2009 archive
Tortuous Fallacies 0
See Andrew Sullivan. A nugget:
(snip)
The torture of Winston Smith (in Orwell’s 1984–ed.) is designed specifically to force him to say that two and two equals five, just as the point of the “enhanced interrogation techniques” once used on John McCain was to get him to say things that were untrue. And it worked. If it really works, torture will force someone actually to believe that two and two equals five.
But torturing was never about the truth. Torturing is their pornography.
How To Respond to a Lie (Updated) 3
Backstory: The Republican myth that autoworkers make $70.00 an hour was created by taking the full personnel costs of the United States unionized auto manufacturers, including all retiree costs (such as pensions and health care negotiated in good faith) and dividing it by the number of active non-exempt employees.
The actual take home pay of an autoworker is less than half that figure on an hourly basis or slightly more than $61,000 a year without overtime.
In other words, the $70.00 per hour thing is a lie.
The lie distracts persons from the vision of old folks losing the retirement homes and health care which they worked honestly to earn. Yes, earn. It pollutes policy discourse while demonizing working persons.
Like any good lie, it has a very Nixonian plausible deniability.
But it’s still a lie.
Here is how to respond to a lie:
Hogan’s Heroes 0
One of the most amazing traits of the Republican Party is its ability to look a fact square in the face and, in chorus with Sgt. Schultz, say, “I see nuttink!”
Snow in Beijing 0
See it here.
WordPress Data Center 0
Via James Hicks, who reports that the hardware includes
Not to mention switches, routers, firewalls, and heaven knows what else.
Globalization 2
Here in the States, we here a lot of fulminations about “globalization” from a States-centric perspective (“our jobs went where?”).
That is not the only perspective. Pamposh Dhar of the Phillipines asks some good questions:
(snip)
Moving on to the second part of my question: why does the concept of globalization leave our hearts cold?
Follow the link to see how she struggles to answer them.
And This Surprises Us How? 0
It’s a long report, worth the seven or eight minutes it takes to read it. From TPM Muckraker:
In large part because of that noncooperation, Justice Department officials sought criminal prosecutors in at least two cases so far to take over their investigations so that they can compel the testimony of many of those officials to testify through the use of a federal grand jury.
The Rich Are Different from You and Me 0
They have enough money to make a getaway.
Bushonomics: The Hangover 0
All together now,
Missing the Obvious 1
Dick Polman:
(snip)
Do they not recognize how badly they have been rolled, how the Democrats may well have swiped one of their signature issues?
The missed obvious: They weren’t tax cuts for the rich.
Debtors Prisons 1
While I was looking at the headlines this morning, I remembered this building:
It’s an old debtors prison. It’s where persons who couldn’t pay their debt used to go until they could pay their debts. A student of the dialectic will immediately recognize the internal contradiction in that practice. Persons in prison generally aren’t in a position to earn money so as to pay off anything.
This is a new debtors prison:
The View from the Aquarium 0
Distilled by Skippy.
Even a Blind Pig Finds an Acorn Once in a While 0
Break Time 0
Off to drink liberally.
Truth. No Reconciliation. (Updated) 1
David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A. Casey in today’s Washington Post:
(snip)
Attempting to prosecute political opponents at home or facilitating their prosecution abroad, however much one disagrees with their policy choices while in office, is like pouring acid into our democratic machinery.
(There’s more at the link.)
Not that I think that prosecutions are a good idea, but, I’m sorry, suborning torture is not a “policy difference.”
Addendum, after Drinking Liberally:
The Booman:
Kiss of Dearth 0
No-kissing signs were put up at the station’s taxi and drop-off zone designated for rail travellers, as outbreaks of passion appeared to threaten the punctuality of traffic at the station operated by – yes – Virgin Rail.
NPR points out that the railroad owns a parking garage near the station which is ideal for extended smooching (ka-ching!).