The Obama Code

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The Seven Intellecutal Underpinnings of the Obama Code: George Lakoff
For the sake of unity, the President tends to express his moral vision indirectly. Like other self-aware and highly articulate speakers, he connects with his audience using what cognitive scientists call the "cognitive unconscious." Speaking naturally, he lets his deepest ideas simply structure what he is saying. If you follow him, the deep ideas are communicated unconsciously and automatically. The Code is his most effective way to bring the country together around fundamental American values.

For supporters of the President, it is crucial to understand the Code in order to talk overtly about the old values our new president is communicating. It is necessary because tens of millions of Americans—both conservatives and progressives—don’t yet perceive the vital sea change that Obama is bringing about.


Bush expanded terror

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Noam Chomsky:
There were no terrorist attacks between 1993 and 2001. In 1993 there was an attempt to blow up the world trade center which came very close to succeeding. With a little better planning it probably would have killed ten thousand people. But there were no terrorist attacks between 1993 and 2001 without the attacks on civil liberties and without the wars and aggression, so what does it tell us? The fact of the matter is that under the Bush administration, terrorism vastly increased. It was expected that the invasion of Iraq would lead to an increase in terrorism around the world and it did, but far more than was expected. Terrorism went up by about a factor of seven after the invasion of Iraq. Other actions of the Bush Administration which were alleged responses to terrorism had terrible effects elsewhere.


Ask Israel

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Norman Finkelstein: The Cleanser
Anthony H. Cordesman, a leading military analyst from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, has published a “strategic analysis” of the Gaza massacre. He reaches the remarkable conclusion that “Israel did not violate the laws of war.” The report is based on “briefings in Israeli (sic) during and immediately after the fighting made possible by a visit sponsored by Project Interchange, and using day-to-day reporting issued by the Israeli Defense Spokesman.”

Cordesman omits mention that Project Interchange is funded by the American Jewish Committee.

World moves on; the pain persists

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Informed Comment: You Have Moved on, But the Injured and Burned Children of Gaza Have Not
The demonstrating crowds have gone home. The blog postings have tapered off. The pundits have moved on. Congress is back to its old tricks, ignoring public opinion in favor of the lobbyists and money men. The US public is worried about losing its job or getting back the one it lost. Gaza here is a dimming memory, a momentary nightmare now past.

But the Palestinian children wounded and charred by Israeli bombings are still screaming, their physicians unable to get hold of enough pain killers to still their yelps of pain.

Go join the after dinner circuit

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Britain can be fixed – but not by a PM who wants to save the world
The country would benefit if Gordon Brown spent some years in the wilderness and returned as an elder statesman, says Irwin Stelzer.
Stelzer is almost right. The country would benefit if Gordon Brown spent some years in the wilderness and FUCKINGWELL STAYED THERE. And you know what? We would all benefit from seeing and hearing a lot less from that sad old neo-con and Murdoch bag-man, Mr Stelzer, as well.

Et tu, Harriet?

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Harriet Harman is treachery in high heels and the prospect of her as leader is utterly terrifying
Leo McKinstry, a former aide, reveals the steely ambition and terrifying incompetence of the woman who would be leader.

The idea of Harriet Harman as Labour Leader, never mind Prime Minister, might seem laughable. As one who spent three years serving her, I shudder to think of her in charge of our national destiny. Possessed of shallow competence and intelligence, she could barely run her office, far less the country. Tellingly, in the only executive position she had ever held in Government, as Social Security Secretary between 1997 and 1999, Tony Blair got rid of her because she made such a hash of it.


You complain about the NHS?

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For uninsured young adults, do-it-yourself health care
They borrow leftover prescription drugs from friends, attempt to self-diagnose ailments online, stretch their diabetes and asthma medicines for as long as possible and set their own broken bones. When emergencies strike, they rarely can afford the bills that follow.

"My first reaction was to start laughing — I just kept saying, 'No way, no way,' " Alanna Boyd, a 28-year-old receptionist, recalled of the $17,398 — including $13 for the use of a television — that she was charged after spending 46 hours in October at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York with diverticulitis, a digestive illness. "I could have gone to a major university for a year. Instead, I went to the hospital for two days."

In the parlance of the health care industry, Boyd, whose case remains unresolved, is among the "young invincibles" — people in their 20s who shun insurance either because their age makes them feel invulnerable or because expensive policies are out of reach. Young adults are the nation's largest group of uninsured — there were 13.2 million of them nationally in 2007, or 29 percent, according to the latest figures from the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit research group in New York.

That damn pesky law thingy

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The Castro Route
Tom Ginsburg
Chavez’ power grab,(sic) pursued through perfectly legal channels, exposes the Achilles’ heel of the rule of law: so long as you abide by its principles, you can do just about anything, including changing the rules to extend your control.
As long as 54% of voters agree to it. A bit like electing Obama.

Oooh, you are awful, Mr Chavez. Sticking to the rule of law and all, you clever little man!  Not like those great democrats and 'leaders', Bush and Blair, for whom the rule of law meant sweet fuck all.
Chavez has been crafty in manipulating this set of understandings. In December 2007, voters narrowly rejected Chavez’ proposed constitutional amendments, which included both the abolition of term limits and the expansion of emergency presidential powers. Some human rights groups and the United Nations condemned that proposal, mainly for the low bar to invoking a state of emergency. This time Chavez has been careful to restrict the amendment to the abolition of term limits, and the international community has been quiet.
Right. So Chavez dropped the most controversial part of his amendments after they were democratically rejected (although only just) and presented a revised and scaled down version, which the people accepted (slightly more assiduously, by the way,  than the US voters accepted Obama.) This, according to Mr Ginsburg was a 'crafty' thing to do. I wonder if he ever uses the word 'crafty' to describe the behaviour of white US politicians? I doubt it, somehow.

Unbelievable pile of tosh from, naturally, a fucking academic lawyer. Read it and weep (or laugh).


History is written by the victors

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History Taboo in Iraq Schools
Jamil Haydan gets confused whenever he goes through the history of Iraq in the school books. "I feel like there is a gap in the history, specially recent events," the 14-year-old student at a Baghdad school told IslamOnline. "We are treated as if we are unable to know what happens in Iraq, but we are."

The history of the Arab country since the 2003 US-led invasion is completely absent from school textbooks. American troops, George W. Bush and the sectarian violence that plagued the country for years after the invasion are non-existent whether in books or even class discussions. Former president Saddam Hussein, who was ousted by the US and later executed by the Iraqi government, and his longtime ruling Baath party are taboos.

The government admits that banning certain chapters of Iraq's recent history from textbooks is deliberate.