In These Times

WTH, Your entire POV is succinctly encapsulated in the words "I see little hope..." Why, then, do you even bother? Why don't you just roll up into a little ball and die? What do you think is accomplished by spreading your dour message of hopelessness? If we were all to take your inestimable advice and give up all hope of making the world just a little better place and submitting ourselves and our progeny to whatever awful fate lies in store, what satisfaction could you possibly derive? Or are you discretely advising violent revolution? That may yet happen, but historically only …

Posted to Sicko's Critics and the Upside of Hitler

WTH, Sorry, I'm not feeling in much of a light-hearted mood over health care in this country. It isn't a 'fun' situation. I'll leave the satire to Michael Moore in this case. You want to be amused, see the movie. Until you do, keep your opinion to yourself. That's my advice.

Posted to Sicko's Critics and the Upside of Hitler

WTH, Free speech also includes the right to call you on your bullshit. Also to offer unsolicited free advice. You're free to take it or leave it. Still, I think it's a good idea to actually see a movie before presuming to characterize it.

Posted to Sicko's Critics and the Upside of Hitler

WTH, "I really don't care." Another epitomization of your opinion. Exactly what I've been saying all along. What makes you believe I am stressed out by your bullshit? Is laughter your idea of stressing out? Why do you think calling you on your bullshit is '(over)reaction'? How many thousands of years of data on health care do you believe is necessary to make a decision? (We have 400,000+ years of reliable data on CO2 and global temperature. We also have direct empirical observation and multiple source corroboration of causal linkages, not just statistical correlations. Is that enough? If not, why? Please …

Posted to Sicko's Critics and the Upside of Hitler

WTH, "When I said I don’t care it was in reference to the two of us agreeing." Oh, really? Like my questioning of your comparison of weather and climate predictability was somehow an hysterical (over)reaction to your comment on Y2K? In this case, my (admitted) cherry-picking is intended to make a valid point. You obviously care only about muddying the waters, certainly not in engaging in reasonable and principled debate. Much less what we, as citizens living in a purported democracy, can do to improve our health care system. If one assumes, a priori, that nothing can be done, one ensures …

Posted to Sicko's Critics and the Upside of Hitler

nazario, Spot on analysis of WTH and wolfgang. Wolfgang, your 'intellectual' prowess, being as mediocre as it is, does not inspire me with great confidence. I don't think the left is in much need of your help. The very fact that you make assertions (argumentum ad nauseum) without the slightest hint of a rational argument supported by any evidence whatsoever is quite substantial proof that you have all the scholarly skill of a lump of dogshit.

Posted to Sicko's Critics and the Upside of Hitler

brian, You are so right. WTH and wolf are getting their critical input solely from the right-wing nit-pickers, with out even seeing the movie on which they are making judgment. WTH seems to think that his ad infinitum strawman and categorically false assertion about all politicians being always untrustworthy and totally out for themselves, and the rather trivial observation that mainstream corporate news outlets are somewhat less than objective nor comprehensively informative is unimpeachable evidence that we as thinking beings must be entirely incapable of discerning fact from propaganda. If I don't accept his poor reasoning as transcendent wisdom I am …

Posted to Sicko's Critics and the Upside of Hitler

WTH, Medicare is a good example of congressional action brought about by public pressure. Did you think it fell from the sky? I admit that I exaggerated your statement on congressmen by omitting your substanceless qualifier. What difference does it make? The conclusion you imply is that 'all is hopeless, why even try', no matter how one parses it. As to global warming, I appreciate that you admit there might be a problem. From the gist of your arguments I got the impression you were saying that there was no need to address the problem because there was substantial doubt that …

Posted to Sicko's Critics and the Upside of Hitler

wolfie, It is interesting that you cite an anomalous anecdote about excessive wait times for specialized elective surgeries in Canadian hospitals from a right-wing source as support for your assertion that Moore gives a slanted and one-sided presentation of the facts in his movie. However, the truth is that Moore does address the problem of long wait times in developed nations with universal health care. To wit:

SiCKO: Canadian "wait times" not nearly as long as some try to allege. * According to Statistics Canada, the official government statistical agency, "In 2005, the median waiting time was about 4 …

Posted to Sicko's Critics and the Upside of Hitler

wolfie, Don't you think that if Mr. Loder was really interested in balance and objectivity he might have mentioned that Amnesty International cites Cuba 3190 times in its archives and the United States 7670 times?

Posted to Sicko's Critics and the Upside of Hitler

"Moore�s documentaries are as predictable as Bush�s speeches � don�t need to watch and listen, I already know the lyrics." Ah, the superior wisdom of ignorance.

Posted to Sicko's Critics and the Upside of Hitler

WTH, A false assumption. Though congress may have been responsible for the transgressions you impute in recent history, it does not follow that it always has or always will be the case. It seems you are falling into that error of inductive reasoning of which you erroneously and with profound ignorance of the scientific knowledge and methodology assign to climatologists. See the movie and maybe you will find that you are not so much in disagreement with Moore as you would like to believe. Or maybe not, but then at least your opinions will be based on evidence and not ignorance. …

Posted to Sicko's Critics and the Upside of Hitler

WTH, Faith vs. experience? Hardly. I'd put it more like principled reason in service of humanity and the greater world as opposed to personal and self-referent opinion. You don't think my experience hasn't brought my share of loss, disappointment, betrayal, frustration, the end of hopes and dreams, heartbreak and pain? You are an idiot for making that assumption. Why do you think spreading your antagonist opinion on a Progressive site gives you some right to have that opinion left uncontested? It is sad that your experience has led you to such a cynical pass. It is a shame that your experience …

Posted to Sicko's Critics and the Upside of Hitler

P.S. See the fucking movie. Until you do, your opinion of Moore's presentation being worthless is just ignorant opinion. Of less worth than a stinking pile of pigshit. I don't believe you even read this article, beyond scanning the headline.

Posted to Sicko's Critics and the Upside of Hitler

WTH, What? I'm supposed to tolerate your sniveling bullshit? Please! If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Your concern over congress is a red herring. A dissembling distraction from the topic at hand. Be a nihilist if you wish, but don't expect to find adulation or respect. See the fucking movie. Coward!

Posted to Sicko's Critics and the Upside of Hitler

Realism is seeking to identify and implement a practical solution to a real and pressing problem, no matter how intractable it may appear on it's face. Saying, a priori, it is useless to even contemplate solutions because the opposition is too powerful and Congress too corrupt is nihilism. I don't think the confusion is on my side. My 'vision' is seeking to making life in this country a little better by advocating single-payer universal health insurance. Your 'opinion' seems to be throwing poo at anyone who would dare make an effort. If you actually had a competing and divergent idea, I …

Posted to Sicko's Critics and the Upside of Hitler

wolf, Say something meaningful and we'll see how it goes. Ad hominum seem about the limit of your capabilities. Have you seen the movie, yet? If you do, you may discover just how completely wrong your poorly informed characterizations of it are.

Posted to Sicko's Critics and the Upside of Hitler

WTH, Cut the smug self-congratulation and see the movie.

Posted to Sicko's Critics and the Upside of Hitler

WTH, wolf, The opening sentences of the article we are presumably discussing are: "The health care industry is having palpitations over Sicko. “I don’t think Michael Moore set out to make a balanced movie,” said Karen Ignagni, president of the trade group America’s Health Insurance Plans, regurgitating the industry’s key talking point. But truth is not always found in the balanced middle." Please tell me how either of you are not just regurgitating that same key talking point? What meaningful response have you made to the idea behind the high-lighted theme?

Posted to Sicko's Critics and the Upside of Hitler

WTH, You want to diverge from a discussion of Moore's movie and it's examination of other nations' universal health-care systems in comparison to the private insurance scam in this country and instead whine about how your Congressman is not responsive to your opinion, how I am disrespectful and insulting of your opinion, how incompetent Congress is; any non-sequitor distraction from the primary subject. That is what is meant by 'red-herring'.

Posted to Sicko's Critics and the Upside of Hitler

WTH, See the movie.

Posted to Sicko's Critics and the Upside of Hitler

WTH, " What do we not know? — We do not know if it is primarily due to human activity. — We do not know if this is a new phenomenon or a repeat of a log term cycle. — We do not know if there are other unknowns." We do know it is primarily due to human activity. We do know this is an anomalous phenomenon outside of natural variation. While there is much that is not completely understood, there are no significant unknown forces in the universe likely to overturn the laws of physics. Like scorpy, you find it …

Posted to Two Degrees From Devastation

OK, WTH, I'm not angry. I'm not sad. I'm not even disappointed. I've come to expect you to comment with your head firmly up your ass in the belief that gives you some advantageous insight. Eventually, it ceases to be amusing and becomes tiresome. One must sometimes speak bluntly, rather than sweeten one's words with false flattery, but, for your sake, I'll make an effort. You're a real good sport, old man. Maria, I sure do appreciate the tender and rational humanity that emanates from your posts. The fact we are so much in agreement doesn't hurt, tambien. I don't know …

Posted to Two Degrees From Devastation

wolfgang, Thank you for the kind words. We are all anonymous here. Pots and kettles, alike. Yes, I do know something about cosmic rays and their predicted and as yet unevidenced effect on cloud formation. I also know that whatever effect they may have is entirely swamped by the signal from anthropogenic causes. I've read Svensmark, et al. and Shaviv, Veizer and much of the literature surrounding the controversy, as well as a lot of less formal and less informed debate and hyperbole in the press and on blogs …

Posted to Two Degrees From Devastation

wolfie, I'm glad you are thinking about photo-voltaics. I may be working in that industry soon. If we cut emissions by 50% tomorrow, the damage done may not be catastrophic. We are only approaching the cusp of the 'point of no return', which would be that point at which natural feedbacks become inevitably strong enough to take over from the anthropogenic signal. The sequestration of CO2 is a technological possibility being pursued that can, indeed, reverse the trend and avoid the worst effects down the line. Al Gore and Richard Branson have offered a big PRIZE! You are …

Posted to Two Degrees From Devastation

WTH, Let me explain with a simple analogy. Weather behaves very chaotically. It is of very limited predictability because of not only a limiting resolution in our ability to measure initial conditions, but because weather events are often characterized by a high degree of turbulence. Consider this to be like the flipping of a fair coin. One cannot reliably predict whether the coin will land either heads or tails. However, If one throws the coin many times, then one will find that the ratio of the total number of heads and tails will inevitably and predictably converge on the value of …

Posted to Two Degrees From Devastation

WTH, Taleb's book is very interesting, but it does not really apply to climactic predictability. It is amusing that you offer a book about using statistical methods against one's intuitive perceptions, after I give an example of statistical method to counter your intuitive perception relating weather to climate. I hope the irony isn't lost on you. First off, climatologists, through debate and the peer review process, have been very careful to dot all their i's cross all their t's. They are not naive nor oblivious to statistical methods. Material science, unlike economics, is not a vagarious collection of fanciful abstract and …

Posted to Two Degrees From Devastation

WTH, You are confusing the reality of scientific opinion by giving undue credence to anti-scientific projection of scientific opinion. It isn't a debate, it's a pathological denial of reality. The relative influence of whatever unknown black swans that may be out there are quantifiably constrained by the white swans that we do know exist. Just because there might be black swans does not falsify the existence of white swans. The fact that black swans are noticeably rare means that black swans have little measurable importance in the overall population of all swans. Get it? You fundamentally miscomprehend the meaning of scientific …

Posted to Two Degrees From Devastation

A small suggestion. It may be the shady side of your family's 'black sheep' is an unconscious manifestation of the repressed and unexamined shady side of your family. The nature of human psychology is that it is never a 'one-sided phenomenon', but the inter-penetrating, inter-related and inter-active consequence of the conscious and unconscious thoughts, expressions and actions of all involved. Our psychological make-up is a swamp that only persevering compassionate feeling and self-critical rational examination can aid us to rise above. Externalizing blame, guilt and responsibility only embeds us deeper into the mire. This is as true of our relationship with …

Posted to Two Degrees From Devastation

"Think of the generations of scientific consensus which were later replaced by newer views based on additional evidence." Scientific paradigms are very rarely overturned by new evidence, but are characteristically refined and their descriptive and predictive resolution sharpened. A fair reading of the history of climate science would reveal that this process is exactly how we have gotten to the present consensus. I do not deny that scientists possess human frailties, but i do discount opinions that almost the entire population of climate scientists are engaged in some hoax or fraud. They are doing the best they can, with the information …

Posted to Two Degrees From Devastation

scorpy, Psychology is not psychiatry. No medical degree necessary. I am not prescribing drugs, just offering some friendly advice. You are sounding more and more like blondemike. You are confusing post-modern deconstructionism and post-post-modern integralism. The former of which you have the most insubstantial grasp and that only in the misguided, over-simplistic and exaggerated terms of it's least cogent detractors, and the latter not the whiff of a clue. You are wrong because you percieve the world through the immutable bias of your intransigent hatred, gross rationalization of greed and well-cultivated ignorance. It doesn't mean I am always right, but it …

Posted to Two Degrees From Devastation

WTH, Did I say you are smug? Scorpy is an ignorant fool. Can you doubt it? As a matter of fact, I posted a reply to wolf that was about a scientist who is pushing his own agenda at the expense of good science with particulars. You make vague generalizations of thousands of unnamed and unknown scientists maybe hyping global warming without any specific reasons. You cite a writer and completely misappropriate what he says. You really think that is a sufficient reason for dismissing global warming? That is justified skepticism in WTHville? Or are you just fucking off? Maybe? Could …

Posted to Two Degrees From Devastation

WTH, My 'reading/comprehension' [sic] is faulty? Ha! You're rich. If I am rambling, it is only because I am responding to your red herrings, demonstrating how, in themselves, they are examples of faulty reasoning. There is just no refuge for your dissembling, WTH. You lose an argument so you change the subject with vague hand-waving assertions. Vague assertions are your justification for your precious skepticism. You think your vagueness is probative of something? It is! On the subject of global warming, you are an ignorant old crank.

Posted to Two Degrees From Devastation

Perhaps with your superior comprehension skills you might consider this splendid example of climate denial/skeptic/doofus reasoning: The paleoclimatic record shows that in natural climate changes on the scale of glacial/interglacial change, CO2 follows initial temperature rise. In the historical record the opposite is occurring, temperature follows CO2. Therefore present warming must be natural and not anthropogenic. Can you find the flaw in this syllogism? C'mon! Let us see your superior comprehension skills.

Posted to Two Degrees From Devastation

scorp, You are irony deficient. Because Archie called Edith a dingbat doesn't mean that Archie himself was a dingbat. That is not the joke. The humor in 'All In The Family' was Lear's ability to hold up a mirror to existing social conflict in a way that deflated it's intractability in the mind of the audience, allowing us the freedom to laugh at our own foibles. The irony was that it didn't change anyone's beliefs, though for a while it did serve to soften the intractability that surrounds much of political debate. 'The Simpsons' serves much the same function today, though …

Posted to Two Degrees From Devastation

Victor Hanson, real scholar? Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! I know Dr. Hanson. He owns a grape ranch not too many miles south of here. He's a gentleman farmer who waxes eloquently about the rugged capabilities of those who live the life of the soil from his lectern at Fresno State. He's a real phony. I actually do work in the peaches, apricots, grapes, walnuts, pistachios, figs and almonds, and actually have all those working skills of which Hansom speaks so heroically. I actually work hand to hand and shoulder to shoulder with those very Mexican emigrants Hanson pretends to know so well. Watch the …

Posted to Two Degrees From Devastation

Global warming is a joke? This is a rational argument? You're lost, buddy. You have nothing but spew. No reason at all. An high opinion of yourself inversely proportional to your actual capabilities though.

Posted to Two Degrees From Devastation

scorpy, CO2 was not 'massively reduced' during the depression. Fossil fuels continued to be burned at increasing levels, though the rate of increase was marginally slowed. This is reflected in the flattening of global temperatures from the late 40's to the mid 70's (response times are slowed by the action of the world's oceans as a heat sink). Besides, there are multiple factors at work in the climate. It is not a simple linear system, but a dance of interacting feedbacks. Your critique is without factual basis or logical correlation. You believe what you want to believe because it suits your …

Posted to Two Degrees From Devastation

Economics, Is it the dismal science, or the happy religion? The classical notion that consumers are rational is somewhat belied by the rise of marketing and advertising strategies that appeal to the consumer's base unconscious desires. An infection of irrationality that spills over into the political sphere. The two are not dis-connected. The idea that rational realism means that mutual sympathy, much less altruism, can be entirely discounted in favor of self-interest has ineluctably undermined and de-valued the public commons and expansive connectivity between individuals beyond the concept of what, I, an individual, have to gain from a given relationship. Even …

Posted to Who's Afraid of Democracy?

It is telling that scorpy uses the blog of a high school student to refute the SCIENCE of global warming. As for her well documented points: * We have millions of years of data on temperature and GG. The temperature of earth swings extensively over time. CO2 levels increase after temperature increases, as CO2 locked in the oceans and in the tundra are released by the warming climate, and not the other way around. This is true. However, what is also true is that the warming in the last century has followed, not preceded rise in CO2 levels. …

Posted to Who's Afraid of Democracy?

scorpy, As usual, you mis-represent my views as thinking that people are fundamentally evil and that 19th century Marxist doctrine is the answer for it. They are not and it is not. The core of human consciousness is freely compassionate toward all living beings, since in reality, we are them. We are all connected by shared genetics, the shared physical environment and the shared development of consciousness. It is only the externalized armor of self-interested ego that makes us vulnerable to manipulation of our natural desires and leaves us convinced of the unameliorable nature of aggression, competition, conflict and violence in …

Posted to Who's Afraid of Democracy?

scorpy, Perhaps I would have been clearer had I said 'debased' or 'perverted' desires, instead. Somehow, I doubt it, as you have chosen again to misconstrue my meaning by completely ignoring the body of my argument, and instead pick at nits. Unbridalled capitalism is efficient at producing economic growth, but only for a small minority of petty bourgeois merchants, and of course, the ruling classes, who have never had to give up their mercantilist nor militarist and constabulary protections. The Laissez Faire doctines of the 19th century resulted, just as Marx predicted, in the oligarchic and monopsonist domination of the economy …

Posted to Who's Afraid of Democracy?

scorpy, Don't believe all the crap you read in right-wing periodicals. It was the socialist Rosa Luxembourg who scolded the Bolsheviks and warned that the 'dictatorship od the proletariat' would inevitably lead to totalitarianism. It was the anarcho-socialist Emma Goldman, deported from the US persuant to the Palmer Raids, who marched into Lenin's office with a letter from the ailing Petr Kropotkin, and denounced to his face the Kronstadt Massacre and accused him of betraying the revolution. It was the socialist George Orwell who wrote the book on the horrors of Soviet State control. A book pre-shadowed by the dissenter bolshevik …

Posted to Who's Afraid of Democracy?

scorpy, And you're so cultured? Spare me. Where is your compassion for the hundreds of millions dead from capitalist aggression? Roosevelt was an opportunist politician. It was the organization of ordinary people that powered the Progressive Movement, as with all human progress. To paraphrase Lao Tzu, leaders are best when they follow the people. By the way, what I know about Peterloo, I got from reading John Keats and English History. If Marx ever mentioned the affair, I have no idea, but if you say so. The victims were levelers, free-thinkers and communitarians. Terms that socialists were known by before socialism …

Posted to Who's Afraid of Democracy?

It's funny, scorpy, that Daniel Ortega is once again president of Nicaragua. In spite of US State Department threats of extortion toward the Nicaraguan people and all the USAID and NED distortion of the democratic process in the favor of pro-US oligarchs. It looks like he might even be growing a new set of cohones, now that MERCOSOR and ALBA are rising from the unlamented ashes of the World Bank and the IMF and the even less lamented still-birth of the FTAA. What a lack of gratitude! US policies have been so good for the people of Nicaragua. It's funny that …

Posted to Who's Afraid of Democracy?

scorpy, What mass murderers have I accepted? Quote me saying I love Pol Pot. Yes all those people I mention were or are socialists and anarchists. None of them were Pol Pot. If you have a well developed appreciation for them, then you have a well developed appreciation of socialists and anarchists. You are just too stubborn and ignorant to realize it. Deal. Cooperation is not collectivism. I do not espouse collectivism. What facts? That is nothing but your opinion. We all know that ain't worth crap. Nothing gets done in any society without cooperation. Slavery, war and oppression are artifacts …

Posted to Who's Afraid of Democracy?

Studs, Dear friend, we're really gonna miss ya. But not to worry. Ya done good. Like Molly and Kurt and so many, some well known and others mostly anonymous, you've carved out a niche in our hearts and minds that will survive as long as there are people standing up for the underdog, seeking justice and liberty for all, speaking truth to power. May we never forget the gifts you've given us, and be forever grateful.

Posted to Curiosity and a Cat Named Studs

Yes, Natty, Some blame does accrue on the Mexican political leadership. However, since Roosevelt's Good Neighbor policy dating from WWII, Mexico's government has been mostly subordinate to and corrupted by Uncle Sam and his corporate interests, gradually eroding the gains of the Mexican people from the 1917 revolution, the lions share of responsibility does come back to the good ol' Yewesovay. The election fraud, mostly dismissed by the powers that be, in the recent Mexican elections are traceable to manipulations by some of the same the same US companies and institutions responsible for fraudulent elections in Florida, Ohio, et al. …

Posted to Rebelde for the Cause

Kuya, Ms. Huerta is a lifelong activist of the United Farm Workers Union. The union position is that guest worker programs are a union busting tactic that favors the growers. Import cheap labor and you don't have to pay a living wage to domestic workers. Nonetheless, I know she is keenly sensitive to the problems faced by undocumented and illegal emigrants, the plight of sweat shop workers and those abused by unethical labor contractors. It is a given that the powers that be are going to try and divide and conquer any and all opposition by putting them between a rock …

Posted to Rebelde for the Cause

Natalie, Read the freaking article, why don't you? The reason 2 million Mexican corn growers have come to the US seeking work is not because they are attracted by the wonders of the 'American Dream', but are driven by stark economic necessity. NAFTA has allowed giant corporations, which you thoughtlessly believe are so benign and wonderful, to flood the Mexican markets with cheap government subsidized ag products. Simultaneously, corrupted by the political largesse of those corporations and the US government, the Mexican government, under the leadership of Salinas, Fox and, now, the fraudulently elected Calderon, have practically eliminated …

Posted to Rebelde for the Cause

TI, Your argument is predicated upon the belief that socialists are just too stupid and ignorant to learn from their mistakes. In the case of Venezuela that is demonstrably false, as you may surmize if you make the effort to read and understand with comprehension the following article and its several linked references: The deepening of Venezuela’s Bolivarian revolution: why most people don’t get it ---Julia Buxton in openDemocracy.net "21st-century socialism is seen as distinct from the "failed" Marxist experiments of the 20th century..." Also, you are sadly mistaken in believing a gaggle of wealthy oligarchs have any …

Posted to Rebelde for the Cause

Read the article, TI. I'd like to know where you get your information about droves of doctors and engineers leaving Venezuela and what crippling effect it is having upon their economy. When the managers and corrupt union leaders of PDVSA fomented their work stoppage in '02 it was predicted that production would be crippled nigh on to forever if Chavez didn't submit to their anti-democratic demands, yet within two years oil production had returned to normal levels without their help and in spite of widespread sabotage. There has been a ton of infrastructural development since; highways, hospitals, housing, …

Posted to Rebelde for the Cause

Natalie, Did you even read the WashPost article I linked to? Why don't you apply for a visa to Cuba? Since we're so free to travel, I'm sure the State Department should be more than willing to allow US citizens to visit just to see how awful conditions there really are. Oh, that's right. It's forbidden. Maybe you could take a nice vacation in Oaxaca.

Posted to Rebelde for the Cause

Surprizing as it might seem, Natty, I love my country and wish to see it better than it is. I don't despise capitalism. I'd like to see genuine capitalism constrained by just regulation instead of the rampant oligopolistic corporate mercantilism and aggressive militarism that currently controls practically all aspects of life in the US and throughout its hegemonic reach. Why do you think you can tell Mexico, or any other sovereign nation for that matter, what they should do? It seems to me it is precisely this kind of American arrogance and exceptionalism that lies at the root of most of …

Posted to Rebelde for the Cause

Kuya, Yes, it is complicated, isn't it? Whatever Congress does directly about immigration/emmigration is just a band-aid, at best. I'm of the opinion that if NAFTA was renegotiated with strong wage/labor and environmental protection provisions, like progressives insisted on in the first place, if the World Bank, the IMF, USAID, the NED were to focus on endogenous development in client nations and drop the neo-liberal non-sense, it would go a long way toward taking the pressure off. I actually agree with Natalie in this sense; these nations need to grow spines and stand up to the elephant in the parlor. Cuba …

Posted to Rebelde for the Cause

TI, There is a well known mathematical theory that there are three kinds of people, those who can count and those who can't. That is only one figure. And as far as I can tell, you just pulled it out of your ass. According to the 2006 CIA World Factbook, net emigration for Venezuela is neutral. Venezuela isn't a socialist paradise. It is a mixed economy. Private sector economic growth continues at about 9% of GDP. Why are so many esqualidos flocking to Miami? I've already answered that. FUD works. You are living proof of …

Posted to Rebelde for the Cause

TI, I haven't thanked you for turning me on to the term 'puñetero'. It seems in the current context it may well be construed as applying to yourself. Please don't be dismayed. I suspect you might agree with Marx on this one point, "Philosophy is to reality as masturbation is to sex." On the other hand, consider the words of George Carlin, "Masturbation is safe sex with someone you love."

Posted to Rebelde for the Cause

TI, What personal attacks? You make such unwarranted assumptions. My college education was in both fine arts and engineering and it was first rate (UC system, even if I wasn't that great of a student). My real education is mostly autodidactic, on-the-job and broadly eclectic. I've never been spoon-fed anything in my life. I've been on my own since I was 18. I've lived the conventional suburban life, in intentional communities and on the street. In the heart of busy cities and surrounded by solitary wilderness. From California to New England. From Arizona to Idaho. With brief excursions into Canada and …

Posted to Rebelde for the Cause

TI, Name me one political party that has been outlawed in Venezuela. What private property has been 'seized'? Fallow lands falsely claimed as latifundio property without legal title have been opened to resettlement, while thousands of titles have been given to individual families living on public land. Nothing has been nationalized that wasn't nationalized previous to the failed neo-liberal policies that made a basket case of Venezuela before Chavez. Fair compensation has been made in every case. Richard Nixon imposed price controls. Was he a failed Marxist? What currency manipulation? No religious organizations have been attacked. Individual clergy have been criticized …

Posted to Rebelde for the Cause

TI, Are you claiming the CIA World Factbook is stuff just pulled out of the air? What references do you have that gross Venezuelan emigration has increased by 5000% in the last decade and a half. I could find nothing on the website you cited to that effect. Just a sales pitch. We know how factual those are, don't we? "We Want to Leave" and a claim of a million hits a month. What kinds of facts are those? Really? What political parties have been outlawed? What factual evidence do you have that legally owned private has been seized without fair …

Posted to Rebelde for the Cause

Natalie, Every source that agrees with you is true and every source that disagrees with you is false? Your argumentum ad verecundiam style is getting to be beyond tedious. The notion that the CIA is working hand in glove with the Chavez administration is amusing though. The reason so many Venezuelans are up in arms about RCTV losing its broadcast license has little to do with freedom of expression. They are afraid of missing their favorite novelas. Not to worry though. The government has recently published its plans for revamping Channel 2's format and they will be transmitted …

Posted to Rebelde for the Cause

My apologies, I finally found that AI communique. In Spanish. Still, RCTV will be allowed to broadcast on cable and satellite

Posted to Rebelde for the Cause

Natty, Thanks for the pastiche of opinion. You are as predictable as the sun going down. You are just touching the tip of the iceberg. I can find hundreds of hyperbolic phony news articles full of ranting, hair pulling, hand-wringing polemic about what an evil, brutal dictator that Chavez guy is. He is the demon d'jour in the US press after Ahmadinejad and everybody's favorite fall guy ol' Fidel hisself. What bunk! Here are some facts: "RCTV... played a leading role... in instigating and supporting the 2002 aborted two-day coup against President Chavez. "In the days leading up to April 11, …

Posted to Rebelde for the Cause

Now, I already know what you're going to say, Natty. That the reporting by VenezuelaAnalysis is without credibility because they are pro-Chavez. You've already said it, but redundancy is one of your endearingly cute little character traits. Well, I say that anti-Chavez sources are without credibility because they rely on fear-mongering in the absence of any factual reality. The simple truth is, the facts are on Chavez' side. No amount of ideological FUD can change the fact that Chavez has kept his political promises to an extent far beyond any other democratically elected leader in recent history and they are working …

Posted to Rebelde for the Cause

"Trust but verify?" St. Ronnie lives! I don't think the relationship between two super powers facing each other in the grip of mutually assured destruction is quite comparable with the individual citizen and the overwhelming power of the state, but whatever. Give me the necessary transparency, openness and freedom from secrecy to actually verify and a certain willingness to acknowledge, apologize for and ameliorate past wrongs and I may be willing to extend a modicum of trust. Otherwise, nice of you to admit our imperialist, mercantilist corporate system is squandering the resources of the planet at the expense of our progeny, …

Posted to Kurt Vonnegut's Last Interview

As long as the money that feeds the democratic process comes from corporate underwriters, all presidential candidates who rise to prominence will be those with a willingness to kiss corporate ass. As long as the political process is dominated by corporate media and the affective advertising and marketing strategies they employ, elections will be nothing more than beauty pageant/horse race public spectacles where actual policy considerations are drowned in the noise. As long as the general public is distracted by the glamourous illusions of conspicuous consumption and mindless entertainment that fails to challenge their minds and conscience, and as their time …

Posted to Why Women Hate Hillary

Wolfgang, When men start becoming pregnant, then they will have an equal stake in reproductive rights. Until then, I don't think so. That blacks vote in preponderant numbers for Democrats may be due to blacks knowing from personal experience that racial discrimination and long standing social inequities, in spite of limited legal and institutional protections, still present a strong cultural bias against their 'enlightened self-interests'. A reality that Republican politicians seem reluctant to consider.

Posted to Why Women Hate Hillary

miat, There is a difference between those who have doubts about Hillary's commitment to progressive humanistic ideals because of her willingness to 'triangulate' a 'third way' through the political dichotomization that plagues the current generation, and those who, such as yourself, have consumed and proceed to (vomituously) dispense the Mellon-Scaife kool-aid of 100% pure fact-free ideological hatred with scurrilously false accusations and cheap innuendo. Compared to the evil mountain of lies, corruption and incompetence built on the bodies of hundreds of thousands of dead that has characterized the Bush Administration and the late unlamented Republican control of Congress, Hill and Bill …

Posted to Why Women Hate Hillary

I repeat, Shauer was not in the White House. He has no direct knowledge of what happened there. It is interesting his unit called itself the 'Manson Family'. Regardless, just because the White House didn't explicitly authorize assassination, Shauers group was under orders to make every possible effort to capture him and kill him if that wasn't possible. I really mean it. It is not an attack on your person. You need psychiatric attention.

Posted to Why Women Hate Hillary

miat, Sources? Sounds like second-hand scuttlebutt and unsupported assertion to me. Believing bullshit does not make it smell like roses, dear.

Posted to Why Women Hate Hillary

Scheuer is a loud-mouth who can't back up his words. He wasn't in the White House so he cannot be considered a primary source as to what went on there and what he surmises is nothing but second-hand scuttlebutt. Regardless of what truth there might be in his assertions about chances to get Osama, they are controversial and unsubstantiated. What can be said is that your assertion that Clinton 'refused to confront terrorism' is patently FALSE. What can also be said with absolute certainty is that you are filled with a visceral, irrational and obsessive hatred for the …

Posted to Why Women Hate Hillary

Wolfie baby, Please don't think I believe men have zero stake in a woman's pregnancy. A woman has an existential stake in her own body. For a man it is contingent. A man has to earn his stake. Now, the law or society may consign that responsibility upon him, but it is really up to him to step up to the plate. P.S. The day when women no longer require a man's contribution may be coming sooner than you think.

Posted to Why Women Hate Hillary

aikanae, Good find. But don't imagine it will have any effect on the likes of miat. Such true believers and fanatics have abandoned the principles of critical reasoning and empirical evidence in favor of clinging to and spreading irrational fear and hatred with the sole intent of preserving their megalomanic sense of superiority. One bit of supreme irony I picked up from that well done documentary was how Robert Bork could, with such apparent rationality, project the sociopathic nature of the neo-con movement on Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton who, in spite of his Democratic Party affiliation, did more to enact the …

Posted to Why Women Hate Hillary

miat, The Washington Times editorial page is your idea of left-wing? The BBC is hardly an objective source? You are freeping batshit insane. Do you even realize you are writing in the comment section of an article in a leftist publication that is critical of Hillary Clinton? Speaking of shrinking leadership, at 5'4" Dennis Kusinich is heads above any candidate in the Democratic field, and towers like a giant over the ten Republican midgets running. FYI, Leo Strauss, the father of the neo-cons applied through his college friend Carl Schmitt, who went on to become Hitler's Chief Justice, for a position …

Posted to Why Women Hate Hillary

miat, Zell Miller is an avowed liberal and a registered Democrat. He's a fruitcake. Nothing ad hominem about it. Just a rational observation. As is the case with your sweet demented self. If you can't connect the dots from Hitler to Schmitt to Strauss to the neo-cons to the Worst President Ever, you must have an IQ even lower than mud. But I will admit that equating Bush to Hitler is unfair to Hitler. You know there are broadcasting laws in Britain against mispresentation of views and facts. Quite strong libel laws to boot. The BBC is reputed to be as …

Posted to Why Women Hate Hillary

miat, You're analytical skills are revealed in your posts as entirely argumentum ad hominenem and vericundium. It is all what he or she said about him or her without reference or grounding in substantiated facts of the matter. As evidenced by: 1.) What you infer from ignorance about what is missing from the Barret report. 2.) Your reliance on specious, partisan and second hand speculation about the so-called Gorelick Wall that is simply de-bunked by a thorough reading of the memo itself in its historical context. (Some facts I would submit are; that memo was designed to give John …

Posted to Why Women Hate Hillary

miat, "It is unclear whether you are simply clueless, a run-of-the-mill rabid anti-Semite, a clinton operative trying to bait me, or all of the above, but I’ll play along for awhile." None of the above. Unsupported assumptions and demonstrably false ad hominem assertions on your part. As is jumping to the conclusion that the handle 'luminous beauty' is intended as an eponymous descriptor. It is much more along the lines of a mnemonic device to remind myself not to get caught up in the flaming rhetoric and trollish zealotry of propagandistic demogogues like yourself. It is not easy. I am only, …

Posted to Why Women Hate Hillary

Concerning argumentum ad vericundium, citing the opinion of someone that agrees with your opinion is an abuse. Correct citation of authority means refering to authoritative sources. For example: These are authoritative sources, Gorelick memo M.J. White memo Editorial opinions that purport to interpret the significance of these sources are not. If you carefully read the sources you will discover the arguments for the various opinions that infer some sinister meaning just aren't there. In fact they represent an evolving strategy to make it easier for FBI and DoJ offices to coordinate with foriegn intelligence offices. …

Posted to Why Women Hate Hillary

"Re your name: I expected that comeback. But your name isn’t posted with a clarifier attached; your intentions are irrelevant. Perception is reality. But you already know that, don’t you?" Are you serious? "As a mathematician, I don’t require the likes of you to lecture me on the finer points of logic and argumentation. Someone has to. I suggest a professional psychologist. Its an area of expertise often shunned by those who go into mathematics because it doesn't provide clear precise solutions. Much like political theory is avoided by ideological zealots." "Ad hominem: Whether the descriptor is accurate or not is …

Posted to Why Women Hate Hillary

miat, I must express my gratitude to you for leading me to this VIDEO of Elizabeth Kucinich. What a marvelous, beautiful, intelligent woman, radiating with spiritual strength. Can anyone doubt what an extraordinary First Lady she would make?

Posted to Why Women Hate Hillary

WTH, Yes, your cynicism is sure. So utter and complete. So absolute and un-nuanced. In other words, it is the very recipe for the paralysis and inaction of which you despair. Ironic, isn't it?

Posted to Global Warming: Dim Bulbs, Bright Lights

WTH, You no doubt have heard before the truism that politics is the art of the possible. If you hold to some idealistic expectation of inerrant perfection from representational democracy, you are clinging to a vain belief and exposing yourself as an abject fool. Doesn't Mikey's endorsement fill your belly with a nice warm and fuzzy feeling? That alone, methinks, would be substantial cause for re-thinking your position. In the interest of remaining on topic, I will address only the issue of the environment among the grab-bag of subjects you offer. Sitting on your fat cynical ass is the most effective …

Posted to Global Warming: Dim Bulbs, Bright Lights

WTH, Looniness? Nasty? Pompous? Simplistic? My, my! If the above ad hominems and sloppy grammar are any indication, my graciously qualified and conditional statements must have hit a raw nerve. Well, if the shoe fits... The 'one billion person polluter', as you put it, has indeed jumped on the green bandwagon. They are signatories to Kyoto and their responsibilities will increase as does their economic position. They are well on their way to cornering the world PV market. I myself own some SunSolar modules I bought at half the price of comparable US products. Please, also, …

Posted to Global Warming: Dim Bulbs, Bright Lights

I be nice, Mikey. Much more than you deserve. The fact that objective/libertarian sites are boring and don't allow comments ought to tell you something. What was I saying elsewhere about the unexamined life? I do appreciate (sometimes) the liveliness that you bring to these discussions. It is just too bad you cannot appreciate my appreciation.

Posted to Global Warming: Dim Bulbs, Bright Lights

WTH, The Chinese had 'free enterprise' when we European types were living in dirt floor mud and wattle huts. Chinese carbon emissions are not at least half of anywhere else. Africa has much lower per capita numbers. Chinese carbon emissions are actually going down, which is the critical measure, is it not? Our's, and our's is by far the largest of any geo-physical region, are continuing to rise. The first flame in DC was the last election. The RNC has been going "Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" ever since. Did you miss the slapdown by Barbara Boxer of …

Posted to Global Warming: Dim Bulbs, Bright Lights

WTH, I just realized something. You're a lot like Twain and Vonnegut. Except missing the wise and funny parts. Have you ever heard of Sturgeon's Law? 90% of everything is bullshit! You've taken it so much to heart, you've completely lost sight of the 10% that is rare and beautiful. Such a pity. Here is a present, from me to you: What Is Man? Let me know if you can penetrate to the sweet sugar center of this little bitter-coated pill, old man.

Posted to Global Warming: Dim Bulbs, Bright Lights

At least you benefited from hearing their remarks, I trust?

Posted to Global Warming: Dim Bulbs, Bright Lights

You're beautiful, WTH.

Posted to Global Warming: Dim Bulbs, Bright Lights

Even a dim bulb is brilliant against a black background. "You see, you're just like me. I hope you're satisfied" ---Bob Dylan

Posted to Global Warming: Dim Bulbs, Bright Lights

Mikey thinks everything beyond his severely limited comprehension is bullshit. Surprize, surprize.

Posted to Global Warming: Dim Bulbs, Bright Lights

It seems you're the only one here having such comprehension problems, Mikey. What does that tell you?

Posted to Global Warming: Dim Bulbs, Bright Lights

Thank you for your concern Auntie F. It is ridiculous, ain't it? Cheers!

Posted to Global Warming: Dim Bulbs, Bright Lights

The basic science behind anthropogenic global warming is no more complicated than the fact that throwing an extra blanket on the bed will keep one warmer. The compexities arise in understanding the dynamics of climactic variability. Without a proper scientific education, it is easy to be influenced by denialists pointing at uncertainties in these complex factors into believing the underlying facts are in question. The fact is that the earth is warming and increasing CO2 concentrations are the largest causal factor for that warming. The scientific consensus depends on a fair analysis of the data and not on …

Posted to Resisting the War on Science

TI, Your science is so absurd as to be undecipherable. Apples, oranges and bananas. Where are you getting your information? Qualitative chem cannot be used for determining the IR absorption of CO2. It isn't any part of the curriculum. It is a subject of physics. \ You betray your ignorance.

Posted to Resisting the War on Science

Science is no more immune from politics than any other field... I agree in that the scientific consensus is being challenged by those with a political agenda to preserve the status quo. This results in a confusion over what is fact. AGW is a fact.

Posted to Resisting the War on Science

Vermonter, Thanks for the links. Apparently, the 'absorption extinction' BS comes from a paper by Dr. Heinz Hug, a signatory of the Leipzig Declaration, that cherrypicks a single absorption line of IR by CO2 and extrapolates it beyond reason to arrive at the conclusion he makes. This paper, as far as I can tell, is only published on the denialist site of John Daly. It obviously cannot pass the peer review process. WTH, Have you actually seen "An Inconvenient Truth"? It contains a lot of science. It is a popularization of the science. Almost all the criticisms are false and/or exaggerations, …

Posted to Resisting the War on Science

Yes, I think he is talking about instanteous band absorption of IR in an experimental setting. I.e., that in a column of CO2 gas, ~100% of the IR, presumably at some average ground heat, that can be absorbed (absorbed to extinction) by CO2 is absorbed within 10 m in a single moment of measurement. What happens in the natural environment that makes this less than meaningful is that IR is re-emitted and re-absorbed over time in all directions, so that by iteration the amount of IR absorbed increases and spreads through the troposphere. Also, the fact that CO2 molecules are relatively …

Posted to Resisting the War on Science

Mikey, Check out the Tesla . It's kind of pricey at 92 grand, but it's made right across the bay.

Posted to Resisting the War on Science

evtim, Here in Central California, where we have mostly orthogonal streets, a few years ago I was living about 9 mi [15k] from the plant where I work. Every day a co-worker would pass me on my bicycle driving into town. He was amazed that I still beat him to the plant gate every day, since I didn't have to wait in lines of backed up traffic at stoplights or look for parking and then walk all the way through the parking lot to the gate. Sprawl and congestion are approaching catastrophic levels here in the land where the private auto …

Posted to Resisting the War on Science

The Canadians are already producing >1Mbbl/day from oil sands. The Orinoco basin ~.5M. There isn't so much sand to separate out in the Venezuela deposits, they're mostly tar, and it's easier to process given the tropical heat. In the US there are some moderately sized sand and tar deposits in Utah and the Los Angeles Basin. The really huge deposits in Colorado are locked up in shale, which I understand require more energy to crush the rock than can be extracted. Not that petroleum execs and economists haven't proposed working around that by pulverizing the rock using underground nukes. A pretty …

Posted to Resisting the War on Science

I've been remiss in thanking Mikey for reminding me to listen to Michio Kaku on KPFA. Thanks, Mikey.

About Dr. Kaku Dr. Michio Kaku is an internationally recognized authority in theoretical physics and also the environment. He holds the Henry Semat Professorship in Theoretical Physics at the City College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. His goal is to help complete Einstein's dream of a "theory of everything," a single equation, perhaps no more than one inch long, which will unify all the fundamental forces in the universe. He has lectured around the …

Posted to Resisting the War on Science

"I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night, Alive like you or me. 'But Joe', I said, 'you're ten years dead'. 'I never died', said he. 'I never died', said he."

Posted to The Lessons of Sacco and Vanzetti

WTH, Your take on N. Illinois school system is interesting if monopolar. I have some dim recollection of something like 90% of all school funding in Greater Chicago going to administration rather than the classroom. Do you think this might be a factor more robust than court ordered bussing? Here in California, the decline of our school systems can be directly linked to Prop. 13, which froze property taxes on which school funding is based. Also, a string of Republican governors, beginning with Ronald Raygun, responding to conservative calls for a return to 3R's education effectively stripping schools of progressive educational …

Posted to Democracy Haters

Cabbie, If Mikey has resentment for those with greater cognitive ability he must resent rocks as well as Jews.

Posted to The Lessons of Sacco and Vanzetti

Rabbit, my dear old friend, So glad you are back. You've been missed. Isn't Batty Nattie a peach? So far up that river in Egypt and still paddling furiously. Such persistence would be admirable if it wasn't so profoundly misplaced.

Posted to Why Does CNN Suck?

Nat, Your unbending loyalty to the failed ideology of American Exceptionism would be an endearing quality if the City on a Hill you have embraced in your fantasy world wasn't built on quite so much blood and deception. Watching the slow motion collapse of the long-standing imperialist house of cards that the Bush Administration has finally pushed beyond its absurdist limits would be awe inspiring if not for the fact that it is coming crashing down on our collective heads. Do not believe that your loyalty will bring you immunity from the sorrows ahead. You are no more nor less an …

Posted to Why Does CNN Suck?

Gee, EB, I was willing to give Nat the benefit of the doubt that her question was rhetorical in a kind of reverse ironic twist (ha ha), but since you pressed the matter, I would like to ask her this serious question: Natty love, Could you please make clear how questioning conventional wisdom is to be construed as being in denial?

Posted to Why Does CNN Suck?

Eric, I think you left a hanging tag. This thread seems to be stuck in italics.

Posted to Why Does CNN Suck?

Posted to Why Does CNN Suck?

I tried that with the /i. It didn't work.

Posted to Why Does CNN Suck?

With the /u, too. Does this do anything?

Posted to Why Does CNN Suck?

strike /strike. please, be nice now. Disenvowelment would look good. Or in keeping with the ebonics theme, translate them with gizoogle.

Posted to Why Does CNN Suck?

You know, two can play at this game. Or maybe not. Dang! Mebbe it's only the original post that reads the error.