Sanely free of McCarthyite calling anyone a "traitor" since 2001!
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I'm underemployed (historically particularly as an editor in book and magazine publishing), recurringly housebound with insanely painful now-sporadic (when I have meds) gout, an enlarged heart, and other health problems, particularly including lifelong recurring severe clinical depression. See here for a major crisis. I'm also sometimes available to some degree as a paid writer or researcher. This is a previous update on my situation & this -- and this from December 19th, 2005 update.
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"The brain is wider than the sky, For, put them side by side,
The one the other will include With ease, and you beside"
-- Emily Dickinson
"We will pursue peace as if there is no terrorism and fight terrorism as if there is no peace."
-- Yitzhak Rabin
"I have thought it my duty to exhibit things as they are, not as they ought to be."
-- Alexander Hamilton
"The stakes are too high for government to be a spectator sport."
-- Barbara Jordan
"Under democracy, one party always devotes its chief energies to
trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule --
and both commonly succeed, and are right."
-- H. L. Mencken
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.
It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
-- William Pitt
"The only completely consistent people are the dead."
-- Aldous Huxley
"I have had my solutions for a long time; but I do not yet know how I am to arrive at them."
-- Karl F. Gauss
"Whatever evils either reason or declamation have imputed to extensive empire,
the power of Rome was attended with some beneficial consequences to mankind;
and the same freedom of intercourse which extended the vices, diffused likewise
the improvements of social life."
-- Edward Gibbon
"Augustus was sensible that mankind is governed by names; nor was he deceived in his
expectation, that the senate and people would submit to slavery, provided they were
respectfully assured that they still enjoyed their ancient freedom."
-- Edward Gibbon
"There exists in human nature a strong propensity to depreciate the advantages, and to magnify
the evils, of the present times."
-- Edward Gibbon
"Our youth now loves luxuries. They have bad manners, contempt for authority.
They show disrespect for elders and they
love to chatter instead of exercise.
Children are now tyrants, not the servants, of their households. They
no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents,
chatter before company, gobble up their food, and tyrannize
their teachers."
-- Socrates
"Before impugning an opponent's motives, even when they legitimately may be impugned, answer his arguments."
-- Sidney Hook
"Idealism, alas, does not protect one from ignorance, dogmatism, and foolishness."
-- Sidney Hook
"Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
"We take, and must continue to take, morally hazardous actions to preserve our civilization.
We must exercise our power. But we ought neither to believe that a nation is capable of perfect
disinterestedness in its exercise, nor become complacent about particular degrees of interest
and passion which corrupt the justice by which the exercise of power is legitimized."
-- Reinhold Niebuhr
"Faced with the choice of all the land without a Jewish state or a Jewish state without all the
land, we chose a Jewish state without all the land."
-- David Ben-Gurion
"...the proscribing any citizen as unworthy the public confidence by laying upon him
an incapacity of being called to offices of trust and emolument, unless he profess or renounce this
or that religious opinion, is depriving him injuriously of those privileges and advantages
to which, in common with his fellow citizens, he has a natural right; that it tends also
to corrupt the principles of that very religion it is meant to encourage, by bribing,
with a monopoly of worldly honours and emoluments, those who will externally profess
and conform to it; that though indeed these are criminals who do not withstand such
temptation, yet neither are those innocent who lay the bait in their way; that the
opinions of men are not the object of civil government, nor under its jurisdiction;
that to suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion
and to restrain the profession or propagation of principles on supposition of their
ill tendency is a dangerous fallacy, which at once destroys all religious liberty,
because he being of course judge of that tendency will make his opinions the rule of
judgment, and approve or condemn the sentiments of others only as they shall square
with or differ from his own; that it is time enough for the rightful purposes of civil
government for its officers to interfere when principles break out into overt acts
against peace and good order; and finally, that truth is great and will prevail if
left to herself; that she is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has
nothing to fear from the conflict unless by human interposition disarmed of her
natural weapons, free argument and debate; errors ceasing to be dangerous when it is
permitted freely to contradict them.
-- Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, Thomas Jefferson
"We don't live just by ideas. Ideas are part of the mixture of customs and practices,
intuitions and instincts that make human life a conscious activity susceptible to
improvement or debasement. A radical idea may be healthy as a provocation;
a temperate idea may be stultifying. It depends on the circumstances. One of the most
tiresome arguments against ideas is that their "tendency" is to some dire condition --
to totalitarianism, or to moral relativism, or to a war of all against all."
-- Louis Menand
"The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis."
-- Dante Alighieri
"He too serves a certain purpose who only stands and cheers."
-- Henry B. Adams
"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the
poor to beg in the streets, steal bread, or sleep under a bridge."
-- Anatole France
"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle."
-- Edmund Burke
"Education does not mean that we have become certified experts in business or mining or botany or journalism or epistemology;
it means that through the absorption of the moral, intellectual, and esthetic inheritance of the race we have come to
understand and control ourselves as well as the external world; that we have chosen the best as our associates both in spirit
and the flesh; that we have learned to add courtesy to culture, wisdom to knowledge, and forgiveness to understanding."
-- Will Durant
"Glimpses do ye seem to see of that mortally intolerable truth; that all deep, earnest thinking is
but the intrepid effort of the soul to keep the open independence of her sea; while the wildest
winds of heaven and earth conspire to cast her on the treacherous, slavish shore?"
-- Herman Melville
"The most important political office is that of the private citizen."
-- Louis D. Brandeis
"If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable."
-- Louis D. Brandeis
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both."
-- Louis D. Brandeis
"It is an error to suppose that books have no influence; it is a slow influence, like flowing water carving out a canyon,
but it tells more and more with every year; and no one can pass an hour a day in the society of sages and heroes without
being lifted up a notch or two by the company he has kept."
-- Will Durant
"When you write, you’re trying to transpose what you’re thinking into something that is less like an annoying drone and more like a piece of music."
-- Louis Menand
"Sex is a continuum."
-- Gore Vidal
"I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should
make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibit the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state."
-- Thomas Jefferson, letter to the Baptists of Danbury, Connecticut, 1802.
"The sum of our religion is peace and unanimity, but these can scarcely stand unless we define as little as possible,
and in many things leave one free to follow his own judgment, because there is great obscurity in many matters, and
man suffers from this almost congenital disease that he will not give in when once a controversy is started, and
after he is heated he regards as absolutely true that which he began to sponsor quite casually...."
-- Desiderius Erasmus
"Are we to have a censor whose imprimatur shall say what books may be sold, and what we may buy? And who is thus to dogmatize religious opinions for our citizens? Whose foot is to be the measure to which ours are all to be cut or stretched? Is a priest to be our inquisitor, or shall a layman, simple as ourselves, set up his reason as the rule of what we are to read, and what we must disbelieve?"
-- Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to N. G. Dufief, Philadelphia bookseller, 1814
"We are told that it is only people's objective actions that matter, and their subjective feelings are of no importance. Thus pacifists, by obstructing the war effort,
are 'objectively' aiding the Nazis; and therefore the fact that they may be personally hostile to Fascism is irrelevant. I have been guilty of saying this myself more than once. The same argument is applied to Trotskyism. Trotskyists are often credited, at any rate by Communists, with being active and conscious agents of Hitler; but when you point out the many and obvious reasons why this is unlikely to be true,
the 'objectively' line of talk is brought forward again. To criticize the Soviet Union helps Hitler: therefore 'Trotskyism is Fascism'. And when this has been established, the accusation of conscious treachery is usually repeated.
This is not only dishonest; it also carries a severe penalty with it. If you disregard people's motives, it becomes much harder to foresee their actions."
-- George Orwell, "As I Please," Tribune, 8 December 1944
"Wouldn't this be a great world if insecurity and desperation made us more attractive? If 'needy' were a turn-on?"
-- "Aaron Altman," Broadcast News
"The great thing about human language is that it prevents us from sticking to the matter at hand."
-- Lewis Thomas
"To be ignorant of what happened before you were born is to be ever a child. For what is man's lifetime unless the memory of past events is woven with those of earlier times?"
-- Cicero
"Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it."
-- Samuel Johnson, Life Of Johnson
"Very well, what did my critics say in attacking my character? I must read out their affidavit, so to speak, as though they were my legal accusers: Socrates is guilty of criminal meddling, in that he inquires into things below the earth and in the sky, and makes the weaker argument defeat the stronger, and teaches others to follow his example."
-- Socrates, via Plato, The Republic
"Reputation is what other people know about you. Honor is what you know about yourself."
-- Lois McMaster Bujold, A Civil Campaign
"Remember, Robin: evil is a pretty bad thing."
-- Batman
"Being evil is not a full-time job."
-- James Lileks
Gary Farber is now a licensed Double Super-Secret Master Pundit.
He does not always refer to himself in the third person.
Did he mention he was presently single?
The lutefisk is dead. Donate via the donation button on the top left
or I'll shoot this gefilte fish.
No, really, I seriously need the help at present. And I hate asking.
Current Total # of Donations Since Blog Began: 606
Subscribers to date at $5/month: 30 sign-ups; 24 cancellations; Total= 6
Supporter subscribers to date at $25/month: 7 sign-ups; 3 cancellation; Total= 4
Patron subscribers to date at $50/month: 10 sign-ups; 6 cancellations; Total= 4
And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack
And you may find yourself in another part of the world
Farber's First Fundamental of Blogging:
If your idea of making an insightful point is to make fun of people's
names, or refer to them by rilly clever labels such as "The Big Me" or "The Shrub,"
chances are high that I'm not reading your blog. The same applies if you refer
to a group of people by disparaging terms such as "the Donks" or "the pals." (Note: I have to say I don't give that much of a damn any more.)
Farber's Second Fundamental of Blogging:
The more interested you are in scoring a "point" for a political "team," a "side," than in exploring the validity or value of an idea, the less interested I am in what you're saying.
(Note: Partially suspended for the Duration. Later note: forget I ever said this.)
Farber's Third Fundamental of Blogging:
If you see a link on another blog, and use it, credit the blog.
Some places I go:
[weblogs, sites, and columns]
People I've known and still miss include Isaac Asimov, rich brown, Charles Burbee, F. M. "Buzz" Busby, Terry Carr, A. Vincent Clarke, George Alec Effinger,
Bill & Sherry Fesselmeyer, George Flynn, John Milo "Mike" Ford. John Foyster, Jay Haldeman, Chuch Harris, Mike Hinge, Lee Hoffman, Terry Hughes, Damon Knight, Ross Pavlac, Bruce Pelz, Elmer Perdue, Tom Perry,
Larry Propp, Bill Rotsler, Art Saha, Bob Shaw, Martin Smith, Harry Stubbs, Bob Tucker, Harry Warner, Jr., Jack Williamson, Walter A. Willis, Susan Wood, Kate Worley, and Roger Zelazny.
It's just a start.
And She of whom I must write someday.
You Like Me, You Really Like Me
...Darn: I saw that Gary had commented on this thread, and thought: oh. my. god. Perfect storm. Unstoppable cannonball, immovable object.
-- Hilzoy
Guessing that Gary is ignorant of anything that has ever been written down is, in my experience, unwise.
Just saying.
-- Hilzoy
Where would the blogosphere be without the Guardian? Guardian fish-barreling is now a venerable tradition. Yet even within this tradition, I don't believe there has ever been a more extensive and thorough essay than this one, from Gary Farber's fine blog. Gary appears to have examined every single thing that Guardian/Observer columnist Mary Ridell has ever written. He ties it all together, reaches inevitable conclusion. An archive can be a weapon.
-- Dr. Frank
Isn't Gary a cracking blogger, apropos of nothing in particular?
-- Alison Scott
I usually read you and Patrick several times a day, and I always get something from them. You've got great links, intellectually honest commentary, and a sense of humor. What's not to like?
-- Ted Barlow
...writer[s] I find myself checking out repeatedly when I'm in the mood to play follow-the-links. They're not all people I agree with all the time, or even most of the time, but I've found them all to be thoughtful writers, and that's the important thing, or should be.
-- Tom Tomorrow
Amygdala - So much stuff it reminds Unqualified Offerings that UO sometimes thinks of Gary Farber as "the liberal Instapundit." -- Jim Henley
I look at it almost every day. I can't follow all the links, but I read most of your pieces. The blog format really seems to suit you. It also suits me; I am not a news junkie, so having smart people like you ferret out the interesting stuff and leave it where I can find it is wonderful.
-- Lydia Nickerson
Gary is certainly a non-idiotarian 'liberal'...
-- Perry deHaviland
...the thoughtful and highly intelligent Gary Farber... My first reaction was that I definitely need to appease Gary Farber of Amygdala, one of the geniuses of our age.
-- Brad deLong
My friend Gary Farber at Amygdala is the sort of liberal for whom I happily give three cheers. [...] Damned incisive blogging....
-- Midwest Conservative Journal
If I ever start a paper, Clueless writes the foreign affairs column, Layne handles the city beat, Welch has the roving-reporter job, Tom Tomorrow runs the comic section (which carries Treacher, of course). MediaMinded runs the slots - that's the type of editor I want as the last line of defense. InstantMan runs the edit page - and you can forget about your Ivins and Wills and Friedmans and Teepens on the edit page - it's all Blair, VodkaP, C. Johnson, Aspara, Farber, Galt, and a dozen other worthies, with Justin 'I am smoking in such a provocative fashion' Raimondo tossed in for balance and comic relief.
Who wouldn't buy that paper? Who wouldn't want to read it? Who wouldn't climb over their mother to be in it?
-- James Lileks
Gary is a perceptive, intelligent, nice guy. Some of the stuff he comes up with is insightful, witty, and stimulating. And sometimes he manages to make me groan.
-- Charlie Stross
One of my issues with many poli-blogs is the dickhead tone so many bloggers affect to express their sense of righteous indignation. Gary Farber's thoughtful leftie takes on the world stand in sharp contrast with the usual rhetorical bullying. Plus, he likes "Pogo," which clearly attests to his unassaultable good taste.
-- oakhaus.com
Gary Farber is a principled liberal....
-- Bill Quick, The Daily Pundit
I read Amygdala...with regularity, as do all sensible websurfers.
-- Jim Henley, Unqualified Offerings
Okay, he is annoying, but he still posts a lot of good stuff.
-- Avedon Carol, The Sideshow
The only trouble with reading Amygdala is that it makes me feel like such a slacker. That Man Farber's a linking, posting, commenting machine, I tell you!
-- John Robinson, Sore Eyes
Jaysus. I saw him do something like this before, on a thread about Israel. It was pretty brutal. It's like watching one of those old WWF wrestlers grab an opponent's
face and grind away until the guy starts crying. I mean that in a nice & admiring way, you know.
-- Fontana Labs, Unfogged
We read you Gary Farber! We read you all the time! Its just that we are lazy with our blogroll. We are so very very lazy. We are always the last ones to the party but we always have snazzy bow ties.
-- Fafnir, Fafblog!
Gary Farber you are a genius of mad scientist proportions. I will bet there are like huge brains growin in jars all over your house.
-- Fafnir, Fafblog!
Gary Farber is the hardest working man in show blog business. He's like a young Gene Hackman blogging with his hair on fire, or something.
-- Belle Waring, John & Belle Have A Blog
I bow before the shrillitudinousness of Gary Farber, who has been blogging like a fiend.
-- Ted Barlow, Crooked Timber
Gary Farber only has two blogging modes: not at all, and 20 billion interesting posts a day [...] someone on the interweb whose opinions I can trust....
-- Belle Waring, John & Belle Have A Blog
Gary Farber! Jeez, the guy is practically a blogging legend, and I'm always surprised at the breadth of what he writes about.
-- PZ Meyers, Pharyngula
Gary Farber takes me to task, in a way befitting the gentleman he is.
-- Stephen Green, Vodkapundit
NOT DEAD AGAIN, JUST BUSY: Fear not! I'm not going away for a major period again; I'm just busy with a new job that keeps me away from the computer all day; I hope to be back with at least a few evening posts in the next few days.
Also, I've spent about 40 hours in the past few days teaching myself how to open up two PCs, pull a hard drive and move it to the other PC, do a clean Win install on the other PC, and then play many hours of whack-a-mole with Windows involving finding many drivers, dealing with KFAT problems, protection errors, getting into the sys.config file, using a DOS text editor, and, oh, oh, what fun we all had!
Given that I, um, pretty much knew nothing about this stuff before launching into it.
Meanwhile, we'll see in a few days whether I end up quoted in a Major News Publication, he said slightly cryptically.
DISNEY IS HIRING BIG THEATRE NAMES to do their theme park shows, and for more Broadway shows to follow the success of "The Lion King."
Broadway projects in development include "Mary Poppins," with the London producer Cameron Mackintosh; "The Little Mermaid," adapted by Matthew Bourne, who created the all-male "Swan Lake"; Ms. Taymor's version of "Pinocchio"; and "Tarzan," with music by Phil Collins (including new songs added to the score he created for the Disney animated version) and a set by the Tony Award-winning designer Bob Crowley.
Now, in what appears to be an effort to increase flagging theme-park attendance, Disney has taken established stage talent to its newest theme park, California Adventure in Anaheim, which opened in February 2001 near Disneyland. There Disney is about to open "Aladdin," a new stage adaptation of its 1992 animated film.
AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN VALUES: MORE ALIKE THAN NOT is one way to frame this survey of surveys of the topic.
But one could plop various other frames down upon it, from highlighting the differences, to looking at the hostile attitudes towards America in Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, and Turkey, to the "traditional values" and "quality of life" focus of analysis this article winds up with.
Myself, I think it no coincidence that:
The Pew study found that large majorities in four of America's main Muslim allies -- Egypt, Pakistan, Jordan and Turkey -- dislike America. There are obviously difficulties in measuring opinion in some of these places, but the results are still striking: in Egypt, 6% were favourable, 69% unfavourable; in Jordan, 25% and 75%.
I think it no coincidence that the US government supports corrupt, dictorial, oligarchies in Egypt and Pakistan, a possibly slightly more benign corrupt, dictorial, oligarchy in Jordan, and a corrupt, oppressive, only very vaguely democratic oligarchy in Turkey, and that much of the populace in all is largely hostile towards America.
Compared to Iran, where a corrupt, oppressive, oligarchy rules and the US government doesn't support it, and the US is largely immensely popular amongst the general public.
Funny, that. Meanwhile, Read The Rest Scale: 4 out of 5; interesting stuff. (Via Junius; incidentally, Chris, does it affect your theory of blogger birthdays that I was born six weeks premature?; myself, I'd suggest that there's some tendency for people to link to like-minded people, and that you'll also find a lot of, say, sixteen-year-old Brittany Spears fans linking to each other, as well; in other words, beware of the Observer Effect, and the self-chosen nature of blogrolls).
Several Republican senators said Mr. Lott would be offered the chairmanship of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee next week, a position with few policy duties but one with significant jurisdiction over the organization of the Senate. Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, who was in line for the post, plans to step aside to make room for Mr. Lott, they said, while maintaining his role as the Senate's No. 3 Republican.
Mr. Lott, who was forced out of his leadership job last month after making comments that appeared to express a fondness for the days of segregation, told The Associated Press in Mississippi that he would also be a member of the Finance, Intelligence and Commerce Committees.
"I have the experience and the background to be very much a player," Mr. Lott said.
It certainly was brave of the Republican Party to renounce Lott and other Republican elected officials' history of using the Southern Strategy to play to racism in this bold and effective manner.
[...]
The committee also has oversight of federal election policy, including the recent election reform law. Its chairman is often known as the "mayor" of the Senate.
Someone who worked so hard to preserve Jim Crow enforcement of segregation, and against the Voting Right Acts certainly is a fine choice to preside over election reform; this will clear up all those accusations of Republican suppression of minority voting; good show, Republicans!
THINGS ARE DEEPLY WEIRD IN TURKMENISTAN, land of ''Beloved Leader Saparmurat Turkmenbashi the Great.''
I blogged on the following Back Then, but those archives are still hosed:
Last summer, Turkmenistan's nominal Legislature passed the president's request to change some of the names of the days of the week and the months to his first name, his new last name and words associated with his name. (In an act of filial generosity, he ordered April to be renamed for his mother.)
WHAT'S THE FREQUENCY, KENNETH?: Liberal ideas for liberal media.
"Across the board, we need to muscle up," said John Podesta, the former White House chief of staff for Bill Clinton and now a law professor at Georgetown University. "That means from the Congressional operations to the party committees to the think-tank world to, most significantly, beefing up our capacity to communicate with the public in all forms of media, not just through obscure Internet Web sites but on television and radio."
Begin by making a spurious distinction. Befuddle the reader with your analytic wizardry. The reader will enter a logical trance, from which she will be unable to recall the initial spurious distinction and will feel strangely compelled to accept your conclusions.
WEB NOVEL BOUGHT BY REAL PUBLISHER: Namely, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, of Tor Books, has bought (for hardcover publication, silly) nifty writer John Scalzi's skiffy novel, which was serialized on his web log last month.
However, don't expect to pull off this hat trick yourself, unless you're as good a writer as Scalzi is, and you're prepared to wait.
A hormone that generates new brain cells after sex could be the key to stroke recovery, according to groundbreaking research by University of Calgary scientists.
Dr. Samuel Weiss, of the U of C's faculty of medicine, led a team of researchers studying stem cells, pregnancy hormones and brain repair. They discovered the naturally occurring hormone prolactin -- which surges after sex and during pregnancy -- prompts stem cells in the brain to produce new neurons in the brain.
I actually, for entirely different reasons, was once advised by my then doctor that I should have sex as frequently as possible as it would help the certain ailment I suffered from. I forthwith considered asking for aid for my medical condition, in appropriate circumstances, but mostly I only did so after circumstances were such that it had become unnecessary.
Read The Rest Scale: you know you want to. (Via Daze Reader.)
THE HELLO KITTY VIBRATOR features prominently in this Salonreview of sex toys. Another vibrator-you-never-thought-you'd-see:
Also taking a childhood memory and giving it an adult spin is the bear-shaped vibrator reminiscent of certain honey-dispensing plastic bottles. Its surprisingly detailed features (lines etched into the body to signify fur, a carefully delineated snout) are molded out of soft pink rubber, and its arms arch over its head, ballerina-style.
THE TAXMAN: The latest on Bush's proposed tax plan is that it is even more radical and startling than ever previously indicated. What's the solution to so many problems? Less money for government! Of course. Cui bono?
President Bush could propose as much as $600 billion in tax cuts and new spending measures over the next 10 years, an economic stimulus package nearly twice as big as even Republican lawmakers had been expecting, administration officials said today.
[...]
Mr. Bush may also propose tax cuts that are deeper than administration officials have been describing. One official said Mr. Bush would call for speeding up rate reductions for taxpayers at all income levels, rebutting speculation that he might slow down on reductions for people in the top tax bracket.
Mr. Bush may also push for an even bigger cut in dividend taxes than the 50 percent reduction administration officials were considering in late December.
[...]
White House officials declined to say how big Mr. Bush's final tax proposal would be, but they suggested that the plan was, if anything, more aggressive than previously reported when it came to tax cuts for investors and people in the highest tax brackets.
Even a 50 percent reduction in dividend taxes would total about $150 billion over 10 years and would probably be the centerpiece of his tax plan. Under such a plan, the tax benefits flow almost exclusively to the very wealthiest taxpayers because they are the ones who receive most dividends.
Calculations by the Tax Policy Center, a nonprofit research group run by the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, show that about 64 percent of the benefits will go to the wealthiest 5 percent of taxpayers.
[...]
Citing calculations by the Tax Policy Center, Mr. Daschle said that a person making more than $1 million a year would save $24,000 in taxes under Mr. Bush's plan while a person earning from $40,000 to $50,000 a year would save only $76.
Mr. Bush has already denounced such criticisms as "class warfare," though White House officials are sensitive about the issue.
Fancy that. Actually starving government programs of money is not, of course, "class warfare."
Neither is making sure that millionaires get back money they so desperately need, while seeing that middle-class and poor people get only pocket change, is not, of course, "class warfare."
Pointing this out is "class warfare."
White House officials are not interested in a reduction in the payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare. Some Democrats have argued that a holiday on payroll taxes would provide the most direct stimulus.
Actual acts that, you know, genuinely hurt people -- say, people below the poverty line, struggling to earn enough for food and rent, with no health insurance, in desperate need -- however, is "not class warfare."
TOLKIEN AND BIRMINGHAM is the subject of this entry by Dr. John Ross of Layman's Logic, and has some lovely photos of what he speculates might be a source for Orthanc; he also discusses other bits of Birminghan that might lurk in Tolkien. Oh, heck, here's one picture of the possible Ur-Orthanc:
Ross also has a fascinating discussion of economist Bernard Lietaer's ideas on negative interest rates, "'community currencies', and in how these can avoid certain economic distortions and promote full employment." Ross subjects Lietaer's ideas to considerable skepticism, and it's interesting reading.
"ROPE-A-DOPE" STRATEGY HASN'T WORKED WELLsays William Safire.
This year, a new excuse for delay is being advanced: the nuclear threat from North Korean Stalinists is more immediate, and therefore we should seek an accommodation with them before taking on Saddam.
In sum, the doves' rationale for inaction everywhere is that our plate is too full: the international arena has become a three-ring circus.
This push toward paralysis is a result of the long "phony war" against Iraq. What seemed like such a winner to Colin Powell and his Senate acolytes last summer — to delay allied action until the U.N. Security Council reluctantly gave us its blessing to stop Saddam's secret buildup — now seems not such a great idea.
But here we are. Safire's answer appears to be to arm-twist China to arm-twist North Korea:
He should then lay it on the line to China's new leader: Beijing cannot escape responsibility for tolerating North Korea's decision to build long-range missiles with nuclear warheads, to be used for blackmailing the U.S. or for sale to terrorist nations or groups. China's silence is assent.
Nice idea, I couldn't agree more, but China hasn't had a great history of responding to this sort of thing, last I looked. This gets filed, I'm all too afraid, under "oops, he explained."
JOHN EDWARDS WANTS YOUR VOTE, and, well, your donations, and for you to volunteer for his campaign. Because, hey, he's running for President. Among things I particularly like:
He was one of the most outspoken opponents of former Senator John Ashcroft's nomination to be attorney general, saying that Mr. Ashcroft's conservative stances on some issues made him "a polarizing and divisive figure" to too many people.
Also:
Mr. Edwards also opposed Mr. Bush's tax cut and supports abortion rights, and he voted against a constitutional amendment to ban flag burning, a stand that is anathema to many of his constituents.
