:: blame the extended gestation.... ::

:: Saturday, November 22, 2003 ::

anarchos.blog-city.com Analytical Anarchism Article Reprint Part I: "Analytical anarchism: Some conceptual foundations "

:: Jim Nichols 11/22/2003 03:58:00 PM [+] ::
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Social Security Myth # 2184 -- There Won't Be Anything For Me

:: Jim Nichols 11/22/2003 03:07:00 PM [+] ::
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The CEPR Fact Check Contest: "You’ve read about it in the papers. You’ve heard it on the news. Now let’s see if you can find it in the world!"

:: Jim Nichols 11/22/2003 03:04:00 PM [+] ::
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Thom York + Howard Zinn interview

:: Jim Nichols 11/22/2003 02:58:00 PM [+] ::
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"The greatest minds are capable of the greatest vices as well as of the greatest virtues." -Rene Descartes

:: Jim Nichols 11/22/2003 01:43:00 PM [+] ::
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I somehow dragged myself over to the Plaza today; its this open air mall in downtown Sacramento which is about 2 feet from my apartment. I thought about going to a movie but I just ended up wandering around some of the shops. I got some coffee, read a few pages from Zarathustra, and then went and bought the second season of Profiler
on DVD and two books, Diary and Sylvia Plath: A Critical Study. It was nice to just get out. Its amazing how much I can shut myself up from the world; it makes you forget how nice it is to be alive when you let all that pent up anger and frustration get the best of you. Now I got me lots o'Ally Walker to watch. Good times...

:: Jim Nichols 11/22/2003 02:32:00 AM [+] ::
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Christopher Lydon Interviews... :Online Populism Explained: An Hour with Joe Trippi

:: Jim Nichols 11/21/2003 11:32:00 PM [+] ::
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John & Belle Have A Blog: Less Thrills, the RIAA Way: "But me: I'm bleeding edge cool. I play music on my computer."

:: Jim Nichols 11/21/2003 11:28:00 PM [+] ::
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I'm a complete fraud... I don't think enough people have caught onto that yet.

:: Jim Nichols 11/21/2003 01:15:00 PM [+] ::
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Dollars and Sense: The Magazine of Economic Justice: "Dear Dr. Dollar:
A Republican friend tells me that the huge new tax cuts will actually produce more revenue than the government would have collected before the cut, because once rich beneficiaries invest the money, they will pay taxes on every transaction. He suggested that the increase could be as much as 50% more than the originally scheduled revenues. Is this possible? Judith Walker, New York, N.Y."

:: Jim Nichols 11/21/2003 08:01:00 AM [+] ::
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Good stuff for NYT's linkers....Calpundit: Fight Linkrot!

:: Jim Nichols 11/21/2003 03:07:00 AM [+] ::
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CONSERVATISM AS HERESY

:: Jim Nichols 11/21/2003 03:02:00 AM [+] ::
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Dean for America: Dean Unveils Plan To Reform No Child Left Behind, Improve K-12 Education

:: Jim Nichols 11/21/2003 02:29:00 AM [+] ::
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Fuck yeah...
The Seattle Times: Lt. Gov. Novoselic? Rocker likes how it sounds

:: Jim Nichols 11/21/2003 02:25:00 AM [+] ::
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I still don't own a DOA album but...Yahoo! News - Punk band D.O.A. celebrates 25 years of ranting and raving with CD, book

"'The thing about punk rock is that it's not the revolutionary force that it was for the first five or 10 years of its existence,' he said. 'But a lot of its do-it-yourself attitude is still there. This is why I'm still involved. It appeared to me it was a perfect way to kick the establishment straight in the groin repeatedly. That angle of punk rock is still there.' "

:: Jim Nichols 11/21/2003 02:21:00 AM [+] ::
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Blogcritics.org: Eminem Accused of Using Racial Slurs hehehe... oooppps

:: Jim Nichols 11/21/2003 02:19:00 AM [+] ::
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uggabugga: "More observations on the Medicare drug benefit"

:: Jim Nichols 11/21/2003 02:14:00 AM [+] ::
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Oh I want one!!!

Bicycle Parts from lovelylowrider

:: Jim Nichols 11/21/2003 02:09:00 AM [+] ::
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Thoughts Arguments and Rants: Government and Health

For amusement I was traipsing through the OECD health stats for various countries, and I was stunned by one of the things that springs out of the data - health care systems that are government run or funded tend to be cheaper despite being just as effective in every respect, and more effective in some respects. I'm sure someone somewhere has analysed the data properly, but even a crude analysis suggests the empirical case for having a government run or funded health care system is quite strong.

what is wrong with the world. Who thinks we shouldn't be forced to all get the exact same kind of health care treatment no matter how much we make. I bet once rich people had to put up with the same health care system as homeless people did then health care would actually end up pretty fucking good. Its amazing how people work like that....

:: Jim Nichols 11/21/2003 01:03:00 AM [+] ::
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The Volokh Conspiracy

Polygamous and incestuous marriages: By the way, concerns that the Massachusetts homosexual marriage decision may lead to legalization of adult incestuous marriages and even polygamous marriages seem to me quite plausible. The court says that the parties "do not attack the binary nature of marriage" or "the consanguinity provisions." (See also footnote 34, "Nothing in our opinion today should be construed as relaxing or abrogating the consanguinity or polygamous prohibitions of our marriage laws.") But the court's reasoning seems to apply equally to those, too.

Am I the only one that doesn't care about consensual adults forming whatever kind of relationship they choose no matter how much it screams of psychological issues???

:: Jim Nichols 11/21/2003 12:35:00 AM [+] ::
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14-Year-Old Signs Contract With Major League Soccer

Jesus...

:: Jim Nichols 11/21/2003 12:31:00 AM [+] ::
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Found this...Living In China by way of Crooked Timber.

:: Jim Nichols 11/20/2003 10:05:00 PM [+] ::
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Welcome... seriously.... we're glad you're here..... we even threw you a party we let some of your countrymen come along..... hope you come again..... bye bye....

:: Jim Nichols 11/20/2003 09:56:00 PM [+] ::
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For all the deluded
Just so you can remind all those people who claim they vote republican cause its "good for business" yeah maybe their business if you're mackin on tax cuts but not "good for business" if your talking the healthy of the whole economy which in the end is what the definition of "good for business" is. Economic Scene: Which Party in the White House Means Good Times for Investors?:

"DOES the stock market do better when a Republican is president or when a Democrat is?
The answer is: It's not even close. The stock market does far better under Democrats. "

*Okay yeah I know the stock market isn't everything in a healthy economy I know I know....

:: Jim Nichols 11/20/2003 09:36:00 PM [+] ::
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Had to pass it on

I really liked this weeks punk rock editorial on the epitaph newsletter and I talked to the author and he said I could post it up here for all 7 of my consistently returning readers.
--------------------
THE PUNK ROCK EDITORIAL
(Send submissions to webmonkey@epitaph.com)

Here is another PRE from our resident social-political-cultural pundit, Josh. He’s got a lot to say and I can’t wait to see all of your responses to this one!

“When writers, painters, musicians, filmmakers suspend there judgment and blindly yoke there art to the service of the nation its time for us to sit up and worry.” - Arundhati Roy

I was struck recently by the direction that our pop culture is going. Punk rock used to be dangerous and subversive. It was even underground. Hip-hop used to have some of the same qualities. Hip-hop was swallowed by the mega corporations long ago and now is simply an advertising vehicle for corporations. Most mainstream rappers spend more time touting the various products that they have (cars, jewelry, etc…) than saying anything significant. Don’t let MTV fool you (more on that later) most hip-hop is meaningless.

Punk rock has certainly followed the same pattern. You have bands like Good Charlotte hosting shows on MTV all the while forgetting how mind numbing the network has always been. Long ago bands like the Dead Kennedy’s sang songs like “MTV Get Off The Air” and mainstream culture was generally shunned by the punk rock world.

Now punk is mainstream. It is safe. Hot Topic has managed to package the punk style and sell it at malls. Blatant pop performers like Pink have fashioned themselves and “foul mouthed” and “rebellious.” Rebellious to what? Are any of these mainstream performers saying anything dangerous or rebellious?

The Weavers were more rebellious than any artist around today. Artists like Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, and many others risked getting blacklisted (and did) for their beliefs. They actually took risks and said things that actually were subversive. They used art to stand up to power. Wearing goofy makeup and accepting MTV awards while intoxicated is not he least bit risky. Nor is it challenging authority. Nothing on MTV or commercial radio has a hint of substance or genuine, thoughtful dissent.

As Robert McChesney (www.robertmcchesney.com) pointed out, everything on MTV is a commercial. The network seems to want viewers to lust for the unattainable. We are never going to live the unbounded material existence of the Rich Girls. We are never going to relive our adolescents like the crew in Jackass. We are never going to have houses like the nouveau riche that host Cribs. Our lives will never be as dramatic and adventurous as the kids on the Real World. In the real - real world, most of the population will work some boring job till the day
they die and all along will struggle to own property and make ends meet.

MTV and the performers that are its agents promote the myth of the American Dream (if you work really hard you can ascend to the wealthy class). What nonsense they spew! Wealth in America is still controlled by the top 1% to 5% of the population and has since its inception (mostly by the same families). As Howard Zinn said, “the United States has developed perhaps the largest middle class. The United States has had enough wealth so it could bribe enough people in the population to create a middle class, which became a useful buffer between the very rich and that part of the population, which could not even rise
into the middle class. So the middle class in the United States has always been enticed by the establishment into thinking it could rise into the upper class and not told it could also descend.” I recently heard Tom Hayden talk about how delusional the masses of Americans really have become. He alluded to the percentage of the population (I can remember the exact number but it was quite large) that actually thinks that they are wealthy or will soon ascend into the top 5% of the income bracket. Wealth envy is reaching epidemic levels in our culture
while class-consciousness is a forgotten idea.

American athletes and performers should be ashamed of propagating this ruse. They flaunt there newly obtained wealth to make the masses drool while filling them with a hidden and pervasive hopelessness. The masses will fantasize about fame and wealth while ignoring the ordinary pleasures of ordinary people. Humility is an absent virtue from these people.

Jello Biafra once asked, “Who is more dangerous to public order a crack addict or a wealth addict?” The recent financial scandals have proven that corporate crime is just as pervasive and as or more harmful than street crime (see “Corporate Crime Acts Like a Thief In The Night” by Lee Drutman on www.citizenworks.org). Thank pop culture and MTV for helping feed this epidemic of wealth envy and addiction.

We are asleep at the wheel, drunk on pop culture. Ignoring the unjust war and occupation in Iraq. Ignoring the fact that we are all in debt up to our necks! The only thing I can advocate at this point is cultural nihilism. We need to start from scratch and let some real voices take the reigns.

Josh Legere
josh_legere@yahoo.com

:: Jim Nichols 11/20/2003 09:25:00 PM [+] ::
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Not that the people have ever mattered but...

Renewable Energy News | Poll Shows Meager Support for Energy Bill: "As congress prepares to vote on a proposed Energy Bill, a majority says Congress should not approve the proposed Energy Bill, a new Zogby poll revealed. More than three of four voters support investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy. A majority of likely voters (55 percent) feel it would be better if Congress did not pass this particular bill, knowing what the legislation contains, according to the poll. Just one in five (21 percent) feels it is very important that Congress pass this bill as soon as possible. "

:: Jim Nichols 11/20/2003 05:52:00 AM [+] ::
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The New Republic Online: etc.:

" for all their kvetching about George W. Bush's foreign policy, the Democratic establishment isn't proposing anything radically different. Regardless of who's sworn in as president in January of 2005, the country's basic foreign policy doctrine will be to use military force to root out terrorists and some combination of the threat of force and economic carrots and sticks to prevent WMD proliferation."

I don't understand why the hell Dem's aren't out there saying... "look Bush and Co. have screwed this one up from the start, bad intel, aggressive war mongering; but in the end we agree with a lot of what needs to be done. Fix Iraq, you bet your ass and we're the guys who can do it. We're the guys who can bring back the alienated international community, we're the guys who can bring in new blood to replace all these guys with pie on their faces from all the bumbling thats been going on for the past two years.

:: Jim Nichols 11/20/2003 05:19:00 AM [+] ::
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Here you go people...Nick Denton: Wanted: bloggers: "Wanted: bloggers

I'm scouting for editorial talent. Particularly people who can write wittily about travel and furniture. If you have a blog on either subject, or know of a good writer, email me. Rather than me tell you how I'd like to approach the categories, I'd rather hear your ideas: what you think is missing. Correspondence to nick at gawker."

:: Jim Nichols 11/20/2003 04:51:00 AM [+] ::
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His writers did feed him a good one...AP Wire | 11/19/2003 | London's Bush Protests Make Little Impact: "'It was pointed out to me that the last noted American to visit London stayed in a glass box dangling over the Thames,' Bush told an audience of academics in London. 'A few might have been happy to provide similar arrangements for me.'"

:: Jim Nichols 11/20/2003 04:44:00 AM [+] ::
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Saletan makes some good points
It's the Commitment, Stupid - How to sell gay marriage. By William Saletan:

"Marriage is a broadly shared American value. You don't have to support homosexuality to support marriage. A politician can say, 'I'm pro-marriage. The issue isn't whether you're straight or gay. The issue is whether you support marriage."

Liberals need to attack and not retreat.

:: Jim Nichols 11/20/2003 04:30:00 AM [+] ::
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there is some neat shit here... i'm listening to a Michel Foucault Berkeley lecture right now

Fav's laurent: Audio- &Video(fragments) RealAudio/Video

:: Jim Nichols 11/20/2003 03:10:00 AM [+] ::
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Radio archives: "April 17, 2003 Cultural theorist and philosopher Slavoj Zizek on the Iraq war, American imperialism, the role of fantasy in politics, etc."

:: Jim Nichols 11/20/2003 01:15:00 AM [+] ::
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Look at that...
Local H is still kicking around. PopMatters Music Interview | Catching Up With Local H

:: Jim Nichols 11/20/2003 01:09:00 AM [+] ::
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currently spinning on the media player The new Outkast cd...

:: Jim Nichols 11/20/2003 12:42:00 AM [+] ::
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I forwarded this article on the Philippines (Al Qaeda Affiliate Training Indonesians On Philippine Island (washingtonpost.com)) to my dad because he spent a few years there and knows more about the country and its politics/reality than I do. Here were his thoughts:

Yeah, but how do we know that the "police and intelligence sources" are not just trying to get people to believe this so that they can get US assistance to wipe out the "local Muslim separatists," their real target?

Geeze I'm getting really jaded in my old age - but stranger things have turned out to be true and that's really not that far fetched."

:: Jim Nichols 11/20/2003 12:36:00 AM [+] ::
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Multicentric, multiscalar, multitemporal, multiform, and multicausal process... the complex, emergent product of many different forces operating on many scales. Indeed.


Collapse in Cancun by Doug Henwood:

"The movement that had its coming-out party in Seattle rarely speaks about the economic arrangements it would like to see. It's quick to say 'No!' (a reflex I'm pretty accomplished at myself). It's often quick to invoke language defending national sovereignty and self-reliance when we should really be looking for a more egalitarian and cooperative world, of which trade can be an important part. It's too quick to read international economic relations as part of a general 'race to the bottom' that doesn't really exist. Wages in the United States are higher than when NAFTA took effect, and incomes have also been rising in Western Europe and much of Asia, regions that are deeply involved in world trade. The most troubled part of the world is Africa, a continent that is substantially underrepresented in global trade and capital flows. That's not at all to say that freer trade is always better; it is to say that we need to think and talk more carefully about these things.

Of course, the political and emotional urge behind the "No!" is the desire to protect people and nature from the traumas that typically come with capitalist development. But erecting barriers to trade may be the wrong strategy. Instead of tariffs and import restrictions, which can pit workers in rich countries against those in poorer ones (is it OK to put a Brazilian steelworker out of work to preserve an American job?), why not generous income support and retraining? Why not shift the focus from protecting the job to protecting the worker? "

Beyond Globophobia:

"I won't deny that plant relocations to Mexico have put a sharp squeeze on US employment and earnings, or that the threat of those things has reduced workers' bargaining power. But how much has this contributed to downward mobility and increasing stress? Econometricians say that trade explains about 20-25 percent of the decline in the US real hourly wage during the 1970s and '80s. While not insignificant, that still leaves 75-80 percent to be explained, and the main culprits there are mainly of domestic origin. And why, if globalization was so decisively immiserating, did the real hourly wage rise after 1995, reversing a two-decade slide, even as NAFTA took effect and trade penetration increased?

An important reason that trade doesn't explain more of our economic history since the early 1970s is that 80 percent of us work in services--and a quarter of those in government--which are insulated from international competition. What did "globalization" have to do with Teddy Kennedy and Jimmy Carter's transport deregulation, or with Reagan's firing of the air traffic controllers, or with Clinton's signing of the welfare bill? What does "globalization" have to do with tuition increases at public universities or attacks on affirmative action? While lots of people blame corporate downsizings on globalization, the more powerful influences were Wall Street portfolio managers, who are always demanding higher profits"

:: Jim Nichols 11/19/2003 11:32:00 PM [+] ::
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Hell yeah!!!USATODAY.com - 'Family Guy' may return:

"Family Guy could return with as many as 35 new episodes for January 2005."

:: Jim Nichols 11/19/2003 11:07:00 PM [+] ::
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Who'd have ever thoughtan Anti-Flag video

I'm disappointed they didn't put Bush in the video. I guess politics falls a distant second to having the video actually shown (which is the point of making a video so I'm not one to judge).

"Turncoat... killer... liar... thief..."

:: Jim Nichols 11/19/2003 07:10:00 PM [+] ::
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Mark A. R. Kleiman: "While walking down the street one day, GWB encounters someone who believes in exercising his Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. The next thing he knows, he's at the Pearly Gates, facing St. Peter."

:: Jim Nichols 11/19/2003 08:31:00 AM [+] ::
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For all the homophobes out there, all I can say is... "for the times they are a changing"Boston.com / News / Local / On marriage, simple justice:

"The right to a marriage license is a matter not of morality or of religion or of ethics but of equality under the law. In the end, it was that simple."

I'm just concerned about the backlash, will this be a legal one step forward which will create two steps back?

:: Jim Nichols 11/19/2003 03:43:00 AM [+] ::
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Why didn't I think to say that? Oh wait I think I did...The Poor Man: Further Notes On The Changing Political Landscape

I've noticed, recently, that people who disagree with me are stupid and dumb. I can't really believe they are as stupid and dumb as they seem, so I think they must be crazy as well.

:: Jim Nichols 11/19/2003 03:24:00 AM [+] ::
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With the quality i've been throwing up lately I'm not quite sure the point of it but...
I just stuck a thing down at the bottom of the site that notes who links to me (I don't know the technical term). Anyways I think its funny that I keep sticking all these things on my site and all they do is remind me that no one is reading. Okay I take that back I have a few readers... maybe this should be positive... I have the freedom to say whatever I want, to work on my craft(sic).

:: Jim Nichols 11/19/2003 03:19:00 AM [+] ::
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New blog I just found t a c i t u s

:: Jim Nichols 11/19/2003 03:12:00 AM [+] ::
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get to work....NewsMax Poll

:: Jim Nichols 11/19/2003 02:38:00 AM [+] ::
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World Briefing: Europe: "TURKEY: DEATH PENALTY ABOLISHED Turkey formally abolished the death penalty, an important step toward European Union membership. Sebnem Arsu (NYT)"

:: Jim Nichols 11/19/2003 02:22:00 AM [+] ::
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Nihilism - Wikipedia: "The term nihilism (from the Latin nihil, meaning 'not anything') was popularized by the Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev in his novel Fathers and Sons (1861), to describe the views of an emerging radical Russian intelligentsia. These consisted primarily of upper-class students who had grown disillusioned with the slow pace of reformism. The primary spokesman for this new philosophy was D. I. Pisarev (1840-1868) who articulated a program of Revolutionary Utilitarianism and advocated violence as a tool for social change. Pisarev was cast as Bazarov in Fathers and Sons much to his own delight; he proudly embraced his new status as a fictional hero and villain.
The word quickly became a catch-all term of derision for younger, more radical generations, and continues in this vein to modern times. It is often used to indicate a group or philosophy the speaker intends to characterize as having no moral sensibility, no belief in truth, beauty, love, or whatever else the speaker and his presumed audience values, and no regard for the current social conventions. "

:: Jim Nichols 11/19/2003 01:53:00 AM [+] ::
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I went over to Streets of London and had fish and chips and a beer. I didn't accomplish anything, I couldn't even hear my jukebox selection.

:: Jim Nichols 11/18/2003 10:48:00 PM [+] ::
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I don't feel like doing anything. Read... no. Watch tv.... Gilmore Girls is over. Movie.... no money. School work.... I give up. Try to find something to write on.... i'm hungry. Ahhh.... I'm hungry, brilliant. I'm going to eat something now. And maybe throw away this half eaten taco thats sitting on my desk right in front of me.

This is my life is its slowly wasting away...

:: Jim Nichols 11/18/2003 09:07:00 PM [+] ::
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hehehe... Body and Soul: I think we can all agree on that

:: Jim Nichols 11/18/2003 08:39:00 PM [+] ::
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New Scientist (by way of Marginal Revolution):

"People with implicit racial prejudices are left mentally exhausted after interacting with someone from a different race, perhaps because they are trying to quell their feelings."

:: Jim Nichols 11/18/2003 07:35:00 PM [+] ::
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Pentagon Debunks Reports on Osama-Saddam Ties: "Several newspapers and other media outlets had egg on their face Monday after reporting or endorsing a Weekly Standard story revealing new evidence of an 'operational relationship' between Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden.

Several outlets, including the New York Post, The Washington Times and FOX News, ran with the story. There was just one problem: On Saturday, the Pentagon issued a press release stating that 'news reports that the Defense Department recently confirmed new information with respect to contacts between al-Qaida and Iraq ... are inaccurate.'"

:: Jim Nichols 11/18/2003 07:06:00 PM [+] ::
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I Do Not Believe That This Could Be True: Archive Entry From Brad DeLong's Webjournal

"US-based multinationals have been told they will receive compensation from American trade authorities if they cancel contracts in Britain and take jobs home, according to CBI director-general Digby Jones."

:: Jim Nichols 11/18/2003 07:03:00 PM [+] ::
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Check out the Bush poster....
tonypierce.com + busblog

:: Jim Nichols 11/18/2003 06:54:00 PM [+] ::
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Crooked Timber: Democracy by Example:

Needless to say, the spin on the visit — see the same ABC news story — is that Bush is in London to “address” and “confront” those who doubt his policy in Iraq. He’ll just be doing this without, you know, addressing or confronting anyone.

:: Jim Nichols 11/18/2003 06:42:00 PM [+] ::
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I love his pictures... I want to put up pictures!!!!tonypierce.com + busblog

:: Jim Nichols 11/17/2003 10:05:00 PM [+] ::
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He's even got his right wing mad (okay at least the right wing I can at least respect--you huggable libertarians you)Joshua Claybourn's Domain: No Party: "over the past three years - essentially since George W. Bush has taken office - conservatism's role in the party has come into question. I've listened and tried to understand the logic put forth by some in the GOP that Bush's brand of politics is the best option available. After a few years contemplating this predicament I've come to the conclusion that that's just not so. Here is a condensed list of complaints.
Fiscal irresponsibility

State's rights and federalism

Racial preferences

No pro-life leadership

Civil liberties

Homeland Security

Counter-productive education bill

Compromised health care

2nd Amendment rights"

:: Jim Nichols 11/17/2003 09:52:00 PM [+] ::
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Republican energy bill contains tax breaks, incentives - Nov. 15, 2003: "Republican lawmakers unveiled Saturday a massive energy bill loaded with $20 billion in tax breaks they said would create U.S. jobs while boosting oil, natural gas, coal and nuclear production. "

:: Jim Nichols 11/17/2003 09:36:00 PM [+] ::
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I had to pass this on...Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: November 16, 2003 - November 22, 2003 Archives: "Before they take it down, go to this page on the Fox News website. Then scroll down to the link with Wes Clark's picture and the caption 'Setting the Record Straight.'

It's a six or seven minute clip. But it's worth watching through. The Fox host tries the same old mumbo-jumbo on Clark and Clark goes ballistic and doesn't back down. Good for him.
Late Update: Here's a direct link to the video feed."

Not bad honkey...

:: Jim Nichols 11/17/2003 08:54:00 PM [+] ::
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I don't know enough about the subject but interesting...Slaves to the Marshall Myth: "Of all the myths that persist concerning economic history, the myth that the United States rebuilt Europe and Japan following the Second World War is among the most popular."

:: Jim Nichols 11/17/2003 06:29:00 PM [+] ::
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Which Founding Father Are You?

:: Jim Nichols 11/17/2003 06:10:00 PM [+] ::
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Dean Dean Dean Dean Dean.... (wagging of the finger included)
TAP: Web Feature: Howard's End?. by Michael Tomasky. November 14, 2003.:

"Democratic insiders are in a state about Howard Dean. Their collective professional judgment is that the race for the Democratic presidential nomination is his to lose. Their collective emotional judgment is that sending him up against George W. Bush would be a disaster. So stands the moment's conventional wisdom. "

I'm still stoked that I called this Dean thing way way back. I wish I had blogged it just so I could show off. You'll just have to take my word: I knew Dean would be the guy to beat.

:: Jim Nichols 11/17/2003 05:31:00 PM [+] ::
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Food For Thought:Matt Miller Online: "'Never underestimate the self-destructive power of angry hard-core liberals, sir.' "

Personally I could think up some really good attack ads on Bush that MoveOn might want to consider. Then again we are trying to get the unswayed voters... I might be a little standoffish

:: Jim Nichols 11/17/2003 05:29:00 PM [+] ::
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Guardian Unlimited Politics | Comment | Bush and Blair - the betrayal:(by way of TAPPED)

"Bush originally came to Blair determined to go to war in Iraq, but without a strategy. Blair instructed him that the casus belli was Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, urged him to make the case before the UN, and - when the effort to obtain a UN resolution failed - convinced him to revive the Middle East peace process, which the president had abandoned. The road map for peace was the principal concession Blair wrested from him. "

He doesn't seem to show it (or at least not yet); but Blair has to be really second guessing getting into to bed with Bush II.

:: Jim Nichols 11/17/2003 05:19:00 PM [+] ::
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Its good to know they still have something to do

MIKE WENDLAND: Paranoia groups find an eager Internet audience:

"Ever wonder what happened to all those Y2K gloom-and-doom sayers? They're still at it, this time with a new cause.

From survivalists to conspiracy theorists to the remnants of the crowd that predicted the end of civilization when the year 2000 arrived, the global war on terror is providing a feeding frenzy of dangers to warn about. "

:: Jim Nichols 11/17/2003 05:11:00 PM [+] ::
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Well some things will never change...
MIKE WENDLAND: Cyber-bullies make it tough for kids to leave playground:

"Now there are cyber-bullies distressing our kids. " (and our bloggers)

PUT A STOP TO CYBER-BULLYING
(maybe even a pointer or two for you bloggers; you people can get nasty)
Here's a list of steps Glenn Stutzky, a school safety violence specialist, suggests to combat cyber-bullying:
For children:
Do not respond to cyber-bullying messages.
Be careful to whom you give your number or online handle.
Report harassment to school officials and parents.

For parents:
Talk about the subject with your kids.
Supervise their cell phone and Internet usage.
Buy software that records instant messages.

For schools:
Amend anti-bullying policies to include digital bullying.
Educate teachers and students about the seriousness of the problem.
Make sure parents know who to contact at the school about cyber-bullying.

:: Jim Nichols 11/17/2003 05:01:00 PM [+] ::
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I found this conference at Columbia Constitutions, Democracy, and the Rule of Law thats online through Crooked Timber. Check it out. I love the web! Maybe someday I can gets me an edjumecation from all this good stuff...

:: Jim Nichols 11/17/2003 04:57:00 PM [+] ::
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The writers way...tonypierce.com + busblog: "i tried to get motivated by drinking rum right out of the bottle and smoking from a long hunter s thompson cigarette holder, but nothing worked."

:: Jim Nichols 11/17/2003 04:26:00 PM [+] ::
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When bloggers rule the world...

ONA 2003 Conference and Awards Banquet: "Sullivan said his Web site now has a larger audience than The New Republic. He said bloggers are taking power away from editors and publishers, and that traditional media's way of expressing opinion will be outpaced.

'The op-ed column is a dinosaur as a genre,' Sullivan said. 'I think that in the future, newspaper editorial pages will have five bloggers rather than five columnists.'"

You think bloggers will rule the (opinion-editorial) world? I could see it. But I think this is gonna remain mainly true for the intellectual class; the general public will stay tuned to tv.

:: Jim Nichols 11/17/2003 04:15:00 PM [+] ::
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Haven't read anything else... but Wonder Boys kicked ass

The Seattle Times: Arts & Entertainment: Historical 'what-ifs' key to Chabon novel: "Michael Chabon stumbled on the stranger-than-fiction basis for his next novel when he read about a proposal to provide a home in Alaska for Jewish refugees fleeing Hitler. "

:: Jim Nichols 11/17/2003 04:07:00 PM [+] ::
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A Marine's Girl:

"A Marine's Girl....Insight on being the girl friend of a Marine in Iraq. Opinions of news items of the day, politics, and relationships."

:: Jim Nichols 11/17/2003 03:21:00 PM [+] ::
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AlterNet: Call Me a Bush-Hater: "Among the more amusing cluckings from the right lately is their appalled discovery that quite a few Americans actually think George W. Bush is a terrible president. "

:: Jim Nichols 11/17/2003 06:59:00 AM [+] ::
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How often are we gonna see this mentioned on tv this week? My guess would be not often... But food is just as much of a weapon as a bomb strapped to an angry and confused child.

News: "The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is ending its emergency food programme in the West Bank, saying the economic collapse there is the direct result of Israeli military closures and that Israel must live up to its responsibility as the occupying power for the economic needs of the Palestinians."

:: Jim Nichols 11/17/2003 06:17:00 AM [+] ::
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IHT: To lead, U.S. must give up paranoid policies:

"'He who is not with us is against us.'
.
Let's not forget this was a phrase popularized by Lenin when he attacked the social democrats on the grounds that they were anti-Bolshevik and, therefore, 'he who is not with us is against us' and can be disposed of accordingly.

:: Jim Nichols 11/17/2003 06:01:00 AM [+] ::
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Lawrence Lessig rocks....
FREE CULTURE: HOW BIG MEDIA USES TECHNOLOGY AND THE LAW TO LOCK DOWN CULTURE AND CONTROL CREATIVITY by Lawrence Lessig:

But whether it takes pages or a few
words, it is the special genius of a common
law system, as ours is, that the law adjusts
to the technologies of the time. And as it
adjusts, it changes. Ideas that were as
solid as rock in one age crumble in another.

Or at least, this is how things happen
when there’s no one powerful on the other
side of the change.

:: Jim Nichols 11/17/2003 05:10:00 AM [+] ::
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AnalPhilosopher:

"But what good is a principle if even its most highly motivated practitioners can't live up to it?"

Since there is no meaning or purpose to anything--and therefore no higher order or construct with which one can use for their own life; aren't priniciples that are unattainable (i.e. idealistic and utopian) appropriate for us to use so that we may aim toward improving our lot in our own eyes--if merely for our own psychological peace of mind?

:: Jim Nichols 11/17/2003 04:49:00 AM [+] ::
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I really really don't like it...

You know, I have all these opinions and I'm so confident in them. All these ideas about how I think the world is and where I think humankind needs to look if they want to find answers. But I don't know how to go about solidifying my views as something more than propaganda and passionate conjecture. I feel almost frozen, afraid to take a step intellectually because I fear it may be the wrong step. Instead of focusing on Schelling and attacking him, i'm afraid Hegel will come back from the grave and accuse me of conducting my philosophical education in public...

:: Jim Nichols 11/17/2003 04:41:00 AM [+] ::
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Wait a minute...
The Banality of Gary: A Green River Chiller (washingtonpost.com):

"'He suffered from no mental illness that would absolve him of responsibility for these crimes. . . . In five months of interviews, he displayed no empathy for his victims and expressed no genuine remorse. He killed because he wanted to. He killed because he could. He killed to satisfy his evil and unfathomable desires.' "

I'm no expert but doesn't that exemplify some kind of mental illness... a need to "satisfy... evil and unfathomable desires.."??? Not to mention the fact of no remorse which shows some kind of extreme detachment from society.

:: Jim Nichols 11/17/2003 04:17:00 AM [+] ::
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"The education Governor' and other stories to tell the voters...

Cuts in State Budget on the Table, Sources Say:

"Aides to Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger presented him with a series of budget-balancing choices this week that included cuts in higher education and mental health programs, according to informed sources who spoke on the condition that they not be identified."

:: Jim Nichols 11/16/2003 09:48:00 AM [+] ::
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tonypierce.com + busblog:

"I can be gross. the longer you get to know me the more you get to see how gross i can be.

im sure it's quite a thrill."

:: Jim Nichols 11/16/2003 09:35:00 AM [+] ::
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