed. So maybe left-handedness is a prerequisite for evolving?
Posted to Men Growing Up to be Boys
-
wiley - one last thing: about the only thing you posted with which I have a bone of contention was on sexual patterns. Not really out and out disagreement, but still: because this is, from what I've read, a fairly complex scenario. First, a glance at primates - bonobos, our closest cousins, have rampant orgiastic sex romps. Males on males on females on males. They're pretty kinky. It keeps the society tight. And how! So we definitely have a promiscuious gene, as Las Vegas can tell you. However, the bonobos are in their natural habitat, and are largely free from predators. …
Posted to Men Growing Up to be Boys
-
johnnyincentx - Your comments re testosterone beg a question. Is the cushy life of the modern man - the lack of a need to fight, or dig ditches - lowering our testosterone levels? There is such as thing called 'psychological castration' among animals which aren't alphas and therefore can't reproduce. Is equality making gammas of us all? Could this be related? Thus the metrosexual? Maybe Love Monkey - while obviously corporate and lame - is more a product of nature than we'd like to believe...
Posted to Men Growing Up to be Boys
-
johnnyincentx, Since we're on the same page as far as humans vis-a-vis the rest of our mammalian counterparts, I'm going to defend my newly devised little theory with the logic which you've presented to me. If in fact testosterone is linked to aggressive behavior (in both men and women, as I've read), and the aggressive behavior of men has quelled in civilized quarters, I must wonder if the lack of threatening stimuli in one's environment lowers the necessity to produce abundant levels of testoterone. Environment need not equal culture. Outside influence are part of a natural cycle...plants even release chemicals in …
Posted to Men Growing Up to be Boys
-
Correction: I should say a lack of immediate reasons for aggressive behavior, rather than a lack of danger. Danger is everywhere...
Posted to Men Growing Up to be Boys
-
johnnyincentx: I'm admittedly addressing a subject out of my ken; however, I' did find this article in a medical journal in a quick google search: http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/faculty/josephs/pdf_documents/Testos_Encyclo_Entry.pdf It says: "Social experiences such as competition can cause testosterone levels to rise and fall." I am speculating that if an evironment were of a certain kind for a long enough period of time - in this case, less dependent on aggressive behavior - the human species may indeed adapt accordingly. So, overall levels of testorone may drop. I have no evidence for this, nor do I know if anyone has ever followed this line …
Posted to Men Growing Up to be Boys
-
johnnyincentx: I am unsure why you've presumed that I'm referring to immediate actions due to testosterone levels, since I've tried to stress that I'm talking about aggregate effects in the species. This could arise from 2 different scenarios: 1) The aggregate levels, which can be altered by social events (as the article describes), remain low due to lack of proper stimuli. Such as being born and raised in the suburbs, getting a corporate job, and watching a lot of TV (including sports, which is no substitute for bludgeoning people with spiky clubs). 2) The lack of necessity of the types of …
Posted to Men Growing Up to be Boys
-
wiley - is that your adrenaline or your testosterone talking?
Posted to Men Growing Up to be Boys
-
"Men should not be women and women should not be men." aquraishi: what if one is transgendered, i.e. both man and woman? What should they be? Perhaps we went a bit too far out on the testosterone thing, but I did so initially to make a case that our genders aren't written in stone. You make good points throughout your post, but then conclude in the same dualistic tradition that I believe our sciences have taught us is no longer relevant. For me, the myriad of chemical possibilities paradoxically demonstrates how similar we all are at our core composition. E pluribus …
Posted to Men Growing Up to be Boys
-
wileywitch: we are in accord on this subject. Statistics are tools (often, so are statisiticians), and should only be referenced as tendencies within delineated contexts, not as hard and fast proof of anything. I have to wonder what Ms. Chaundry thinks of this thread, since she was really writing about corporate warping of masculinity in order to sell products. But I suppose what we're all doing, by taking the discussion to the biological realm, is asking the old "chicken or the egg" question. Could the most talented marketer in the world sell face cream to Hell's Angels? Why is there this …
Posted to Men Growing Up to be Boys
-
wiley - what test did you take which gauged brain dominance (or in your case, equilibrium)? Am skeptical, though, of the mathematician thing. What about Newton, Da Vinci, Galileo, Einstein, Hawking, Barbour, Bell, Poincare? All made significant contributions in the second half of their life. Are these guys exceptions to the rule?
Posted to Men Growing Up to be Boys
-
wileywitch - Regarding your final question, there are a couple things to consider. One is statistical analysis. This tells us which are viable markets and which are not. For example, if I am selling Lexuses, I am obviously going to target people who can afford them. They break down the demographic of, say, the top 1/10th of 1% of the market, and analyze who they are through purchasing trends. Hence the classical music, black and white style reminiscent of a Cary Grant movie, and charming white-haired men and their younger wives. You sell an image of class aspiration, and associate a …
Posted to Men Growing Up to be Boys
-
The romanticization of women is a common thread in American media. We've discussed the doofuses that are to be found on television, but this was also apparent in the Dick Van Dyke show, or even the Honeymooners. It is interesting: why would 'the weaker sex' be portrayed as more competant? Is it a consolation prize? It took me until I was about 19 before I realized how fallible women were. I recall a friend putting on lipstick before meeting her boyfriend with the comment "Lipstick is power." No sane person could possibly believe that. But I digress. I don't think either …
Posted to Men Growing Up to be Boys
-
Great article.
Posted to In Search of Solidarity
-
tina1's football stat is by far my favorite. Awesome. I've not laughed out loud at anything on this site before it. Roll tide.
Posted to Black History Month Matters
-
I really don't see what's so difficult about accepting a dictatorship. Many people have done so during the history of civilization. But if Brutus is more your historical idol than Octavian, be my guest in fighting it. It might be fun.
Posted to FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You
-
mirmir - I guess I get in trouble using ironic devices to make points on this site (see 'Cronyism' thread). My point - in square terms - is that just as Rome moved from republic to dictatorship due to excess and growth, so do we follow in the same groove. I think it's instinctual. It would be up to any wisdom gained through a study of history to prevent the repeat of Roman excess (credit to George Satayana). For those who value democracy, it would be wise to give up all you have in defense of it. Otherwise, stop complaining and …
Posted to FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You
-
wiley - My servitude is coming along splendidly. I am a respectable citizen these days, with a job, a condo, and a car. I only have to answer to my masters quarterly, which is a lucky position for a slave. I don't have to engage in manual labor as I once did, nor do want for any basic needs. It is a comfortable prison, and far more desirable than the average wage slave, who make roughly $10 an hour. I don't recall ever contradicting my plan of action in these posts. But I'm the one telling you to accept dictatorship, remember? …
Posted to FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You
-
wiley - my solution is a sucker's game...by that I suppose you mean that sacrifice is the way of the fool. Perhaps. So you proscribe resting in comfort, while moderately trying to change minds in an insulated left-wing discussion group. Have you looked into the efficacy of this? It's useful to remember the clock is ticking. On the other hand, personal sacrifice in the name of social change has a rich history of precedent. Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Gandhi, the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, Susan B. Anthony, the workers of Flint, Michigan in 1936, Cesar Chavez, and all the people …
Posted to FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You
-
mirmir - My position on dictatorships is this: our biology is geared for alpha-dominant relationships. The less educated a society, the more prone is that society to collapse into biologically-ingrained responses. So the less civilized we are, the better the odds that a powerful alpha or alphas will take control, and the majority will succumb. It has happened over and over again in history. My point, which is apparently irking wiley, is that action - which will presumably require sacrifice - is time-tested tactic to counter this trend. It may very well be hopeless, but if one really cares they will …
Posted to FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You
-
As for you wiley, your ire is again confusing, as is your logic. First of all, Susan B. Anthony's death was not a crime. Nor was Cesar Chavez's. Or Rosa Park's. Or the Dalai Lama's or Mandela's (they're still alive). They're not martyrs. But they chose a difficult path in the name of democracy. That is a sacrifice which most aren't willing to do. Lastly, you can't drop something like "Your "solution" is a sucker's game" without expecting a modicum of sarcasm. As far as a younger audience, you're absolutely right. You appear to have made up your mind long ago, …
Posted to FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You
-
mirmir - I don't really think it matters whether there's hope or not. And with all due respect, action is a lot more than showing up at protests. Working with the disadvantaged, doing research, organizing resistance. Even capitalists can join the fun. I've been fortunate enough to meet people who understand finance and economics, who are using their skills for humanitarian acts instead of personal enrichment. That has been instructive. I'm of the opinion that creating 'anti-corporations' could do more in a day than a million students in front of the White House ever could. Imagine if Chomsky was a mogul? …
Posted to FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You
-
mirmir: I use the Crawford example because it’s recent and was widely publicized. Of course there are other ways to “actually do something.” But we have to do something, we must act. As a good man once said: “We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.” Sorry. Missed that part. Yes, we agree.
Posted to FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You
-
mirmir - I'm not knocking that protest. In fact I'm strongly in favor of it. My point of contention - which you seemed to more or less agree with - is with 'activists' who go to a few protests and do nothing much else. My favorite satire of this is the People's Front of Judea in 'The Life of Brian'. I also think debate of this nature is essential for the democratic process. But it's far too easy to get locked into these things, spout opinion, and go on about one's day. Bush would like it a lot less if businesses …
Posted to FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You
-
working class is middle class.
Posted to FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You
-
Mirmir, by all estimations, the economy is becoming more barbell than bell curve, with a larger lower class and a fat upper class, like a banana republic. That means that the middle class will be split two ways. If you are middle class, I guess you better hope you fall up rather than down. There are ways to free yourself from the economy: collectives, self-sustainability, conservation of energy. Creating 'mutual funds' with like-minded people in support of like-minded business. All sorts of cool stuff. The middle class has never been taught that there's any other goal but trying to be rich. …
Posted to FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You
-
This doesn’t necessarily logically follow my first sentence, but I think it would be a mistake to think that income level alone defines middle class. I don't. Middle class is a tax bracket. There's an upper-, a lower-, and a middle-middle-class. The majority of the middle-class works hard. The reason coal miners do that awful work is because of the pay. They make more than, say, a secretary. I wouldn't classify a secretary as working-class, but I would classify a coal miner, a fireman, or a cop as middle-class. The large middle class was America's beacon for 40 years. It's only …
Posted to FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You
-
Luminous - here's to growing tomatoes!
Posted to FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You
-
Middle class (n) - The socioeconomic class between the working class and the upper class. I stand corrected.
Posted to FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You
-
Working Class (n) - In the United States, the population of blue-collar workers, particularly skilled and semiskilled laborers, who differ in values, but not necessarily in income, from the middle class. In Marxism, this term refers to propertyless factory workers. See, luminous? Talking out of your ass is part of the learning process as well. Don't look at it as pouncing.
Posted to FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You
-
Mirmir, not luminous.
Posted to FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You
-
To play off luminous's post - that was pretty much what I was trying to get at, imprecise language and all. So, and this is an open question: need there always be worker bees and queen bees? While I'd like to think this isn't necessary, the animal kingdom is pretty clear in its message. Are we so different? Aren't hierarchies natural, and can democracy really function in large populations? What kind of economic system could allow more equitably the genetic leaders to rise to the top?
Posted to FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You
-
mirmir - thanks for the accurate class structure breakdown. As far as the efficacy of democracy, I agree that is a whole other debate. Since you used Madison as an example, it may be worth noting that he was an incredible elitist, and feared any notion of popular rule. He once said something to the effect that the purpose of government was to protect the wealthy class. So, his vision of democracy is going strong...
Posted to FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You
-
whattheheck - I must disagree that the culture of lobbyists isn't Bush (i.e. Republican) policy. The number of lobbyists have doubled during this administration. And people who say that Abramoff et al. is a "bipartisan" problem are full of shit. Paul Krugman wrote a great article on this yesterday. If anything, he ensured that less money went to Democrats. Democrats are no saints, but Republicans are definitely little devils. A word on etiquette by Paul Carus: The most important laws of nature in the ethical domain are those which regulate all the various and sometimes very delicate relations of man to …
Posted to FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You
-
mirmir -
‘In England, at this day, if elections were open to all classes of people, the property of landed proprietors would be insecure. An agrarian law would soon take place. If these observations be just, our government ought to secure the permanent interests of the country against innovation. Landholders ought to have a share in the government, to support these invaluable interests and to balance and check the other. They ought to be so constituted as to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority. The Senate, therefore, ought to be this body.’
James Madison. At Lenin's Tomb, commenter …Posted to FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You
-
mirmir - It's never fair to anyone to be mythologized. But that is what we have done to the Founders. Christ, we capitalize the word 'Founders' as if they we on high. Every one of them that I have studied (and Madison isn't among them) were incredible personalities with all-too-human contradictions, foibles, etc. And while it may not be an accurate summation of the man in toto, someone's own words are always fair game. Adams will always be held accountable by history for the Alien & Sedition Acts; Jefferson for his maddeningly warped views on human freedom and the institution of …
Posted to FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You
-
To get this line of thinking back on topic: is it possible to amend a 200+ year-old document which governed a pastoral society with an agricultural-based economy to control a 21st century urban and suburban landscape fueled by corporate finance and high technology? I often make parallels between America and Rome in my posts. Rome too was a small agrarian society governed by a wonderful compromise between the rich and the middle class. As Rome's conquests grew, the republican rule was no longer functional. It deteriorated into an empire with totalitarian rule. The Roman people, made fat and lazy through pillage, …
Posted to FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You
-
ah, wiley. Isn't the struggle for vindication exhausting?
Posted to FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You
-
mirmir - I've always felt that the schizophrenia of the Founders led to the major problems in this country. As one historian noted, the two biggest non-decisions of the Constitution - slavery, and whether true power rested with the states or the fed - were only solved by the largest war in human history at the time. So I don't revere the Founders; however I often admire their adherence to principle. I like their bombastic statements and their Hamiltonian duels. A simpler time. Keep the titles coming. I'm writing these down. I'm currently reading Shelby Foote's Civil War series, so I'm …
Posted to FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You
-
mirmir - Re one's words: history is an unforgiving prick. As a friend of mine used to say, for whatever kind of life Malthus may have led, he is forever buried in the minds of eighth graders as: Malthus = overpopulation. Madison was the little giant, Father of the Constitution, etc. His wife saved Washington's portrait. This is the mythologizing to which I was referring. I don't think it sullies Madison that he was an elitist. I'm not even sure that elitism is wrong (see above question re hierarchies). But I think it does serve to round the man out a …
Posted to FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You
-
mirmir - Actually, I was referring to another book, which is, I believe, the first in the series of "A People's History of..." post-Zinn. I can't recall the author, and am presently too lazy to do a search. Suffice it to say it is of the same vein, and has some great facts about the American Revolution, that you as an obvious buff might like. I don't mean to disparage Adams, Jefferson, or Madison (maybe Hamilton). But I find them more interesting to learn their moments of weakness and failure. It's also very instructive to recall that they had a completely …
Posted to FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You
-
wiley - Have no idea what you're talking about. Please return to the forum with questions and/or answers. Until then, I'm just going to make fun of you in public. Noogie!!!
Posted to FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You
-
Wow...thanks for doing my research for me, LB. If I had bothered, perhaps I'd look less stupid for missing the whole Ray Raphael clue offered by mirmir.
Posted to FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You
-
As an armchair Florida historian, I've come across that the Pocahontas myth got mixed up with the story of an English explorer who married a Calusa princess. Can't verify this, since my books are elsewhere...
Posted to FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You
-
Having re-read the first section, I don't see anyone who advocated protesting as a viable solution. I wrote: And with all due respect, action is a lot more than showing up at protests. Working with the disadvantaged, doing research, organizing resistance. However, protests are not ust for students or professional activists. Think of all the massive protests in history that only succeeded because of the great number of people of all ages. India, South Africa, the current protests of South American Indians, and our own civil rights movement. I was privileged to see Mixe Indians take over government buildings in Oaxaca …
Posted to FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You
-
WTH - To preface this, and you should know this by now anyway, but I am not a Democrat. Re Republicans vs. Democrats: yes, both must operate in a system that encourages corruption and corporate preference. However, I think it's a mistake to say, "They're both bad." The Republicans are really bad. Like Franco bad. To equivocate is to be apathetic, and to allow the GOP to rule us like vassals forever. I truly believe that Clinton had to pick his battles, knowing that the Republicans would do anything to destroy him. He played the game pretty slyly, but for that …
Posted to FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You
-
mirmir - I know exactly where that is. That's bizarre. Particularly because the bridge is quite a distance from the Port of Palm Beach. I'm going to have to do some snooping... somewhat relevant anecdote: It is illegal to take unauthorized pictures anywhere on the island of Palm Beach, and that authorization lies with the local government. Indeed, if someone who lived on the island allowed you to shoot a movie at their house, the police could come and shut you down. Also, if you were black or Latino, you needed a special ID card to remain on the island up …
Posted to FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You
-
Zizek referencing Apocalypse Now is for me akin to mixing chocolate and peanut butter. The horror, the horror!
Posted to Jack Bauer and the Ethics of Urgency
-
I was unaware that people still used the phrase "Who's your daddy". tina1, you never cease to instruct.
Posted to Jack Bauer and the Ethics of Urgency
-
tina1 - what if both parties are wrong for engaging in cronyism? What does that mean?
Posted to Recess Appointments Reek of Cronyism
-
tina1 - The writer isn't saying that Bush is the only one who puts in cronies. He's saying Bush puts in cronies. People unqualified to take on the work at hand. That's relevant news, and all concerned citizens should take notice. It's not so either-or, you know. I know this may sound strange, but the majority of people who come here see little difference between Bush and Clinton (other than Clinton was a Rhodes Scholar, and Bush is a fool). I can only speak for myself, but I'd like to see a 'Lincoln': that is, intellectually radical (read Lincoln's writings on …
Posted to Recess Appointments Reek of Cronyism
-
wiley just can't accept that I am madly in love with tina1. Her inane ramblings are the sweet incantations of the siren. O, to be cruelly tied to the masthead of the Phaeaco that is virtual space!
Posted to Recess Appointments Reek of Cronyism
-
wiley - I think one can find in all of my posts an strong advocation for democracy. See esp. the tookie thread, which has been quite stimulating. As a student of history and a realist, however, I'm placing my money on absolute consolidation of power. While by no means inevitable, t's a pretty safe bet. My rhetorical approach is admittedly caustic, and prone to 'fire and brimstone', but we all have our stylistic preferences, don't we? Can I help it if I'm a big Jonathan Edwards fan? Therefore, your petulance is confusing, and regrettable. This is why the term 'liberal' is …
Posted to Recess Appointments Reek of Cronyism
-
wiley - I interpreted your statement - "Perhaps you both should seek out an admittedly dictatorial society, since that’s what you both apparently want rocco and tina1" as one not born from a desire to convince me of another path, but arising out of a level of contempt. Contempt is an incarnation of anger, so I categorized your lumping me with fascists as "angrily painting with large brushes". Please correct me if my assumption was inaccurate. Your response "whatever" also reflects a level of disdain for my opinion. It does not address any of my points, nor does it seem to …
Posted to Recess Appointments Reek of Cronyism
-
wiley - By the way...when did I say we should be open to a dictatorship? Please tell me the thread. I can't seem to find that anywhere.
Posted to Recess Appointments Reek of Cronyism
-
Wiley - thanks. Couldn't find that. So...no comment on the whole irony thing?
Posted to Recess Appointments Reek of Cronyism
-
FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You thread, rocco. Very true. What, pray tell, are you doing to counteract this? It better be good. Because bitching about imminent dictatorship without action is tantamount to acceptance, without the intellectual consistency. In other words, irony writ large.
Posted to Recess Appointments Reek of Cronyism
-
wiley - With respect, I misread your last post as an affront, instead of the title of the thread which you generously gave me. But still - are you active? It really adds to one's street cred.
Posted to Recess Appointments Reek of Cronyism
-
wiley - brava. So far the realest thing I've read from you. No presumptions. An honest statement of personal position. I will now try to rip that apart, though you made it more difficult through coherent and detached rhetoric. "Street cred" is another way of saying 'ethos.' How are you going to convince the middle-class of your opinion? Would you listen to a doctor who'd never personally examined a body? Why listen to a liberal who could very well be talking out of their ass? Conservatives are very skeptical of other beliefs, even if they're in their own benefit. A logical …
Posted to Recess Appointments Reek of Cronyism
-
I've never told you how to live your life. I only have proffered options that would be more consistent with your chosen ideology. If you recall, this little banter started with "Perhaps you both should seek out an admittedly dictatorial society, since that’s what you both apparently want rocco and tina1. " I don't consider that discussing issues. I consider that poor etiquette. I'm guessing you won't see my point of view on this either, nor will you address it. A pity. But I keep trying. Jude Rocco of Hopeless Causes, remember?
Posted to Recess Appointments Reek of Cronyism
-
Seems fair enough. Palestinians want Hamas, they get Hamas. Isn't that democracy?
Posted to Hamas: Sharon's Legacy?
-
Looks like the article was right. Hamas wins in landslide.
Posted to Hamas: Sharon's Legacy?
-
cabby, please make paragraphs. I really want to read your posts.
Posted to Hamas: Sharon's Legacy?
-
"If the people cannot rule themselves, then someone will have to rule them." - Julius Caesar, from the play 'Crossing the Rubicon'
Posted to An Imperial President
-
rule - to exercise control (over), govern. To dominate; hold sway over. To mark with straight parallel lines. (American Heritage Dictionary) wileywitch - are you not getting a joke? Did someone tell one? I just think this scenario is all too familiar. Don't be sad. The Roman Empire did have a few benevolent despots. Let's hope we get them in our lifetime, yeah? I'm hoping for some good public baths.
Posted to An Imperial President
-
As it was in Rome. The political class was entirely made up of elites, and the imperial families - like the Julio-Claudians - came out of them. Caesar was ironically pretty radical, which ended in his demise. So in that sense you're right - Bush is a moron. That really doesn't matter though. He's controlled by those who aren't morons. But choice wasn't really in the cards then or now. True Caesar was popular, but so is Bush, really. I wrote this on another thread - people without real values will gladly hand over popular rule for the sake of convenience …
Posted to An Imperial President
-
Wherever we go from here, survival will eventually trump all. Our chances aren’t exactly getting any better, but life is certainly interesting.
Well put. I think it takes a lot of the stress out of one's life when you discard any hoped-for outcome. It's all really quite beautiful, when you think about it. We should all thank Bush for giving us a purpose. Thanks Bush!Posted to An Imperial President
-
Re adaptation to corporate imperialism: create a corporation with values. I wish lefties would get off their high horse, roll up their sleeves, and engage in capitalism with both hands. There are many successful examples - Costco is a great one. The system is indeed rigged, but it has gaping flaws. Exploit 'em.
Posted to An Imperial President
-
Yeah, it's like double secret probation. Costco: fairly progressive worker strategies (pays living wage, benefits, etc), keeps costs down, stays fairly local. It's a good model. Whole Foods is as well, though I found out they union bust. I'm sure people can get more creative and more brazen then those two. And there are other more radical (if much smaller) corp.'s doing the same. A sure fire way to fail is for the left to eschew industry as an option, as they have been. The very idea is anathema to most radicals. I can't see a socialist system ever coming out …
Posted to An Imperial President
-
At least she admits cheating. It's oddly refreshing. Like drinking Scope.
Posted to An Imperial President
-
wileywitch - I respond to whomever I choose. If there is to be any sort of coherent dialogue - especially in a given thread - then isn't tina1 a representative of the type of person who welcomes a dictator, esp. of the Caesar variety which I started this post off with? Isn't that worth dealing with? Battling with the hopeless is a great honor.
Posted to An Imperial President
-
Call me jude rocco. I understand your efforts, but I disagree with them. Out of curiosity, I checked a few Republican sites. They outright ban us (you must agree to be a conservative to enter). That's seems pretty standard -- we may change someone's mind, and that can't be tolerated. And shockingly, I've agreed a couple times with tina1. Maybe we won't seem so strange and detestable to her if she finds commonality in us. Let's keep the robots around, if for no other reason, to prove that democracy allows for everybody to speak, and that even the minority of opinion …
Posted to An Imperial President
-
Atta girl, tina1! Spew your nonsense freely.
Posted to An Imperial President
-
wiley - Genuinely appreciate your reasons, and your methods. I just try to think of tina1 as the average American, who is woefully uneducated, and whose curiosity is fed by shysters like her radio heroes. Think of her as a prodigal daughter. She's coming here for more reasons than she cares to admit...
Posted to An Imperial President
-
scorp - You make an excellent point. FDR's social programs didn't get us out of the Depression. The wartime economy did; and ever since, the war business has propped up our economy, despite our dismal practices of labor suppression, market fixing, and public subsidy of the corporations that dominate our pseudo-capitalist system. I could be mistaken, but I believe the arms industry is still the most profitable industry in the world, and we are the world's leader in weapons manufacture. So it's not really our capitalism that makes us rich, but our warlike quality, a deduction which your comment brilliantly evokes. …
Posted to No Discounted Transit for Oil
-
To reinforce Anti-War Conservative's point: 60% of the $1.35 trillion tax cut went to the top 1%. That means that over 800 billion dollars when to roughly 3 million people. An average of about $260000 to $270000 a person. In 2001, I actually got denied my $300 - the letter from the IRS actually told me in so many words that I didn't make enough money that year to get a refund.
Posted to No Discounted Transit for Oil
-
'WENT to roughly...' Jeez.
Posted to No Discounted Transit for Oil
-
wiley - my god, that's it! It's computer generated! tina1 is a robot. I must be blind. They must just go from left-wing discussion group to left-wing discussion group in the hopes of linking people up to their wackjob sites. Maybe their pay is tied to amount of hits...man, that's efficiency. I always have to respect the Machiavellian ways of these guys. Empty on the inside indeed.
Posted to No Discounted Transit for Oil
-
tina1 (if you actually exist, which I'm starting to doubt) - I'll try my hand at your 'cigarettes-and-lotto-as-poor-taxes.' I agree. So there. The tax cuts for the rich is, however, a problem of much greater significance. And has neither topic has anything to do with Hugo Chavez, as wiley points out.
Posted to No Discounted Transit for Oil
-
Re Chavez's flaws: http://us.ft.com/ftsuperpage/superpage.php?news id=fto010520061911042487&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=PPC&utm_campaign=NewsKW But the 'liberal' media always talks about how dangerous Chavez is. The NY Times just did a story on that bridge thing; and the above Financial Times article of course. I've only heard about the Citgo program from ITT and Chomsky. They're reeeeaally watching Evo Morales. He better not step outta line...
Posted to No Discounted Transit for Oil
-
try again: here New at this html stuff...
Posted to No Discounted Transit for Oil
-
help
Posted to No Discounted Transit for Oil
-
How come we never hear about how the US kicked Britain out of Venezuela to use for its own petroleum purposes? Or that we backed a coup against Chavez - even though Pat Robertson was universally condemned by Repubs and Dems alike - and that coup failed so awfully it even got reported in mainstream press? Why is there no attempt to learn about Venezuela in any meaningful way?
Posted to No Discounted Transit for Oil
-
Jon Smith Subs has an ad: Picture of Castro - Bad Cuban. Picture of Sandwich - Good Cuban. Okay, so I like that ad.
Posted to No Discounted Transit for Oil
-
Rabbit - As a citizen of the world, and as a citizen of a country which is largely controlled by US policy, you do have a say. But don't pretend like you know what's going on here. Australia is comparable to one of our more western (kooky) states, like Cheney's Wyoming. Live here for a bit before criticizing its admittedly brainwashed citizens. If nothing else, it's good form.
Posted to No Discounted Transit for Oil
-
Just feelin' ornery. My discourse has been far too civil as of late.
Posted to No Discounted Transit for Oil
-
wiley - I have really tried to relinquish hope as a necessary variable in logical discourse. Isn't it ironic that the hopeless appear to have hope? Do tell, however, whatever you gather re Bolivia. Very interested.
Posted to No Discounted Transit for Oil
-
g-love - Interesting that you refer to Tookie as an 'animal', and yet scoff at 'the religious card.' Therefore, I'm guessing you are an agnostic or an atheist (or at any rate don't believe in Jehovah), and probably believe in evolution, but still hold some absurdly humanist beliefs, apparently based not on reason but on emotion. Allow me to explain. Quick etymology: Good -> God. Don't believe in God, don't believe in Good. Moral relativity. See why humanism is so full of sh!t? I assume you most likely accept the evidence that homo sapiens evolved during the Pleistecene era, a most …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
Running Man? Televised? You guys in a rush to outdo imperial Rome? Aren't we declining at an appropriate speed?
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
g-love - I read everything, and did not contradict nor make redundant any point. I was merely pointing out inherent logical flaws. And, please, the word is "capisci". Fa un paesano un piacere, eh? Your arguments tend to vascillate between detachment and outrage, which I find interesting. If you are, as you write, wholly detached from this, you rightly will not shed a tear. But then you wouldn't shed a tear for his victims either, nor care in any meaningful way for them. Weren't the majority of his victims part of the ganglife? Or is Tookie out of sympathy with you …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
g-love - Thanks for answering. I do so love a good banter. Your definitions of 'good' and 'bad' do fall under the widely accepted tenants of humanism. I believe it was John Stuart Mill who posited that the good is whatever brings the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people. I think that applies to your above claim that 'most people don't want to die.' I have always found this to be intellectually unsatisfying. It seems to admit moral relativity without following that line of thinking to what seems to me the logical conclusion - that is, there really are …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
I misspelled 'tenent.' That's bad.
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
'Tenet.' Damn!
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
luminous - Well, we can't all be Buddhists, can we? Western Buddhists piss me off. I do like a good green tea, though. whattheheck - It's refreshing to have statistical data which reinforces your departure from logic, isn't it? Surely you must know that those figures can lie - show you everything but tell you nothing. What made you think that suddenly ending a state policy of second-class citizenry would magically solve the massive social problems of a subjugated people overnight? It's only been fifty years - less than a lifetime. What made you think that children would get their fathers …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
luminous beauty - Yeah, pretty much everything pisses me off, so don't worry about offending me. And sorry to be pedantic, but it's 'eSpresso.' Just trying to remain consistent. I hold myself to the same rigid and unforgiving standards of syntactic excellence (see above frustration with 'tenet'). whattheheck - I applaud your open-minded stance on property ownership, and seeing as you lived pre-civil rights movement, I am sure your perspective differs greatly from my own. Even Bill Cosby sounds racist to me these days. So I do try to remain open myself as to the pros and cons of affirmative action. …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
AN historian. See what I mean, luminous? It's my own personal hell.
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
whattheheck - One last thought: after re-reading your last post, I was struck by the fact that you considered a black TV channel and dual languages divisive. Biology loves diversity, and it would seem to me that a proper social system should follow. Is not the global populace multi-lingual and multi-ethnic? Why shouldn't we allow for many different faces on TV, or different voices? America to me is more of a thought than a place. Its greatest potential always lay in its open character. Benjamin Franklin once quipped that the Founders were setting an example for humanity to follow. He embraced …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
luminous - Happens to the best of us. Normally I don't point out that kind of stuff, since I think it's usually a cheap rhetorical device, and just poor etiquette. I have decided only to point out when people misspell Italian words, thus fortifying my own online goomba persona. whattheheck - Hm. Well, you certainly have a strong sense of self, I'll grant you that. James Joyce wrote in Ulysses: "History is a nightmare from which I am constantly trying to awake." I think this is appropriate to your 'tabula rasa' theory for human equality. Unlike most species, humans obtain artificial …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
Addendum - regarding Asians, you can't compare apples to oranges. Asia - specifically China, India, and Japan - had a rich educational history until its subjugation by Europe in the 19th century. Therefore it wasn't as difficult to battle the pressures of domination by whitey, and is why they now thrive, both as immigrants and independent nations. Africans and American Indians, however, were tribal societies, and were ripped away from their cultural base through indoctrination. If you wish to point to their tribal status as evidence of their genetic or social inferiority, I would direct you to the book 'Guns, Germs, …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
hey, how are you guys doing italics and bold? HTML? I suddenly feel handicapped.
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
cool
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
whattheheck - that was an interesting interpretation of what I had written, and an even more interesting dismissal of it. Followed by a personal anecdote. None of it dealt seriously with any of my points, nor did you counter any of them with logic. But that's okay. I'll follow. This discussion board is an academic exercise. We aren't determining public policy on this site. And everybody is talking about real life. Besides, my dreams are a lot more interesting than the Nazi suburban utopia you drew out (why not pretty boys and athletic girls? Like Greece?). So in academic exercises, you …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
Whence comes your vitirol, whattheheck? I never blamed you for anything. I just double-checked. And you are engaging in a theoretical discussion as well, so I don't understand your paradoxical disdain for theory. Nor do I take any blame. I do think we have a responsibility for the actions of our government, if you take the concepts of democracy seriously. That includes past actions. Did you believe that it was right for Germany to pay reparations? Or that Swiss banks that got rich off money that the Nazis stole from Jews owe that money to Holocaust survivors? I think that example …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
Kuya - Re sentencing: the majority of people in jail are drug-related, and the majority of them are marijuana-related. Therefore the real criminals have to be juggled around a bit. So, decriminalize drug use - or at least marijuana - and watch the space appear. And to respond to your position on punitive theory: there are 2 main schools of thought. One is punishment for the sake of punishment (the vengeance quotient) and the other is reform/rehabilitation. This last has been pretty much discarded. I can think of few exceptions - boot camp for violent teens, a diving school (which had …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
Kuya - I assumed you were carrying on WTH's logic in an earlier post. Wasn't talking about lighter sentencing for criminals based on race, but a reparations program, which would presumably cause a decline in violent crime. Economic status and education work pretty well in stopping crime. To be honest, I don't care deeply about property crime. But that would probably go down too. Unfortunately, I think America is far too racist to ever consider such an option. And they don't want us educated, either. We might actually all agree on this stuff, and stop going to church. Rabbit: I am …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
As you had too little time yesterday, so I do today: I'm going to Miami Beach - la isla mas bonita en el estado para trabajar. See, it's not so bad, is it? Miami is a good example: the Cuban, and subsequent South American, immigration has made Miami one of the most interesting cities in America. The diverse atmosphere is unique, and gives Miami a unity. You want to be bilingual here. Switzerland is another example. 4 languages in a country the size of 2 Rhode Islands and a Delaware. They're oddly unified. Maybe it's because they at least 2 to …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
Still haven't left for Miami...what's wrong with me? Wait, so the government programs to help blacks actually destroyed their family base because it 'paid girls to have kids out of marriage?' So they weren't destroyed before? Do you listen to much blues circa 1930's? People were having children out of wedlock all over the place. The black males were often psychologically emasculated. There's a lot of evidence for this. As you are an artist and not a scientist, I would turn you to fiction such as 'Invisible Man', 'If He Hollers Let Him Go', 'Native Son', and 'A Raisin in the …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
One last point: have you been paying attention to the proliferation of white poverty? It's not just the blacks... Over sixty percent of welfare recipients are white, and it's growing. We're all becoming really poor, while the rich sip champagne. Have you seen property values in Florida, New York City, San Francisco recently? You make two good points: globalization and immigration will wipe out American production but good. My fear is that whites will refuse to accept this until it's too late for even them. Just ask Clarence Thomas what he thinks about our ensuing economic struggles.
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
whattheheck - I never said I thought there was hope. I only was writing what could be done to alleviate current problems. I won't defend luminous beauty's stance because I don't know its source - but I know my own. Current calculations predict that your grandchildren will die horribly. I'm about as hopeless a person as you'll probably find. And, like tina1, you have admitted what we were waiting for: conservatives will resort to force (or cheating in her case - see Alito thread). That's pretty natural. I would agree that Republicans are the alphas, and alphas resort to force to …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
Rabbit - thanks. Good advice. To reciprocate: try the Socratic method of arguing. It's less obnoxious, and you make people have to respond. And because you make them respond, less ego is involved. It's win-win.
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
aquarius. This is my age.
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
Communism is not the opposite of fascism. Fascism is a form of government, and communism is a form of economics. One can be a fascist communist, like Stalin. Fascism - or more precisely totalitarianism - means that a small group of people controls all aspects of human life in the society. Since that group is a small minority in the society, it needs to use coercion or force to instill fear in the many, in order to keep them in line. Which you tacitly advocated above. Therefore, you're a fascist. Is there a flaw in my syllogism? Anyway, the opposite of …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
hoopsnow - Why are conservatives always such emotional train wrecks? How about a little stoicism?
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
whattheheck - am genuinely interested in a translation. Language is a passion of mine. To reciprocate: Mi dispiace che sei cosi' arrabiato, ma questo solo e' un posto per l'esspressione delle idee. E' una grande parte del sistema democratico. E' migliore discutere che combattere. Non e' vero? Trade ya.
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
luminous - would you believe I misspelled 'espressione'? Karma's a bitch, ain't it? That's what I get for knocking Buddhism...
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
'I believe that whoever espouses bullshit has faith in the poor memory of their audience.' Good ol' Eco. Regarding rhetorical style: well, I was being kind of a prick to Rabbit, as is my wont from time to time, because I think he just likes his thoughts out in the ether, which doesn't necessarily interest me, even if I agree with most everything he writes (which is why it doesn't interest me). Of course, Rabbit can, and obviously will, do whatever he wants, which I have no real problem with, but I'll always be a prick. He knows the deal by …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
P.S. I really wish you hadn't given me the Schopenhauer link. As if I haven't been blowing off enough work this week, now I have to read this. Thanks a lot.
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
I like formality. It's WASPs in yellow robes that piss me off. 'I'm no f@cking Buddhist, but this is Enlightenment.' - Bjork
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
Always been a big Schopenauer fan. Good to see something I've not read of his. I was referring to the structure of Buddhism, or any religion, so long as you actually grew up with it. For a German philosophy buff, I'm assuming you're familiar with Spengler, and possibly his writing on worldviews as expression of cultural depth perceptions. I don't like it when people try to jump ship...it's false. Your friend Mr. Frankfurt might agree. Besides, Buddhism means the end of the ride, which will comes as it does. Whereas being pissed off is always dynamic and stimulating. I live for …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
The Buddha. I like him verra much. But he no help wit curve ball. To seriously address your points (while maintaining friction): nirvana refers, in my understanding, to the end of the illusion. That will comes as it does, says me. I'm in no rush to see it go. In fact, in a timeless view, the end of suffering is at hand. So, nothing to do, nowhere to go. Buddhism was a negation of Hinduism, and ch'an or zen buddhism the negation of the negation. I think zen is more logical, but then you're in some pretty loopy territory... ...which can …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
I've been a real junkie this week. Nothing like a work deadline to make me more interested in something else. whattheheck - Mi dispiace che sei cosi’ arrabiato, ma questo solo e’ un posto per l’esspressione delle idee. E’ una grande parte del sistema democratico. E’ migliore discutere che combattere. Non e’ vero? Sorry you're so upset, but this is only a place for the expression of ideas. It's a big part of the democratic system. It's better to argue that to fight. Right? I'm going ahead and pegging you as a libertarian after those last posts, which is probably why …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
And 'conspiracy' gets bandied about too much. What about systemic collusion? If the rich are maximizing profit by any means necessary, which is what passes for capitalism these days, and those in political power come out of that system, wouldn't their goals naturally coincide, thus giving the appearance of collusion? I don't see why that's hard to accept. But yes, they are also stupid (did you guys see that the Admin. were briefed about Katrina's potential effects days before it? God, they're incompetent).
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
Sexual relief as depression is a bit male-centric, or so I’ve been told. I meant in terms of emission...women also emit (well, some of 'em anyway). If you want to get nitpicky, clitoral and vaginal orgasms are brought on by friction and tension. That's my gynecological rift for the day. Fun stuff! What I meant was that you're not holding up a flower for me, or even making me an emoticon flower (like this: @};---); nor are you "indirectly pointing" in order to bring about sartori. You are using rhetoric to sway me, thus reinforcing western assumptions. We're battling it out. …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
Gotta give it up for the Buddhists' 'compassion for all' tidbit. Think they're on to something.
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
luminous beauty - First off, you loved the emoticon rose. Admit it. Or throw away forever any trust I have in your beatific state of bliss. Second: re 'Satori' - touche'. I really always thought it was sartori. My new bit of knowledge for the day. Now to the good stuff. I disagree about Buddhism vs. quantum physics. The logic espoused by great Buddhist thinkers was pre-science, hence intuitive. That is, while logic was utilized, the gaping blanks were filled with nonsense. The Dalai Lama himself once pointed out that he learned that the moon emitted its own light, until he …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
Rabbit - so, you're human after all. Congrats. Not a big fan of astrology. It's too vague. And, as someone once said, if astrology works because of the weight of the stars at that particular moment in time, how come the doctors who pull out the little babe aren't factored into the equation? As for whattheheck, I'll let him answer for himself. Despite my remarks, I place no preconception on any troll, regular, or in-between. Except, of course, you.
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
Re beginner's mind: If you've not done so, I highly suggest reading Julian Barbour's 'End of Time.' Cutting-edge quantum theory that time doesn't exist (but the Buddhists already knew that, didn't they?) here's a link to a short documentary (don't fear the dutch...the doc is in english: http://noorderlicht.vpro.nl/afleveringen/2380593/
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
luminous - Will answer your questions in numerological order, like a good westerner. 1. I ensnared myself in nothing. I was born into this mess, but I feel no reason to leave it. It's a mess, but it's my mess. This is also why I love having nightmares, which rarely happens, unfortunately. Such danger! Such fun! Without jailtime! 2. 'Why not?' is an acceptable response. This is the kind of scepticism I like to hear. 3. I won't engage in sophistry by picking and choosing from Mahayana and Hinayana Buddhism. But the notion of choosing a path created by others is …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
sidenote: California Buddhists often take vows and eat lichens, then fly first-class to visit the Dalai Lama, or go on a Buddhist retreat in Big Sur. Just as I can criticize nutbag Christians, while liking and respecting the works of St. Teresa of Avila, I can criticize Richard Gere, while internally disciphering the eightfold path in my own chosen vernacular.
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
cabdriverinchicago - good posts, bad edit. Make some paragraphs, will ya? It's like reading an obituary.
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
quick response: Libertarians come in all forms. In short, they believe that government should stick to very little, and are usually for legalization of drugs, social equity, etc. But anti-welfare (that includes corporate welfare) and stuff like that. So we've hammered it out to "Government benefits should be for the needy only and only as long as needed." Agreed. Now...who decides who's needy, and who decides how long it's needed? PS Low-interest loans sounds like indentured servitude to me. Why not public works? It helped many a man in the thirties, like my grandfather. No public works because people think that's …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
whattheheck - what if affirmative action was instead based on socioeconomics (as I've often thought it should be)? That is, schools must take a certain number of poor people into their university, as their high schools were most assuredly a hindrance to education (there's not a powerful PTA lobby in the ghetto). Wouldn't that piss people off too, especially since a lot of these poor people just happen to be black and Latino. Last word on the Black Entertainment Television. Black pride was a movement to get blacks not to feel ashamed to be black, as they had been indoctrinated to …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
A final point: I think there is something inherently wrong with the phrases 'reverse discrimination' or 'reverse racism.' You're either racist and discriminate, or you aren't and don't. Those phrase seem to imply that racism naturally goes in one direction. As if to say, "Hey! They're trying to reverse the normal flow of racism!" And maybe they'd have a point. Aren't the most racist people traditionally the race in power? Like Sunnis are racist against Kurds, like Chinese are racist against Tibetans, Japanese against Koreans, etc. So if that's true, then reverse racism - i.e. from the powerless to the powerful …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
This is my last for a while, as I get to go to Naples!!! Florida. Eh. Stupid northerners always have to schedule these winter things in the most god awful towns. Maybe I can brush up on my shuffleboard. Ahem. whattheheck - first post we agree more or less. I'd watch those 'rock through the East Room' comments, though. They know where you live. BET Post: Luck of the draw indeed - hard-working independent stock you Scandanavians. Northern European culture. Which was a lot like British culture - at least, in comparison to 16th-17th century African culture. No one thought your …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
Dear Lord. Promise me, all of you, that you'll never ever go to Naples. It's like Phoenix by the bay.
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
re racial slurs: I think we need to create more, due to the greater diversifying of genes. How does one properly offend someone of 4 distinct 'races'? We need to seriously reflect upon this.
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
whattheheck - I don't know enough to intelligently speak on teachers' unions, but I've heard the horror stories from relatives who are teachers, particularly in New York City, where my aunt is dean of a large presinct in Manhattan. However it is a fact that poor schools are horribly underfunded, and Bush's 'No Child Left Behind' program is so bad I won't even dignify its existence by acknowledging it. It's a way to fund the rich schools over the poor. Shocking. I'm going to go off on a little tangent: the reason board members can't accomplish anything is because they are …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
A word on ebonics (I prefer Black English): I wrote earlier that it is a dialect. I stand by this due to evidence I've read. Like most dialects, it was born from a combination of two languages, in this case West African dialects and English. It was sustained through ignorance of formal standards, due to the ban on teaching slaves to read. This was compounded by the fact that West African dialects were oral anyway. Therefore, much of their syntax was inflective, i.e. 'musical.' The way one said something was more important that what was said. Also, word play was important. …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
cabdriverinchicago - I would argue that "well-educated" suburbans, while certainly know more facts and accept, albeit just as blindly, scientific theories moreso than fundamentalists. They do, however, lack the ability to critically think just as surely (if not more so) than the rest of their countrymen. There are levels of indoctrination they will not challenge, sometimes more fervently than someone with no education at all. Rich, "well-educated" people rule us; and if results are any indication of intelligence, we need to rethink the definition of an education.
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
Ignore my terrible grammar, which was not ironic in the slightest.
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
Last point: re separation of church and state, why can't we just ban it? It's really backward. Please? Can't we be intolerant on this one? Just this one thing? No public worship of imaginary beings? No mention of Jesus unless it's in vain? That way you could pray in the privacy of your own bathroom, especially when you get the shits.
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
luminous - Nice essay. One of the great tragedies of both the Civil War and its subsequent Reconstruction was the co-opting of poor whites by the landed gentry. Even though their positions were comparable to blacks, and really had a lot in common with them, they were told, and wished to believe, they were better because they were white. You can really see that historical thread run right up into the Jerry Springer era, and why phenomena like Eminem and the popularity of hip-hop in white America are no real surprises. I would however like to point out that the blues …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
'American as pizza'...ooooh. I can feel the city of Napoli ready to explode in irrational hand gestures.
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
luminous - re Ali Farka Toure, I don't think so. I'll look him up. Robert Cray, on the other hand, I have heard of. Not bad, but it's not my kinda blues. I'm partial to the reeeeeal ooooold blues. Of course with some exeptions, most any blues post-Hendrix is no longer relevant to me. Re hand gestures, yes and no. The gestures, like Mexican sign language (hey, can you say 'asshole' in Mexican? It's all I remember) are, to use your words, 'an art of sublime semiotic significance.' However the Neapolitans themselves are fantastically irrational, which filters into all their actions. …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
David - I guess I was being facetious. Or just dreaming. It's really bothersome for me that we have these arcane institutions which hold such sway over our lives. And I don't just mean the political power of the religious right. I mean the artificial satisfaction of mental curiosity that comes about in the whole 'faith' process. Christianity hasn't been relevant since Magellan proved the earth was round. Since then, inquisitive individuals have painted a pretty convincing picture of the universe, while leaving you with the strong impression that they've just scratched the surface, and all the theories are wrong. It's …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
david - one last point. I divide religion and spirituality into separate animals. Religion is an institution; spirituality is the development of the human spirit. It is not didactic nor pedantic. Spirituality is personal and yet communal. It should echo in the heart of any serious artist, scientist, or unemployed wonderer. Ban religion. Keep spirituality.
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
David - For some killing seven and going to death row is a path to spirituality. Doesn't mean society should encourage it.
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
You mean pendejo? Thumb and forefinger pressed together with a little plucking motion? Yes. With the the hand inverted, and down near one's thigh. Always done with one's back turned to the person, looking back at them. Ah, Napoli. The craziest place I know. Maybe the volcano has something to do with it, I wish I could say. The city is so alive and pulsating, I wouldn't be surprised. Some think volcanoes are the reason life formed in the first place... This discussion has a heightened sense of irony for me, after returning from Naples, Florida. The name itself is a …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
whattheheck - I meant 'radical' in the sense of active resistance. About five years ago I went to Mexico in a humanitarian capacity. It was right after the 11-month strike by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), but the situation was pretty tense. When I returned a year later, 2 of the students we worked with had been stabbed to death by urban paramilitary. The leaders of the protests were mostly from the Biology and Physics departments, to my surprise. In the US, most activists come from the humanities: history, English, or maybe sociology. I think for a Mexican, who …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
This is my position on Black English, or on any dialect, for that matter: to teach it in school is to kill it. Dialects are cultural, and are almost always oral. To study 'ebonics', as had been proposed (at I believe Berkeley), however, can be instructive if it allows educators to understand where their black students are coming from. I watched a great special on PBS called "Do You Speak American?" They showed teachers of inner cities in effect translating the Black English learned at home into standard English. I agree that there needs to be an official language. English is …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
WTH - One last thing I want to address: Some see a refusal to speak English as correctly as possible as defiance and rejection. If we are concerned about melding the races into a single society, then I see Eubonics (or, if you prefer, Black English) as waving a read cape in front of a bull. My own preference is an adaptation of Jeffersonian states' rights, a pluralist society where different cultural groups can live side by side, exchange different points of view, etc. Nothing scares me more than a homogeneous society, a la Adolf. Instead of forcing everyone to …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
cabby - here, here.
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
rabbit - I admittedly know nothing of astrology. I'm sure it has a rich canon. And like any religious "software", I'm sure that certain intuitive people can use it to break through metaphysical barriers. But as far as sarcasm goes, it's like hitting a pinata. You can't throw me a wiffleball and expect me not to whack at it. Did I call you a troll? Even indirectly? Can't recall. You really gotta stop taking me seriously. It's affecting your posts. While you're at it, stop taking yourself seriously. It's affecting your life.
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
rabbit - I wrote: Despite my remarks, I place no preconception on any troll, regular, or in-between. Except, of course, you. Why didn't you think I meant you were a regular or an in-between? Not that it matters much. To tell me that much about the 'method behind your madness' is to take it seriously. If you didn't, you wouldn't tell me. It's like a Bond villain who must explain his genius, giving 007 enough time to press the button on his exploding pen. Astrology is pseudo-scientific. That doesn't mean it doesn't rely on observation, but it definitely requires more faith …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
whattheheck - Religion is of course a path to spirituality, but as I alluded to in another post, that doesn't mean that it should be encouraged. Like you said, it took you 40 years to overcome it. Why would we as a collective keep such obviously damaging and contradictory philosophies at the forefront of spritual practice? I guess we don’t disagree in principle — it’s just my lapsing into wanting action to establish a workable approach to integration. The conspiracy theorist in me sees the mouthpiece of the corporate structure - the media - accentuating divisive points. It's much harder for …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
whattheheck - Re Mexican strike: you didn't hear about it because no one reported about it. I think I can answer why. After the first major Zapatista insurrection, the Mexican stock market tanked. Since this was post-NAFTA, the US was compelled to bail out Mexico, the largest in history. A memo from Chase Manhattan Bank to the Mexican government somehow got made public. It read: "Eliminate the Zapatistas." (I know it may sound like I'm making this up, so check for yourself). One of the stipulations to the bailout were IMF-proscribed implementations, the kind that wreck every developing nation. One of …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
luminous - Thanks, I liked that. Although it appears he's a New Hampshire Buddhist, which is completely acceptable. Nah, not really. Why concede at this stage of the game? It's especially interesting because I was just discussing humorism in a similar vein on a different thread with wiley (who apparently hates me). To wit:
The ironist can always point out contradictions more fully than the true believer, and the humorist can do the same to the ironist. The ideological fundamentalist - whether Islamic, Christian, or “liberal” - cannot afford contradiction, lest it destroy their chosen belief system, and start them at …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
luminous - This site provides many things for many people. I like the friction of a sound debate. So I'll fuck with the good, the bad, and the rabbit, so long as I follow my own rules of debate and etiquette. The play's the thing! ...and not the actors. But actors are often such a vain and tempermental lot... I don't mind that she's cross with me. But I think my balls aren't going anywhere anytime soon. Re "Where are you from?" Tell me about it. I'm a native Floridian. And Phil Ochs ain't seen nothin' yet (nor will he, I …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
rabbit - Everything I say is in jest. Except that. But you know us Aquarians. Trapped in bubbles of our own design. Pity me. We also, as you must know through your trenchant study of astrological charts, know that we also don't really care about the inner workings of others, which is why your rabbit-dissertations grate on me. We're a self-centered bunch of assholes. We do agree on quantum physics, though. And I like reading Gnosticism. And maybe someday when I've got the time I'll crack some astrology books. Why not. So long as you don't take any of it seriously. …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
PS - Didn't you initially think I was a Leo? If my posts are so transparently Aquarian, why the initial mix-up? Again, I know nothing of astrology, so perhaps Leos and Aquarians are peas in a pod. Or perhaps it's all conjecture and happenstance. So hard to know these things...
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
WTH - Unfortunately, O'Reilly and the rest of the "screamers" at Fox are most American's source of news. And MSNBC and CNN are complete jokes. It's easy to manipulate the undereducated with outrage and contempt. Europe is definitely going through growing pains. The points you raise about the EU are legitimate. But I was referring to the population. They are travelling within Europe as we travel within the states, and their level of tolerance is pretty high. I think that's a good case for the plusses of multiculturalism. Wealth and Power are incestuous and are totally in favor of abortion when …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
luminous - Without vainity and temperment, the play would be dreadfully boring, don't you think? No, not really. My actors better leave that shit to the curb. And if they don't engage in their performance full-on, they'll never work in this town again. Why separate your two disciplines at all? Ballroom Kung Fu Dance sounds pretty kickass. "Me and the Devil was walkin' side by side. Me and the Devil, ooo, was walkin' side by side. I'm goin' to beat my woman until I get satisfied." Robert! You can't say that here! Anyway, not subtle at all. And I thought it …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
"When I send for my baby, and she don't come, When I send for my baby, and she don't come, All the doctors and hot springs sho' won't help her none." - 32-20 Blues I think RL had some intimacy issues. Could be why a jealous husband poisoned him to death. (speaking of which, you might enjoy a book by Walter Mosley called RL's Blues). What I meant was: when I group up in South Florida, it was a forest. Now, the whole east coast has been nicely paved over. It makes me physically sick. While I'm not a massive fan …
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
That word 'group' was supposed to be 'grew.' Strange...
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
What would the blues be if not for intimacy issues? I'll tell you what they would be - R&B. Yeck.
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
rabbit - I'm glad I could afford you the opportunity to talk about these things you so obviously relish. Isn't it nice to have a nemesis? You have an inventive mind and are inclined to be progressive. You lie a great deal. You make the same mistake over and over because you are stupid. Everyone thinks you are a jerk. You enjoy getting screwed by large inanimate objects. I guess I can handle that. With a fate like that, how could anyone be expected to take all this seriously?
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
I'm far too confused to answer. I think rabbit is happy, and that's enough for me. Must be the luck of the Aries... I'm very fond of this post, since we managed to become one of ITT's most talked about (like Oprah!). We've had some good conversations here. But I'm gone. I will, of course, appear again someday. I'm sorry, rabbit. It'll all be clear someday...
Posted to Reflections on Tookie's Execution
-
jeez...do you guys always have to denegrate the discussion to your petty little hang-ups? Who's discussing the article? I am falling prey to my own observation? Ahem. The soldiers of Iraq rightfully do not care about the people they are harrassing and killing, just as our soldiers of the past didn't care when they killing Johnny Rebs, or Injuns; why the British and Dutch could enslave Africans; why the Egyptians cared not for Semitic types; why homo sapiens could wipe out Neanderthals who lived by the good spots of the river. Land grab. Territory. We're only human... Stop getting all political …
Posted to Postcards From the Front
-
tina1 - I did move to Europe. It rocked. But my goddamn visa ran out, so now I'm back with you rednecks. Home of the brave...(a single tear). And some parts of Italy has 20% unemployment, but when I got in a car wreck, my hospital stay was free. Zero. Niente. From your evident lack of formal education, I assume you don't make a lot of money, so that might be an appealing concept to you. wileywitch - hm. I can't tell if I agree with you or not on this one (which is driving me crazy). For the sake of …
Posted to Postcards From the Front
-
Last point: I don't wish to ban tina1 from this site (my home, yes). I think it's instructive to see just how the gears of her little mind works. It's like studying a clear glass wind-up doll. I want to know exactly how those crude mental gears lock themselves into place for my own scientific observations. If we detach ourselves from the majority of this country - illiterate reactionary racist sexist anti-gay fools (who believe in that some Guy in the clouds that loves them and created them from a rib) - just because they're offensive, we will never learn anything …
Posted to Postcards From the Front
-
Don't thank me, thank the French. Vive la France! (singing Marseillaise, eating Gruyere, adjusting cravate)
Posted to Postcards From the Front
-
Stinky Pete - I trust no one. But: assuming you are correct that tina1 'has no such standards' - and by this I guess you mean values of freedom and liberty afforded to all - it would be foolhardy to mimic those methods. Systems which prize efficiency over values tend to destroy the whole - thus being wholly inefficient. So let the retard babble. She's fairly harmless, even entertaining. Don't most good stories have a villain? And isn't entertainment why we're here? Does anyone honestly believe they're affecting world policy on this tread? From the reaction that trolls like tina1 normally …
Posted to Postcards From the Front
-
A billion French cheeses and I pick a disputed Swiss. Next time I'll cross-reference my jokes better.
Posted to Postcards From the Front
-
tina1 - I never called you a racist. That was an inference on your part, not an implication on mine. Carefully re-read. Why are racists always such lazy readers? whattheheck - While I don't disagree, I think the current case is a little different than border dispute. Plunder seems more appropriate. Which is also age-old. I think the main cognitive dissonance for most Americans - which differs from say Viking cultures, which encouraged plunder - is that our mythology doesn't involve bitter deities fighting pointlessly until the fated Ragnorak, but noble Humanists who threw off the shackles of despotism 'in order …
Posted to Postcards From the Front
-
whattheheck - A war against radical Islam. The Christopher Hitchens position. This motive interests me for several reasons. And while I don't think that really was the impetus for war (Iraq was secular before the invasion) it could, from a certain point of view, hold merit. They will stop at nothing to kill us, so we must do the same to survive. A fairly bleak scenario, but plausible. There are other methods of battling extremism. Working against poverty and ignorance is, in my opinion, the most effective means of stopping people from killing themselves over archaic ideas. Who wants fifty virgins …
Posted to Postcards From the Front
-
I meant 'remuneration.' Sorry.
Posted to Postcards From the Front
-
bbbbbthhhhhh.....[the sound of a good thread losing its substance] Thanks, Rabbit. You're a gem. What'd I say before, David in Canada? Guess I need a nemesis, too.
Posted to Postcards From the Front
-
Rabbit - You wrote: "KING ROCCO, give us a word which describes the scale of the delusion you see about us. Is there a word, (less obtuse please than Ponderant), which captures the enormity of what we otherwsie reefr to as the effects of drinking the special koolaid?" How's 'bout "Wednesday"?
Posted to Postcards From the Front
-
I concede with no punches thrown. See you lot on another thread...
Posted to Postcards From the Front
-
I have, to my credit, read all of your posts. You should be ashamed of yourselves. Is this what it has come to, huh? You all must live for this. A nemesis to test your sword against. A witty retort to slowly type out, the one germinating inside of you since you were left dumb and shaking from your last real confrontation. Leftists? Hah. Radicals? Hardly. Artists? Scholars? Yeah, probably... If you really want to follow the essential message of Vonnegut's piece, do something visceral, bestial, and kind. Those activities often take place out of doors. Viva il cazzo duro! …
Posted to Your Guess Is as Good as Mine
-
wileywitch, I have - and again to my credit - responded to the "conversation" for my own reasons, not to least of which is I had been asked by staff to do so. They feel that their beloved 'zine has been taken over by fools and crazies, and they look behind at a bitter memory of enlightened and pointed discourse. Once upon a time, a monk was cast out of the village by the king, who had poisoned all other subjects in order to control them. But it bothered the king that they should think themselves sane, so he spared the …
Posted to Your Guess Is as Good as Mine
-
Luminous - I'm hoping you we're slyly kidding re your translation. It's more like saying, "Get some stones." Or in the case of ITT contributors, some iron and some sun.
Posted to Your Guess Is as Good as Mine
-
Speaking of dental plans, this thread is like a sore tooth. I just can't stop poking at it tonight. Maybe you guys are growing on me. At heart, I'm a big softy. 1) Luminous - you completely lost me. I have no possible response. But...I would like to point out the inconsistency of questioning my claim to sanity, while posting a poem - and that poem! - as a "breath of sanity." Eye of the beholder, eh? 2) Wiley - unlike the many conspiracies of which you obviously perceive, I was not hired out as some sort of ITT paramilitary force. …
Posted to Your Guess Is as Good as Mine
-
Does elitist judicial rule correspond to enlightened despotism? I hope so.
Posted to Why The Law Is In Shambles
-
Scorp wrote: "The way to defeat fanatics (Nazis, Japanese militarists, jihadists, homicidal totalitarians) is to defeat them. Nothing else works. Anything else is a waste of time and resources, besides being hazardous and suicidal." This is logically hazy. Let's put aside for a moment the comment "the way to defeat fanatics is to defeat them" as if we knew what that meant; to proffer all the fanatics listed as equivalent is inaccurate and misleading. Nazis, Japanese militarists, and homicidal totalitarians were/are all fairly similiar in motivation - absolute secular power, here on earth, with as many natural resources as can be …
Posted to Beyond the Vietnam Syndrome
-
The Army Corps of Engineers official on MSNBC last night actually had the unique insight to call the levees "a success," because they only broke in one spot. Nothing changes these guys. This has been, admittedly, harder to watch than most of our daily abominations. I'm not quite sure if it's the abject incompetence, like FEMA just becoming cognizant that refugees were actually in the convention center for 4 days without receiving aid, or that these are the first scenes of footage of poor America I've seen on TV since Springer was on primetime, or just watching the unfolding of a …
Posted to Unnatural Disaster
- Joined September 2, 2005
- Last Visit May 22, 2007
Other Profiles
IN THESE TIMES COMMUNITY MEMBERS
- 1.
- 2.
- 3.
- 4.
- 5.
- 6.
- 7.
- 8.
Ignoring Outrage, Obama Set to Expand Pentagon Presence in Colombia
- 9.
- 10.
RSS Feed