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

:: Saturday, December 20, 2003 ::

The "black hole of egomania, bad-faith, political solipsism, and crypto-conservatism"Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: December 14, 2003 - December 20, 2003 Archives:

you know... I wouldn't go that far. I'd call it having a thriving democracy. But thats just me... what do I know?

:: Jim Nichols 12/20/2003 11:35:00 PM [+] ::
...

The New Yorker: The Talk of the Town:
Dead on...

"Such is the bind that the Bush Administration has led us into in Iraq. Appalling, intolerable—in all senses, maddening—as the terrorist tactics of the Iraqi insurgents may be, their truck bombs, donkey-cart missile launchers, and sniper rifles are tactical political instruments that have steadily and systematically succeeded in isolating American forces in Iraq. They have effectively driven the United Nations, the international staff of the Red Cross, and other aid groups from the country, and—more disastrously—they have fostered a mutual sense of alienation between the American forces and the Iraqi people they are supposed to be liberating. Triumphalist pronouncements from Washington notwithstanding, our occupying forces are now clearly on the defensive. And the more aggressive their defense becomes, the more it serves the insurgents’ purposes. When an American adviser in Iraq speaks of a new strategy of “terrorism versus terrorism,� as Seymour M. Hersh reported in these pages last week, and an American lieutenant colonel tells the Times, “With a heavy dose of fear and violence, and a lot of money for projects, I think we can convince these people that we are here to help them,� one may be forgiven for concluding that the enemy is defining the terms of the fight to his advantage."

"President Bush has consistently assured us that America will “stay the course� in Iraq, but what he means by that—what that course is—is not clear. Just as the official reasons for the war keep shifting, so does the Administration’s proclaimed objective. For now, we are in Iraq because the President and his most influential advisers wanted to go to war there. Having made a misleading case for the war, the Bush team drastically mismanaged the crucial early period of the occupation, and has recently responded to the Iraqi insurgency by scrapping its original plan for political revitalization in favor of a hastier schedule of “Iraqization.� With Bush’s attention turning ever more urgently to holding on to the White House in next year’s election, he is pushing for the election of an Iraqi transitional government by the middle of next year. “We’re going to get out of there as quickly as we can, but not before we finish the mission at hand,� Andrew Card, the White House chief of staff, explained the other day."

:: Jim Nichols 12/20/2003 11:25:00 PM [+] ::
...

Trying to wade my way through the economy... errr maybe just economics

I was reading The Soul of Classical Liberalism by JAMES M. BUCHANAN and I couldn't help wondering the whole time: great, but how can you justify liberalism's hands off approach until things are started over at zero? Is extreme inequality the kill joy of Liberalism? If anyone has any arguments i'd love to hear them.

:: Jim Nichols 12/20/2003 09:34:00 PM [+] ::
...

BLOGGER - Knowledge Base - How To Get A Book Deal With Your Blog: "Obsessive behavior is treatable, but if left unchecked, it can land you some sweet gigs."

Granted it would mean I would have to learn to write more, not just go link crazy, but you know....

:: Jim Nichols 12/20/2003 09:25:00 PM [+] ::
...

Economists for Dean: Bait and Switch: "Is it me or is it deja vu all over again? We had a tax cut which gave $300 in cash to all of the people in the middle and lower ranges and then switched to giving thousands to the rich. We had a war against Osama bin Laden which then switched to a war against Iraq. We went in looking for WMD's and then it switched to promoting democracy."

:: Jim Nichols 12/20/2003 05:06:00 PM [+] ::
...

In the past few weeks I've been fascinated by the use and political ramifications of language. We now live in a world where the cry "he'll raise your taxes" will get you electoral defeat but use the phrase "he'll sell you a bond"--which raises my taxes once I'm out of school and many of you are retired--and most the public won't even bat an eye. "Special interests" has now become the token phrase for labor, women, and minority groups--you know, the majority of us; and "evildoer" has become the main argument and justification for war and aggression. Terrorism magically is always "their" terrorism against us and never the more neat and well packaged "state-sponsored" kind we love to take part in (how else was Bin Ladin a "freedom fighter" untill he turned against us?). The moral undertone that has attached itself to our langue is doing more harm than good--distorting the debate when clarity is called for.

Our collective memory easily forget the rhetoric we bought into yesterday which inevitably makes us look for new justifications for yesterdays actions. How else can you explain the fact that yesterday Iraq's "imminent threat" was a "mushroom cloud" on our doorstep while today it has merely become a "developing weapons programs"--that we are having a terrible time putting our finger on--and the atrocities of a dictator from 15 years before, back when we supported him.

Karl Rove's magic Owellian touch has made the Bush administration a lover of freedom and democracy while it spends its time walking over civil liberties and enabling dictators; not to mention the wonderful benefits of Bush's tax policy and Medicare plan--the "average taxpayer", and "average senior" should throw a party since things are going so well for them, maybe they could invite the "average unemployed worker" who's since been swept under the carpet.

A glowing example of all of this would be the recent capture of Hussein and the dialogue that has ensued. Maybe I'm wrong--nitpicking when I should be looking at the bigger picture--but it seems to me that some words (e.g. monster, evildoer) do harm to properly understanding Hussein and his capture. In a way, I think calling Saddam a "monster" explains away his crimes and the complicity of others while those crimes were taking place. When President Bush or Dan Rather get busy writing off Saddam in neat mythological terms we tend to forget that monsters don't violate human rights or become vicious dictators--humans do. That goes for hobgoblins, warlocks, and the lot of them.

In the end its the arguments behind the words that we should be looking at. Maybe I'm a hypocrite--call me anti-corporate globalization protester not anti-globalization protester, Anti-Bush not Anti-American, ticked off college student not coddled liberal white kid--making mountains out of molehills; but it seems like common sense to call it "marriage" when two people commit themselves to a relationship for life; not to mention calling it "homophobic" and "intolerant" not "compassionate" when people want to discriminate simply on the basis of who it is that is in that relationship. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying there might not be justifiable arguments for backing dictators, violating international law, corporate welfare, bonds rather than tax increases, bigotry rather than tolerance. All I'm saying is maybe we should start hearing those arguments instead of trying to hide what we truly believe in and stand for by masking difference of opinion in polite voter friendly terms.

:: Jim Nichols 12/19/2003 10:59:00 PM [+] ::
...

I love this song...

FUGAZI LYRICS - Facet Squared:

"It's not worth, it's the investment
That keeps us tied up in all these strings
We draw lines and stand behind them
That's why flags are such ugly things
That they should never touch the ground"

:: Jim Nichols 12/19/2003 10:00:00 PM [+] ::
...

ZNet | Iraq | Twenty Years Too Late:
Wow....

"Dictators remain in the mind, to poison again, to torture once more. Saddam has gone. Saddam lives. And we think the war is over. "

:: Jim Nichols 12/19/2003 12:07:00 AM [+] ::
...

Lies, more Lies, and the lying bastards called RepublicansLocal News: "U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson said Monday the Bush administration last year told him and other senators that Iraq not only had weapons of mass destruction, but they had the means to deliver them to East Coast cities. "

:: Jim Nichols 12/18/2003 11:14:00 PM [+] ::
...

Hahahahahaha!!!!!BostonHerald.com - Local/ Regional News: Fur flies over flier: PETA targets 'Nutcracker' kids: "Animal rights advocates will single out small children at performances of ``The Nutcracker'' in the next few weeks by handing out fliers saying ``Your Mommy Kills Animals'' to youngsters whose mothers are wearing fur. "

:: Jim Nichols 12/18/2003 11:11:00 PM [+] ::
...

I don't know what this means

:: Jim Nichols 12/18/2003 09:31:00 PM [+] ::
...

On the Hussein issue....

AnalPhilosopher:: "I submit that even if Hussein is guilty, morally speaking, and even if he is found to be guilty in a duly conducted trial in a duly empaneled court, he has a right to be treated respectfully. Whatever else he is, Saddam Hussein is a person. Persons are autonomous (self-governing) beings, capable of choosing and responsible for the choices they make. They must not be used as mere means to the ends of others. They must not be demeaned or diminished. If one chooses to violate known rules, one subjects oneself to punishment. (Kant would say that one chooses to be punished.) But one never loses the status of person throughout this process. The trial must be fair. The handling of the suspect by interrogators, bailiffs, and others must be respectful. The punishment meted out, should trial result in conviction, must be proportional to the gravity of the offense. At no point in this process may the offender be treated as less than a person."

Now philosophically I don't know about the whole "persons are autonomous (self-governing) beings"--i'm still trying to figure out where I stand philosophically in regards to human autonomy. But emotionally (since I can't claim any logic to it) these arguments seem legitimate. I have a real problem with a lot of the revenge talk that is coming from a lot of people who claim that they just want to see justice done. I don't believe in victims having any rights; victims (and I don't want to seem like I don't empathize) are the least rational and objective people when it comes to criminals and what should be done with them.

:: Jim Nichols 12/18/2003 08:22:00 PM [+] ::
...

Opinion: Voucher oversight . . .:

"The Florida Board of Education's refusal to apply even minimal housekeeping principles to its prize voucher experiment does not deserve a passing grade."

Vouchers are just one more blackhole for republicans to go marching us into.

:: Jim Nichols 12/18/2003 08:11:00 PM [+] ::
...

ConferenceI want to go. I've never been to one of these things.

:: Jim Nichols 12/18/2003 08:02:00 PM [+] ::
...

Blackburn on Dawkins

:: Jim Nichols 12/18/2003 07:57:00 PM [+] ::
...

White House Web Scrubbing (washingtonpost.com):

"It's not quite Soviet-style airbrushing, but the Bush administration has been using cyberspace to make some of its own cosmetic touch-ups to history. "

You know I keep thinking people will take note of how this administration runs things... they won't and its nobodys fault but the voting public... you get what you deserve (or in this case what you vote for)

:: Jim Nichols 12/18/2003 05:21:00 PM [+] ::
...

CBSNews.com: Print This Story: "For the first time, the chairman of the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks is saying publicly that 9/11 could have and should have been prevented, reports CBS News Correspondent Randall Pinkston. "

:: Jim Nichols 12/18/2003 05:04:00 PM [+] ::
...

GoodinEhrenreich01: "About 6 per cent of Dutch people experience poverty (defined as a disposable income less than 50 per cent of the national median) in any given year, but, when income is averaged over a decade, the proportion of poor people falls to 1 per cent. In the United States, about 18 per cent of households are poor in any given year, and averaging over a decade only reduces the proportion to 13 per cent. The finding that the United States has less social mobility than other advanced countries is well-established in the social science literature, but not reflected in popular rhetoric."

:: Jim Nichols 12/18/2003 04:41:00 PM [+] ::
...

On The Social Psychology of the Psychological Experiment: With Particular Reference to Demand Characteristics and Their Implications: "It is to the highest degree probable that the subject['s] . . . general attitude of mind is that of ready complacency and cheerful willingness to assist the investigator in every possible way by reporting to him those very things which he is most eager to find, and that the very questions of the experimenter . . . suggest the shade of reply expected .... Indeed . . . it seems too often as if the subject were now regarded as a stupid automaton �A. H. Pierce"

:: Jim Nichols 12/17/2003 11:33:00 PM [+] ::
...

"A number of casual acquaintances were asked whether they would do the experimenter a favor (sic); on their acquiescence, they were asked to perform five push-ups. Their response tended to be amazement, incredulity, and the question 'Why?'. Another similar group of individuals were asked whether they would take part in an experiment of brief duration. When they agreed to do so, they too were asked to perform five push-ups. Their typical response was 'Where?''

--Martin T. Orne, 1962

:: Jim Nichols 12/17/2003 11:27:00 PM [+] ::
...

David Regis - Ph.D. thesis - Chapter 6a: "'As for the plea of 'infancy', one can only answer that it begs the question. For it may be that these theories are in their 'infancy' precisely because there is a fatal obstacle to their growing up, namely that they are incorrect'
(Taylor,1964). "

:: Jim Nichols 12/17/2003 11:24:00 PM [+] ::
...

An Analytic view of delusion

In psychiatry, delusions are classically defined as abnormal beliefs which satisfy the following criteria:3 '(i) they are held with absolute conviction; (ii) they are experienced as self-evident truths, usually of great importance; (iii) they are not amenable to reason, or modifiable by experience; (iv) their content is often fantastic or at best inherently unlikely; (v) the beliefs are not shared by those of a common social or cultural background'.

why is mass delusion (i.e. mythologies)--criteria v--not considered delusion? Just because more than one person holds the same belief doesn't mean it can't meet all the other criteria. Is it simply because it is understood that when one attempts to pry open the beliefs a person has about a myth or religion one finds that two people seldom have the same view; even people who have been specifically trained in that belief?

:: Jim Nichols 12/17/2003 11:00:00 PM [+] ::
...

Now they notice...
Painting Hussein’s Portrait: "The one thing on which everyone now agrees is that this man caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of his own people and kept most of the rest in fear and misery. Ironically, that was a vision first painted nearly 15 years ago by international human rights groups, during a period in which American presidents, as well as most of the rest of the world, treated him as a valuable ally and a bulwark against Iranian extremism."

:: Jim Nichols 12/17/2003 05:19:00 PM [+] ::
...

upon receiving his philosophy quiz scores...
"I wish Ayn Rand was down with Plato, but they never got along." voltaaron

:: Jim Nichols 12/16/2003 11:15:00 PM [+] ::
...

The Tree of Philosophy

:: Jim Nichols 12/16/2003 10:18:00 PM [+] ::
...

Plaster City - EARS: "Hollywood Holiday Party"

:: Jim Nichols 12/15/2003 10:17:00 PM [+] ::
...

Rumsfeld's Rules








---------------

:: Jim Nichols 12/15/2003 10:11:00 PM [+] ::
...

The tax cut was great (if you happen to have a lot of money). The "average tax-payer" really made-out great (too bad there are so few of them). And see now look, the economy is looking great (true as long as you remember that pesky money thing again, or a job for that matter). Iraq is looking great (if you ignore we've never proved our justification, or the fact that we were Hussein's enablers for 40 somethin years). Hiding in a hole is "cowardice" (please ignore all U.S. attempts to bribe and evade the International Criminal Court). Democracy is great (as long as it works in our own interest--sorry Taiwan). The Medicare bill is great (if you're an insurance provider--like, say, the AARP). Evil-doers are great (for winning re-elections). Bush is great (if you don't pay attention).

oh and don't forget that money thing.


"Hell no! It's time to talk back now! History says it's time!" --Langston Hughes

:: Jim Nichols 12/15/2003 09:48:00 PM [+] ::
...

Looks like I need to start reading Kant

Ethical Philosophy Selector
My Results:


1. Kant (100%)
2. Jean-Paul Sartre (69%)
3. John Stuart Mill (68%)
4. Ayn Rand (65%)
5. Spinoza (65%)
6. Epicureans (63%)
7. Nel Noddings (63%)
8. Jeremy Bentham (57%)
9. Stoics (57%)
10. Aquinas (53%)
11. Aristotle (53%)
12. Prescriptivism (50%)
13. David Hume (43%)
14. Nietzsche (43%)
15. Thomas Hobbes (39%)
16. St. Augustine (37%)
17. Cynics (31%)
18. Plato (31%)
19. Ockham (26%)

:: Jim Nichols 12/15/2003 09:13:00 PM [+] ::
...

President Bush might be advised not to mock Saddam Hussein for hiding in a ditch when it came down to the wire; the United States has used all its power to manipulate, and bride its way out of the International Criminal Court and the legal repercussion of violating international law--the epitome of cowardice on a global scale.

:: Jim Nichols 12/15/2003 08:38:00 PM [+] ::
...

Lecture 24: The Age of Ideologies (2): Reflections on Karl Marx: "The intellectuals chattered aimlessly, remote from reality. The bourgeoisie were hypocritical and deceived -- they were blinded by wealth and status."

:: Jim Nichols 12/15/2003 04:54:00 AM [+] ::
...