That may seem like a weird question, but it's an important one. How LONG is "now"...does that make it clearer?

Didn't think so.

Technically there's no such thing as now. It's like the point at which possibility (which doesn't exist yet) collapses into events and pass away. Future and past don't exist, now is too transitory to identify. So we work in a window of time: intelligence grasping possibilities, perception passing the moment into memory; functionally, 'now' is this joining of intelligence, perception and memory and the size of your 'now' is determined by how much intelligence and memory you invoke.

Man, there's a lotta-lotta stuff I want to get to today and I don't know how much I'll get to. I got income inequality stuff, education stuff, Disney propaganda stuff, race and politics stuff...

Not one bit of it has any 9/11 rememberances.

The funniest is that Republicans have taken their "Party of Lincoln" bullshit to its (il)logical extreme: Bush AS Lincoln. Which makes the Party of Lincoln the Party of Bush.

Think about that for a minute.

The meme was officially launched yesterday on the Huffington Post and OpinionJournal/WSJ Op-Ed pages. Steve Gilliard ran across Lincoln Lied and Thousands Died on the Huffington Post and asked the musical question

So, Seth, are you claiming that opposition to the war is racism or treason or both?

I saw ol' Newt Gingrich's Bush and Lincoln piece in OpinionJournal.

When is lying illegal?

...Last, week, Dentara Rast -- a character in CCP's Eve Online massively multiplayer online world -- pulled off an impressive stunt. He ran a classic Ponzi scheme and walked off with 700 billion ISK (in game money, and quite a lot of it). Normally, this kind of in-game bravado would generate nothing but a confuse stare from someone not deep inside the Eve universe, and little more than scandal-of-the-week titillation and subsequent yawns there. But I believe this case is more interesting than that.

I believe Dentara Rast committed fraud.
I believe he owes the IRS a lot of money.

Admittedly these are bold statements likely stuffed with straw, but they have deep implications, and bear argument.

McWhorter got off some truths today while keeping the political noise down to an acceptable level.

So why did Young raise the ethnicity of the shopkeepers at all? I suspect he did so to reinforce a sense of group solidarity; after all, the interview was with a black newspaper, not National Public Radio. As a friend of mine once put it, the black community would be better off if we owned more of our own stuff (though he used a different word beginning with "s"). To me, listing the shopkeepers' ethnicities is less about xenophobia than about stressing self-sufficiency -- something even those obsessed with policing hate speech should cheer.

Eugene Volokh:

I'm often a formalist in the sense that I generally think that formal legal characterizations are often worth using. That something is called "speech" should influence the way we treat it, and even if we call other things than speech (e.g., waving a flag, wearing a cross, using sign language) "speech," once this characterization is accepted it may make sense to use it in a broad range of cases. But we should never forget that these labels are metaphorical, otherwise figurative, or just generally imprecise. We should never forget that in law, "X = Y" is often just a shorthand for "X is like Y in certain important ways" or "X should be treated like Y in certain important way," that in certain other ways X and Y can remain quite different, and that therefore treating them as genuinely equal is a recipe for massive error.

This is the sort of thing that scares the hell out of Thomas Sowell. It's the problem we are least prepared to handle.

The 'New Middle East' Bush Is Resisting
By Saad Eddin Ibrahim
Wednesday, August 23, 2006; Page A15

President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice may be quite right about a new Middle East being born. In fact, their policies in support of the actions of their closest regional ally, Israel, have helped midwife the newborn. But it will not be exactly the baby they have longed for. For one thing, it will be neither secular nor friendly to the United States. For another, it is going to be a rough birth...

I am going to agree with Mr. Sowell; but only to the degree that I quote him.

Point of no return?
By Thomas Sowell
Tuesday, August 22, 2006

It is hard to think of a time when a nation -- and a whole civilization -- has drifted more futilely toward a bigger catastrophe than that looming over the United States and western civilization today.

I am done quoting him. I disagree entirely on the nature of the threat.

E.J. Dionne is just stooopit today.

A Wrong Turn Led to the 'L-Word'
By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006; Page A15

Why are liberals the way liberals are? What is it about the L-word that has become so offensive to so many? It has become such a turnoff that countless liberals dare not admit to their own label.

When I find myself in a situation in which your personal choice of label matters, I call myself a progressive. This is because some pinhead will jump up and say, "Why don't you call yourself a librul? Progressives is what libruls call theyself when they don't want to call theyself a librul!"

They use the exclamation point, too.

I then say, "fine, I'm a librul," and my argument is unaffected. It's a teaching moment.

But I have no idea why Mr. Dionne thought anything good could come of this.

The reaction to Mr. Jackson's particular phrasing of a particular state of affairs reminded me of a couple other presentations at the Conference of the Humanities Institute and the Human Rights Institute of the University of Connecticut that caught my eye. They are on the way the experiences of oppressed people are translated for consumption by the wealthier world.

Confucius’ Rectification of Names is one of those concepts that just struck me as correct immediately upon hearing it.

Tsze-lu asked,
"If the Duke of Wei made you an advisor, what would you address as the very first priority?"

Confucius replied,
"The most important thing is to use the correct words."

"What?" Tsze-lu replied. "That's your first priority? The right words?"

Confucius said,
"You really are simple, Yu. The Sage keeps his mouth shut when he doesn't know what he's talking about!

"If we don't use the correct words, we live public lies.
If we live public lies, the political system is a sham.
When the political system is a sham, civil order and refinement deteriorate.
When civil order and refinement deteriorate, injustice multiplies.
As injustice multiplies, eventually the electorate is paralyzed by public lawlessness.

"So the Sage takes for granted that he use the appropriate words, and follow through on his promises with the appropriate deeds.

"The Sage must simply never speak lies."

So it's not mail.

The guy on YouTube don't know me very well. In his defense of George Will's naked race card invocation this weekend, he wrote:

noahkg1987

I think George Will feels that Sharpton and Jackson are not strong on national security, or that their message will not play well in a situation where national security is important.

Prometheus6

Oh come on. You're pulling that out of a hat. He didn't even suggest any such thing. I have never heard Mr. WIll or any other of their detractors mention defense policy. Mr. Will might as well had brought up the national security position of the third undersecretary of education. In fact, that would have been more relevant.

When I judge these things, I don't just choose to accept the possibility that is most comforting. I choose the most likely.

(there's a 500 word per comment limit...)

Who's polarizing now?
August 10, 2006

Lieberman says he will continue to seek reelection, running in November as an independent.

This is a questionable decision.

There is a place for independent candidacies, for genuinely unaligned candidates, or in situations where the parties resist challengers.

Boston's own John Joseph Moakley became a Democratic power in Congress after first being elected as an independent. But Moakley did not lose a primary; he ran as an independent from the start, knowing incumbent Louise Day Hicks would be hard to beat in a primary.

Lieberman is right that all Connecticut voters make the final choice, and he might have a decent chance of winning if he does run. But it would make sense, before challenging his party's nominee, for Lieberman to take a break after a grueling campaign and think long and hard about who is really polarizing the nation.

ptcruiser sent me a couple of links I sat on for a while. It looked familiar.

Hypertension has long been known to be an important risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Although hypertension is a health problem that affects all ethnic groups, hypertension has been shown to be particularly prevalent in African-Americans. Blacks in the U.S. are 2-4 times more likely than whites in the U.S. to develop hypertension by age 50 (Roberts and Rowland,1981). The reasons for the excess risk in African-Americans are not known. Numerous genetic and environmental factors have been hypothesized to contribute to the excess risk, but their relative contributions are still a matter of debate (Saunders, 1991). However, one thing is clear and universally accepted: socioeconomic status (whether measures are by education, occupation, or income) and hypertension tend to be inversely associated, for both Blacks and Whites (Tyroler, 1986). This has led to the suggestion that unrelieved psychosocial stress, generated by environments in which African-Americans live and work, is primarily responsible for their heightened susceptibility to hypertension.

In the early/mid 1970's, numerous studies demonstrated that "high effort" coping (i.e., sustained cognitive and emotional engagement) with difficult psychological stressors produce substantial increases in heart rate and systolic blood pressure. Increases were shown to persist only as long as individuals actively worked at trying to eliminate the stressor. The effects were seen in a variety of different environments. Some of these studies were controlled laboratory experiments (Obrist et al., 1978), while others were field-based studies of "real life" stressors (Kasl and Cobb, 1970; Cobb and Rose, 1973; Harburg et al., 1973). This body of research led to a commentary by Syme (1979). Syme observed that persons of lower socioeconomic status (especially Blacks in these positions) by definition face more difficult psychosocial environmental stressors than more economically privileged individuals. He proposed that prolonged, high effort coping with difficult psychosocial stressors could be the explanation of both the inverse association between socioeconomic status and hypertension typically observed in U.S. communities and the increased risk for this disorder in Black Americans. This was the beginning of what later became known as the "John Henryism Hypothesis."

He Who Cast the First Stone Probably Didn’t
By DANIEL GILBERT

Lesson 1:

Every action has a cause and a consequence: something that led to it and something that followed from it. But research shows that while people think of their own actions as the consequences of what came before, they think of other people’s actions as the causes of what came later.

In a study conducted by William Swann and colleagues at the University of Texas, pairs of volunteers played the roles of world leaders who were trying to decide whether to initiate a nuclear strike. The first volunteer was asked to make an opening statement, the second volunteer was asked to respond, the first volunteer was asked to respond to the second, and so on. At the end of the conversation, the volunteers were shown several of the statements that had been made and were asked to recall what had been said just before and just after each of them.

Bar association task force urges Congress to push for judicial review of Bush signing statements
By Elizabeth Weiss Green
Posted 7/21/06 

...U.S. News has learned, an American Bar Association task force is set to suggest even stronger action. In a report to be released Monday, the task force will recommend that Congress pass legislation providing for some sort of judicial review of the signing statements. Some task force members want to simply give Congress the right to sue over the signing statements; other task force members will not characterize what sort of judicial review might ultimately emerge.

Nubian at blac(k)ademic is frustrated.

To Nubian (because I am a fan): Be clear your purpose diverges from theirs as soon as you mention race. Freedom from racism means different things to white and Black folks.

And be clear on the real effect the swarm of gnats have on you. If they can actually impact your physical condition, that's one thing. If not, their complaints are powerless expressions of their preference to just turn away.

Meanwhile, your writing has had a positive effect on your readers.

Right now you're going through a firestorm. Mine wasn't as bad as yours, partly because my initial focus was on giving a Black guy's views on mainstream issues and partly because I've long worked on framing my issues in the currert debating terms. But when they can't move you, they give up.

You have to express your passion with a certain detachment, is all. Meanwhile, I'll keep checking for your now-weekly posts.

In the sixties, Black folks felt the way ahead to get as much of America as we could, to show we were the same as everyone else. Great numbers of folks felt by pursuing their own best interests they were automatically advancing the race. The result of that, though, was the fragmentation of the community.

Those Black folks that did well in those circumstances are now saying we should unite in pursuit of economic rights. Economic are the new civil rights and though I recognize the importance of understanding economics, I must note two things.

1. The folks pushing economic rights the hardest are already doing pretty well for themselves
2. Their advice is to do exactly what they did from the mid-60s theough the 90s...which practices led to the fragmentation they're trying to get around.

In fact, one of the immediate criticisms of Tavis Smiley's Covenant thing was that it represented no real change.

from We need leaders, not managers

For the record, I agree with the title for the most part. The idea that there are a limited number of plot lines in politics rings true, though this is the first time I'm considering it. Digby goes on about it for a bit.

It's not that the Dems aren't trying. Our latest slogan is all Benevolent Community: Together, America Can Do Better. It's just that it sucks.

---

The leadership story today

What's the story that the new leaders will need to communicate? In broad outline, we know what it will be, both for Democrats and Republicans, since as Robert Reich has explained, there are only four stories in American politics:

All this framing crap is typical People of the Word stuff. But since that's how folks operate, here ya go.

For more than two centuries, Americans demanded successive expansions of freedom -- progressive freedom. Expansions of voting rights, civil rights, education, public health, scientific knowledge, and protections from fear and want: These all made us freer to follow our dreams. These were the ideals of freedom that I grew up with. They are now all under threat, not by guns or bombs, but an under-the-radar redefinition of freedom and liberty to suit right-wing ideology. And it is taking place under our noses, with the complicity of the media, where there has been little noticeable questioning of the president's use of "freedom" and "liberty." The mechanism of redefinition is cognitive. It is in our brains. We can't see it. Freedom is what cognitive scientists call an "essentially contested concept," which means there will always be distinct and disputed versions of freedom that are inconsistent with each other. There is no single, universal, and objectively "correct" meaning of freedom. There is a single, uncontested, but limited, core meaning of freedom that we all agree on. But that is the limit of consensus. Progressives and conservatives have different value systems that extend the uncontested core in opposite directions.

Since I linked the original post in the past, I'll just lift this

UPDATE II: Greg Sargent of The American Prospect puts the final nail in what ought to be the coffin of whatever vestiges of credibility were left for Malkin, Horowitz, Red State, et al. He confirmed with the Secret Service what I reported earlier (that the NYT photographer had Rumsfeld's permission to take those photographs) and what was obvious all along (that the article did not pose any remote threat as Cheney and Rumsfeld's own spokespeople acknowledge):

But I just got through talking with Hollen Wheeler, director of public affairs for Rumsfeld's office.

She confirmed what Glenn Greenwald has reported -- that the photographer, Linda Spillers, had been granted permission to photograph Rumsfeld's house by Rumsfeld himself.

"She got approval to take a picture," Wheeler told me. "She called, we said fine, go take the picture. And that's it."

Wheeler also added of the picture: "It's already out in the public domain. I'm a little confused about why this has caused such an uproar."

The thing that most of the peons that based their rhetoric on The Bell Curve found most convincing was the sheer size of the book. One of the favorite supporting statements (I almost dignified them by calling them 'arguments') from S.C.A.A. days was "If even half the material is true..."

The Bell Curve is as much talisman as book. And now that Conservatism is reaching its logical extreme, it too needs a talisman.

An A-to-Z Book of Conservatism Now Weighs In
By JASON DePARLE

WASHINGTON, June 20 — It has red states and blond pundits; home schoolers and The Human Life Review; originalists, monetarists, federalists and evangelists; and no shortage of people named Kristol.

Zenpundit:

As poorly as we sometimes are at paying attention extrospectively - we could benefit far more by greater attention or some old fashioned Zen "mindfulness" being directed inward. Metacognitive regulation requires an introspective monitoring of one's thoughts and ideas, which means active, conscious, effort to pay attention. This requires practice to sustain for any length of time though on the other extreme, master Yogis and Zen monks have exhibited the ability to effect siginificant physiological changes through meditative concentration. Having acquired sufficient attention to engage in metacognition, we can begin to select our cognitive frames and approach problems with greater discrimination and conscious choice, rather than being driven frantically by events, simply reacting.

I should warn you Zenpundit is not the blog you might expect from the name and the quote. At the same time, the quote is not quite atypical.

You should follow that Metacognitive regulation link. I actually eliminated all the other links in the paragraph to make sure you noticed it.

First:

What logic isn't

It's worth mentioning a couple of things which logic is not.

Firstly, logical reasoning is not an absolute law which governs the universe. Many times in the past, people have concluded that because something is logically impossible (given the science of the day), it must be impossible, period. It was also believed at one time that Euclidean geometry was a universal law; it is, after all, logically consistent. Again, we now know that the rules of Euclidean geometry are not universal.

Secondly, logic is not a set of rules which govern human behavior. Humans may have logically conflicting goals. For example:

• John wishes to speak to whoever is in charge.

• The person in charge is Steve.

• Therefore John wishes to speak to Steve.

Unfortunately, John may have a conflicting goal of avoiding Steve, meaning that the reasoned answer may be inapplicable to real life.

This document only explains how to use logic; you must decide whether logic is the right tool for the job. There are other ways to communicate, discuss and debate.

 

Next, Thirty-eight dishonest tricks which are commonly used in argument, with the methods of overcoming them so you know when you're getting played. This crap happens in newspapers and such, not just in blog comments.

Emphasis added to my personal favorites. Not like you have to memorize stuff...

'Support" is one of those words I've had to see as an undefined term...a word whose meaning is entirely determined by the circumstances in which it is used. I think I have a working definition now.

I think it means "act to increase the supported entity's self esteem."

Okay. The next word to work out is "leadership." I thought I had that one down until I started watching Congress live on C-Span. 

"Global warming" has turned out to be an unfortunate term. It made people expect a simple increase in temperature across the board rather than a complex cascade of events. 

"Catastrophic climate change" is more accurate.

"Identity theft" may turn out to be equally unfortunate.

What identity is there to steal if your account number is never associated with your name on a computerized record? Surely somebody must understand this. We should have a nameless banking service.

"Identity theft" isn't about copping your name or style or personality. It's about getting access to your assets. The account number is enough; more than enough when there's no personal information one can use to verify you're the person that owns the account.

Hey, good question, P6!

"This might be because factors other than name fluency have a more pronounced effect on stock price as time passes," said Adam Alter, a graduate student at Princeton who was the lead author of the study.

One would hope so. 

What's in the Name? Researchers Suggest It's Money
By NICHOLAS BAKALAR

A stock ticker symbol or company name that is easy to pronounce may be a significant factor in short-term increases in stock price, according to a report published online yesterday in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Nevaeh is Heaven spelled backward.

The name has hit a cultural nerve with its religious overtones, creative twist and fashionable final "ah" sound. It has risen most quickly among blacks but is also popular with evangelical Christians, who have helped propel other religious names like Grace (ranked 14th) up the charts, experts say. By contrast, the name Heaven is ranked 245th.

This is deep because names are free and speak to a parent's aspirations for what a child will become. Yet if you believe in words that deeply isn't the reversal of the spelling of serious symbolic significance?

And if It's a Boy, Will It Be Lleh?
By JENNIFER 8. LEE

There's always been a major contingent of right wing and Conservative commentators that I found too absurd to read...since I found World Net Daily it has been right up there at the top of the list.

Yesterday I got a heads-up about a post over there by this guy.

Vox Day is a novelist and Christian libertarian. He is a member of the SFWA, Mensa and the Southern Baptist church, and has been down with Madden since 1992. Visit his Web log, Vox Popoli, for daily commentary and responses to reader email.

I think I'll set up a Google watchlist for this. I'd like to see the right-wing reaction to this...I suspect it will be slight.

Mr. Day has written one of those articles...one that can only have the intent outwardly claimed if you abandon all human context. On his personal blog, in a discussion of the minor shitstorm the gentleman is trying to create, a commenter wrote

I thought you'd like to know how the Bush regime can keep talking about the progress in Iraq with a straight face.

Have you ever run a mid-sized to major corporate project, or participated in scheduling one? You'll have these gantt charts running your damn life for a while.

You'll have these progress meetings where you talk about which tasks are on schedule, which are falling behind, which are on hold untill two parallel tasks are completed. And every bullet point you hit is progress.

And when you have to revert a step because some other process won't be ready, bringing that reverted step back to its earlier condition is also progress.

It's not progress when the copying machines you need to distribute the plans break down (yes, success depends on copying machines too). That's not a problem with the plan, though.

Turn the pages to 1984
By H.D.S. Greenway  |  May 2, 2006

IT IS becoming increasingly depressing to reread ''1984," George Orwell's prophetic, mid-20th-century novel about what life might be like in a future where the state listens in on every conversation, in a world where prisoners had ''simply disappeared," and in which Britain and the Americas are in a state of perpetual warfare with either ''Eastasia" or ''Eurasia." Orwell didn't think of calling it ''the long war," as the Pentagon now likes to call the ''war against terror," which by definition is a war that can never end.