Items to Make You Queen of the Watercooler Next Week

Tags

brain, dinosaurs, education, evolution, GOP, humans, life, meaning, philosophers, physics, quantum mechanics, teabaggers, War, what you should read, words

See that’s me. I mean, imagine a woman instead of a man, and that’s me. I’m spend hours reading just so that you don’t have to. I mean you can if you want to of course. God forbid that fine education goes to waste, but I have burned up the Intertubes in an effort to find all the news that you missed.

And I read it all. And some of it was crap upon further inspection, and so I ditched it. And the rest, well you gotta know this stuff. Especially if you want all your friends and aunt Tilde to think you are just a real smart ass. (meant in the kindest way of course)

So, let’s get to it, in no particular order.

Paul Krugman has a fine op-ed in the NYTimes detailing the crazy party, AKA, the GOP. What he says is very true. The GOP argument for deliberately toying with the very health of our economy goes something like this: I have put a gun to your head and demanded your money or your life. If you refuse to give me your money, it’s your fault that you’re dead. I gave you the option to live after all!

On the other hand, this may all go to prove that one can actually get admitted to Harvard and get through it with flying colors and still be utterly and profoundly stupid. Ted Cruz may be set to be one of the most spectacular blazing super nova that sputtered out in record time in the history of horses asses, err, super novae.

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If it is true that humans have an individualized predisposition to violence, is it equally true that humans in community have a predisposition to violence in the form of war? It seems many assume this to be true. But evolutionary biologist, David P. Barash argues that this may in fact not be true. The latter may be only a capacity rather than an adaptation. Want to learn more? If you don’t think it matters, think again. We base our defense systems on assumptions of what other groups are likely to do. If we assume all people are driven to war to achieve ends, we build a different defense system than if we do not. And we’ve sure got the tax bills to reflect that.

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I know that most of you are just thrilled every time you get a chance to read about quantum mechanics, I mean what self-respecting grease monkey or grocery check out lady  isn’t obsessed with the working of the universe at the extra-tiny scale? Ever heard of an aplituhedron? I bet not. It all means that all the complicated mathematical twists and turns are eliminated as well as the super computer to do the computations. Now little Bobby can explain the most complicated sub-particle interaction with nothing more than a pencil and paper again!

If you are going, uhh, okay so what? Well, you all know that physicists have been since the beginning of time, trying to join the big universe with the small universe (macro and micro forces?) and it has just never fit well, and well, the don’t call it the elegant universe for nothing. Everybody who knows this stuff figured the answer would eventually be simple. This might be it. I’m not a physicist as you might have guessed by now.

I mean this is simply delicious early fall reading. Get to it.  🙂

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Now I know you will love this one. There is a new book out there that you probably will want to get. I can imagine about half a dozen of you will be on Amazon in moments. It’s called Holy Shit: A Brief History of Swearing, by Melissa Mohr. Colin Burrows review of the book is worth the reading. Now read it your grouthead gnat snapper!

Steven Pinker from Harvard has written a book that details how we are becoming less violent as societies over time. He also argues that the world would be better led by science than by the humanities. Some beg to differ. A great essay from The Berlin Review of Books, and Gloria Origgi, A Reply to Steven Picker’s Scientific Manifesto.

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Love words? Lots of words? Okay.

The American Scholar has a fun essay called Is There a Word for That? Words are being made up all the time, but you knew that. Want to know who created some words we now take for granted? Who is responsible for katydid? Or neologize ? Or Anglophobia? Blurb? Gerrymander? Bromide? Oh I bet I got your attention now.

Similarly, if you have ever remembered the quote but not the quoter, and the more you looked the harder it got? Who Really Sad That? You would be surprised at how often we get the attribution wrong. Amaze your friends by correcting their quotes!

“Whoever is not a socialist when he is 20 has no heart; whoever is not a conservative when he is 30 has no brain.” Usually attributed to Churchill. Actually? Nobody knows.

Enter the fine world of WAS–Wrongly Attributed Statements.

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I betcha thought that the human mind created the gear, that round thingie that has “teeth” and meshes with other objects similarly constructed? That together makes things turn and other things go up and down and maybe side to side? You would be wrong. Scientists have found a gear in nature for the very first time. And YOU are some of the first non-specialists to know that, so don’t you feel so very proud?

A cute little guy called a planthopper (he has a very important scientific name you need not memorize) has a couple of gears in his back legs that mesh together and then when he calls on them to, spin backward sending him off on a leap across the earth that looks pretty fun. I’m sure it made sense to him too in terms of escaping predators or getting up as high as he wanted to feed. It’s called evolution folks. There is a little embedded video so you can watch him go!

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Must a life be meaningful in order to be happy? Do we prefer meaningfulness over happiness if we can’t have both? They are not the same by the way. Happiness in part is getting what you want or need in life. Meaningfulness can have zero to do with this. Similarly happy people report that health is essential, yet health has nothing to do with meaningful lives. Happiness is apparent in the now, while meaningfulness tends to be a future assessment. This is a long article but one that raises lots of questions to think about. Well worth your time.

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Nautilus brings us the ever-beloved essay on dinosaurs. The discovery and explanation of our bird predecessors have had a varied history as scientists working from small numbers of bones, continually revised their thinking of these creatures over time. As is usual, it is the unsung tiny dinosaurs that have done the most to correct our understanding over time of what these cuties looked like and how they lived. For the kid in all of us, this article will satisfy. I still wish there had been Brontosaurus, they were so neat!

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With the advent of all the cute devices we have now from phones to tablets to readers to computers, all with calendars and reminders of one sort or another, there is less and less reason to have to memorize things. Nobody has to write down a phone number or address. The call is registered, switch it to contacts and it’s saved forever. Enter an address in your Google maps app, and you don’t need to record that address again. And maybe, just maybe that’s a good thing. Memorization may be a much over-rated thing. Curious? Read on.

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How many late night gab fests have lingered long into the night over the ever-present question– Why was Spinoza excommunicated anyway? I mean this guy was ostracized with a big O, like in members of the congregation being order to be no closer that four cubits to the man. That’s some serious excommunication! Worse, payment of a fine served to dissolve most bans. Spinoza’s was life long. Spinoza himself never spoke of the harem, most of his works and fame came long after it. What is as interesting as why is by whom: Jews who had escaped forced Catholicism in Spain and Portugal and once free in Amsterdam, practiced a form of Judaism that was anything but normative. All in all, quite fascinating.

Happy reading everyone, and to all a good day!

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Nothing to See, Move Along

Tags

brain, critical thinking, Dream Act, Election 2012, global warming, GOP, illusions, immigration, Latino, Libya, Middle East, Newt Gingrich, robotics, science, Syria

You could call it a three-ringed circus, but they may need an extra ring or two. We are advised that the Newty is joining in the entertainment division of “Republicans who are in the race for President.” He joins a fine panoply of jokesters–The Hair, The Palinator, and CrazyEyes, and Step-‘n-fetchit.

I’m sure that Hollywood is in this too, for this quintrangle (wrap your head around what that might look like) of queerness deserves what any good nut job gets in the good old USA–their own reality show.

Years ago, they had a wonderful if short-lived show on PBS wherein Steve Allen, and his wife were joined by a couple of others, each impersonating famous figures from history. Imagine Newton meets Einstein, meets Socrates, meets Cleopatra. They would sit around and chat on selected topics of the day.

So, I’m thinking, our fivesome (do not let you mind even alight for a moment on sex or your brain will burn up–think eating sauerkraut, caramels and raw rhubarb at the same time to counteract the thought) could just debate things like how to secure the future for our posterity in a post-post modernist Adam Smith world. You see the possibilities? I mean they could seriously put SNL out of business.

Newty’s announcement, scheduled today, comes at just the right moment. Obama’s polls are now up to 60% saying he’s doing a good job, his highest in a very long time, and 53% say he deserves another term.

Have at it Relaughlicans, have at it.

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There is a thing called the “best illusion of the year” and you can go and see it! As I understand it (since I can’t do the video) there is a central dot that you star at. A surrounding circle of interwoven dots of different colors surround it. The dots change colors and you can see that, but as the surrounding circle begins to rotate, the colors can no longer be seen changing. For some reason the brain can’t recognize the color changes when the circle rotates. There are others to see as well. Have fun!

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While the crackdown continues in Syria, things seem to be looking up again in Libya where rebels are once again on the move. NATO forces have upped their air attacks which no doubt has helped. Qaddafi has been “absent” for several days now.

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We just got through the mother of all winters in many parts of the country. Then killer tornadoes struck the Southeast. Now the Mighty Miss is inundating the flood planes along its sojourn to the Gulf in a way not seen in most of history. And the naysayers of course say this has nada to do with global warming.

Well, scientists say otherwise. The crazies who buy the rhetoric of Corpacracy, giggle as the snows fell. “Global warming? Ya gotta be kidding.” But of course those who have bothered to actually READ something not written by those who don’t want to pay for their pollution, know that extremes in ALL weather is an expected effect of global warming.

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The Democrats are re-introducing the Dream Act we understand. This is just exactly the right thing to do on every level. First, IT’S THE RIGHT THING TO DO. Second, IT’S THE RIGHT THING TO DO. Third, its politically the perfect thing to do. The GOP seems caught in its “find ’em, arrest ’em, send ’em back strategy. And in states with burgeoning Latino populations, that is a recipe for disaster as they say.

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It used to be that the Democrats were noted for taking a good thing and screwing it up. Well, move over, there is a new bungler in town. The GOP, who promised after 2010, nothing but work on jobs, jobs, jobs, has gotten itself bogged down in the usual anti-Obama rhetoric regarding the Bin Laden business.

Instead of just saying, “good job” and keeping their eye on the economic message, the good old boys just couldn’t help it. They fell for the uber right-wing “that black guy can’t be given credit for anything” frenzy and have been, for the last several days whining about how it’s all due to them that the usurper in the White House was able to put the very last nail into the house. And it has of course backfired as Obama’s numbers just continue to rise.

In other words, the GOP would have you believe, that they built the car, filled it with gas, and put the key in the ignition. Obama just turned it. Yeah, go with that Redicklians.

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Ya know, I’ve lived most of my adult life with the “Three Laws of Robotics”. It gave me comfort on days when I fought with machines, when no amount of cajoling would get them to do their duty–operate as required. I have never feared them, because I trusted they were in the end my friend, albeit a frustrating and someone chaotic one.

Well, now it seems that I can’t rely on this safety net at all. I kinda think I’ll keep a hammer by the computer from now on. Same goes for anything else that is remotely robotically connected. I may never trust again.  [h/t to Exploring our Matrix]

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We have spoken here a lot of the nut cases on the right who fracture, torture, and otherwise twist actual facts to favor their theory of choice. This can be evolution, climate change, health care reform, you name it. Because they cater to a basically ill-educated, ill-read, and ill-minded group, they can get away with this.

This piece also comes via Exploring our Matrix and explains the tools used by the pseudo-science of the extreme right. It’s a decent piece that might enlighten you as you swim through the muck of todays internet world.

Can I Have an Extra Day Please, with Sugar?

Tags

abortion, brain, budget, cosmology, David Barton, Eric Cantor, evolution, founding fathers, History, medicine, Mike Huckabee, Planned Parenthood, psychology, soul, teabaggers, women's rights

Everybody has those kinda days. When you get up already behind. This is usually the result of “sleeping in”. I’m a 7 am kinda person. I find that a humane time to arise. Some days, I don’t quite make it. Thus, I’m behind.

Tomorrow, I’m shopping, so I’m not sure I’ll get to blogging.

The Contrarian, however, puts his time to good use. He’s a thinker. Remember his desire to hold a thinkathon? Much easier than having a walkathon he thought.

When he thinks too much, well, I usually get concerned. His latest “breakthrough” is a humdinger.

The Contrarian has long pondered the existence of the soul. That has led him to toil in the backyard of the differences between humans and other animals. That place, he contends is where one might locate the seat of our divine connection. With me so far?

The places tred by medical men and women, philosophers, and theologians. What of the soul?

And, as I said, he thinks he has had a breakthrough.

He asks this question:

Is there any other animal but humans who react with distaste to the fart?

I know, its blasphemous. It’s crazy. It’s absurd, illogical, and downright unpretty. It is the Contrarian. Don’t blame me. I’m just reporting the news.

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If’n you didn’t know, the right-wing religious are, as you know, against abortions. And they are very against Planned Parenthood, and they devise all manner of nasty things to “prove” that PPH should be shut down. One of their more ingenious methods is to claim that PPH is about the business of genocide of the African-American population. This because statistically more black women obtain abortions than white or Latino.

Now the fact that this has to do with poverty and lack of access to medical information and contraception at the same level as their more wealthy white counterparts is ignored. No, it’s so much easier to suggest that PPH has as an unstated goal, the destruction of an entire people.

I imagine that the NAACP and other African-American groups are so grateful to the white folk for being so concerned for them. Yes, I guess we can all be grateful to those benevolent white people.

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Roger Ebert talks about what he understands as the Universe and evolution. It’s a lovely piece. Makes ya feel all warm inside for reasons I cannot explain. Least it do for me.

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See, now we know that serendipity is real. I mean, after writing about the Contrarian and his “breakthrough” I come across this article: Natural History of the Soul. Nicholas Humphrey argues that spirituality is essential to consciousness. Read it in The New Humanist. Humphrey is an evolutionary psychologist, and he’s written a book called Soul Dust: The Magic of Consciousness. Looks like a very interesting read.

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If there were any question about the agenda of Mikey Huckster, read on. It seems Mikey attended one of those uber right-wing  conferences, one that featured pseudo-historian David Barton and his revisionist history of the founding of this country. Why Mikey was just adoring of said Barton and said the following:

 “I almost wish that there would be, like, a simultaneous telecast, and all Americans would be forced–forced at gunpoint no less–to listen to every David Barton message, and I think our country would be better for it.”

Of course, in the “official” video of the event, the “joke” was scrubbed. And of course, Mikey meant every word, until he realized it wouldn’t play well outside his crazy base.

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Good news to report. I don’t have a link, but I’ve heard or read it in so many places that it is obviously true. The teabagger phenom is beginning to wane. Their unfavorables are now above their favorables. Which is all the more amusing since the Prez wannabes are all still dancing like marionettes to the teabagger tune, afraid to pirouette too far from the dark force. 

This is causing all sorts of problems with the budget. Word is that Boehner wants desperately to make a deal rather than shut down the government, but he dare not piss off the wonkettes, who are picketing in Washington, even as we speak. Well, we all knew this would happen didn’t we?

And who might you ask is riding to the rescue? None other than boy wonder Eric Cantor. Cantor has introduced a bill that will be voted on in the House on Friday, entitled, “Government Shutdown Prevention Act.” What it does it tell the Senate to act on the budget bill before the deadline and if it doesn’t the House passed bill will become the law of the land.

Yes, you heard that right. Cantor is simply tearing the Constitution up and making up his own new one. Yes, that’s some pretty strict construction there Mr. Cantor. Uh…do you dance too?

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What’s on the Stove? Fajitahs!

Related Articles

• Mike Huckabee thinks all Americans should be forced at gunpoint to listen to David Barton (heartchasms.wordpress.com)
• Huckabee Wants Barton to Teach All Young Americans [Dispatches from the Culture Wars] (scienceblogs.com)
• David Barton: Bad Preacher, Terrible Exegete (scotteriology.wordpress.com)
• Soul Dust by Nicholas Humphrey – review (guardian.co.uk)
• The Books Interview: Nicholas Humphrey (newstatesman.com)
• Anti-abortion billboard using Obama’s image raises ire (windsorstar.com)

Illusions of Significance?

Tags

AFA, brain, Bryan Fischer, Christianity, Christine O'Donnell, food, Frances Pivens, Glenn Beck, GOP, gourmets, human medicine, mind, Native Peoples, Patriot Act, religion, right wing media, right wing wingnuts, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity

One of the side effects of being sentient or self-aware, at least at human levels, is our propensity to try to get inside the heads of other people.

We ponder why Sally did this and why Don did that. We find certain behavior curious, ridiculous, courageous, all by our own standards as we have come to believe them.

Even more curious, we tend to project intention onto objects. We kick the car, and scream at malfunctioning vacuum cleaners.

Do we create God as well? In our minds? Of course every atheist would say yes. Science gives no definitive answer, and perhaps will never have such a capacity.

Still, the mulling of such ideas is useful. Read Slate’s article and also take a gander at the book it’s based on: The Belief Instinct.

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The Atlantic has an interesting one on “foodies”, those gourmet nuts who gush about food as if it were sex. Which it is for them no doubt. It is pure gluttony at some level. Are you the type who reads breathlessly a description of some dish? Or do you skip to the chase? Are you the type who scours the Internet looking for odd ingredients not to be found in even the most up scale Piggly Wiggly? Or do you think good old domestic cheddar is just fine? The author points out that Livy said that when we glorify the chef, we are heading for the end. What do you think?

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Here’s one for ya. Remember Christine O’Donnell? Witchy poo? Well she’s another one that missed the trolley. Ms. abstinence is trying to keep her little political life afloat, by going after George Soros, and all the groups he funds. She’s operating out of her house, with her tiny little PAC. She’s soliciting funds–nice to pay the rent and heat as a “business expense” isn’t it. She also claims that Barack Obama considers her his biggest threat. If you want more, please go the SciFi Channel.

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Most of the world could ignore the blatherings of Glenn Beck except for the fact that his nearly insane followers become Rottweilers with the theories he gives them. Frances Fox Pivens has been one of his targets. Based upon an article she co-wrote in 1966 about helping welfare recipients receive their due, she has been raised to the level of a founder of the marxist/socialist/destruction of America “tree” that arises out of Beckian mental illness. Vilified in the most ugly terms (I’ve read the comments) in The Blaze, and else where, Dr. Pivens has been subjected to e-mail harassment and many a death threat. She responds with some commentary on the rise of the crazies.

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It does seem to me, in the last couple of years, that the claims of the extreme right have become more and more outlandish. Especially so of Beck and perhaps Limbaugh as well. They seem more and more emboldened to spew invective at whole groups, call the President any creature this side of Arcturus, and to generally make fun of anything non-white and educated beyond the 10th grade.

At the same time, there is a definite change in the numbers. As to Beck, his TV watchers are down 50%, and radio stations are dropping him. Limbaugh has been losing ground as has Hannity on his radio show.

How to explain? I think it’s an attempt to shore up the shrinking numbers. But the people who are leaving are precisely those who are tired of the “Muslim President” cry, and are searching for something a bit less biased. The hard core will never depart and don’t need the increasingly wacky theories. They generate enough of their own!

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In a major “oops” House Rethugs failed to pass an extension of the Patriot Act. It seems that House Tea Partiers joined forces with House Dems to deny the leadership its  passage and leaving them somewhat embarrassed. It will undoubtedly pass under different House procedures, but still, it goes to show that the GOP has a snarly tiger by the tail.

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One of our favorite wackadoodles is Bryan Fischer, head of the AFA. He is obsessed, as you know, with homosexuality (which explains ever so much). He has a new target: Native Americans. Incensed by the invocation,  he tells Native Peoples that it is high time they got with Christianity and gave up their filthy pagan ways. Oh Bryan, you eat, drink, and sleep hate. I bet you could collect all the people in the world that you like in your very own living room.

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Oh, what? Oops! Doin’ a bit of the happy dance. (Whispering) they are eating their own again. Come watch! Beck looks into his crystal ball and sees that the precious Right is now agin’ the Tea Party and all of them REAL patriots. They are trying to assassinate us! “Or maybe it’s just a coincidence,” he ponders, “but I don’t believe in coincidences,” his insane brain says. “Talkin’ about freedom” he spittles, and “wildcards” who must be suppressed. Oh gosh, I should feel sympathy for one who is but a step from the rubber room, but dang if I can feel THAT emotion. Glee would be more like it.

Well, enough.

What’s on the stove? Fried chicken, mashed taters and gravy. (Which means I don’t have to do dishes!)

Related Articles

• The real threat of Glenn Beck’s fantasies (3quarksdaily.com)
• Alexander Zaitchik: Is Glenn Beck Sinking? (huffingtonpost.com)
• New York Times: Leave Frances Fox Piven Alone! (nicedeb.wordpress.com)

No Foolin’

Tags

ants, brain, colonies, Da Vinci, earthquakes, evolution, lactose intolerant, Scandinavia, science, the Last Supper, time geography, toads

To know me is to love me, and to love me is to know NEVER to pull any asinine April Foolish on me, EVER. I am singularly NOT amused.

Don’t ask me why, but I’ve pretty much always been that way. Either somebody comes with a tale of horror, and I’m all upset, only to hear some jerk giggle maniacally and spout, “April Fools DAY!!!”

My relief that the asteroid is not in fact on a collision course with the earth is only tempered by my desire to wring a neck until the eyeballs pop.

Or the other side is to tell me a what a great and wonderful prize I’ve just won for being the 42 thousandth customer, only to again, hear that growing crescendo of guffaws, as the squeaky words, “April Fools!” again issues forth from the mouth of someone who might be minus a few teeth should I get to them quick enough.

Just so we are straight then. Everything that follows is the God’s honest truth, no matter how fantastically crazy it might sound.

You could have knocked me over with a feather when I found this out. And frankly I’m not sure what to do with this patently valuable information, but here goes.

For those Scandinavians who like to think they have long lineage lines to boast about, think again. It seems that Stone Age babes and dudes, were lactose intolerant, which apparently is not the case today for the bevy at right. So it seems they are descended from later arrivals in the land of snow and ice.

This lactose thing is no mean feat, and seems connected to making the transition from hunter-gatherer societies into agricultural ones. So I guess the reindeer were not being milked by Yabba Dabba Do Fred and Wilma.

So when you see someone in the market reaching for the lactose free milk, be sure to remind them that they are part of a evolutionary dead end. That is sure to pep them up and assuming you aren’t–well you can look all smug and chit.

When the wars between the rurals and the urbans starts, the lists come out of all the reasons its best to live in one versus the other. You all know them by now. Space, glorious space, seems the prime point for rural lovers, while easy access to everything is the bingo for urban life.

Well, here’s another reason why rurals have it over urbans. Ants. Ants are normal, rational beings in the farm and forest lands. They play nice with neighbors, and are hard working. They like the elbow room. Move them to the city? Why they lose their minds and grow into super colonies.

Scientists who actually have studied this phenomenon, say that as ants move from the deep forest, farmlands to say parks grow from 50/1 (fifty workers with a queen) to 500/1 in the park. And put them crazies in a city and their blossom to 6million/50,000. Now that is like a mind boggling jump. Creepy even. How do you all sleep at night knowing all that is crawling around your house and in your walls, and well, just imagine!

You probably thought that you had learned everything you could about The Last Supper, by Da Vinci, via Brown and the Code, but, think again.

Scientists still continue to pour over, and speculate about lots in the the great painting. For instance, why is the salt shaker turned over? What is the significance of the fish? Why is Judas’ plate empty? Why kind of fish it is and what is the significance?

Oh, there is tons of speculation, not much in the way of actual facts, and well, the game goes on. Scientists of course dismiss Brown’s theories, but they seem to have more questions than answers. Was Da Vinci trying to  tell us things in his painting, or are we just determined to find mysteries where there never were any? I dunno, but it makes for interesting speculation. 

This next one is from California. Enough said. It seems that 2% of the population are Time Lords. Yes, you are right, time lords. This means something to the effect that their senses are somewhat scrambled, and so they experience things like a day or a month as a color, or shape.

It’s called Synaesthesia in case you were wondering. It all sounds vaguely weird, and so far I’ve seen nothing that suggests that it enables one to cash in on future events–such as knowing the winner of the Super Bowl before it’s played. Now that would be helpful, but no such luck.

The dude pictured above was included with the text, so I figure that this is the kind of person you might look for should you be desirous of hunting down one of these Synaes just to stare.

And who would have thunk? Live in earthquake land? Well, buy a toad and watch it! It seems that the amphibiously cute little ribbits flee when an earthquake is coming. They try to get to safety.

Having watched a toad or two in my time, it would seem that they would have to travel quite a distance, and that would take time. Scientists claim that they start panicking about five days before the event.

As usual, we wonder just what in the world triggered the idea that they were predictors in the first place,  which then led to an actual study, funded by somebody, to study this. Pet shops are doing a burgeoning business in LA we are advised, so order your personal toad soon, while supplies last.

And it’s all true! I swear it.

I Don’t Know Whether to Throw in the Towel, or Chew It

Tags

brain, conservatives, far right wing, filibuster, health care reform, Health Care Summit, Jesus, liberals, McCain, Obama, Republicans

Frankly, I haven’t had a lot to say about health care reform for some time. I grew tired. I grew disgusted. I could feel my blood pressure soar at the mere contemplation.

Nothing has changed. The “Summit” turned out as expected. Mitchy McConnell worries that his side only has gotten 13 minutes and the other side 52 minutes so far, and Johnny McCain cannot avoid the temptation to mewl about the lost election but again. In between, the same tired old arguments, most all of them argued, debated, and proven wrong or right a kazillion times already.

So, I’m not wasting your time with arguments, you’ve heard them all before. What I can do is point you toward some useful information. One of these nuggets of truth is a piece from TruthOut written by Professor George Lakoff about how brains work. It’s a fascinating article and really helps one realize why conservatives are as they are and why liberals are as they are.

Basically, we are wasting time talking. The worldview of the average Republican suggests that anything Obama is destructive, thus even pointing out that Democrats are willing to push certain Republican points, Republicans will LOGICALLY flip and now oppose them. They view any action to support this president to be counter productive. They believe that they are doing the right thing in being the party of NO.

In part it depends on how one is raised. Conservative Republicans tend to be brought up in authoritative father dominated families. The world is dangerous, dad protects, children are obedient, and punished physically for failure to comply. Liberal Democrats are tend to be brought up in nurturing supportive families without gender control, where helping family and others is seen as being empathetic and responsible. Both tend to place make these “governing” models onto new institutions such as church, work, and government.

So, you cannot shame a conservative into doing the “right” thing because he doesn’t and will never see it as right. Flipping and flopping are seen as necessary to stop the ruination of America.

Lance Simmens writing at Huff Po, suggests that congress is the new death panel. They clearly and uncategorically deny that health care is a human right, thus they are the ones who are willing to decide who will receive it and who won’t. Let’s don’t go do fast, a step  at a time, and cost governs all. Such is their mindset.

His advice: Democrats must forge ahead, forget the Republicans and pass whatever they can. They will never get help from Republicans who pretty much have dug in their heels. And, their base, is of the same opinion, doesn’t listen to opposition arguments anyway, and want no truck with compromise at all. Witness what has happened to the new Senator from MA who is now being vilified by the ultra right for his voting yes on the jobs bill.

Iowa’s Tom Harkin has re-introduced legislation to end the power of the filibuster. He did so some years ago when his own party was a minority, so he has cred on this issue. Dick Durbin has gone one better, and is enlisting the public’s help in petitioning for the ending of this blocking technique. Follow the link and you will be directed to the website where you can sign a petition to that effect. For those of you in a hurry, go there directly by linking here.

Will Marshall, also writing in Huff Po, sums up the Summit by arguing that at least Republicans have been forced to put forth what they would do.  His conclusions are:

• Republicans do not fundamentally believe that health care is a human right. Their plans would insure about 3 million more people, without explanation of what standards would apply and still leaving 43 millions without care.
• They wish to reduce premiums by using methods mostly of benefit to healthy policy holders. Their solutions favor giving people options that reduce to bare bones their coverage at bigger savings by buying out of state and use of medical savings accounts.
• They have no interest in working with Democrats because their base says just saying NO is fine.

Probably the dust up between John Sydney and the President was the best moment of yesterday’s events. If you want to read a really really scathing comment on Johnny, by all means read Paul Slansky’s piece, again at Huff Po.

Of course one of the most shocking elements of this debate is that so-called strong Christians are lined up behind Republicans on this issue. Somehow they find a Christ who is not “for” health care. Paul Rauchenbush speaks to this issue, and finally admits it is basic selfishness. I agree.

Well, enough I guess. One could go on for hours, reading and linking up to various opinions. My advice: Screw the Rethugs. Get something together, and push it through. Use reconciliation. Ignore the polls. Giving some relief will have a bigger effect than doing nothing. Ignore the Republicans. Ignore the Republicans. Ignore the Republicans. Is that getting through?

And just in case, you think I have nothing else on my mind, I’m getting increasingly disappointed in Canada these days. I think they have done a fairly lousy job all around on the Olympics. I guess I should explain, but I won’t for now. Trust me. You know you can’t don’t you?

The Hard Lesson Which Ever Beckons

Tags

brain, extreme wealth, political realities, psychology, redistribution, regulation, sociology, taxing, world view

Deepak Chopra once said, in one of his innumerable books, that everyone is doing the best they can, given their level of understanding. What he meant I think, was that most of the time, most people have sincere motives, no matter how deeply flawed their thinking might actually be. And, we should, he claims, honor at least the sincerity.

That is of course the rub, as I survey a host of issues that have arisen in the past few days, trying very hard to wrap my brain around the thinking on the part of others that leaves me baffled and need I add angry?

There’s a book out called Game Changers, and in it, among others, there are claims about John Edwards and his wife Elizabeth. They are not pretty. Elizabeth is portrayed as arrogant, and belittling to her husband and John Edwards, is portrayed, as, well, much the liar. He touted honesty, yet was having a brazen affair, one well known to his wife apparently. And it seems that he soon turned to bargaining his “power base” for a second shot at the VP and later still, he reduced that to Attorney General.

I began to question my ability to judge character, since I had, along with the Contrarian had nothing but good things to say and think about Edwards during the campaign. We thought him a decent, honorable, honest, man who firmly “got” the plight of the working person in this country.

And, as the  Massachusetts election takes place today, I wonder how did things come to this? How do people who are so much like me, think so very differently? How is it that we see the world in nearly opposite ways?

The psychologists  and brain experts tell us that we are deeply shaped by our environment and we mostly see the world through a thick lens of personal incidents that we are not remotely aware of. We THINK we see the world as it is. The trouble is that the next guy, who votes the opposite of you thinks the same thing. We both can’t be right.

The more our lives are limited I believe by lack of education past high school, lack of travel around the world, lack of moving, lack of all those disparate experiences with people of different background and history, all the lack of inquisitiveness that we so often lose in the quest to “make a living,” come home to haunt us when we are confronted by serious issues that affect us all.

We can, it seems, only approach those issues, those conflicts, through our own lens of experience. We can only match and discard similarities and differences by the size of our bag of tricks. Those of us who have led small sheltered lives have a smaller and more personal opinion than those of us who have experienced the world in a wider way.

How did we get to this polarizing place that defines the American landscape? I’m convinced it happened with our generation and what appears to be a frightening reality.

Unlike virtually every previous generation, ours is the first to not improve our personal life style vis a vis our parents. We have turned back and are, if we are lucky, no worse than they, but certainly for most of us, no better.

That has caused most of us to stop in full stride and ask what has gone wrong in America? We were raised on the supposition that our lives would be richer and fuller than our parents. We would have more, travel more, know more. We would have more leisure. Our lives would be easier with more time for creative pursuits and family.

Instead, we are doing worse almost across the board. And when we reached that hard place of reality, we looked to why. We all saw that an extraordinary few got immeasurably richer, but the middle class lost significant ground, and the working class as much again. The poor grew. And we saw the imbalance, and we wondered why.

A significant portion of us realized that unbridled corporate greed and excess were the problem, and that the rich had negotiated a tax system that favored them against all others. They were now truly “filthy” rich. The gap grew wider and we blamed them and their penchant for homes by the dozen and yachts and diamonds. We believed that all humans were entitled to basics of food, clothing, housing, education, health care and decent jobs, and the rich were withholding that from us to profit themselves. We saw the solution in a redistribution of wealth. We saw it as justice and equality.

A significant portion of us however, saw things very differently. From a different up bringing, different location, different exposures, some came to a radically different conclusion. They concluded that it was government taxing and interference in the form of regulation that was stymieing their well being. They for reasons that are inexplicable to me, believed the words of the very people who had it all–the rich.

If only government allowed the free market economy to function untouched, all would be well, as the profits would “trickle” down to all. Why they believe this, I have no clue, but believe it they do. And today, we can barely converse with each other. We are nearing a place of plain hatred for the other side. We are ascribing to each other evil motives, evil designs, and unadulterated greed and selfishness. We are either that, or we are Utopian foggy headed children who live in a state of perpetual flower power.

I strain to see the logic of their beliefs. Some on the other side no doubt do the same as to me. But until we unscramble the presumptions we are secretly keeping, knowingly or not, we shall never grant to each other a modicum of “sincerity.” We shall forever ascribe selfish reasons.

This is not to say that each side is equally right. For indeed, one can still conclude after seeing the world view of another, that they are horridly wrong and why. But at least in understanding, we are ready to step into the breach with education and alternative experiences that can hopefully impact the thinking of those we now are poised to hate.

It’s how I feel today, but depending on what happens in Massachusetts today, I may not feel like playing at all tomorrow.