[PEN-L] Seth Sandronsky Interviews Michael Perelman!
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/sandronsky231006.html -- Yoshie http://montages.blogspot.com/ http://mrzine.org http://monthlyreview.org/
Re: [PEN-L] Seth Sandronsky Interviews Michael Perelman!
John Maurice Clark, the American institutionalist, addressed his pioneering work, Studies in the Economics of Overhead Costs, to the problems discussed here.he had few followers among either conventional or non-conventional (including Marxian) economists. - Original Message From: Yoshie Furuhashi [EMAIL PROTECTED]To: PEN-L@SUS.CSUCHICO.EDUSent: Tuesday, October 24, 2006 9:54:52 AMSubject: Seth Sandronsky Interviews Michael Perelman! http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/sandronsky231006.html--Yoshiehttp://montages.blogspot.com/http://mrzine.orghttp://monthlyreview.org/
Re: [PEN-L] Libraries in a Corporatized University
On 10/23/06, Mark Lause [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I am surprised that people on a Marxism List are so gullible. for what it's worth, this isn't a Marxism list. It's more generally leftist. And we have a resident conservative (David Shemano). -- Jim Devine / Why should we hear about body bags, and deaths...I mean, it's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that? – Barbara Bush (urban myth? no. See http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/barbara.asp)
Re: [PEN-L] Seth Sandronsky Interviews Michael Perelman!
can you summarize J.M. Clark's main contributions? On 10/24/06, soula avramidis [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: John Maurice Clark, the American institutionalist, addressed his pioneering work, Studies in the Economics of Overhead Costs, to the problems discussed here. he had few followers among either conventional or non-conventional (including Marxian) economists. -- Jim Devine / Why should we hear about body bags, and deaths...I mean, it's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that? – Barbara Bush (urban myth? no. See http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/barbara.asp)
[PEN-L] global warming to the rescue?
The first Eskimo was killed in the Iraq war; it took 20 men a full day to dig his grave through the permafrost in a town 350 miles north of the Arctic Circle. -- HARPER'S WEEKLY. -- Jim Devine / Why should we hear about body bags, and deaths...I mean, it's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that? – Barbara Bush (urban myth? no. See http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/barbara.asp)
Re: [PEN-L] Libraries in a Corporatized University
Apologies. However, Political Economists, though, might be expected to look to the money sources of these changes as readily as any other group. ML
[PEN-L] Stan Goff on fascism
As somebody who has been outspokenly critical of the idea that fascism is an imminent threat in the US, I had been meaning to respond to Stan Goff's article Sowing the Seeds of Fascism in America that appeared at truthdig.com. In the course of pulling together my thoughts on the matter, it came to my attention that Stan subsequently urged the left to vote for the Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections. Although the two positions are not explicitly related, they do resonate with a line of reasoning found on the American left and more particularly with the Communist Party. Despite my deepest admiration for Stan as an activist and as a scholar, I feel it is necessary to challenge him on both points. (I will take up the question of supporting Democrats in a subsequent post.) Stan's article on fascism begins with an examination of Tim McVeigh, the ex-GI who got the death penalty for bombing an Oklahoma City government building. The bourgeois media and ruling class politicians tried to explain away this monstrous act, the torturing of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, etc. as the work of bad apples. Stan instead views such behavior as normal. He points to a July 7, 2006 NY Times article that describes a rising tide of white supremacist and neo-Nazi infiltration into the armed services. Unfortunately, the article relies exclusively on the testimony of the Southern Poverty Law Center, an outfit that generates alarmist reports such as these to extract donations from wealthy liberals. I would take anything that they write with a grain of salt. full: http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2006/10/24/stan-goff-on-fascism/ -- www.marxmail.org
Re: [PEN-L] Stan Goff on fascism
Virtually every political list I'm on with any fair representation of Democrats has begun to feature a great deal of noisy drumbeating the old cadence of fear. For all the legislation and absurd statements by the Bush White House, it has shied away from testing most of this by doing something and getting it before the courts. In the end, I don't see it as much different than the laws they had on the books during the Cold War, authorizing extraordinary executive privilege, etc. Generally, the repression has thus far been very selectively focused on Muslims and people with Middle Eastern associations, recalling the ethnic focus of the Red Scares in the 1920s. All of this speaks to political realities that transcend what legislation or its authors and advocates might say. In short, this is mostly neither unprecedented nor actually threatening any imminent transformation of the country's civic culture (such as it is) in any substantive ways. Which brings us back to the Democratic drumbeat. The Democrats have done nothing to moderate the problems and have contributed to it as much as their numbers would permit. Partly for this reason, they really can't make much of an issue of the past stupidities and brutalities of the administration. So they invent enormities that haven't taken place yet. Imminent fascism is the Democratic version of gay marriage. Solidarity! Mark L.
[PEN-L] update on arresting ideas in India
I received the following from my publisher, Daanish Books, which puts the recent police actions against them in the appropriate context. in solidarity, michael Sunita is free, has returned home to her husband, child and friends safe, even if a bit shaken by her first encounter with the State of India. On Friday, 20 October when she was narrating the experience she had with the Chandrapur Police before the press in Delhi, 53 Rashtriya Rifles were forcibly taking away Mohammad Maqbool Dar, a 17 year old boy , yet a child by the definition of the Child Rights Convention, from his home in Pakharpura, Charar E Sharif in JK. A day later the local police found a dead body lying near an army camp which was later identified as the same Maqbool who was taken by the RR as they had evidence that he was an overground Hizb worker who had a pistol. Lt. Colonel A K Mathur told the press that Maqbool was taken into custody on Friday evening. But in the morning he complained of illness. He was rushed to hospital where he succumbed. Succumbed? To what? Mathur is silent on that. Was Maqbool ill when he was taken away by RR men? And why was he picked up in the first place? SHO Muhammad Ashraf of the Charar police station is asking the same question. He tells the Indian Express that only 15 days ago the RR men had stormed into the house of Maqbool and searched it. Panicked by this state visit, the parents of Maqbool themselves delivered the boy to the police station asking Ashraf to check if anything was wrong with him. The boy was taken into custody, interrogated for four days and the police found nothing against him. Captain O P Yadav was called by Ashraf who agreed with the finding of the local police that the boy was innocent. He was released; his family was assured by the police not to worry. SHO Ashraf fails to understand what made the RR to pick him up again and kill him. Sunita fails to understand why was her bookstall, which she was setting up at the Deeksha Bhoomi as part of the annual fair held at Chandrapur every year on 15-16 October to mark the DEEKSHA of Baba Saheb into Buddhism, raided by the Chandrapur police, why were books by and on Bhagat Singh, Lenin, a novel by B D Sharma, Che Guevara confiscated and why was an offence registered against her under Section 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act. Ravindra Kadam , S P, Chandrapur, however, had no doubts in his minds. When called by the panicky well wishers of Sunita, he very politely but firmly informed them that he had strong evidence against Sunita that she belonged to Jehanabad of Bihar well-known for being an area of intense Naxal activities, that her first husband was killed in police encounter, that she did have an extremist background. When her husband, owner of the Daanish Books told the SP that he is her husband, that her parents hail from Bhagalpur and she has nothing to do with Jehanabad, that her first husband is very much alive and active in Patna, that she was never part of any political group, that he himself was part of the CPI(ML), Vaskar Nandy Group, a lawful entity registered with the Election Commission of India, Kadam informed him with the assurance a SAB-JANANE-WALA state representative that he knew better, that she was under watch for last two years, that they had collected evidences sufficient for them to register an offence against and she would be interrogated on the basis of their information and then decision on her fate will be taken. Sunita was interrogated on the evening of 16 October for nearly five hours. When leaving, the policemen apologized, regretted that she was put to so much of inconvenience and one of them could not resist from expressing his admiration for her. He would like to see her again, not in any official capacity but to understand her viewpoint. In a very informal, warm tone they told her that their SP wanted her to have a cup of tea with him in the morning. It is over, we thought and her husband lit his cigarette to inhale relief. At about one in the night Sunita was called by the same men, this time extending a very formal invitation on behalf of the SP to have a cup of tea with him in the morning . And we instantly knew that it was not over. Next morning Sunitas stall was surrounded by two oversized vehicles, 40 policemen riding on 20 motorbikes and she was escorted to the headquarters of the Special Task Force. She was told that they would prove that she was Sunita from Jehanabad. The interrogation lasted ten hours. They wanted to know her political views, her definition of Maoism and she was subjected to piercing questions about her personal life. All in the National interest, she was told. They told her that there was no need to spread the ideas of Bhagat Singh now that India was free, that she should have known better and not displayed the books by Bhagat Singh, Marx, Lenin in a Naxal-prone area like Chandarpur. Meanwhile thousands of emails were taking rounds
Re: [PEN-L] Libraries in a Corporatized University
yup. No apologies necessary (at least not to me, a dyed-in-the-wool Marxist-Devinist). On 10/24/06, Mark Lause [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Apologies. However, Political Economists, though, might be expected to look to the money sources of these changes as readily as any other group. -- Jim Devine / Why should we hear about body bags, and deaths...I mean, it's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that? – Barbara Bush (urban myth? no. See http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/barbara.asp)
[PEN-L] like father like sons
from WaPo SLATE's news summary: The [WaPo] mentions a news conference held by the United Nations investigator on torture where he said some countries try to invalidate criticism of how they handle detainees by pointing out they are merely following the example set by the United States. Today, many other governments are kind of saying, 'But why are you criticizing us; we are not doing something different than what the United States is doing,' he said. -- Jim Devine / Why should we hear about body bags, and deaths...I mean, it's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that? – Barbara Bush (urban myth? no. See http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/barbara.asp)
[PEN-L] query: defense in GDP
Is it true that the benefits of the services provided by defense spending in the GDP calculation are measured by counting the wages of those who work for the defense (within the US?) department along with the price of the weapons used? -- Jim Devine / We've never been stay the course -- George W. Bush.
Re: [PEN-L] Stan Goff on fascism (...organized dangerous schmucks)
Another veteran that dares call it (incipent) fascism, early 1930s edition. [October 23 2006] Travus T. Hipp Morning News Commentary: On The Current Trend Of Comparing The U.S. And It’s Policies To The Rise Fall Of The Third Reich http://leighm.net/blog/?p=709 ...and today, about the psychological damage beeing done to soldiers by continual re-deployment to the battlefield: [October 24 2006] Travus T. Hipp Morning News Commentary: Psychologically Damaged Veterans - A Parable About The Effects Of Terror On The Human Organism http://leighm.net/blog/?p=710 My thoughts on the neo-nazi/skinhead-mil connection: I distrust the SPLC much as I distrust the anti-right/nazi/skinhead information from the ADL. These groups tend to rely on disgruntled former group members, and people often under intense legal system pressure (snitches). Not the most reliable information sources. However, when it gets down to naming names, the information is usually seamless and reliable, otherwise lawsuits and other problems occur, crippling operations and exposing informants. The SPLC named names... This from JULY 7: U.S Military Knowingly Trains Hate Groups: Hate Groups Are Infiltrating the Military, Group Asserts - New York Times http://leighm.net/blog/?p=555 The report quotes Scott Barfield, a Defense Department investigator, saying, “Recruiters are knowingly allowing neo-Nazis and white supremacists to join the armed forces, and commanders don’t remove them from the military even after we positively identify them as extremists or gang members.” . An article in the National Alliance magazine Resistance urged skinheads to join the Army and insist on being assigned to light infantry units. The Southern Poverty Law Center identified the author as Steven Barry, who it said was a former Special Forces officer who was the alliance’s “military unit coordinator.” “Light infantry is your branch of choice because the coming race war and the ethnic cleansing to follow will be very much an infantryman’s war,” he wrote. “It will be house-to-house, neighborhood-by-neighborhood until your town or city is cleared and the alien races are driven into the countryside where they can be hunted down and ’cleansed.’ “ . ...and I believe Stan Goff covered it at that time as well. It's the wake up call. Everyone hit the snooze button, and the alarm went off again. Wake up! Where does everyone think the proliferation of M-16s in the civilian rightwing population of the United States came from? The stork? Early on in the invasion of Iraq, the military caught a couple of grunts smuggling weapons back to the U.S., and in light of how observant the military is, and how weapons in war zones proliferate, ours AND theirs, that means potentially hundreds or thousands of people smuggling weapons. As my dad says: They're dangerous schmucks, but they're also organized dangerous schmucks. Leigh http://leighm.net/ NOTICE: George W. Bush has issued Executive Orders allowing the National Security Agency to read this message and all other e-mail you receive or send---without warning, warrant or notice. Bush has ordered this to be done without any legislative or judicial oversight. You have no recourse nor protection save to call for the impeachment of President Bush and other government officials who are involved in this illegal and unconstitutional activity.
[PEN-L] White Paper: Making Cents of Peacebuilding
The Peace Alliance Foundation has just released a new white paper entitled Hope on the Horizon: Making Cents of Peacebuilding. This paper lays out a strong case in support of domestic programs that are having a measurable impact at dismantling patterns of violence, while simultaneously being cost effective. This is a powerful tool to support all of us in articulating and educating people about the potential impact of the Department of Peace and the kinds of programs the legislation is calling for. It offers both the general public and members of congress tangible information showing how effective this kind of work can be. Hope on the Horizon: Introduction Imagine reducing child abuse and neglect by 79%. Imagine reducing maternal behavioral problems due to alcohol and drug abuse by 44%. Imagine reducing the duration of dependency on Aid to Families with Dependent Children by 30 months. How many tax dollars are these social benefits worth? $100,000 per at-risk family? $50,000 per family? $10,000 per family? Now, what if it were possible to save money with such a program? Imagine a net savings to taxpayers of over $17,000 per at-risk family. Does this sound like a far off utopia? Well, it’s not. Such success has been achieved by the Nurse Family Partnership. The program has existed for over 20 years and been rigorously assessed by public policy experts. It provides nurses who work with families in their homes during pregnancy and the first two years of a child’s life. The program is designed to help women improve their prenatal health and the outcomes of pregnancy; enhance the care provided to infants and toddlers in an effort to ameliorate the children’s health and development; and advance women’s own personal development, giving particular attention to the planning of future pregnancies, women’s educational achievement, and parents’ participation in the work force. The Washington State Institute of Public Policy estimates the costs of the program at about $9,000 tax-dollars per at-risk family. The benefits, however, it estimates at over $26,000 to taxpayers. These benefits include not only the direct outcomes listed above but also longer term ones, such as reduced dependency on welfare and Medicare, lower rates of incarceration, lower rates of family violence, and improved scholastic attendance. This means fewer tax dollars are spent, accruing a net savings for the taxpayer. This is just one of many programs that actually help reduce and prevent violence and improve overall well being while saving tax dollars. Other such programs address juvenile delinquency, gang violence, youth and school violence, family violence, hate crimes, and provide less expensive, effective alternatives to the current penal system. This paper provides a snapshot of the current state of violence in the United States and a sampling of proven, statistically verifiable programs that successfully prevent and reduce violence. While these programs remain hampered by inadequate and inconsistent funding, lack of resources and limited geographic reach, the fact remains that they are beneficial for Americans’ social well-being and for Americans’ financial bottom line. The good news about violence in the United States is that Americans have found incredibly innovative and resourceful ways to address violence and its root causes. All that is missing is an infrastructure to give these programs more visibility and viability, allocate them more funding resources, and to make them a matter of local, state, and national policy. Download the whole report at: http://www.thepeacealliance.org/content/view/235/24/
Re: [PEN-L] query: defense in GDP
On Oct 24, 2006, at 12:35 PM, Jim Devine wrote: Is it true that the benefits of the services provided by defense spending in the GDP calculation are measured by counting the wages of those who work for the defense (within the US?) department along with the price of the weapons used? How else could they be measured? The C+I+G+X formula is all about spending. Doug
Re: [PEN-L] Stan Goff on fascism
On Oct 24, 2006, at 10:32 AM, Louis Proyect wrote: Stan instead views such behavior as normal. He points to a July 7, 2006 NY Times article that describes a rising tide of white supremacist and neo-Nazi infiltration into the armed services. Unfortunately, the article relies exclusively on the testimony of the Southern Poverty Law Center, an outfit that generates alarmist reports such as these to extract donations from wealthy liberals. The notion that the military is a hotbed of white supremacy contradicts everything I've heard about the institution. I thought they'd actually done a pretty good job of affirmative action, to the point, as it's often said, that the military is the only institution in U.S. society where white people are routinely bossed around by black superiors. Sure there are a lot of bible-thumping fundies in uniform, but they don't have to be racist by any means; we've got plenty of devout black Americans too. And if anything, the professional military is less bellicose than their civilian commanders. Doug
Re: [PEN-L] Stan Goff on fascism
The notion that the military is a hotbed of white supremacy contradicts everything I've heard about the institution. I thought they'd actually done a pretty good job of affirmative action, to the point, as it's often said, that the military is the only institution in U.S. society where white people are routinely bossed around by black superiors. Sure there are a lot of bible-thumping fundies in uniform, but they don't have to be racist by any means; we've got plenty of devout black Americans too. And if anything, the professional military is less bellicose than their civilian commanders. Doug The New York Times December 13, 1995, Wednesday, Late Edition - Final Supremacists Scarce at Fort Bragg, Army Says By MICHAEL JANOFSKY DATELINE: FAYETTEVILLE, N.C., Dec. 12 Army officials at Fort Bragg said today that investigators had identified about a dozen soldiers on the base who harbor white supremacist beliefs similar to those held by two privates charged last week with killing a black man and woman. But the officials said they had no evidence that any of the soldiers, including the suspects, were organized in a formal way or affiliated with any of the major national white supremacist organizations, like the National Alliance, based in West Virginia, or the Aryan Nations of Hayden Lake, Idaho. What we're finding is that there is not a strong affiliation with any specific organization, said Lieut. Col. Robert C. McFetridge, who as judge advocate general is the legal counsel to the 82d Airborne Division at Fort Bragg. More likely, these are loose groups of a small number of soldiers who hang out together and share particular views. Some don't even know each other. Colonel McFetridge said he expected that the Army investigation would ultimately identify maybe 20 soldiers among the division's 15,000 uniformed personnel as white supremacists, in addition to the two men charged with the killings. Soldiers who were so identified, he said, would be evaluated further and disciplined if the Army determined they were active members of a white supremacist group. It's not that this stuff doesn't exist, Colonel McFetridge said of the supremacist views. If it does, it's low-key, just a couple of soldiers in small groups. He acknowledged, however, that soldiers who either were members of white supremacist or neo-Nazi groups or shared their philosophies could easily hide their views from superiors. One of the three soldiers arrested in the case, Pfc. James Norman Burmeister, 20, of Thompson, Pa., lived at Fort Bragg for eight months, part of the time in a mobile home. Police investigators said that there they found a Nazi flag, German flags, books on Hitler, a skinhead music magazine, bomb-making instructions and a semiautomatic weapon they believe was used in the killings. Neither the items found in the trailer nor Private Burmeister's supremacist views were known to Army officials before the shootings, the Army said. Lieut. Richard E. Bryant of the Fayetteville Police Department said the mobile home had been rented to a soldier known to local police as a white separatist, but Mr. Bryant declined to identify the man because he was not involved in the killings. Asked if Army officials knew about the man's political sentiments, Mr. Bryant said, They do now. Bob Smyntek, 44, owner of Purgatory, a dance club not far from Fort Bragg, said today that he had seen Private Burmeister at least twice at the club, and had seen a second man charged with murder in the case, Pfc. Malcolm Wright, 21, of Louisville, Ky., about four times. On most of those occasions, Mr. Smyntek said, the men wore the familiar garb of racist skinheads -- a black flight jacket and black boots with white laces. Most of the skinheads who come here are nonracial skinheads, Mr. Smyntek said, citing a distinction that is well known among skinhead groups around the world. Nonracial skinheads usually wear jackets that are any color but black, and actively, sometimes violently, oppose racism. Mr. Smyntek, a resident of Fayetteville for more than 30 years, said he did not believe that the national supremacist groups had gained much of a foothold in the area. But the number of skinheads and white supremacists in the area could be increasing, according to human rights groups that track right-wing extremism around the country. Joe Roy, a researcher at the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., said military bases had always been fair game for white supremacist organizations. And Samuel K. Kaplan, director of the Anti-Defamation League's regional office for Virginia and North Carolina, said that earlier this year the National Alliance posted a billboard near Fort Bragg that said: Enough! Let's start taking back America. The billboard included a toll-free telephone number. Around the same time, a National Alliance bulletin, circulated among its members, said that North Carolina continues to be an excellent recruiting area for the alliance.
[PEN-L] Just Foreign Policy News, October 24, 2006
Just Foreign Policy News October 24, 2006 No War with Iran: Petition More than 3200 people have signed the Just Foreign Policy/Peace Action petition through Just Foreign Policy's website. Please sign/circulate if you have yet to do so: http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/involved/iranpetition.html Just Foreign Policy on MySpace: If you're on MySpace, add us: http://www.myspace.com/justforeignpolicy Just Foreign Policy News daily podcast: http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/podcasts/podcast_howto.html Summary: U.S./Top News Gen. Casey, America's top general in Iraq, said he was considering sending more troops to help quell violence raging in Baghdad, the New York Times reports. Casey and US Ambassador Khalilzad laid out a timetable for progress they said has been agreed to by the government of Prime Minister Maliki The White House said Monday President Bush was no longer using the phrase stay the course when speaking about the Iraq war. Prosecutors in Italy are seeking the indictment of Italy's top spy on charges connected to the abduction of a militant Egyptian cleric in Milan by US intelligence agents in 2003. The expected indictment of the spy is the first in which government officials have been charged with cooperating with Washington to violate the laws of their own government, the New York Times reports. For the first time since the U.S. invasion of Iraq, active- duty members of the military are asking Members of Congress to end the U.S. occupation and bring American soldiers home. Sixty-five active-duty members have sent Appeals for Redress to Members of Congress. Under the Military Whistle-Blower Protection Act, active-duty military, National Guard and Reservists can file and send a protected communication to a Member of Congress regarding any subject without reprisal. The Bush administration said Monday there are no plans for dramatic shifts in policy or for ultimatums to Baghdad to force progress. Meanwhile, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told AP that We're on the verge of chaos, and the current plan is not working. Several governments have tried to rebut criticism of how they handle detainees by claiming they are only following the U.S. example, the U.N. special rapporteur on torture said Monday, AP reports. The AFL-CIO is filing a protest with the International Labor Organization of a federal decision redefining which workers are supervisors exempt from legal protection to join unions, AP reports. This will demonstrate how far outside the mainstream of accepted international law the U.S. is moving, said Craig Becker, legal counsel to the AFL-CIO. No matter what President Bush says, the question is not whether America can win in Iraq, writes the New York Times in an editorial. The only question is whether the US can extricate itself without leaving behind an unending civil war. Iran Iran has taken another step in its ability to enrich uranium, the head of the U.N. atomic energy agency confirmed yesterday, the Washington Post reports. Mohamed ElBaradei said Iranian technicians had pieced together a second cascade of 164 centrifuges and are days away from using the cascade to enrich uranium. Meanwhile, the Bush administration and European allies failed to reach agreement on sanctions against Tehran's nuclear program. U.S. intelligence officials think Tehran is at least four years away from gaining the technical capability to produce enough nuclear material for a single weapon. Iran's president has come out against a bill that would require Americans to be fingerprinted on arrival in Iran. President Ahmadinejad said he had asked Iranian legislators to set aside a bill that would require immigration officials to take fingerprints of all U.S. passport holders. We do not have a problem with American people. We oppose only the U.S. government's bullying and arrogance, Ahmadinejad said. Iraq A leader of an armed Iraqi group has denied the existence of any dialogue with the current Iraqi Government or US Ambassador Khalilzad. Abu-Umar told Asharq Al-Awsat resistance factions have rejected the national reconciliation initiative proposed by Prime Minister Maliki because it does not include a timetable for U.S. withdrawal and its proposed amnesty does not include Baathists and resistance fighters who have killed American soldiers, while it protects militias linked to the government. The New York Times reports on an Iraqi satirical news show it compares to Jon Stewart's The Daily Show. The newscast recently reported that Iraq's Ministry of Water and Sewage had decided to change its name to the Ministry of Sewage because it had given up on the water part. Israel Prime Minister Olmert reached a deal Monday to broaden his coalition by adding a far-right party that seeks to annex parts of the West Bank and get rid of Israel's Arab population, the New York Times reports. [The Times uses the gentler word reduce to describe this party's views -JFP] A secret, two year investigation by the defense
Re: [PEN-L] Stan Goff on fascism
If it does, it's low-key, just a couple of soldiers in small groups. Yep. ...and if left un...impeded, lots of them! Will the aryan nations of amerikkka 'inkspot' the military? Before making any hasty judgements about the military's ability to control the tendency without being proactive, we must note that these rightist groups ARE very much like 'moonies' and other cultists. Preying on the disillusioned and the feeling of hopelessness, that is the name of their recruiting game. The potential for problems IS very real for the military in sociological terms, as are weapons thefts and redistribution.
[PEN-L] query: metaphors, similes
Jim D. What is the reality of 2 or 4 if it is not 2 or 4 OF something? Yes. I'm told that the original numbering systems were developed by people with herds of sheep and the like. It made sense to count them, whereas it seldom made sense to count the number of grains of wheat. ^ CB; I've been trying to think through that it was production of commodities that initiated arithmetic. In other words, the analysis in the first chapter of _Capital_ is also the schema of the origin of arithmetic. The main need to count originates with the need to establish equivalences between different things. Ten sheep are the same thing as forty pounds of wheat. Before that all that is needed is many , few , more, less,i.e. ordinal numbers. There is modern anthropology that corroborates this wherein certain groups don't count past 3 or 4. Cardinal numbers originate with commodity exchange, is the hypothesis I'm trying to articulate. Note writing originates at the same time in the big picture of history. So, the Tigris-Euphrates cunieform wedges originate in taxes (Michael P.)/commodities. Algebra would predate arithmetic because , as Levi-Strauss suggests, kinship relations organized are none other than _group_ theory algebra. (See _The Elementary Structures of Kinship); and kinship predates commodity exchange. ^ The basic idea is that (as Martin Gardner once said), mathematics represents the abstract aspect of empirical reality. To me, this means abstracting from the inherent heterogeneity of that reality: if you count your sheep, you ignore the differences among the sheep. (You also ignore the idea that they represent merely parts of the greater whole of sheepdom, and of the Animal Kingdom, and of Nature.) ^^ CB: Yes, treating two sheep as exactly the same thing, as fungible, is an abstraction. My hypothesis is that what causes people to do this is the need to establish equivalences between different things, to imagine that 10 sheep are the same thing as 40 pounds of wheat _in order to exchange them for each other. The exchange establishes an equation : 10 sheep equal 40 pounds of wheat. They are the same thing by the act of trading them for each other. The first equation is establishe by the exchange. Marx and Engels give the idea that labor time in producing is the basis for this. Engels' has the longer essays claiming that commodity exchange goes back to approximately the same time as the origin of the family, private property and the state. Arithmetic originates with trade. And it is among the first dometicators of animals. This is contra Piaget and those who see the first counting as being by an individual of grains of sand on a beach. That's a Robinsonade, a positivist approach to the origin of counting. Ask me a critical question this :)
[PEN-L] query: metaphors, similes
In other words, the first counting is accounting. CB Jim D. What is the reality of 2 or 4 if it is not 2 or 4 OF something? Yes. I'm told that the original numbering systems were developed by people with herds of sheep and the like. It made sense to count them, whereas it seldom made sense to count the number of grains of wheat. ^ CB; I've been trying to think through that it was production of commodities that initiated arithmetic. In other words, the analysis in the first chapter of _Capital_ is also the schema of the origin of arithmetic. The main need to count originates with the need to establish equivalences between different things. Ten sheep are the same thing as forty pounds of wheat. Before that all that is needed is many , few , more, less,i.e. ordinal numbers. There is modern anthropology that corroborates this wherein certain groups don't count past 3 or 4. Cardinal numbers originate with commodity exchange, is the hypothesis I'm trying to articulate. Note writing originates at the same time in the big picture of history. So, the Tigris-Euphrates cunieform wedges originate in taxes (Michael P.)/commodities. Algebra would predate arithmetic because , as Levi-Strauss suggests, kinship relations organized are none other than _group_ theory algebra. (See _The Elementary Structures of Kinship); and kinship predates commodity exchange. ^ The basic idea is that (as Martin Gardner once said), mathematics represents the abstract aspect of empirical reality. To me, this means abstracting from the inherent heterogeneity of that reality: if you count your sheep, you ignore the differences among the sheep. (You also ignore the idea that they represent merely parts of the greater whole of sheepdom, and of the Animal Kingdom, and of Nature.) ^^ CB: Yes, treating two sheep as exactly the same thing, as fungible, is an abstraction. My hypothesis is that what causes people to do this is the need to establish equivalences between different things, to imagine that 10 sheep are the same thing as 40 pounds of wheat _in order to exchange them for each other. The exchange establishes an equation : 10 sheep equal 40 pounds of wheat. They are the same thing by the act of trading them for each other. The first equation is establishe by the exchange. Marx and Engels give the idea that labor time in producing is the basis for this. Engels' has the longer essays claiming that commodity exchange goes back to approximately the same time as the origin of the family, private property and the state. Arithmetic originates with trade. And it is among the first dometicators of animals. This is contra Piaget and those who see the first counting as being by an individual of grains of sand on a beach or the like. That's a Robinsonade, a positivist approach to the origin of counting. The first counting is a social structure not an individual, isolated brain. Ask me a critical question on this :)
[PEN-L] Dennis Perrin on racism in the military
http://redstateson.blogspot.com/2006/07/mindsets.html -- www.marxmail.org
[PEN-L] query: metaphors, similes
Greetings Economists, On Oct 22, 2006, at 2:45 PM, Charles Brown wrote: Anyway, metaphors have to do with the sameness of relationships, not the sameness of things. Arithmetic deals with sameness of things. Algebra deals with sameness of relationships between things. Actually, 1/2 = 2/4 is arithmetic. ( my bad) Doyle; Well I guess the simple way to say this would be how do you root that in how the mind works? In the above you make no reference to the brain out all. ^ CB: I'm thinking more of how math originates in social relationships. The thing that makes the brain so big is that it contains millions of relationships to other brains, even brains of dead people through messages left by them in language and stories and math, all culture. Algebra might be sort of like commodity fetishism. Relationships between people are portrayed as relationships between things. That's just a creative thought off the top of my head. Don't hold me to it :) ^ The linguistic theory of metaphors as examples of one network mapped onto another network structure in the brain is a plausible way of describing the mental process. Like any materialist theory it's subject to disproval if the brain processes show something else. So there is no reason as far as I can understand this that the content of mapping process of the same things or the same relationships is not metaphorical in either case. The best reason for arguing this is to address the potential idealism that floats around about math is some extra material structure that people mine like lead. Math is a picture of what we can think mentally. Prosaic yes, but not ideal. In any case the more closely the brain work is tied to reality the more we can build upon it because the mystifications are dispelled. thanks, Doyle
[PEN-L] Fwd: Oil that greases the palms...
Big Oil's 10 favorite members of Congress Wonder why we don't have a national energy policy or a serious push toward alternatives? Follow the money that oil and gas companies send to Congress. By Jim Jubak Think it's a matter of chance that we don't have a meaningful national energy policy? Wondering why oil and gas companies don't pay higher royalties to the Treasury now that oil is over $55 a barrel? Amazed that Washington loves to talk about energy research with promise 15 years down the road, but won't put significant money into alternative technologies that could reduce energy consumption now? For answers to all those questions and more, just follow the money. Nothing about U.S. energy policy should be a surprise if you know where the money's been going and which legislators have taken the biggest payouts from the energy industry. So don't miss your only chance in the next two years -- the Nov. 7 election -- to tell Congress what you think of its sellout to the energy companies. It has become increasingly expensive to run for national office, and any politician who wants to win has to raise big bucks these days. In the 2006 election cycle, according to the Federal Election Commission, as of Oct. 20, challengers and incumbents running for the House of Representatives had raised $713 million for their campaigns. Those for Senate had raised $452 million. And these figures don't include any of the money raised by independent organizations, so-called 527 groups such as Emily's List on the left ($9.6 million raised) or Club for Growth on the right ($6.2 million raised). Lawyers top contributor list Corporations and affiliated individuals have coughed up a big chunk of that money. By industry, the top honor on the giving roll goes to lawyers and law firms, with $89 million contributed, according to Federal Election Commission data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, which describes itself as nonpartisan and nonprofit. As the Republicans have said in campaign after campaign, the bulk of that -- 69% to 30% -- has gone to Democrats. But the Republicans don't need to worry; there's plenty of money coming into their till from other industries. Second place goes to the retirement industry with $86 million (54% goes to Republicans). Third place? The real estate industry with $53 million (57% goes to Republicans.) The oil and gas industry comes in at No. 15 with $14 million in contributions. The top five contributors were Koch Industries, ExxonMobil (XOM, news, msgs), Valero Energy (VLO, news, msgs), Chevron (CVX, news, msgs) and Occidental Petroleum (OXY, news, msgs), according to the Center for Responsive Politics. That $14 million puts the oil and gas industry in the company of such heavyweights as electric utilities (at $12 million) and the pharmaceutical industry (at $14 million). Most energy money goes to GOP The oil and gas industry's giving is highly, highly focused. Oil and gas executives seem to feel that with the Republicans in solid control of Congress, there's no need to give to anybody but Republicans, since they're the folks that can get things done. There's none of the fence straddling of the securities industry, which has divided its $46 million in contributions almost evenly between Republicans (47%) and Democrats (51%). A whopping 83% of oil and gas money has gone to Republicans in this election cycle. To find similar imbalance, you have to look at such Democratic bulwarks as the public-sector unions, 84% Democratic in their giving, and the building trades unions, at 83% Democratic. So who did this concentrated dose of cash go to? Here are the top 10 -- all Republicans -- as complied by the Center for Responsive Politics: Big Oil's 10 favorite Congress members Rank Candidate Office Amount given by oil and gas industry 1 Hutchison, Kay Bailey, R-Texas Senate $258,361 2 Burns, Conrad, R-Mont. Senate $188,775 3 Santorum, Rick, R-Pa. Senate $188,120 4 Bode, Denise, R-Okla. House$153,650 5 Allen, George, R-Va.Senate $148,600 6 Talent, James M., R-Mo. Senate $147,470 7 Cornyn, John, R-Texas Senate $142,750 8 Barton, Joe, R-TexasHouse $138,450 9Hastert, Dennis, R-Ill. House$122,200 10 Pombo, Richard, R-Calif. House $121,340 Data from the FEC as of Sept. 11, 2006. Compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. You've got to hand it to the oil and gas industry. They know how to support their favorite sons and daughters, of course: Texans Kay Bailey Hutchinson and John Cornyn, after all, are both senators from a big oil state. But the industry keeps its eye on the prize. If you want to keep oil and gas royalties low; if you'd like to drill in environmentally sensitive areas; if you
Re: [PEN-L] query: defense in GDP
I was asking about the details. On 10/24/06, Doug Henwood [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Oct 24, 2006, at 12:35 PM, Jim Devine wrote: Is it true that the benefits of the services provided by defense spending in the GDP calculation are measured by counting the wages of those who work for the defense (within the US?) department along with the price of the weapons used? How else could they be measured? The C+I+G+X formula is all about spending. Doug -- Jim Devine / We've never been stay the course -- George W. Bush.
Re: [PEN-L] Stan Goff on fascism
On 10/24/06, Doug Henwood [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The notion that the military is a hotbed of white supremacy contradicts everything I've heard about the institution. I thought they'd actually done a pretty good job of affirmative action, to the point, as it's often said, that the military is the only institution in U.S. society where white people are routinely bossed around by black superiors. Sure there are a lot of bible-thumping fundies in uniform, but they don't have to be racist by any means; we've got plenty of devout black Americans too. And if anything, the professional military is less bellicose than their civilian commanders. the piece I read by Goff in Truthdig said that the armed forces were _now_ recruiting white supremacists because they were scraping the bottom of the barrel. I think others, such as Timothy McVeigh, became crazy righties because they felt abandoned after the Gulf War. -- Jim Devine / We've never been stay the course -- George W. Bush.
Re: [PEN-L] query: defense in GDP
Here's the NIPA table: http://www.bea.gov/bea/dn/nipaweb/ TableView.asp?SelectedTable=106FirstYear=2004LastYear=2006Freq=Qtr. On Oct 24, 2006, at 4:48 PM, Jim Devine wrote: I was asking about the details. On 10/24/06, Doug Henwood [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Oct 24, 2006, at 12:35 PM, Jim Devine wrote: Is it true that the benefits of the services provided by defense spending in the GDP calculation are measured by counting the wages of those who work for the defense (within the US?) department along with the price of the weapons used? How else could they be measured? The C+I+G+X formula is all about spending. Doug -- Jim Devine / We've never been stay the course -- George W. Bush.
Re: [PEN-L] Stan Goff on fascism
On Oct 24, 2006, at 4:52 PM, Jim Devine wrote: I think others, such as Timothy McVeigh, became crazy righties because they felt abandoned after the Gulf War. I read once, but only once, that McVeigh's job during the Gulf War was bulldozing the bodies of dead Iraqis into mass graves. If true, you could see how it might drive him around the bend. Doug
[PEN-L] Iran in the news
Iran leader backs larger families By Frances Harrison BBC News, Tehran Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said he disagrees with the idea that two children are enough, local newspapers and news agencies report. This is despite the fact his country has one of the most successful family planning programmes in the Middle East. The president said he was ready to decrease the working hours of married women or women with children to make it easier for them to have more children. Ministry of Health officials say they are studying the president's statement. However, it is likely to prove controversial. Family planning The UN Family Planning Association describes Iran's population control programme as a textbook example of how fertility rates can be reduced if the environment is right. With the help of high literacy rates, rural health clinics, counselling before marriage and free family planning services, Iran has achieved what some call a population control revolution. In the 1980s, the average Iranian woman had six children, now two is normal. But President Ahmadinejad is questioning that achievement. He says he is against the idea that two children is enough. His view is that Western countries are just scared about Iran's population growing and overtaking theirs. Hiring women The president says he is not against women working, but he thinks they can work part-time but be paid full-time to allow them to spend more time with their children. Although this idea might appeal to some women, the likelihood is that it will damage women's chances of being employed, because it will make it more complicated and expensive to hire a woman. Already one reformist newspaper has criticised the president, saying that everywhere else in the world heads of state are trying to reduce population growth, but in Iran it is the reverse. Meanwhile, Sayeed Laylaz, a critic of the president, said Mr Ahmadinejad's latest stance was just a way of grabbing the headlines and distracting attention from his government's economic failures. Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/6076652.stm -- Jim Devine / We've never been stay the course -- George W. Bush.
Re: [PEN-L] Iran in the news
On 10/24/06, Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Iran leader backs larger families By Frances Harrison BBC News, Tehran Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said he disagrees with the idea that two children are enough, local newspapers and news agencies report. The President and his wife have only three (two sons and one daughter), though, whereas he is one of the seven children (the fourth) of his parents. Pro-natalism can't resist the tide of modernization. This is despite the fact his country has one of the most successful family planning programmes in the Middle East. Indeed, the best in the Middle East and the model for many other developing nations. The president said he was ready to decrease the working hours of married women or women with children to make it easier for them to have more children. Without pay cuts? -- Yoshie http://montages.blogspot.com/ http://mrzine.org http://monthlyreview.org/
Re: [PEN-L] query: defense in GDP
yup. I remember reading a WSJ op-ed by some congresscritter who argued (in the Reagan years) that the US budget was in surplus under GAAP. Because missiles are investment goods. On 10/24/06, Doug Henwood [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: It's extremely odd to see missiles classed as a durable good, and an investment. -- Jim Devine / We've never been stay the course -- George W. Bush.
Re: [PEN-L] Iran in the news
On 10/24/06, Yoshie Furuhashi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The president said he was ready to decrease the working hours of married women or women with children to make it easier for them to have more children. Without pay cuts? I'd bet that there would be no _hourly_ paycuts (unless they are happening anyway), but that adds up to weekly pay cuts. -- Jim Devine / We've never been stay the course -- George W. Bush.
Re: [PEN-L] Iran in the news
On Oct 24, 2006, at 5:27 PM, Jim Devine wrote: On 10/24/06, Yoshie Furuhashi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The president said he was ready to decrease the working hours of married women or women with children to make it easier for them to have more children. Without pay cuts? I'd bet that there would be no _hourly_ paycuts (unless they are happening anyway), but that adds up to weekly pay cuts. Regardless of the pay issue, how admirable is it to turn women into breeding machines, more dependent on their husbands? Doug
Re: [PEN-L] Iran in the news
Iran leader backs larger families By Frances Harrison BBC News, Tehran Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said he disagrees with the idea that two children are enough, local newspapers and news agencies report. This is despite the fact his country has one of the most successful family planning programmes in the Middle East. The president said he was ready to decrease the working hours of married women or women with children to make it easier for them to have more children. This is what they call Islamic feminism, right?
Re: [PEN-L] Iran in the news
On 10/24/06, Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On 10/24/06, Yoshie Furuhashi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The president said he was ready to decrease the working hours of married women or women with children to make it easier for them to have more children. Without pay cuts? I'd bet that there would be no _hourly_ paycuts (unless they are happening anyway), but that adds up to weekly pay cuts. Appealing work time policy has been MIA almost everywhere. The truth be told, lots of women -- especially women with young children -- prefer part-time to full-time work, as BBC suggested, not just in Iran but most countries including rich ones, the preference being shaped by an unequal division of care-giving labor. (So do some unconventional young men, probably, except that social expectations that they should be bread-winners don't allow them to express that preference.) Women's need or desire for part-time work gets exploited by capitalists, but labor seldom proposes its own work time policy that makes sense for parents and allows workers to make work time flexible on their own terms rather than capitalists'. -- Yoshie http://montages.blogspot.com/ http://mrzine.org http://monthlyreview.org/
Re: [PEN-L] Iran in the news
Yoshie Furuhashi wrote: Without pay cuts? me: I'd bet that there would be no _hourly_ paycuts (unless they are happening anyway), but that adds up to weekly pay cuts. Yoshie: Appealing work time policy has been MIA almost everywhere. are you saying that because everyone does it, it's okay for Iran to do it too? The truth be told, lots of women -- especially women with young children -- prefer part-time to full-time work, as BBC suggested, not just in Iran but most countries including rich ones, the preference being shaped by an unequal division of care-giving labor. ... so Big Daddy should make the decision for them? Father knows best? -- Jim Devine / We've never been stay the course -- George W. Bush.
[PEN-L] housing
OCTOBER 23, 2006 / BusinessWeek News Analysis By Marc Hogan Is Housing Out of the Woods? A growing chorus of experts says the worst may be over for home sales. But the recovery may not be smooth—or quick Depending on whom you ask, the winds may already be shifting for the housing market. All year, economists have warned of a bursting housing bubble and its potential impact on economic growth (see BusinessWeek.com, 8/21/06, Why Housing Looks a Little Rickety). However, a recent stream of encouraging data has some prominent prognosticators changing their tune. One of the first in line was Alan Greenspan. As recently as May 18, the former Federal Reserve chairman put an exclamation point on the housing slowdown when he declared, The boom is over. But now, the worst may well be over, Greenspan was quoted as saying Oct. 7, after mortgage applications posted their biggest weekly gain since June, 2005. A growing number of economists and analysts have come around to the ex-Fed chief's view. Some investors may see sunnier skies too, as homebuilding stocks such as Lennar (LEN), DR Horton (DHI), and Pulte Homes (PHM) have rebounded since touching 52-week lows in July. Reports on existing home sales for September, scheduled for release Oct. 25, and new home sales Oct. 26 could shed more light on housing's status. Leveling Out? While the most bearish scenarios may be becoming increasingly unlikely, the housing market probably isn't out of the woods yet. Even the most upbeat forecasts call for new-home construction to keep declining nearly as much as it already has so far. Meanwhile, underlying economic figures may contradict their milder headlines. Greenspan's assessment followed on the heels of Fed Vice-Chairman Donald Kohn's suggestion Oct. 4 that [housing] starts may be closer to their trough than to their peak. The data since then could give bulls even more reason for guarded optimism. On Oct. 17, the National Association of Home Builders' housing-market index rebounded to 31 from 30 in September, snapping a 12-month decline from 68 a year earlier. A day later, a Commerce Dept. report showed housing starts rose 5.9% in September, to an unexpectedly strong pace of 1.772 million units. The point of maximum deterioration in housing activity has probably passed, says Jan Hatzius, chief U.S. economist at Goldman Sachs (GS), in an Oct. 20 report. The sharp downturn of the past year seems to have brought total housing starts—single-family starts, multi-family starts, and mobile-home shipments—close to the level justified by the underlying demographics. Permit Plunge Still, Hatzius comes up with plenty of caveats. Housing activity could drop by another 300,000 housing starts, he projects, as homebuilders work off unwanted inventory and buyers shift from single-family units to multifamily and mobile homes. That would come on top of a decline of 400,000 housing starts already, Hatzius says. Others maintain that the housing downturn still has a long way to go. Commentary suggesting housing demand is recovering, based on the latest homebuilder and mortgage applications readings, appears to be more wishful thinking than fact, says Keith Hembre, chief economist at First American Funds, in an Oct. 20 report. Housing may have stabilized somewhat, but it's probably only temporary, according to David Rosenberg, North American economist at Merrill Lynch (MER). The unexpected September surge in housing starts came alongside a 6.3% drop in building permits to their slowest pace since October, 2001 (see BusinessWeek.com, 9/18/06, The Housing Bust: Sorry, It Ain't Over Yet). A decline in building permits has accompanied a rise in housing starts only six times since 2003, according to Rosenberg, and starts fell a month later on five of those occasions. Grim Futures Rosenberg also differs with Goldman's Hatzius over demographics. Our research suggests that this housing cycle does not bottom out until starts reach the 1.3 million mark, Rosenberg said in an Oct. 19 report. So contrary to popular opinion, we are barely in the fifth inning of this down-cycle on the construction front. So far, futures traders are sticking with the pessimistic view (see BusinessWeek.com, 10/10/06, Where Housing Prices Will Fall the Most). In afternoon trading Oct. 23, investors were predicting declines over the next 12 months in all 10 markets covered by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange's housing contracts. The composite index is seen falling 7% by August, 2007, when the one-year contract expires. That's roughly unchanged from what investors expected a month earlier. Other derivatives traders may also be betting on a deeper slump for housing. On Oct. 11, the lowest-rated subset of the ABX home-equity index touched its weakest price level since it was launched in January, according to London-based Markit, which created the index with CDS IndexCo. The index tracks a basket of credit default swaps on subprime mortgages and home-equity loans.
Re: [PEN-L] Iran in the news
On 10/24/06, Doug Henwood [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Oct 24, 2006, at 5:27 PM, Jim Devine wrote: On 10/24/06, Yoshie Furuhashi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The president said he was ready to decrease the working hours of married women or women with children to make it easier for them to have more children. Without pay cuts? I'd bet that there would be no _hourly_ paycuts (unless they are happening anyway), but that adds up to weekly pay cuts. Regardless of the pay issue, how admirable is it to turn women into breeding machines, more dependent on their husbands? I don't have any children and I don't intend to have any, so the policy proposed by the President of Iran doesn't appeal to me. But not all women feel the way I do, and therein lies the difficulty for the Left. Some women prefer wage labor to their own children, and they prefer to work more than spend more time with children (even when their financial situation allows the latter option), for work confers not only wages but also social recognition, new circles of friendship, adult conversations, new sexual opportunities, etc.; other women prefer children to work, for most workers, male or female, are stuck with difficult or boring jobs (some times difficult and boring at the same time), far less interesting than interacting with their own children and helping them grow (some men feel the same way, except that they are not encouraged to express that preference). A certain kind of maternalist welfare and work policy, which is different from equal-rights feminist policy, appeals to and gets support from the latter kind of women. How leftists are to respond to both kinds of women at the same time and make things easier for both, while creating conditions for men to weigh the costs and benefits of wage labor and parenting without feeling that they must be the breadwinners, would be the question for us to consider. -- Yoshie http://montages.blogspot.com/ http://mrzine.org http://monthlyreview.org/
Re: [PEN-L] Iran in the news
On Oct 24, 2006, at 6:00 PM, Yoshie Furuhashi wrote: I don't have any children and I don't intend to have any, so the policy proposed by the President of Iran doesn't appeal to me. But not all women feel the way I do, and therein lies the difficulty for the Left. Some women prefer wage labor to their own children, and they prefer to work more than spend more time with children (even when their financial situation allows the latter option), for work confers not only wages but also social recognition, new circles of friendship, adult conversations, new sexual opportunities, etc.; other women prefer children to work, for most workers, male or female, are stuck with difficult or boring jobs (some times difficult and boring at the same time), far less interesting than interacting with their own children and helping them grow (some men feel the same way, except that they are not encouraged to express that preference). A certain kind of maternalist welfare and work policy, which is different from equal-rights feminist policy, appeals to and gets support from the latter kind of women. Given a choice, I think mothers of young children would like to work at least part-time - after a time, most would really like to get out of the house - and some would like to make more. Choice aside, most families have a hard time getting by these days without two paychecks. It's hardly a stretch to imagine even Americans accepting some kind of publicly funded childcare system. But that has nothing to do with Ahmadinejad's policy, which is explicitly natalist, not maternalist. Doug
Re: [PEN-L] Iran in the news
On Oct 24, 2006, at 6:05 PM, Yoshie Furuhashi wrote: most social democratic nations offering probably the most pro-natalist policy, except that pro-natalist policy seldom ever leads to more children, for women just take the benefits That's contrary to the standard taxonomy of welfare states, from Esping-Andersen: the social democratic states try to decommodify labor as much as possible, and offer benefits independent of work and marital status, while the Germans and Italians offer benefits through the workplace and keyed to the family. The SocDem states want to make women freer; the continental states want to promote work and family. Doug
Re: [PEN-L] Iran in the news
On 10/24/06, Doug Henwood [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Oct 24, 2006, at 6:05 PM, Yoshie Furuhashi wrote: most social democratic nations offering probably the most pro-natalist policy, except that pro-natalist policy seldom ever leads to more children, for women just take the benefits That's contrary to the standard taxonomy of welfare states, from Esping-Andersen: the social democratic states try to decommodify labor as much as possible, and offer benefits independent of work and marital status, while the Germans and Italians offer benefits through the workplace and keyed to the family. The SocDem states want to make women freer; the continental states want to promote work and family. Almost everywhere policy-makers have employed the pro-natalist rhetoric, for almost all of them have had demographic concerns and have seldom really cared for immigrant labor (which is an understatement). Nordic social democratic states and formerly and still actually existing socialist states are no exception. If the only aim is to raise women's labor participation rate, cash benefits for those who have children make little sense, but many nations offer them, including social democratic ones, e.g. Sweden. One of the few nations that adopted a definitely anti-natalist policy has been China with its one-child policy. -- Yoshie http://montages.blogspot.com/ http://mrzine.org http://monthlyreview.org/
Re: [PEN-L] Iran in the news
On 10/24/06, Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Yoshie Furuhashi wrote: Without pay cuts? me: I'd bet that there would be no _hourly_ paycuts (unless they are happening anyway), but that adds up to weekly pay cuts. Yoshie: Appealing work time policy has been MIA almost everywhere. are you saying that because everyone does it, it's okay for Iran to do it too? Not everyone does it -- we live in a rare country which combines pro-natalist ideology (Mom and Apple Pie!) and anti-natalist policy. :- -- Yoshie http://montages.blogspot.com/ http://mrzine.org http://monthlyreview.org/
[PEN-L] Work Part-Time and Be Paid Full-Time (was Re: Iran in the news)
On 10/24/06, Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Iran leader backs larger families By Frances Harrison BBC News, Tehran snip The president says he is not against women working, but he thinks they can work part-time but be paid full-time to allow them to spend more time with their children. Actually, work part-time and be paid full-time is a policy we might advocate, too, the only difference being that we would offer it to both men and women. -- Yoshie http://montages.blogspot.com/ http://mrzine.org http://monthlyreview.org/
[PEN-L] Leader of the Free World
In a CNBC interview yesterday, Maria Bartiromo asked President Bush: Have you ever Googled anybody? Do you use Google? Here's his answer to the hardball question that's on everybody's mind. Occasionally. One of the things I've used on the Google is to pull up maps. It's very interesting to see that. I forgot the name of the program, but you get the satellite and you can -- like, I kind of like to look at the ranch on Google, reminds me of where I want to be sometimes. Yeah, I do it some. I tend not to email or -- not only tend not to email, I don't email, because of the different record requests that can happen to a president. I don't want to receive emails because, you know, there's no telling what somebody's email may -- it would show up as, you know, a part of some kind of a story, and I wouldn't be able to say, `Well, I didn't read the email. 'But I sent it to your address, how can you say you didn't?' So, in other words, I'm very cautious about emailing. Video: http://movies.crooksandliars.com/Bush-TheGoogle.wmv or http://movies.crooksandliars.com/Bush-TheGoogle.mov
Re: [PEN-L] Iran in the news
Let's consider another case. The Singapore government encourages more children (through economic incentives) but parents are expected to be college graduates. Singaporeans, both males and females, live well. Cheers, anthony Anthony P. D'Costa, Professor Comparative International Development University of Washington 1900 Commerce Street Tacoma, WA 98402, USA Phone: (253) 692-4462 Fax : (253) 692-5718 xx On Tue, 24 Oct 2006, Jim Devine wrote: Yoshie Furuhashi wrote: Without pay cuts? me: I'd bet that there would be no _hourly_ paycuts (unless they are happening anyway), but that adds up to weekly pay cuts. Yoshie: Appealing work time policy has been MIA almost everywhere. are you saying that because everyone does it, it's okay for Iran to do it too? The truth be told, lots of women -- especially women with young children -- prefer part-time to full-time work, as BBC suggested, not just in Iran but most countries including rich ones, the preference being shaped by an unequal division of care-giving labor. ... so Big Daddy should make the decision for them? Father knows best? -- Jim Devine / We've never been stay the course -- George W. Bush.
Re: [PEN-L] Iran in the news
The Scandinavian cases also provide alternatives to both Iran and left view of feminism. In Scandinavia children are encouraged both socially and as part of state policy. Both parents work: they must because of high taxes (in addition to women's rights issues) but they are supported by the state for child care, maternity leave for both parents, etc. I would agree with Yoshie that there are wide variety of sentiments regarding work. My own significant other did not feel justified commuting to work, which left fewer hours for family and child care. Of course any policy that is state-dictated and if coerced must be opposed but this does not mean that the state policy itself is out of sync with what people want. It's a very culture-specific issue. Cheers, anthony Anthony P. D'Costa, Professor Comparative International Development University of Washington 1900 Commerce Street Tacoma, WA 98402, USA Phone: (253) 692-4462 Fax : (253) 692-5718 xx On Tue, 24 Oct 2006, Yoshie Furuhashi wrote: On 10/24/06, Doug Henwood [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Oct 24, 2006, at 5:27 PM, Jim Devine wrote: On 10/24/06, Yoshie Furuhashi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The president said he was ready to decrease the working hours of married women or women with children to make it easier for them to have more children. Without pay cuts? I'd bet that there would be no _hourly_ paycuts (unless they are happening anyway), but that adds up to weekly pay cuts. Regardless of the pay issue, how admirable is it to turn women into breeding machines, more dependent on their husbands? I don't have any children and I don't intend to have any, so the policy proposed by the President of Iran doesn't appeal to me. But not all women feel the way I do, and therein lies the difficulty for the Left. Some women prefer wage labor to their own children, and they prefer to work more than spend more time with children (even when their financial situation allows the latter option), for work confers not only wages but also social recognition, new circles of friendship, adult conversations, new sexual opportunities, etc.; other women prefer children to work, for most workers, male or female, are stuck with difficult or boring jobs (some times difficult and boring at the same time), far less interesting than interacting with their own children and helping them grow (some men feel the same way, except that they are not encouraged to express that preference). A certain kind of maternalist welfare and work policy, which is different from equal-rights feminist policy, appeals to and gets support from the latter kind of women. How leftists are to respond to both kinds of women at the same time and make things easier for both, while creating conditions for men to weigh the costs and benefits of wage labor and parenting without feeling that they must be the breadwinners, would be the question for us to consider. -- Yoshie http://montages.blogspot.com/ http://mrzine.org http://monthlyreview.org/
[PEN-L] Stan Goff on fascism
Louis Proyect wrote: Although the two positions [in Stan Goff's articles] are not explicitly related, they do resonate with a line of reasoning found on the American left and more particularly with the Communist Party. Can you substantiate this a little? I read both pieces and can't -- for the life of my children -- find that mysterious allegedly CP line of reasoning. I don't think a dispute on the semantics of the category of fascism is likely to reveal much. So why not focus on the *content* or social mechanisms others are wishing to emphasize when they use the term or resort to analogies with Nazism and fascism? One mechanism that has been emphasized by Chomsky, Cuba, and Venezuela is the outright *formal* rejection of international law under Bush followed by the criminal invasion and occupation of Iraq in the face of worldwide opposition. Looking at things from the perspective of working people all over the world, especially in this age of nuclear arsenals, this not to be underplayed. I just posted a couple of comments on Stan's blog. Although I'd now be less certain about things I thought I had all figured out back when I wrote it, I stand by the main conclusions in my old essay on the issue (http://www.swans.com/library/art11/jhuato01.html) and was glad to find that Stan's arguments are not *entirely* different from mine. I wished we really learned from past controversies. The least we should learn is that dishonesty in debating is a waste. Julio
[PEN-L] Gender Equality in Child Care, Policy vs. Reality in Social Democratic States
The Swedish government's pro-natalist policy, too, initially was not based on gender equality: in the 1950s, a maternal benefit was introduced allowing women to take care of children. It was not until 1974 that it began to make efforts to make pro-natalist policy gender-neutral, allowing fathers to take parental leaves as well. But no father took it in that year! The parental leave policy was reformed again in 1994, and it is now offered to individuals rather than families, which raised fathers' participation rate. Still, only 17% of parental leave time is being used by fathers, and that's in the country where men make use of parental leaves more than any other country except Iceland. (For more information, see Parental Leave in Sweden: Why Is It So Difficult That Fathers Take Care of Their Children? (I) below.) In reality beyond policy, even the most gender-neutral social democratic states have mainly allowed women to combine wage labor and child care more easily than before, and men still do little of the latter. Gender neutrality is apparently not enough to promote gender equality in care-giving labor in particular and a gender-equal division of labor in general. blockquoteSweden eliminated differences between mothers and fathers regarding parental leave in 1974. However, instead of creating an individual leave for each person, it was created on a family basis, so that it could be shared and divided between father and mother at convenience. That year, the generous Swedish fathers took 0% of the total parental leave hours (100% for mothers), and the proportion did not change much more in the next two decades. In light of this result, in 1994, a non-transferable month for each parent was implemented. This measure was very successful: in 1995, fathers took 10% of the total parental leave time (in hours). In 2002 the non-transferable parental leave was increased up to 2 months. And in 2003, fathers enjoyed 17% of the total amount of hours taken under parental leave time. It is an enormous amount of time, the time fathers devote to taking care of their children in Sweden, in comparison to any other European country, except Iceland. During these years, the total amount of parental leave has been increasing. Nowadays it makes up to 390 days at 80% of the salary, plus 90 days more at 7€/day. Women (mothers) tend to sistematically take all the time men (fathers) do not. At least, most of the 390 days at 80% of the salary. Which means that women are out of work for a minimun of 324 days, while fathers are under parental leave for 66 days on average. (Parental Leave in Sweden: Why Is It So Difficult That Fathers Take Care of Their Children? (I), http://feminist.typepad.com/feminist_initiative/2006/09/parental_leaves.html)/blockquote -- Yoshie http://montages.blogspot.com/ http://mrzine.org http://monthlyreview.org/
Re: [PEN-L] Stan Goff on fascism
Julio wrote: Louis Proyect wrote: Although the two positions [in Stan Goff's articles] are not explicitly related, they do resonate with a line of reasoning found on the American left and more particularly with the Communist Party. Can you substantiate this a little? I read both pieces and can't -- for the life of my children -- find that mysterious allegedly CP line of reasoning. I said it *resonated* with the CP line. That being said, the Freedom Road Socialist Organization is ideologically rooted in Maoism, which despite its ultraleftism never developed a critique of the Popular Front turn that resulted in the marriage between the CP and the Democrats. I wished we really learned from past controversies. The least we should learn is that dishonesty in debating is a waste. This is the same complaint I got from Stan. I would prefer to deal with the substance. Any way you slice it, you don't get fascism without the threat of proletarian revolution. That might be going on somewhere else in the USA, but surely not in NYC.
Re: [PEN-L] Gender Equality in Child Care, Policy vs. Reality in Social Democratic States
On Oct 24, 2006, at 8:04 PM, Yoshie Furuhashi wrote: The Swedish government's pro-natalist policy, too, initially was not based on gender equality: in the 1950s, a maternal benefit was introduced allowing women to take care of children. It was not until 1974 that it began to make efforts to make pro-natalist policy gender-neutral, allowing fathers to take parental leaves as well. But no father took it in that year! The parental leave policy was reformed again in 1994, and it is now offered to individuals rather than families, which raised fathers' participation rate. Still, only 17% of parental leave time is being used by fathers, and that's in the country where men make use of parental leaves more than any other country except Iceland. Well, yeah, but that's a lot better than nothing, and nothing is a lot better than Ahmadinejad's new policy. If you're saying that men should take more responsibility for child care, I'll agree with you, though having an infant has shown me how intensely the infant prefers his mother to me (it hurts sometimes, lemme tell you). Apparently it's pretty common among 9-month-olds. But I suspect your motive here is to get your Persian Prince off the hook for an obnoxious policy, and demeaning Scandinavian social democracy, one of the better achievements of practical politics I can think of, seems to be your mode of argument. Doug
Re: [PEN-L] Response to Stan Goff
I watch such discussions and debates among the American leftists occasionally, not always, and every time I pay any attention to them, I reach the conclusion that you take yourselves more seriously than you should. The American left is so minuscule that you have no hope to influence any election result in any direction. So, I find all such debates a total waste of time. Don't you have better things to do such as trying to grow your numbers or something? Your outsider friend, Sabri __ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
Re: [PEN-L] Iran in the news
On 10/24/06, Anthony D'Costa [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The Scandinavian cases also provide alternatives to both Iran and left view of feminism. In Scandinavia children are encouraged both socially and as part of state policy. Both parents work: they must because of high taxes (in addition to women's rights issues) but they are supported by the state for child care, maternity leave for both parents, etc. I agree with you, except that I'd note the limits of gender-neutral social democratic policy's impact on promoting gender equality in child care in particular and gender-equal division of labor in general that I noted in another posting. Comparing Iran to Sweden as policy alternatives really doesn't make sense, though. They are on entirely different levels of economic development. I would agree with Yoshie that there are wide variety of sentiments regarding work. My own significant other did not feel justified commuting to work, which left fewer hours for family and child care. Of course any policy that is state-dictated and if coerced must be opposed but this does not mean that the state policy itself is out of sync with what people want. It's a very culture-specific issue. Moreover, Iran, like many other statist countries, has what I would call state feminist organizations (i.e., official women's organizations), and they make inputs into policy initiatives like this. BBC's criticism of offering women the chance to work part-time but be paid full-time is revealing. On 10/24/06, Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Iran leader backs larger families By Frances Harrison BBC News, Tehran snip Although this idea might appeal to some women, the likelihood is that it will damage women's chances of being employed, because it will make it more complicated and expensive to hire a woman. That's a typical attitude of liberal equal-rights feminists, shared by certain of Iran's own reformists, too. The attitude basically says, recognizing the biological and social differences between men and women (it's biologically women who bear children, and it's women who have been socialized to take care of children) and making policy that eases the burden on women based on that recognition would make things difficult for capitalists and therefore is wrong. It, instead, appeals to the state to make gender-neutral policy, suggesting that women will be on equal footing to men in a gender-neutral environment. But that is not so. The only women who do as well as men in a gender-neutral environment are childless women, for other women are still stuck with care-giving labor almost everywhere, even in socialist and social democratic states. Here, class difference among women matters. Richer, better educated women who have no or few children fare better under the liberal equal-rights feminist regime than the regime that explicitly recognizes gender difference and make maternalist policies based on that, for all rich women need to strive for gender equality is equal opportunity, while working-class women, who tend to bear more children than richer women, are probably more at a disadvantage under the former than the latter. -- Yoshie http://montages.blogspot.com/ http://mrzine.org http://monthlyreview.org/
[PEN-L]
Today's best kept secret. Forward Base Falcon in Baghdad, the US's largest ammo dump, probably containing nuclear weapons, was completely destroyed October 10. It appeared in the US press one day and then disappeared. Some say more than 300 US troops and/or contractors died. They haven't showed up on the US casualty count (which was at 2,803 this morning). Here are video links to the attack: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlM3BDojdLoeurl http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBMqTpDnitAmode=relatedsearch= Dan
Re: [PEN-L] Leader of the Free World
On 10/24/06, Louis Proyect [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: In a CNBC interview yesterday, Maria Bartiromo asked President Bush: Have you ever Googled anybody? Do you use Google? Here's his answer to the hardball question that's on everybody's mind. Occasionally. One of the things I've used on the Google is to pull up maps. It's very interesting to see that. I forgot the name of the Bush knows how to use a computer? -raghu.
Re: [PEN-L] Gender Equality in Child Care, Policy vs. Reality in Social Democratic States
On 10/24/06, Doug Henwood [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Oct 24, 2006, at 8:04 PM, Yoshie Furuhashi wrote: The Swedish government's pro-natalist policy, too, initially was not based on gender equality: in the 1950s, a maternal benefit was introduced allowing women to take care of children. It was not until 1974 that it began to make efforts to make pro-natalist policy gender-neutral, allowing fathers to take parental leaves as well. But no father took it in that year! The parental leave policy was reformed again in 1994, and it is now offered to individuals rather than families, which raised fathers' participation rate. Still, only 17% of parental leave time is being used by fathers, and that's in the country where men make use of parental leaves more than any other country except Iceland. Well, yeah, but that's a lot better than nothing, and nothing is a lot better than Ahmadinejad's new policy. I said it to Anthony, too, but does it really make sense to compare Iran with Sweden, which are on entirely different levels of economic development? While I believe it is important to analyze Iran as a variant of the welfare state rather than regard it as sui generis, comparison makes more sense among countries within roughly the same economic league. That said, what the Iranian government offers is hardly nothing. Look at what it actually does for women, as well as the idea of giving women a chance to work part-time and get paid for full-time: http://www.badjens.com/ebadi.html. What is striking is that American women, who are at a far higher level of economic development and have participated in generations of feminist activism, still do not have the kind of support for mothers like paid parental leaves and access to child care provided by the Iranian government and some other governments at that economic level, _let alone what Nordic social democratic states provide_. If you're saying that men should take more responsibility for child care, I'll agree with you, though having an infant has shown me how intensely the infant prefers his mother to me (it hurts sometimes, lemme tell you). Apparently it's pretty common among 9-month-olds. But I suspect your motive here is to get your Persian Prince off the hook for an obnoxious policy, and demeaning Scandinavian social democracy, one of the better achievements of practical politics I can think of, seems to be your mode of argument. While I've been bullish on Iran as you know for many reasons, nowhere have I claimed that Iran's in the same league as Sweden. I've said what I've said, comparing Iran with other welfare states, because many think Iran is one of a kind, when it isn't. Moreover, my Persian Prince doesn't think and speak like me, but if he did, he wouldn't have gotten elected in Iran (nor in the USA or Japan, for that matter!). :- Really, he enjoys my continuing support as the best viable option for the Iranian people at this moment in history. -- Yoshie http://montages.blogspot.com/ http://mrzine.org http://monthlyreview.org/
Re: [PEN-L] Pro-Natalist Rhetoric in Social Democratic States
On 10/24/06, Yoshie Furuhashi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: It seems to me that PEN-l men are unaware of the global prevalence of pro-natalist rhetoric. Men really don't know much about how women are treated in politics. Here's an example from Norway: Not only is pro-natalist rhetoric and policies common in the West and in Japan, such policies are also usually based on xenophobic rationale. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4768644.stm Also none of this has any relevance to Iran: in Iran's case, pro-natal policies are not justified by any demographic data as far as I know, so Ahmedinejad's motives may be questionable. -raghu.
Re: [PEN-L] Pro-Natalist Rhetoric in Social Democratic States
On 10/24/06, raghu [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On 10/24/06, Yoshie Furuhashi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: It seems to me that PEN-l men are unaware of the global prevalence of pro-natalist rhetoric. Men really don't know much about how women are treated in politics. Here's an example from Norway: Not only is pro-natalist rhetoric and policies common in the West and in Japan, such policies are also usually based on xenophobic rationale. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4768644.stm Yes. I was wondering throughout the worst period of deflation when the Japanese power elite would really go neoliberal and perhaps import more immigrant labor to expand the labor pool, but their xenophobia was such that it even got the better of their profit motive, so they didn't make any major pro-immigration policy, and after 9/11 things got worse for immigrants. A better policy has been offered for women, however, in the name of pro-natalism, though I believe it won't make any impact on the fertility rate: http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/furuhashi311205.html#_edn15. Also none of this has any relevance to Iran: in Iran's case, pro-natal policies are not justified by any demographic data as far as I know, so Ahmedinejad's motives may be questionable. Pro-natalism, which isn't a new discourse, existed in Europe even before demographic data showed marked declines there. After the Malthusian scare and before the rise of neoliberalism, it was common for policy-makers to think in pro-natalist fashion, even though women were having more children back then than they do now. -- Yoshie http://montages.blogspot.com/ http://mrzine.org http://monthlyreview.org/
[PEN-L] Fingerprinting, Iran and the USA
Speaking of xenophobia. . . . http://www.localnewswatch.com/skyvalley/stories/index.php?action=fullnewsid=18963 Ahmadinejad opposes finger-print bill Staff and agencies 24 October, 2006 8 minutes ago TEHRAN, Iran - Iran 's fiercely anti-U.S. president has come out against a bill that would require Americans to be fingerprinted on arrival in Iran. We do not have a problem with American people. We oppose only the U.S. government's bullying and arrogance, Ahmadinejad said Monday night, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency. The U.S. measure, which also applies to nationals of some other countries, was implemented in 2002, in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington. If somebody, and that includes an American, is entitled to enter Iran, then he will be welcomed with respect, the president said. -- Yoshie http://montages.blogspot.com/ http://mrzine.org http://monthlyreview.org/
Re: [PEN-L] Leader of the Free World
At around 24/10/06 9:05 pm, raghu wrote: On 10/24/06, Louis Proyect [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: In a CNBC interview yesterday, Maria Bartiromo asked President Bush: Have you ever Googled anybody? Do you use Google? Here's his answer to the hardball question that's on everybody's mind. Occasionally. One of the things I've used on the Google is to pull up maps. It's very interesting to see that. I forgot the name of the Bush knows how to use a computer? Laugh it up fellas! Meanwhile the dude in Wyoming, who can identify with Bush exactly for these sort of errors and style, still has like 7 times your vote ;-). --ravi
Re: [PEN-L] Leader of the Free World
On 10/24/06, ravi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Laugh it up fellas! Meanwhile the dude in Wyoming, who can identify with Bush exactly for these sort of errors and style, still has like 7 times your vote ;-). And that's only counting the legal ones. -- Sandwichman
Re: [PEN-L] Response to Stan Goff
Just a few points in reply to Sabri. The American Left is an amorphous entity vastly bigger than the traditional Left organizations. Most of the time, it's never more than half engaged in electoral struggle, but Ralph Nader's 2000 Green campaign provided a significant measure of how many Americans were up for a left-wing alternative. Although the traditional Left groups like the Socialist Party or the Communist Party actually opposed the campaign in favor of their own agendas, it got the largest proportion of progressive insurgent voters since 1948. It should have given us heart to build upon those impressive results. Instead, the Democrats themselves charged that the insurgent Left had elected Bush, and the pervasive American disease of deference imploded the 2004 third party vote. Yet, it's important to remember that, when we act together, we probably can influence the outcome of elections. And we'll never get to that point regularly--and few better ways to take our ideas before the public--than challenging the system at the polls. One more issue worth posing is that our persistent presence invariably exposes the fundamentally undemocratic and entirely commercial nature of American politics. ML
[PEN-L] U.S. Left was Re: [PEN-L] Response to Stan Goff
Greetings Economists, On Oct 24, 2006, at 5:42 PM, Sabri Oncu wrote: So, I find all such debates a total waste of time. Don't you have better things to do such as trying to grow your numbers or something? Doyle; We, the left includes you Sabri. Don't quite know why you say you are an outsider, but in any case, our problem here in the U.S. is your problem as well. Organizing or growing a mass movement in the U.S. seems to me more promising now than in the past 30 years. There are three reasons for this. One on the big scale neo-liberalism is weakening and on the retreat. Two the great U.S. war machine has visibly failed. Three the imbalanced U.S. economy twins to the failed military machine to provide a growing and potent reason for a left base here. In other words, growing the left is now on the agenda in a realistic manner. I don't agree with you that debates here about any issue like fascism is a waste of time. There are symptoms of mass movements in formation where the debates begin to grow and enlarge and escape the formal boundaries of the previous period. So any single debate is trivial, but the forces within a system start to make debates relate to events. The debate about fascism is really how the war is influencing people to consider what we are against when we know the war machine is an important pillar of power. The two great internal subjects in the U.S., the war machine, and the U.S. financial system, are beginning to generate a fluid mass break with conservative dominance. Any significant left to emerge here is going to be world important in the sense of those features of the U.S. that are world dominant as is. Finally it is clear to me that some significant leaders are in the left now, and I make no secret that I think Yoshie is one of them. In so far as organizing things then I see this as an important rising period for the left in the U.S. in which I think we will begin to come to grips with our weakness and orient ourselves in the global struggle. Doyle Saylor
Re: [PEN-L] Fwd: Oil that greases the palms... [Separation of Oil State]
Resource: Oilchangeinternational. Separation of Oil State is a campaign to get oil money out of politics. Its important that we demand that our representatives stand up for the future of energy, not for the dinosaurs of the oil industry. Type in your zip code below to find out how much oil and gas money your reps are taking and then send an email to them. Find out how much money your elected officials are getting from the oil industry. http://www.priceofoil.org/oilandstate/ There's entertainment too! Addicted to Oil - watch this hilarious video! http://priceofoil.org/addicted/
[PEN-L] Tweakers in trouble...
The ultimate paranoid tweaker nightmare... Men in black from agencies of the federal government no one's even heard of, and the bright lights/loud threatening voices of a hardball interrogation. Ber dude! This story is taken from Top Nation/World News at sacbee.com. http://dwb.sacbee.com/24hour/front/v-print/story/3402007p-12504348c.html Drug raid yields Los Alamos documents By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer Published 6:13 pm PDT Tuesday, October 24, 2006 WASHINGTON (AP) - A drug bust at a trailer park in New Mexico turned up what appeared to be classified documents taken from the Los Alamos nuclear weapons laboratory, authorities said Tuesday. Local police found the documents while arresting a man suspected of domestic violence and dealing methamphetamine from his mobile home, said Sgt. Chuck Ney of the Los Alamos, N.M., Municipal Police Department. The documents were discovered during a search of the man's records for evidence of his drug business, Ney said. Police alerted the FBI to the secret documents, which agents traced back to a woman linked to the drug dealer, officials said. The woman is a contract employee at Los Alamos National Laboratory, according to an FBI official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the case. The official would not describe the documents except to say that they appeared to contain classified material and were stored on a computer file. FBI special agent Bill Elwell in Albuquerque, N.M., confirmed that a search warrant was executed on Friday night, but he refused to discuss details. We do have an investigation with regard to the matter, but our standard is we do not discuss pending investigations, Elwell said. A spokesman for the Los Alamos National Laboratory, in Los Alamos, N.M., declined to comment. Los Alamos has a history of high-profile security problems in the past decade, with the most notable the case of nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee. After years of accusations, Lee pleaded guilty in a plea bargain to one count of mishandling nuclear secrets at the lab. In 2004, the lab was essentially shut down after an inventory showed that two computer disks containing nuclear secrets were missing. A year later the lab concluded that it was just a mistake and the disks never existed. But the incident highlighted sloppy inventory control and security failures at the nuclear weapons lab. And the Energy Department began moving toward a five-year program to create a so-called diskless environment at Los Alamos to prevent any classified material being carried outside the lab. Even though Los Alamos is now under new management, Danielle Brian, executive director of the watchdog group Project on Government Oversight, said the lab has not done much to clean up its act. Los Alamos has always seemed to be rewarded for its screw-ups, Brian said. We're waiting with bated breath to see if anything has changed. The idea that police found classified documents at a home where a drug sting was being conducted is disturbing, she said. The problem is when you actually have those materials that are supposed to be protected inside the lab and you find them outside the lab in the hands of criminals - that should worry everybody, Brian said. The FBI and the U.S. attorney's office in Albuquerque were evaluating the information obtained as a result of the search warrant, Elwell said. The federal charge of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material is a misdemeanor that carries a maximum sentence of a year in prison and up to a $100,000 fine. --- Associated Press writers Seth Borenstein in Washington and Sue Holmes in Albuquerque contributed to this report.
