In the Powell Memorandum of August, 1971, Powell said that public colleges and universities were largely funded by taxpayers, and articulated that high-income business executives and corporations were were among the most significant taxpayers and therefore, funders of higher education (at least pre-Reagan, …
In the Powell Memorandum of August, 1971, Powell said that public colleges and universities were largely funded by taxpayers, and articulated that high-income business executives and corporations were were among the most significant taxpayers and therefore, funders of higher education (at least pre-Reagan, when the wealthy actually paid taxes -except for Trump). Powell argued that oddly, highly-educated professors were liberal or leaned liberal -thus he called for more conservative influence on campuses around the United States.
Students today (just as they did during the Vietnam era) want to feel empowered and relevant. The news from Gaza is a steady stream of the very worst of humanity. Just as protests eventually led to the American withdrawal from Vietnam, protests led to the demise of South African apartheid, students have every right to peacefully protest war crimes committed by Hamas in the terrorism, killing and kidnapping of innocent people, and Netanyahu's criminally terrorist acts in his continuing indiscriminate bombing and destruction of Gaza.
The GOP are always among the first to yell "don't politicize this mass shooting" at Sandy Hook, Uvalde, Columbine, Las Vegas, or the Tree of Life Synagogue. Yet, the hypocrisy that flows freely through GOP/MAGA/Putin veins ensures they politicize everything from climate action, to diplomacy, and of course -any place else they see an opportunity to manipulate voters. So it should not come as a surprise they are pressuring institutions of higher education. Just as Trump only wanted to direct disaster relief to "Red" States, or Jared Kushner was fine allowing the contagious, deadly pre-vaccine COVID to spread through "Blue" States, watch for MAGA Elise Stefanik and others, if Trump is elevated to the Presidency, to restrict Federal funding to any colleges or universities with programs related to race, gender, environmental conservation, ESG, or economics (in which the writings of John Kenneth Galbraith are preferred over Milton Friedman).
My guess is in a couple of years we'll see Jared Kushner selling Gaza beachfront properties to the highest bidder - the profits will very likely not end up in Palestinian pockets, will they?
Not so sure, George, that the Republicans are yelling "Don't politicize" all the mass shootings.
Might say, rather, they are always vulgarizing them.
Human life? None of them have ever in their lives accessed any humanities, so it's logically twisted to expect any concern for human life from any of them.
They cover for their fellow near-illiterate and marble-mouth white trash in Congress. Vote more, more tax cuts for the billionaires who pay them bribes. Put out videos celebrating the AR-15 and similar weaponry effective for repeated mass murders across America. Hurrah their number one showman with layers of odious orange make-up encrusted on his face, clown-show peroxided hair stiff on his otherwise vain, empty head, and waddling fat layers about his farting, befouling diapered area.
But notice, George, I don't once use the word "love" for any of this crew.
I have a high school buddy (high school class of '58) who is now old and bitter, a true opponent of DEI. There is absolutely no way to reach any middle ground. He'll do anything, even install a dictator as head of the country, to defeat Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. And, let's remember, those marching at Charlottesville in 2017 were shouting "Jews will not replace us." IMO, TFFG is the Chief Wizard of the MAGA/KKK movement and he is extremely aware of it. This is a cancer on the body politic that has been here all along and has been dormant for a few decades, but now it threatens the very existence of our democracy. Perhaps we should all make a pledge to donate ten times more money in this election to various candidates than ever before. After all, it is an investment in something that we need.
I wouldn't doubt if there was a plan among the trump 2016 campaign to divide liberal Jews and conservative Jews, like conservatives have been trying to divide Black people because both groups have historically always been supporters of the Democratic party. If you look at the Republican donor base and its inner circle, it's a multiethnic group of RW billionaires. trump's support of those marching at Charlottesville and his dining with the likes of Fuentes haven't seemed to bother RW Jews within that inner circle. We're being played by RW billionaires. They are loyal to no one but power. They use religion like a cudgel to keep us at each other's throats. Cynical of me I know.
Tracy, you write: " We're being played by RW billionaires. They are loyal to no one but power. " I agree, and this is fairly well documented: "What's the Matter with Kansas?" by Thomas Frank. Project 25 is a pure case of establishing an anti-democratic oligarchy here. The extremely wealthy have found that it is fairly easy to sucker in the white Americans with wedge issues: abortion, race, women's rights, gay rights, immigration, etc. It's tragic that those folks are so ill informed and clueless.
Thank you, Richard. Thought I remembered a connection and certainly the films of him making sure there were as few Blacks as possible in his buildings and his suse
Yes, Richard. Serious times. Serious needs of serious Dems.
And needs of active Dems, and independents, and former Republicans -- not just donating, but also well-focused on the things Heather arrays for us, our conversations.
". . . old and bitter." Sorry for your friend, Richard.
We all know those who don't age well. Someone else on this thread mentions the love of "To Kill a Mockingbird." Among its concerns, how stereotypes let us wrongly see people, such as the shut-in down the street that the little kids saw and feared as some monster. Though that stereotyped guy turned out to be one of the good guys (and a lifesaver for one of the little kids).
Good, however, Richard, that most of the comments on Heather's site turn out to be by those who've contrarily turned out "old and generous."
Peter, that novel has stuck with me ever since my Mom read it to us when I was about 10 and my sister 6. We are both on either our second or third copies of the book, and both read in regularly.
What you tell helps me and other readers better to understand your outlook, your motivation.
For many years now I've been turning over in my mind what it means to have been a victim, the dangers that go with victimhood, especially when victim status becomes an integral part of a person's or a group's identity.
It seems to me that the greatest harm of all arises when the victim is indelibly marked by the evil sustained. The victim then places her or himself outside the law, at the service of whatever vengeance may demand.
Yet, wherever a society is deeply divided, by debased notions of individualism, by racism, by social stratification based on wealth and income, by affiliation tribal, whether the tribe's identity is religious, political or whatever, by all the variations on "us" and "them", that entire society falls victim to its divisions. The have-nots are victims of their deprivation, the haves are had by their having (instead of living and being). We are so often not the masters but the victims of our ideas and our emotions...
A never-ending tale of ultimately unnecessary suffering and unkindness, both inflicted and self-inflicted.
Yet kindness, the lovingkindness that would share such happiness as we find, seems so simple, so obvious.
"I would share my ease and not my disease," said Thoreau.
I still don't understand how the party of the guy defending good people on both sides at at Nazi gathering is upset about antisemitism on college campuses. Seems like an odd disconnect.
Trump is on record saying Hitler had some good ideas. I doubt if any of the ideas had anything to do with better fuel economy for Mercedes-Benz sedans.
It's just politics... they can use the situation to their advantage to demonize the left and force out college and university presidents who they perceive as elitists.
Absolutely agree with you. It is part of Project 25 already instituted. The Republicans who have embraced the ideology helped to instigate the unrest on campus. They do not in any circumstance want students to think for themselves, so they give them the idea that Biden is the bad one. Shame that the students, who will vote in November, do not see how they have been manipulated by outside agitators. My question is who is manipulating the agitators. This unrest helps along the idea in Project 25 of replacing all the “liberal thinkers” in our universities.
cameron, I have long wondered at the almost fanatic response of my Christian friends regarding Israel: complete and uncritical support, no matter what. A couple of them that are still willing to engage with me on most things have been unable to articulate why.
Last week, a dear friend who is Christian to her soul answered that question in a Facebook post, citing specific verses in the Bible. This quote from her is: "Israel belongs to God Himself. His covenant with the Jewish people for the land of Israel is clear in Genesis 13:14-15. That covenant stand even now. God Almighty says Israel’s land belongs to them, not anyone else."
This was added: "Christians, you are commanded--by God himself--to support and protect Israel. This isn't about politics. It is about obedience.
I find that belief chilling in the face of the atrocities that both have taken and are taking place.
This generation has seen and been through more than several previous generations. New technology has brought us closer as we witness global suffering. “The needs of one have become the concerns of all.”
I am not sure that “this generation” has been through more… Every generation has its challenges. Those challenges come in different shapes and sizes but they happened and will continue to happen.
Internet. Social Media. DGeorge Floyd, BLM, DJT Demagoguery, the worst Respiratory pandemic since 1918, Ukraine War. But really we have to add the phone. Images and video of horrifc violence, inequality, decay of democratic institutions, delivered directly to your palm and daily.
Connie, I think that with the accelerated pace of "life" (thinking of TV's, how movies are made and produced, the explosion of video games (which now encompasses a very descriptive cohort of "gamers") to the expansion of information available on the internet with its complete lack of academic overview and publisher's requirements can safely be described as "more" even though all generations have faced challenges. I never had to worry about either "atomic bomb drills" (although I knew where the "nuclear shelter" was in my elementary school) or active shooter drills as a 1-12 student (no mandatory "K" in that milieu).
Thank you for mentioning John Kenneth Galbraith and the preference for him over Milton Friedman. I attended a Galbraith speech at Iowa State as a student in 1975. What a fantastic speaker and such a great mind.
This is from his Wikipedia page-
Galbraith's main ideas focused around the influence of the market power of large corporations. He believed that this market power weakened the widely accepted principle of consumer sovereignty, allowing corporations to be price makers, rather than price takers, allowing corporations with the strongest market power to increase the production of their goods beyond an efficient amount.
He further believed that market power played a major role in inflation.
He argued that corporations and trade unions could only increase prices to the extent that their market power allowed. He argued that in situations of excessive market power, price controls effectively controlled inflation, but cautioned against using them in markets that were basically efficient such as agricultural goods and housing. He noted that price controls were much easier to enforce in industries with relatively few buyers and sellers. Galbraith's view of market power was not entirely negative; he also noted that the power of US firms played a part in the success of the US economy.
Ding ding ding ding ding. Walmart takes in 1 of ever 3 dollars spent on groceries in the US. Fox News and the rest of the right wing media has convinced a large percentage of Americans that Biden's policies are the major cause of inflation. Some of his policies and programs have caused some of the inflation but so have TFFG's lingering policies like the Chinese tariffs. But Walmart, Home Depot, Tyson, Perdue and other large corporations are charging us more than they did for food and other consumables because they are greedy bastards.
The county in Arkansas where Walmart is headquartered and the belt of their executives live including several of the Walton heirs, has one of the highest child poverty rates in the US.
Gary -what a gift to have been able to see him -thank you for sharing.
Many years ago I was attending an emerging technology conference at MIT and made arrangements to visit Noam Chomsky on my trip from the San Francisco. I had also contacted John's office at Harvard -my understanding of Economics was largely developed through Professor Galbraith's writing and journals. Unfortunately, at the time, his health was in rapid decline and I did not get the opportunity to thank him for his work and writings -intended to improve the quality and dignity of life for all.
Of many books he wrote "The Economics of Innocent Fraud", I consider to be foundational reading (as well as Joel Bakan's "The Corporation, Noam Chomsky's "Miseducation in America" and "Manufacturing Consent", and George Lakoff's "Don't Think of an Elephant". From my perspective they should all be required reading.
Right back atcha George. Seeing Noam Chomsky speak would have been amazing I'm sure.
I've only read a couple of Galbraith's books but I will look for 'The Economics of Fraud" as well as the others you mention.
I agree that college curriculums should include mandatory readings and even AP high school classes.
One of the weed out classes (whether intentional or not) for Engineering students was English I and II. Some of the best engineering students I knew took those classes multiple times before they passed. Maybe include some of those books in with English I & II?
Thanks Gary. And no question that Professor Galbraith’s powerful eloquence would fit in an English curriculum. Interestingly, the best database and application performance people I recruited during my career at Oracle were degreed in Electrical Engineering as opposed to Computer Science or Information Systems. Most couldn’t write a report or spell their way out of a paper bag (and still can’t) however they had supernatural analytical skills when it came to 0’s and 1’s.
I can certainly relate to the writing skills of engineers. One of my college room mates was a EE. He led the team that created the pacemaker for Medtronics to be implanted with someone in need of an MRI. He finally passed English II the quarter he graduated. He too couldn't write a report or spell worth a lick, but he was brilliant. He has multiple patents from his time at other companies as well.
It's been a couple days, George, with Heather yet on break.
In the meantime you say something here -- several good things -- which prompt another in-the-meantime-response from me.
That is, when you list good books, and suggest more might know them -- yes, agreed. But how is it that we simply don't see various others periodically citing these books and doing so in the context that all the more makes them matter to them?
I suggest, George, that the arts of citing others have disappeared. Not only the arts of citing others, but the parallel arts of doing so by transitions that also clarify one's own parallel concerns.
No need to reply, George. Maybe you can do so in some subsequent note you may make on new things Heather may bring up, once she returns from extended break.
Thank you for sharing this Phil. It made me think of commonalities we share as a group or network of people. While we may all have a foundation of varied education we all find LFAA's important. The well-written fact-based (and cited) articles often establishing the connection between U.S. and global events with their historical context. We seek to be well-informed and engaged, two of the three vital pillars of any attempt at meaningful democracy. Aside from a foundation of education we all have a journey through life which has led us here. Our personalities, as well as books, films, and life experiences all contribute to what I hope for all of us is a never-ending quest.
The books I mentioned previously are a handful of material which inspired me (and continues to do so). I worry that just publishing a list of such would not have any real emotional engagement for others. Years ago I organized an event with Charlie Liteky -a war hero and important voice in America's conscience (if we have one as a society). A book on sinister U.S. involvement in the horrific civil war in El Salvador by Charles Clements, a U.S. doctor who recounted his experience as a field medic desperately trying to save lives from the indiscriminate bombs and gunfire, often from U.S. supplied weapons for the right-wing regime responsible for the deaths and torturing of doctors, lawyers, teachers, and people rising against the horror. The work of Naomi Oreskes in publishing "Merchants of Doubt" -important in understanding the generations of the extraction industries destruction of climate and planet while intentionally covering up the damage and catastrophic climate outcomes threatening our world today.
These things (and others) have emotional connections to me, and while others might agree some of my personal experiences and books I've read are important, I'm not sure how to relate the all important emotional context? That's the place where I think many can be moved to join a growing network of people on a quest for life long learning and deeper understandings -which, from my perspective on a vast scale, could eventually lead to a peaceful and collaborative world -instead of one rife with conflict.
Anyway -thank you for a provocative note as we begin the new week.
No, they're leaning on other words, direct from the Bible. I posted on cameron's post from and earlier time on this thread something I finally learned about why there are some Christians that are (my word here) irrational in their support of Israel.
I was being semi in jest, Ally. Evangelicals' support of Israel is purely religious indeed. The OT is full of self-justifying slaughter of foreigners or non-believers, and all taken matter of factly.
When activists and protesters commit crimes the leaders and teachers disrupting tranquility need to be brought to Justice and their populations need to be re-educated. Specifically, taught to live within a merit based, muti-ethnic truth seeking society. Generally speaking, political Islam is not compatible with this principle.
Protester's characterization of Israeli apartheid and genocide were successfully rebutted in the South African case. It's not a crime to minimize casualties of your own troops by bombing enemy tunnels and rocket launch sites, and using air power to eliminate snipers.
No doubt that every nation has a right to be recognized and to defend themselves (except for those who are committed to deny the right for everyone else to exist, or those who commit egregious crimes against people and planet).
I think "re-education centers and/or concentration camps" are not something most people would embrace -especially for disrupting "tranquility" or "disturbing the peace." The First Amendment of the Constitution enshrines such rights (although I know far too many people don't realize there are amendments preceding and subsequent to the Second.
And I'd have to disagree with killing masses of innocent people to get to a handful of extremists is a reasonable response. It is antithetical to international law and fundamental human rights.
Remember George that the vast majority if not all Hamas are the "children" of Gazans, many of them still under the age of 20, so that extends into parents, siblings, aunts and uncles, cousins, neighbourhoods.... think of how many Gazans are hostile to Israel, both in its military occupation and confinement policies, and of course (no surprise) Israel's right to exist. They are the direct descendents of the Catastrophe. I would think it's an almost pointless exercise trying to distinguish between "Hamas extremists" and the larger, "civilian" population.
You do raise an important point Frank, yet I do have hope that fundamentally all people want safety, security, and a desire for a better life for the next and future generations, as opposed to perpetual war, suffering, and horrific violence. And a spark born from that desire yields a fragile yet strengthening peace predicated upon reason.
Agreed... I do hope that human societies, organized it states or whatever, find more collaborative means to manage their affairs. Much as members go on about "capitalist greed" here, trade and the exchange of goods and services is likely the best way to go, depending on the "terms" of course! I'm guardedly hopeful that is where humanity is headed, however fitfully and inequitably. I suspect survival is the more visceral base than "reason". After all, minor counterpoint, reason as technical know-how invented the machine-gun, stand in for the enormous and now very expensive panoply of weaponry in this world. On the side, don't you think it odd that political discourse has been shaping up China as America's "main enemy", the country with whom USA has immense economic and financial ties?
Thanks Frank -and yes, it is clear through nearly every section of the 900+ pages of the Heritage toxic Project 2025 that China is “The Enemy”. I know the right-wing always loves an enemy to bolster military spending. Nevertheless we seem much closer to conflict with Russia due to the criminal Putin. Although China certainly has a disconcerting interest in Taiwan.
Not surprised you'd assume I endorse concentration camps. What I am saying is don't fall for the Dunning Kruger Effect. Don't confuse the determination of fools and fanatics with credibility of their position. Hamas, Iran and the protesters can't believe anyone would protect Jews who they believe god abandoned and will therefore bestow a reward in heaven for exterminating them. But I agree only those who teach and lead this ideology should be punished. I and Israel morn each death much more than Hamas does. Tent camps are being built as we speak to afford all those that want to leave Rafa to do so.
You remind me so much of my old aunty that insisted until her last breath that the concentration camps in Germany never really existed, that it would have been impossible to burn so many people, that it's all just propaganda to make the poor, poor Germans look bad.
Some people just can't be helped. They die ignorant.
Do a google search for "tent camps in gaza" -> images. Hundreds of images. See any pictures with mountains of dead Gazans waiting to be burned like in Auschwitz? Each time you believe something known to be false, you lose the capacity for reason. We still love you, just don't expect us to accept your judgement on things like war.
I do believe the Nazi propaganda film where the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem HAJJ AMIN AL-HUSAYNI MEETS HITLER and ”The Führer stated that Germany would not intervene in internal Arab matters and that the only German “goal at that time would be the annihilation of Jewry living in Arab space under the protection of British power.”
About the campus protests, I too object to the U.S. financed bombing of innocent Palestinians who were not responsible for the attack on Israel. The activists objecting to this bombing need to understand that, when their actions go beyond peaceful protests, they commit the same crime by undermining our college students who are not responsible for the bombing of the Palestinians.
Thank you Professor Richardson.
In the Powell Memorandum of August, 1971, Powell said that public colleges and universities were largely funded by taxpayers, and articulated that high-income business executives and corporations were were among the most significant taxpayers and therefore, funders of higher education (at least pre-Reagan, when the wealthy actually paid taxes -except for Trump). Powell argued that oddly, highly-educated professors were liberal or leaned liberal -thus he called for more conservative influence on campuses around the United States.
Students today (just as they did during the Vietnam era) want to feel empowered and relevant. The news from Gaza is a steady stream of the very worst of humanity. Just as protests eventually led to the American withdrawal from Vietnam, protests led to the demise of South African apartheid, students have every right to peacefully protest war crimes committed by Hamas in the terrorism, killing and kidnapping of innocent people, and Netanyahu's criminally terrorist acts in his continuing indiscriminate bombing and destruction of Gaza.
The GOP are always among the first to yell "don't politicize this mass shooting" at Sandy Hook, Uvalde, Columbine, Las Vegas, or the Tree of Life Synagogue. Yet, the hypocrisy that flows freely through GOP/MAGA/Putin veins ensures they politicize everything from climate action, to diplomacy, and of course -any place else they see an opportunity to manipulate voters. So it should not come as a surprise they are pressuring institutions of higher education. Just as Trump only wanted to direct disaster relief to "Red" States, or Jared Kushner was fine allowing the contagious, deadly pre-vaccine COVID to spread through "Blue" States, watch for MAGA Elise Stefanik and others, if Trump is elevated to the Presidency, to restrict Federal funding to any colleges or universities with programs related to race, gender, environmental conservation, ESG, or economics (in which the writings of John Kenneth Galbraith are preferred over Milton Friedman).
My guess is in a couple of years we'll see Jared Kushner selling Gaza beachfront properties to the highest bidder - the profits will very likely not end up in Palestinian pockets, will they?
As you say Sabine -it might be part of why Saudi Arabia provided billions to Jared as a "pre-investment".
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/10/us/jared-kushner-saudi-investment-fund.html
Ouch.
Not so sure, George, that the Republicans are yelling "Don't politicize" all the mass shootings.
Might say, rather, they are always vulgarizing them.
Human life? None of them have ever in their lives accessed any humanities, so it's logically twisted to expect any concern for human life from any of them.
They cover for their fellow near-illiterate and marble-mouth white trash in Congress. Vote more, more tax cuts for the billionaires who pay them bribes. Put out videos celebrating the AR-15 and similar weaponry effective for repeated mass murders across America. Hurrah their number one showman with layers of odious orange make-up encrusted on his face, clown-show peroxided hair stiff on his otherwise vain, empty head, and waddling fat layers about his farting, befouling diapered area.
But notice, George, I don't once use the word "love" for any of this crew.
I have a high school buddy (high school class of '58) who is now old and bitter, a true opponent of DEI. There is absolutely no way to reach any middle ground. He'll do anything, even install a dictator as head of the country, to defeat Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. And, let's remember, those marching at Charlottesville in 2017 were shouting "Jews will not replace us." IMO, TFFG is the Chief Wizard of the MAGA/KKK movement and he is extremely aware of it. This is a cancer on the body politic that has been here all along and has been dormant for a few decades, but now it threatens the very existence of our democracy. Perhaps we should all make a pledge to donate ten times more money in this election to various candidates than ever before. After all, it is an investment in something that we need.
I wouldn't doubt if there was a plan among the trump 2016 campaign to divide liberal Jews and conservative Jews, like conservatives have been trying to divide Black people because both groups have historically always been supporters of the Democratic party. If you look at the Republican donor base and its inner circle, it's a multiethnic group of RW billionaires. trump's support of those marching at Charlottesville and his dining with the likes of Fuentes haven't seemed to bother RW Jews within that inner circle. We're being played by RW billionaires. They are loyal to no one but power. They use religion like a cudgel to keep us at each other's throats. Cynical of me I know.
Tracy, you write: " We're being played by RW billionaires. They are loyal to no one but power. " I agree, and this is fairly well documented: "What's the Matter with Kansas?" by Thomas Frank. Project 25 is a pure case of establishing an anti-democratic oligarchy here. The extremely wealthy have found that it is fairly easy to sucker in the white Americans with wedge issues: abortion, race, women's rights, gay rights, immigration, etc. It's tragic that those folks are so ill informed and clueless.
I wish I had more money to donate - but the Dems just send me more inane emails
Or text messages telling me the world is ending - today.
Will donate to billboards when I get an extra dime.
Wasn’t tfg’s father a klan member?
Virginia, you ask: "Wasn't tfg's father a klan member?" Maybe not an enrolled member, but clearly a sympathizer, being arrested at a KKK rally in 1927. https://www.newsweek.com/was-donald-trump-father-kkk-1864382
Thank you, Richard. Thought I remembered a connection and certainly the films of him making sure there were as few Blacks as possible in his buildings and his suse
….subsequent Justice Department case add to the perception of his racism.
Yes, Richard. Serious times. Serious needs of serious Dems.
And needs of active Dems, and independents, and former Republicans -- not just donating, but also well-focused on the things Heather arrays for us, our conversations.
". . . old and bitter." Sorry for your friend, Richard.
We all know those who don't age well. Someone else on this thread mentions the love of "To Kill a Mockingbird." Among its concerns, how stereotypes let us wrongly see people, such as the shut-in down the street that the little kids saw and feared as some monster. Though that stereotyped guy turned out to be one of the good guys (and a lifesaver for one of the little kids).
Good, however, Richard, that most of the comments on Heather's site turn out to be by those who've contrarily turned out "old and generous."
I am just completing my long-belated reading of To Kill a Mockingbird.
Not surprised that the crazed ideologues want to ban it, to burn it.
Truth must be uprooted and consigned to the flames of hatred.
And this book tells truths far too actual.
In America.
In Israel.
Worldwide.
Peter, that novel has stuck with me ever since my Mom read it to us when I was about 10 and my sister 6. We are both on either our second or third copies of the book, and both read in regularly.
What you tell helps me and other readers better to understand your outlook, your motivation.
For many years now I've been turning over in my mind what it means to have been a victim, the dangers that go with victimhood, especially when victim status becomes an integral part of a person's or a group's identity.
It seems to me that the greatest harm of all arises when the victim is indelibly marked by the evil sustained. The victim then places her or himself outside the law, at the service of whatever vengeance may demand.
Yet, wherever a society is deeply divided, by debased notions of individualism, by racism, by social stratification based on wealth and income, by affiliation tribal, whether the tribe's identity is religious, political or whatever, by all the variations on "us" and "them", that entire society falls victim to its divisions. The have-nots are victims of their deprivation, the haves are had by their having (instead of living and being). We are so often not the masters but the victims of our ideas and our emotions...
A never-ending tale of ultimately unnecessary suffering and unkindness, both inflicted and self-inflicted.
Yet kindness, the lovingkindness that would share such happiness as we find, seems so simple, so obvious.
"I would share my ease and not my disease," said Thoreau.
Thank you Phil -and yes, vulgarizing to be sure.
I still don't understand how the party of the guy defending good people on both sides at at Nazi gathering is upset about antisemitism on college campuses. Seems like an odd disconnect.
Trump is on record saying Hitler had some good ideas. I doubt if any of the ideas had anything to do with better fuel economy for Mercedes-Benz sedans.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/06/donald-trump-hitler-michael-bender-book
It's just politics... they can use the situation to their advantage to demonize the left and force out college and university presidents who they perceive as elitists.
Absolutely agree with you. It is part of Project 25 already instituted. The Republicans who have embraced the ideology helped to instigate the unrest on campus. They do not in any circumstance want students to think for themselves, so they give them the idea that Biden is the bad one. Shame that the students, who will vote in November, do not see how they have been manipulated by outside agitators. My question is who is manipulating the agitators. This unrest helps along the idea in Project 25 of replacing all the “liberal thinkers” in our universities.
Precisely to the point!
🤣 But then isn’t TFG a medley of disconnections?
cameron, I have long wondered at the almost fanatic response of my Christian friends regarding Israel: complete and uncritical support, no matter what. A couple of them that are still willing to engage with me on most things have been unable to articulate why.
Last week, a dear friend who is Christian to her soul answered that question in a Facebook post, citing specific verses in the Bible. This quote from her is: "Israel belongs to God Himself. His covenant with the Jewish people for the land of Israel is clear in Genesis 13:14-15. That covenant stand even now. God Almighty says Israel’s land belongs to them, not anyone else."
This was added: "Christians, you are commanded--by God himself--to support and protect Israel. This isn't about politics. It is about obedience.
I find that belief chilling in the face of the atrocities that both have taken and are taking place.
This generation has seen and been through more than several previous generations. New technology has brought us closer as we witness global suffering. “The needs of one have become the concerns of all.”
I am not sure that “this generation” has been through more… Every generation has its challenges. Those challenges come in different shapes and sizes but they happened and will continue to happen.
Internet. Social Media. DGeorge Floyd, BLM, DJT Demagoguery, the worst Respiratory pandemic since 1918, Ukraine War. But really we have to add the phone. Images and video of horrifc violence, inequality, decay of democratic institutions, delivered directly to your palm and daily.
Connie, I think that with the accelerated pace of "life" (thinking of TV's, how movies are made and produced, the explosion of video games (which now encompasses a very descriptive cohort of "gamers") to the expansion of information available on the internet with its complete lack of academic overview and publisher's requirements can safely be described as "more" even though all generations have faced challenges. I never had to worry about either "atomic bomb drills" (although I knew where the "nuclear shelter" was in my elementary school) or active shooter drills as a 1-12 student (no mandatory "K" in that milieu).
Thank you for mentioning John Kenneth Galbraith and the preference for him over Milton Friedman. I attended a Galbraith speech at Iowa State as a student in 1975. What a fantastic speaker and such a great mind.
This is from his Wikipedia page-
Galbraith's main ideas focused around the influence of the market power of large corporations. He believed that this market power weakened the widely accepted principle of consumer sovereignty, allowing corporations to be price makers, rather than price takers, allowing corporations with the strongest market power to increase the production of their goods beyond an efficient amount.
He further believed that market power played a major role in inflation.
He argued that corporations and trade unions could only increase prices to the extent that their market power allowed. He argued that in situations of excessive market power, price controls effectively controlled inflation, but cautioned against using them in markets that were basically efficient such as agricultural goods and housing. He noted that price controls were much easier to enforce in industries with relatively few buyers and sellers. Galbraith's view of market power was not entirely negative; he also noted that the power of US firms played a part in the success of the US economy.
Ding ding ding ding ding. Walmart takes in 1 of ever 3 dollars spent on groceries in the US. Fox News and the rest of the right wing media has convinced a large percentage of Americans that Biden's policies are the major cause of inflation. Some of his policies and programs have caused some of the inflation but so have TFFG's lingering policies like the Chinese tariffs. But Walmart, Home Depot, Tyson, Perdue and other large corporations are charging us more than they did for food and other consumables because they are greedy bastards.
The county in Arkansas where Walmart is headquartered and the belt of their executives live including several of the Walton heirs, has one of the highest child poverty rates in the US.
Gary -what a gift to have been able to see him -thank you for sharing.
Many years ago I was attending an emerging technology conference at MIT and made arrangements to visit Noam Chomsky on my trip from the San Francisco. I had also contacted John's office at Harvard -my understanding of Economics was largely developed through Professor Galbraith's writing and journals. Unfortunately, at the time, his health was in rapid decline and I did not get the opportunity to thank him for his work and writings -intended to improve the quality and dignity of life for all.
Of many books he wrote "The Economics of Innocent Fraud", I consider to be foundational reading (as well as Joel Bakan's "The Corporation, Noam Chomsky's "Miseducation in America" and "Manufacturing Consent", and George Lakoff's "Don't Think of an Elephant". From my perspective they should all be required reading.
Right back atcha George. Seeing Noam Chomsky speak would have been amazing I'm sure.
I've only read a couple of Galbraith's books but I will look for 'The Economics of Fraud" as well as the others you mention.
I agree that college curriculums should include mandatory readings and even AP high school classes.
One of the weed out classes (whether intentional or not) for Engineering students was English I and II. Some of the best engineering students I knew took those classes multiple times before they passed. Maybe include some of those books in with English I & II?
Thanks Gary. And no question that Professor Galbraith’s powerful eloquence would fit in an English curriculum. Interestingly, the best database and application performance people I recruited during my career at Oracle were degreed in Electrical Engineering as opposed to Computer Science or Information Systems. Most couldn’t write a report or spell their way out of a paper bag (and still can’t) however they had supernatural analytical skills when it came to 0’s and 1’s.
I can certainly relate to the writing skills of engineers. One of my college room mates was a EE. He led the team that created the pacemaker for Medtronics to be implanted with someone in need of an MRI. He finally passed English II the quarter he graduated. He too couldn't write a report or spell worth a lick, but he was brilliant. He has multiple patents from his time at other companies as well.
It's been a couple days, George, with Heather yet on break.
In the meantime you say something here -- several good things -- which prompt another in-the-meantime-response from me.
That is, when you list good books, and suggest more might know them -- yes, agreed. But how is it that we simply don't see various others periodically citing these books and doing so in the context that all the more makes them matter to them?
I suggest, George, that the arts of citing others have disappeared. Not only the arts of citing others, but the parallel arts of doing so by transitions that also clarify one's own parallel concerns.
No need to reply, George. Maybe you can do so in some subsequent note you may make on new things Heather may bring up, once she returns from extended break.
Thank you for sharing this Phil. It made me think of commonalities we share as a group or network of people. While we may all have a foundation of varied education we all find LFAA's important. The well-written fact-based (and cited) articles often establishing the connection between U.S. and global events with their historical context. We seek to be well-informed and engaged, two of the three vital pillars of any attempt at meaningful democracy. Aside from a foundation of education we all have a journey through life which has led us here. Our personalities, as well as books, films, and life experiences all contribute to what I hope for all of us is a never-ending quest.
The books I mentioned previously are a handful of material which inspired me (and continues to do so). I worry that just publishing a list of such would not have any real emotional engagement for others. Years ago I organized an event with Charlie Liteky -a war hero and important voice in America's conscience (if we have one as a society). A book on sinister U.S. involvement in the horrific civil war in El Salvador by Charles Clements, a U.S. doctor who recounted his experience as a field medic desperately trying to save lives from the indiscriminate bombs and gunfire, often from U.S. supplied weapons for the right-wing regime responsible for the deaths and torturing of doctors, lawyers, teachers, and people rising against the horror. The work of Naomi Oreskes in publishing "Merchants of Doubt" -important in understanding the generations of the extraction industries destruction of climate and planet while intentionally covering up the damage and catastrophic climate outcomes threatening our world today.
These things (and others) have emotional connections to me, and while others might agree some of my personal experiences and books I've read are important, I'm not sure how to relate the all important emotional context? That's the place where I think many can be moved to join a growing network of people on a quest for life long learning and deeper understandings -which, from my perspective on a vast scale, could eventually lead to a peaceful and collaborative world -instead of one rife with conflict.
Anyway -thank you for a provocative note as we begin the new week.
They must be leaning on Jesus alleged words "the poor will be with you always" .
No, they're leaning on other words, direct from the Bible. I posted on cameron's post from and earlier time on this thread something I finally learned about why there are some Christians that are (my word here) irrational in their support of Israel.
I was being semi in jest, Ally. Evangelicals' support of Israel is purely religious indeed. The OT is full of self-justifying slaughter of foreigners or non-believers, and all taken matter of factly.
When activists and protesters commit crimes the leaders and teachers disrupting tranquility need to be brought to Justice and their populations need to be re-educated. Specifically, taught to live within a merit based, muti-ethnic truth seeking society. Generally speaking, political Islam is not compatible with this principle.
Protester's characterization of Israeli apartheid and genocide were successfully rebutted in the South African case. It's not a crime to minimize casualties of your own troops by bombing enemy tunnels and rocket launch sites, and using air power to eliminate snipers.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org › wiki
South Africa v. Israel (Genocide Convention) - Wikipedia
No doubt that every nation has a right to be recognized and to defend themselves (except for those who are committed to deny the right for everyone else to exist, or those who commit egregious crimes against people and planet).
I think "re-education centers and/or concentration camps" are not something most people would embrace -especially for disrupting "tranquility" or "disturbing the peace." The First Amendment of the Constitution enshrines such rights (although I know far too many people don't realize there are amendments preceding and subsequent to the Second.
And I'd have to disagree with killing masses of innocent people to get to a handful of extremists is a reasonable response. It is antithetical to international law and fundamental human rights.
Remember George that the vast majority if not all Hamas are the "children" of Gazans, many of them still under the age of 20, so that extends into parents, siblings, aunts and uncles, cousins, neighbourhoods.... think of how many Gazans are hostile to Israel, both in its military occupation and confinement policies, and of course (no surprise) Israel's right to exist. They are the direct descendents of the Catastrophe. I would think it's an almost pointless exercise trying to distinguish between "Hamas extremists" and the larger, "civilian" population.
You do raise an important point Frank, yet I do have hope that fundamentally all people want safety, security, and a desire for a better life for the next and future generations, as opposed to perpetual war, suffering, and horrific violence. And a spark born from that desire yields a fragile yet strengthening peace predicated upon reason.
Agreed... I do hope that human societies, organized it states or whatever, find more collaborative means to manage their affairs. Much as members go on about "capitalist greed" here, trade and the exchange of goods and services is likely the best way to go, depending on the "terms" of course! I'm guardedly hopeful that is where humanity is headed, however fitfully and inequitably. I suspect survival is the more visceral base than "reason". After all, minor counterpoint, reason as technical know-how invented the machine-gun, stand in for the enormous and now very expensive panoply of weaponry in this world. On the side, don't you think it odd that political discourse has been shaping up China as America's "main enemy", the country with whom USA has immense economic and financial ties?
Thanks Frank -and yes, it is clear through nearly every section of the 900+ pages of the Heritage toxic Project 2025 that China is “The Enemy”. I know the right-wing always loves an enemy to bolster military spending. Nevertheless we seem much closer to conflict with Russia due to the criminal Putin. Although China certainly has a disconcerting interest in Taiwan.
Not surprised you'd assume I endorse concentration camps. What I am saying is don't fall for the Dunning Kruger Effect. Don't confuse the determination of fools and fanatics with credibility of their position. Hamas, Iran and the protesters can't believe anyone would protect Jews who they believe god abandoned and will therefore bestow a reward in heaven for exterminating them. But I agree only those who teach and lead this ideology should be punished. I and Israel morn each death much more than Hamas does. Tent camps are being built as we speak to afford all those that want to leave Rafa to do so.
You remind me so much of my old aunty that insisted until her last breath that the concentration camps in Germany never really existed, that it would have been impossible to burn so many people, that it's all just propaganda to make the poor, poor Germans look bad.
Some people just can't be helped. They die ignorant.
Do a google search for "tent camps in gaza" -> images. Hundreds of images. See any pictures with mountains of dead Gazans waiting to be burned like in Auschwitz? Each time you believe something known to be false, you lose the capacity for reason. We still love you, just don't expect us to accept your judgement on things like war.
I do believe the Nazi propaganda film where the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem HAJJ AMIN AL-HUSAYNI MEETS HITLER and ”The Führer stated that Germany would not intervene in internal Arab matters and that the only German “goal at that time would be the annihilation of Jewry living in Arab space under the protection of British power.”
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/film/hajj-amin-al-husayni-meets-hitler
About the campus protests, I too object to the U.S. financed bombing of innocent Palestinians who were not responsible for the attack on Israel. The activists objecting to this bombing need to understand that, when their actions go beyond peaceful protests, they commit the same crime by undermining our college students who are not responsible for the bombing of the Palestinians.
Excellent assessment of both the Powell Memo and GOP "manipulations", George.
Thank you!
I agree with you George!👍!
A long, long goal as you say