Month: June 2012

Swallow Or Spit?

It’s the weekend and let us have a bit of fun…..first, if I have to explain the title to you then you are probably too young to be reading it…….as a child of the 60’s I have a bit of a warped mind and this news story caught my attention……..

A woman in Seoul, Korea was eating semi-boiled squid when the cephalopod injected its sperm bag into her tongue, according to research published in February.

The unidentified woman reportedly experienced a “pricking and foreign-body sensation” while she chewed and spat the squid out. She had to go to the hospital when she felt severe pain and several “small, squirming” creepy crawlies in her mouth.

Doctors found that the squid had left “twelve small, white spindle-shaped, bug-like organisms” in the mucous membranes of her tongue and cheek.

Indeed, the woman’s mouth had been essentially inseminated.

Okay, this story got my funny bone on numerous levels….woman reportedly experienced a “pricking and foreign-body sensation”and then there was this…..she felt severe pain and several “small, squirming” creepy crawlies in her mouth.

I realize that some may think I am a 6UL DV8….but this is just damn funny and makes one think about days gone by……I am sure that the woman was in pain but all that aside…..a sperm bag?

You gotta find a bit of humor in this.

Identity Politics–Democracy’s Foe?

College of Political Knowledge

Subject:  Political Theory

This country, the good old US of A, is suffering badly from partisan politics….it had its beginnings in the impeachment process of Bill Clinton…..everyone that had a mouth, voiced his/her opinion….can you imagine how worse it would be today with all the 24 hour news cycle millionaires looking for a story?  Not one of the networks is concerned with truth and fairness, only the ratings and how it effects their bottom line.    We think politics is a circus now……it would be far worse.

For a decade now people have been playing in “identity politics”…….but what is identity politics?

Cressida Heyes writing for Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy…..

“Identity politics” has come to signify a wide range of political activity and theorizing founded in the shared experiences of injustice of members of certain social groups. Rather than organizing solely around belief systems, programmatic manifestos, or party affiliation, identity political formations typically aim to secure the political freedom of a specific constituency marginalized within its larger context. Members of that constituency assert or reclaim ways of understanding their distinctiveness that challenge dominant oppressive characterizations, with the goal of greater self-determination.

The scope of political movements that may be described as identity politics is broad: the examples used in the philosophical literature are predominantly of struggles within western capitalist democracies, but indigenous rights movements worldwide, nationalist projects, or demands for regional self-determination use similar arguments. Predictably, there is no straightforward criterion that makes a political struggle into an example of “identity politics;” rather, the term signifies a loose collection of political projects, each undertaken by representatives of a collective with a distinctively different social location that has hitherto been neglected, erased, or suppressed. It is beyond the scope of this essay to offer historical or sociological surveys of the many different social movements that might be described as identity politics, although some references to this literature are provided in the bibliography; instead the focus here is to provide an overview of the philosophical issues in the expansive literature in political theory.

For decades now the term has been the rallying call of so many groups…..whether it is gun rights, women rights, abortion, religion, etc…….these groups try to make politics about one thing and one thing only…..a single issue.  It is good for activists but bad for a political system that prides itself on political inclusiveness.

Identity politics is NO longer some obscure offshoot of philosophy…..but rather has become mainstream.

An identity is established in relation to a series of differences that have become socially recognized. These differences are essential to its being. If they did not coexist as differences, it would not exist in its distinctness and solidity. Entrenched in this indispensable relation is a second set of tendencies, themselves in need of exploration, to conceal established identities into fixed forms, thought and lived as if their structure expressed the true order of things. When these pressures prevail, the maintenance of one identity (or field of identities) involves the conversion of some differences into otherness, into evil, or one of its numerous surrogates. Identity requires differences in order to be, and it converts difference into otherness in order to secure its own self-certainty. (Connolly 2002, 64)

Look at Mitt Romney….he has NO specifics other than Obama sucks…..according to polls he is running almost neck and neck with Obama……those who will vote for him will be voting because they do not LIKE Obama….not Mitt’s wealth of solid solutions for our problems……..

Identity politics is here to stay…….like it or not…….single issues will rule the political landscape for the foreseeable future…..before we can return to the business of a country that is by the people, for the people and of the people!

What Is Insanity? Mississippi Edition

Since the 1980’s, probably longer, Mississippians have been promised two things with every election…..lower taxes and a focus on education…it has been so thru the 90’s……..the 2000’s and on until the 2010’s…..and the last election every candidate promised the same tired old rhetoric from the election that preceded it….taxes and education….(redundant for make a point)

They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome…….the voters of Mississippi have been doing the same thing over and over….and still have not found what they are looking for…….workers are paid some of the lowest wages in the US…..poverty is rampant……health is atrocious………education sucks…….but taxes are lower….well at least for corporations….the average Mississippian is being taxed unchanged for decades……

So is it insanity to keep buying into the BS of the election process…..knowing that NONE of it will come true?

You bet your butt it is!  Some say that Mississippians are optimistic about their candidates….but let us look at the 2010 election….the governor and state reps almost to a person talked about jobs and education…..promising better of both if they were elected and they would work tirelessly to achieve these goals…….How did they do?

These are the bills passed by the state legislature and sent to the governor to sign…….

n COAST INSURANCE: A bill authored by Rep. Scott DeLano, R-Biloxi, requires insurance companies writing policies in South Mississippi to offer defined “actuarially sound” discounts to homeowners who fortify their homes against storm damage. The Department of Insurance will adopt a set of standards, and insurance companies must file a list of discounts by 2013, although some are expected to do so sooner.

n BP MONEY: A bill passed that would direct any settlement for economic damages from the BP oil disaster to a fund controlled by the Legislature. The final bill was much changed from an original one that sought to capture potentially billions in Clean Water Act fines and other money the company will have to pay.

n SCHOOL START: A bill authored by Rep. Mark Formby, R-Picayune, and pushed for years by Coast business leaders, states schools cannot start before the third week in August. Tourism officials estimate extending the summer will bring an extra $100 million in tourism spending statewide.

n POOL SAFETY: The governor has signed The William Lee Montjoy Pool Safety Act, authored by Rep. David Baria, D-Bay St. Louis. It requires safety gates and latches and enclosures for public and quasi-public pools. There is a grandfather provision for existing pools, but some measures apply to all pools, including existing ones. The bill is named for a Coast toddler who drowned.

n MARRIAGE: A measure pushed for years by Natchez and Coast lawmakers does away with the three-day wait and blood test for a marriage license, a move supporters say will help the state become a wedding tourism destination.

n GAUTIER TAX: Gautier voters will decide whether to enact a 1-percent tax on restaurants and hotels to fund parks and recreation projects, tourism and economic development. Local leaders will set the election date. At least 60 percent of voters must approve it.

n ABORTION: A bill signed into law by Gov. Phil Bryant requires doctors who work at abortion clinics to have admitting privileges to a local hospital and be certified OB/GYNs. Could close the state’s only abortion clinic.

n REDISTRICTING: New maps were drawn that favor Republicans. They could cause some Democratic incumbents to face each other for seats.

n CHILD PROTECTION: Bill creates new requirements for reporting on suspected sexual abuse of children. Also requires fetal tissue to be saved as potential DNA evidence of statutory rape when girl seeking abortion is 14 or under.

n WORKERS’ COMPENSATION: Makes changes to the state’s workers’ compensation system. Proponents say changes would make the system more fair to employers. Opponents say the changes would make it difficult for people hurt on the job to receive compensation.

n ATTORNEY GENERAL: Attorney general’s power would be limited by giving elected officials and state agency heads other options when they disagree with attorney general on legal issues.

Take a good look at what the legislature has done!  Now ask yourself just how serious were the officials that you elected about jobs and education……once you ask that….remember…..also the economic outlook for the state this year is 1.1%, 45th in the nation and yet with that dismal forecast they spend all their time on abortions, sharia law, everything but jobs and job creation….and these are the little asshats that YOU elected……it is insane to keep electing these people!
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome!
By that definition the majority of voters in the state of Mississippi…..are INSANE!

What Is Insanity?

There is always that well used quote (by Einstein, I believe)….the definition of insanity is  ‘doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome’……..but in American politics we seem to stick with the insane!

Insane?  Yep!  Since the 1980’s we have been told that if the top 1% gets tax breaks that it will benefit everyone…..same for the 1990’s….and the 2000’s and now in the 2010’s we are still selling this idea to the American public…..let us look at some stats…..since the 1980’s wages have been stagnant…..and corporate profits have soared….even in times of recession…..but yet it is still a campaign promise that the American people buy into every election…….is it insane?

You bet your butt it is!  People are voting on a promise that has not come true in 40 years and we vote on it every election….(doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome)…….it is fine to be optimistic but at what point does it become delusional instead of optimistic?

‘Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome’………

Voting for the two party system……they promise and seldom deliver….yet the American voter once again believes that the campaign promises of the election well somehow translate into a better life for them and their family……but yet each time that are optimistic and vote for the promise they have been disappointed and yet they will do it all over again in the next election and the next batch of promises that are hollow and unrealized.  Is that insane?

Once again….you bet your butt it is!

The Ultimate Pragmatist!

College of Political Knowledge

Subject:  Political Theory

Recent events in Europe have made me think of some of the classes I took in college…..especially the rise of the Far Right political traditions and why they are becoming more popular than in the past.

First of all let us look at the definition of the term “Pragmatism”…..

1
: a practical approach to problems and affairs <tried to strike a balance between principles and pragmatism>
2
: an American movement in philosophy founded by C. S. Peirce and William James and marked by the doctrines that the meaning of conceptions is to be sought in their practical bearings, that the function of thought is to guide action, and that truth is preeminently to be tested by the practical consequences of belief
I will explain why I start with pragmatism in later part of this post…please bear with me…..
Okay, a pragmatist in politics is when a middle road, if you will, is pursued in an attempt to gain power and to find an acceptable path to an agenda.  In today’s world and with all the political correctness this would mean ‘bi-partisanship’.  But in today’s political world there is little middle of the road thinking…there is however extremes in the left/right paradigm.
There is one political theory that can truly be called the “Ultimate Pragmatism”.  Fascism!
Fascism’s outstanding traits is its eclecticism, the propensity of its numerous individual variants to accommodate or synthesize ideological components from a wide range of sources taken from any part of the left-right spectrum. Italian Fascism, for example, merged elements of right-wing politics (nationalism, imperialism, authoritarianism) with left-wing syndicalist claims of creating social justice and abolishing class conflict, and the cult of the Roman past with elements of the Futurist cult of hypermodernity. It also attracted a number of former Marxists in Italy and Germany, hosted left-wing and right-wing variants of corporatist theory, and accommodated currents of philosophical idealism and technocratic modernism; clerical Fascism and neopaganism; cultural racism (which treated patriotic Italian Jews as full members of the re-born Italy, although a more “biological” current eventually led to the adoption of anti-Semitic race laws); and the full spectrum of aesthetics from neoclassicism to futurism, from anti-cosmopolitan ruralism to international modernism. Even Nazism was far from homogeneous ideologically, embracing ruralist and technocratic visions of the new order, varying degrees of paganism and accommodation with Christianity, several varieties of racism, an anticapitalist (“Strasserite”) current, and even a strand of promodernist aesthetics. Fascism’s animus against communism and the degenerative impact of liberalism on the organic national community nevertheless makes it sensible to locate fascism within the tradition of right-wing politics rather than simply “beyond” left and right (as it sometimes claims to be).
There you have it….the Ultimate Pragmatist…….take from all brands of political theory and come up with one that gives the most power with the least amount of freedoms……I guess we could disguise Fascism with the term Populist…..but a rose by any other name………

The Evil Of Liberalism

College of Political Knowledge

Subject:  Neo-Liberalism

The closer we get to the general election, the more savage the insults toward people on the opposite end of the political spectrum….that is both sides…there are NO innocents when it comes to verbally assaulting another person for the political beliefs….me?  I just try to help.

Before too many get excited that I may have strayed away from my more Leftist positions….sorry….No can do!  I hope that people will take this post for what I intend, an explanation of a term that is in use liberally (no pun intended) in the media and among pundits.

In these days of anonymous insults via Twitter, Forums, etc, much has been said about the parenthood of liberals, and the mental capacity of said people and best of all the socialist thing….but I will talk about just what a liberal is……not from a media based definition but rather from a political philosophical position.  And yes there is a difference.

The media looks for ways to explain complex theories in 30 second sound bytes.  So what you know about conservs and liberals may be a bit off the point.  I would like to remind readers that I am speaking from a political philosophic point.  I am NOT condemning any philosophical point of view….only trying to help people understand the more complexities to political philosophies……

To all my conserv readers and friends….do you believe in the following?

Privatization of public enterprises

Deregulation of the economy

Massive tax cuts

“Monetarists” solutions to keep inflation in check even with the chance of increasing unemployment

Strict control of organized labor

Reduction in public expenditures especially social spending

Down sizing government

Expansion of international markets

Remove controls on the flow of global financial markets

Answer these questions realistic, please.  If you agree with most or all of these proposals then you are a LIBERAL….granted it is neo-liberalism…..but a liberal none the less.

Bill Clinton is a neo-liberal….I wish pundits would STOP calling his a liberal!…….look back at his presidency and his membership in the DLC he fought for damn near everything on that list and succeeded on numerous occasions and thanx to that success we have the economic crap we are suffering with today.

My point in this post is to show that in the strictest philosophical sense, that in this world of political correctness, you may be mistaken when you are trying to pigeon hole others.  The list is pretty much the whole agenda of today’s conservs, at least that is what we call them…..when in actuality they are a neo-liberal and not a conserv in the classic sense.

I want people to think….not tell them what to think…..