I had was was said to be a viral meningitis in 2000 that was ghastly. Best wishes.
After making our way through effort, we (hopefully) eventually learn there is a better way, through recognition of spirit. There is much to be said for surrendering to grace, and knowing that our own will needs to be aligned with the divine for the world to reflect a heavenly life to us. That doesn't discount the suffering, but leads us to something more. Value is relative, and that fact cannot help anyone trapped in poverty until he understands poverty of spirit and the way out. The way of the world will follow. The world is changing when it comes to society and policing. Technology dictates transparency and eventually policy and practice will catch up, but not without more struggle. It wasn't that long ago that the most popular US president in history went on global TV to say "I did not have sex with that woman." The lies we tell ourselves about our own lives are much worse. Instead of continuing the lie, we can forgive. On Wednesday, May 13, 2015 at 11:40:08 AM UTC-4, archytas wrote: > > Thanks Molly, have done a lot to remind me of other possibilities. Still > feeling my 'brain; rather too much, a little like it has cramp! When > considering cops and policing w need a lot of balls to juggle - we forget > stuff like this in the radical humanist paradigm - > http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-05-12/face-baltimore-you-wont-see-news > - though we can no doubt find a lot of the opposite across the world. > > I can see little alternative now (perhaps for 40 years) to a radical > economics of positive, project and green-based 'money'. This will need > imagination and new ways of thinking about its role in material creation. > One thing I am sure of is that imagination working without facts and > scepticism is no use to us in the modern world. We live in a kind of > directed imagination, something I suspect uses deep biology to have us > charging to the centre of a moronic inferno.. Once in this the way out is > very tough. Much as the incident described at Zerohedge is disgusting, the > current actions of our elite is much worse. We have a post-election media > discussion in the UK that still begins in the false idea our economy is > recovering - this might represent, writ large, Molly or me talking up some > more local reconstruction in the hope enthusiasm will stretch to better > performance. I have a metaphor and it's the half-time team talk - > something widely misunderstood. > > A good team will have done a huge amount of work on its skills, strengths, > weaknesses and the opposition (one might think SWOT with weights) before > going in at half-time 20 points down. The team talk will not be > motivational in terms of up-and-at-'em and very much focused on the match > facts and a change of tactics. In the popular imagination, some Henry V > speech gets your people going - but actually this is a recipe for further > disaster beyond amateur level. What's needed is a professional evaluation > of what's going on and the ability to switch to an alternative and > practised way of playing. Imagination is full of myths and the kind we > want can't work when full of them and the copying impulse. > , > When we think of young Chinese and Indians immigrating to our economies, > we might think of Australians and New Zealanders coming into English rugby > league. There is a huge pot of these guys with the basic physique and > high-level skills (formed in their schools and junior rugby). They make an > immediate impact, but take opportunities from our own and also erode our > own junior system. These days, the flow of top players is the other way to > better pay and conditions in the Aussie game. I don't really care about > sport in this sense much, but think there is a lot we could look at in many > ordinary areas of life that explain what we might call the unbalanced score > card of current economics. I can vouch that 'loyalty' changes as soon as > you change club jersey. > > Motivation is complex. > > We like the idea of people making their own way through effort. Yet our > work ethics and meritocracy stand little criticism. So much so that we shy > away from the facts. The import of young foreign labour, one assumes the > best, is an advantage to us and a disadvantage to the original countries > (may be some advantage is remitted wages etc) - almost like the purge of > leaders in Korean POW camps. Taking these best people in also means won't > train our own (may be they are not fit to train?) and wages are depressed. > Work done in our countries is not being done in the poorer ones - where > there is more need. > > Later I would argue the whole business of jobs and reward is based on vile > myths from long ago - yet we keep seeing 'green shoots' and dream of job > creation when it is clear most of these jobs have long needed tax credits > and I would argue that many professions have their equivalents like legal > aid, the gruesome fees that put students in debt.and the weird derivatives > and financial scams that pay CEOs, bankster bonuses and the idle rich. Our > solutions are education, training and a business friendly environment - but > I have seen these fail for 40 years. Germany is way best at all this - but > I bet only Francis has much clue about this in here - and a world of > Germanies is impossible. > > We might start thinking about people in Baltimore and Bolton as awaiting a > similar fate as the Plains Indians after Lincoln - just sitting > unproductively on land - maybe not unlike the Enclosures that provided > people for the conquest of the New World. Just as the Plains Indians > found, there is nowhere to run. Cops even call poor ghettos such as 'The > Swamp' and 'The Reservation'. > , > I favour a form of international work programs funded by positive money > after a debt jubilee - yet this leaves issues on how the world gets > policed, whether we are dealing with scum teenagers or stealing (often > murdering) cockalorums and oligarchs. Many current solutions bring making > silk purses out of sows' ears to mind. Let's fix Baltimore by making all > unemployed black people into rocket scientists! And worse, we have > politically correct idiots about who want to howl such down as racism. > > We could start small - but one suspects 'they' don't want any rivals the > the current mess. We have seen this in many US interventions around the > world at country level, continuing European imperialism (we cling to the > shirt-tails now). Yet the idea in this is partly to prevent any real > rivalry to policing power of Empire. In examining Baltimore, we should > first ask if we would go and live in the deprived areas on benefits and > work our way up with only the money and help available there. Anyone > going! There's a similar area down the road called Union Road. I don't > even drive my car through there, let alone park. > > If you can't get a handle on why we 'know' about "Baltimore" because we > won't go and live in the conditions, then I give up. In older societies > and primitive ones now, we abandon the disabled, less able and old - > weirdly by burying them alive in noble savage communities. Now we use > 'sink estates' (making the song difficult for the next Elvis). My first > question would be whether people abandoned in these places are socially > disabled or impaired - it's often a combination. And when we think of > urban renewal and the rest we might wonder just how socially disabling > neo-liberal economics has become. I fear we intend to kill off our sink > estates because there is no need or profit in their labour. > > On Wednesday, May 13, 2015 at 12:06:55 PM UTC+1, Molly wrote: >> >> Great to see your words in good form here Neil, and hope that means you >> are on the mend. It just isn't the same without you, and I don't know where >> to send the post cards. Such is the nature of these groups, I suppose, but >> after a decade here I notice that for me, your absence is felt deeply. >> >> The problems are indeed age old and may always be the same, but I only >> have to think about what life was like for my grandmother to know how >> quickly life is changing. I've always been grateful that I don't have to >> sew my own sanitary napkins together from old sheets and have always had >> cars to zip around in. Because I am the grandmother now I don't know if >> I've told the story of Big Bill Ricketts, my great grandfather, who was >> Sheriff of Ames Iowa, which lent my grandmother an "Andy of Mayberry" >> childhood, but without cars for transportation, phones in every home etc. >> When the depression hit, and people began to starve, Big Bill had to stop >> treating the vagrant prisoners so well, taking them to the city limits and >> rolling them instead of putting them in a cell for the night with a good >> dinner. Circumstance has much to do with community life. you g >> >> I saw an NPR article that showed a graph depicting immigration statistics >> to the US, Indian & Chinese 20 somethings being 90%. That ought to change >> things up. >> >> On Tuesday, May 12, 2015 at 2:01:40 PM UTC-4, archytas wrote: >>> >>> To shift anything in the world of poverty we need to take a very cold >>> look at what doesn't work. This is true in general organisational change. >>> This raises the immediate problem of sounding negative and even racist >>> about whoever is poor. I see the same problems now as 40 years ago with >>> much the same non-solutions on offer, usually massively under-funded. Like >>> Don I see throwing money at the problems more of less useless. The big >>> ideological 'solutions' whether capitalist or socialist have failed >>> everywhere and neither strike me as rational. These latter seem to >>> function only as means to prevent sensible alternatives being discussed. >>> >>> Francis and I could probably do a 24/7/month doing a filibuster on >>> social epistemology, Critical Theory and economics (even this has at least >>> 9 forms) between us. Fear not, I suspect we both know such is practically >>> hopeless other than as a torture device. It all grinds down to most expert >>> opinion being the self-interested yakker of particular groups. 'Yakker' >>> probably means talking from the nakkers. I have long wanted us to look at >>> new ways of discussion and action. In academic terms we don't do argument, >>> though this is not to say there is much 'cure' about in the academy. This >>> view is put forward by Dan Sperber and others in weak form. We need >>> something much more simple as a framework. >>> >>> First of all I think existing knowledge cannot be the answer. I could >>> cobble together academic papers on regional economic renewal in a few >>> months - but I did plenty of that once to no real effect other than as >>> adjuncts to bids for project finance and know even 'successful' projects >>> don't really work. I can claim over £10 million and none of it did much >>> other than support a few bullshit jobs for a while and stress me half to >>> death. It's a lousy and corrupt business and I even saw a really good >>> project attract mainstream funding and then get worse! >>> >>> The first problem in community involvement is the nature of the >>> community needing help. We may seem to know little about relevant bits of >>> Baltimore or Bolton, but we know enough not to live there. Even if we get >>> the chance to travel to Rwanda we will live in the comfortable ex-pat >>> community in Kigali and I spent time as an economic-educational advisor >>> flying in steel tubes between good meals and rarely speaking other than >>> English. I did seem to pierce this bubble more often than colleagues, but >>> really I have been no more part of targeted communities than most. I'd say >>> the biggest problem is our own middle-class ideologies - the real ones, not >>> the ones we can learn to speak. Few of us are capable of looking at the >>> real data and then working from the facts. The most radical Critical >>> Theorist is quickly found not to live next door to drunken, druggie, >>> criminal and loud neighbours or work among them other than as a >>> professional living somewhere else. My nearest was as a cop undercover in >>> France. And I can point to police action so stupid no one would take what >>> I could say at face value not far away. >>> >>> We regularly imagine some kind of invisible economic hand will fix >>> things, but I now suspect jobs in the old sense no longer exist to be >>> 'brought back'. Worse, in western societies I suspect most jobs are >>> already bullshit jobs we would not miss if no one did them. The next >>> financial bust may also become a jobs' bust like the period between the >>> wars - and remember that was corrected by war. The US, in this sense, >>> looks much like the old British Empire with a comparable and larger number >>> under arms. >>> >>> Can anyone tell me what products they can imagine we need if we could >>> get growth, that would form the basis of a stable situation of jobs for >>> all? This is tough enough, then one has to think of comparative advantage >>> and what other countries could do to have full employment too. Germany >>> does better than others, but translate this economy across the globe and we >>> finally throw a match into an atmosphere that will burn. >>> >>> The real answers on growing green and world peace lie outside current >>> economics. We have just had, in an apparently well-educated country (UK), >>> a few months of hopeless election coverage and a weird result against >>> opinion polling, that contained no sensible economics, nothing of any >>> interest to me, and a majority government on 37% of votes cast and maybe as >>> low as 20% of the potential vote when one considers that only 67% of >>> registered voters voted and somewhere between 7 and 10 million were not >>> registered. It's actually worse than this. We have 650 first past the >>> post constituencies and in 550 of them one party tends to get in whatever >>> and so only about 100 matter as changeable in the election. In these >>> marginals only around 20% of swing voters matter. The winners worked very >>> well in these marginals on a tiny percentage.of our population. >>> >>> Not much we can debate is "real". American friends now face even longer >>> elections in which the majority will probably not vote and with coverage as >>> presstituted as that in the UK. I mean no 'vote this way' politics in any >>> of this. >>> >>> Even shifting poor people out into the burbs is no good if they don't >>> get income. How is this income going to happen in an economy with nearly >>> 95 million of working age 'not in the economy'? We have a very similar >>> problem here and those with low skills remain more or less unmarketable. >>> Think of the numbers on tax credits too, employed on subsidy. 54% of even >>> Americans get some kind of welfare. Now wonder if any of this will get >>> much election coverage.. We seem to be living in deluded faith that >>> economies can recover in the old business cycle sense. >>> >>> When I lecture these days, I start out with a blank paper equivalent to >>> test knowledge of how current economies work. They are returned blank. I >>> guess we should start in some kind of admitted ignorance. Someone tell me >>> what jobs black unemployed in largely blac ghettoes can do, what training >>> they could do and so on. Then, as dots are supposed to join up in >>> economics, lets have some answers on whose jobs such lucky black people >>> might take? And whether you would bother as an entrepreneur to take on the >>> expense of the training, possibly low attitude and aptitude population, >>> rather than employ some already ready others? >>> >>> Drongoes wanting to moral high ground me as racist in this last bit >>> should leave their heads in the sand. You won't help. >>> >>> On Monday, Md even racisay 11, 2015 at 12:52:40 PM UTC+1, Allan Heretic >>> wrote: >>>> >>>> The inner citues are truly a work of art. In 1965 (I was 18) i was >>>> volunteered to teach a reading class in the inner city section of L.A. >>>> known as Watts. At the time my education was pitiful but compared to the >>>> kids in the area it was as if i had several doctoral and masters degrees. >>>> It was some class.. they were young kids. Though it was not much we had >>>> a total of 2 books both the same. We sat on the floor as we only had a >>>> mattress with a couple of blankets. We took turns read or i should say >>>> they read.. and helped them when they stumbled or didn't know the word.. >>>> in >>>> a way we had a lot of fun.. joined the navy and was in boot camp when the >>>> riots hit . (I was very lucky to be out of there.) >>>> Oddly many years later i was approached by a nicely dressed black >>>> lady. She bought me coffee and lunch saying i had given her the knowledge >>>> that she to could read.. she was a beautiful soul.. she said that too gave >>>> reading classes and only need two of the same books. >>>> It really does not take much mostly the desire to help others. >>>> >>>> تجنب. القتل والاغتصاب واستعباد الآخرين >>>> Avoid; murder, rape and enslavement of others >>>> >>>> -----Original Message----- >>>> From: Molly <[email protected]> >>>> To: [email protected], [email protected] >>>> Sent: Mon, 11 May 2015 12:49 PM >>>> Subject: Re: Mind's Eye Re: Cops and robbers >>>> >>>> Poverty sucks for every culture, Don, and there are so many catch 22 >>>> factors involved like mental health and addiction. 90% of what goes >>>> through >>>> a county court system involves one if not both of those on some level. Not >>>> easy to break out of if you are raised in it. In the 90s Chicago was >>>> recruiting former athletes that were raised in those situations to go back >>>> and work with kids there to give them hope. They were a great group of >>>> guys >>>> who did a lot of good. The program may still be in place, not sure. >>>> >>>> On Sunday, May 10, 2015 at 4:08:05 PM UTC-4, Don Johnson wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Oh yeah, forgot about the harbor. I'm really just talking about the >>>>> really bad neighborhoods anyway. The kind of neighborhoods you'd have to >>>>> be >>>>> a junkie or mentally disabiled to actually want to live in. IF they can >>>>> be >>>>> saved, fine. Using Chicago as a template I don't see that happening. >>>>> Looking at who's in charge over there I don't see that happening. They'll >>>>> get hundreds of millions of State, Federal and Charity dollars and they >>>>> will line their pockets and piss the rest away with fresh paint and >>>>> pinewood shacks. That's the ugly truth. >>>>> >>>>> My brother used to be Director of Radiation Control for the Navy but >>>>> now heads the EPA Dept. He still goes to all the shipyards, including >>>>> Japan, fairly regularly. I know he was over there in Baltimore last week >>>>> I >>>>> wonder if the riots affected their routine. Actually he was in Kittery >>>>> last >>>>> week don't know about Baltimore. >>>>> >>>>> Your right about the Moms, Molly. I've been impressed by single black >>>>> moms before. Particularly sports star's moms. 6 or 8 kids and she manages >>>>> to raise decent human being on her own and even one or two that end up >>>>> really excelling. Impressive. The dead beat dads I have a healthy dose of >>>>> contempt for. Some cultures suck. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> On Sun, May 10, 2015 at 9:56 AM, Molly <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> We have a long way to go with race relations in this country, Don. >>>>>> Our personal feelings are one place to begin because we have complete >>>>>> influence on them. My own are by no means pure, and I've had to flush >>>>>> out >>>>>> much cultural programming over the years. Since it's mother's day, I >>>>>> will >>>>>> say that in every race, barring mental health and addiction issues, >>>>>> mothers >>>>>> want the best for their children including opportunities to succeed >>>>>> given >>>>>> the resources available. I have seen this and lived it. >>>>>> >>>>>> I can't say that Baltimore does not want to be helped. When I was >>>>>> there on business I loved the city and the harbor, but learned little of >>>>>> the politics effecting it now. Because of the navy's presence in the >>>>>> harbor, I imagine that this brings several federal security agencies >>>>>> into >>>>>> town to maintain order, as is also the case in Detroit. I see Baltimore >>>>>> as >>>>>> a city worth saving. And not just because it is in Mary-land. >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> On Saturday, May 9, 2015 at 7:55:54 PM UTC-4, Don Johnson wrote: >>>>>>> >>>>>>> You can't save a town that doesn't want to be saved. If I was king >>>>>>> shit of turd mountain I'd focus on those individuals and families that >>>>>>> want >>>>>>> to be saved. I'd get them the hell out of Baltimore and set them up in >>>>>>> the >>>>>>> 'burbs somewhere. It's worked before. The rest can burn; I'm fed up. >>>>>>> The >>>>>>> same goes with the ME. And Africa. Anywhere oppressed with Sharia law. >>>>>>> Those that want to be saved; come here. Assimilate. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> But no. Pardon moi. I think I just went all bigoted and racist. Live >>>>>>> and let live as they say. I'll just mind my own beeswax. Nothing to see >>>>>>> here. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> On Thu, May 7, 2015 at 10:08 AM, archytas <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> We have almost become each other Francis - I used that poem in my >>>>>>>> doctorate and now find myself agreeing everything you say like the >>>>>>>> worst of >>>>>>>> disciples! The rough beast is obvious - I was more impressed by the >>>>>>>> bit >>>>>>>> about the best lacking all conviction and who now had conviction. The >>>>>>>> German public were voting for parties that would end democracy - Nazis >>>>>>>> and >>>>>>>> Communists - how often do we see that with Muslim Brotherhoods and the >>>>>>>> West's now de facto behind-the-scenes one-unelected-party state. I >>>>>>>> went >>>>>>>> through a phase of trying to make leadership a key factor, but in the >>>>>>>> end I >>>>>>>> hate the concept for its lack of 'biology', real history and >>>>>>>> anthropology. >>>>>>>> I always think of the septic tank theory of society with the really >>>>>>>> big >>>>>>>> chunks rising to the top.. >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Veblen was writing in the same times. His hope was in >>>>>>>> technological progress matched to human needs and his rough beast the >>>>>>>> business-financial control system - I lump the latter as the >>>>>>>> 'allocation >>>>>>>> class'. Soddy was doing economics too, saying we would be better off >>>>>>>> with >>>>>>>> a few good adding machines than the banksters. There was much >>>>>>>> discussion >>>>>>>> of lytric systems - the word doesn't google now. Today's talk is in >>>>>>>> Modern >>>>>>>> Monetary Theory and Positive Money and would have relevant application >>>>>>>> in >>>>>>>> such as Detroit, the Middle East and Bolton. Jumping somewhat, >>>>>>>> Molly's >>>>>>>> local ideas have much merit until one thinks of the rough beast >>>>>>>> bogeyman of >>>>>>>> economics and their failure almost everywhere for 50 years. Talk of >>>>>>>> economies coming back is rarely true - though I have made such claims >>>>>>>> in >>>>>>>> regional economic forums to get hands on what relief effort (EU grants >>>>>>>> mostly) was up for grabs. Molly as Mary is a spokesperson for such an >>>>>>>> outfit. I worked with people from Chicago more than 15 years ago >>>>>>>> doing >>>>>>>> much the same. >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Positive Money could bring the rough beast of economic externality >>>>>>>> to heel in the local. Such would be an attack on the allocation class >>>>>>>> through government by the people. I pronounce this world revolution >>>>>>>> feeling too knackerd to put up a couple of replacement fence panels! >>>>>>>> Old >>>>>>>> Boxer feels on his way to the glue factory. The scheme sounds rather >>>>>>>> too >>>>>>>> like the Nazi effort for comfort, rather than Soviet Paradise, in >>>>>>>> economic-social terms. The first thing one must accept is the current >>>>>>>> economic system cannot work for peaceful, stable, reasonably >>>>>>>> egalitarian >>>>>>>> outcomes. The idea that it can is a myth, held by many, especially >>>>>>>> Americans, that we can fine tune the current system. >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> There are many voices on positive money, whether they refer to it >>>>>>>> or not directly. Zerohedge has the libertarians, naked capitalism the >>>>>>>> MMT >>>>>>>> and the notion is implied in all social epistemology (Critical Theory >>>>>>>> etc) >>>>>>>> economic geography and the heterdox economists like Steve Keen. >>>>>>>> Economists >>>>>>>> generally are a dire block to the discussion and I agree with fellow >>>>>>>> scientists that their departments should be closed. I favour bringing >>>>>>>> a >>>>>>>> much wider form of project based money and learning into operation. >>>>>>>> There >>>>>>>> are some small examples. >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> The big question is how to do anything under the gaze of the >>>>>>>> Establishment gun. We are, of course, up to our arses in alligators >>>>>>>> and >>>>>>>> only now thinking of draining the swamp (and hopefully concerned to >>>>>>>> relocate the alligators). If we were able to find a model that worked >>>>>>>> in >>>>>>>> practice, there is still a history in which we don't transfer it in >>>>>>>> order >>>>>>>> to maintain beggar they neighbour. Afghanistan is a good example, >>>>>>>> though >>>>>>>> there are many. Modernisation there has repeatedly been kiboshed by >>>>>>>> the >>>>>>>> West since the 1920's, even to power systems on the Hellmand river >>>>>>>> raising >>>>>>>> salt into the agricultural land leaving it fit for poppy growing. >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> My guess is the technical doing isn't that hard. >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> On Thursday, May 7, 2015 at 2:13:57 PM UTC+1, frantheman wrote: >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; >>>>>>>>> Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, >>>>>>>>> The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere >>>>>>>>> The ceremony of innocence is drowned;, >>>>>>>>> The best lack all conviction, while the worst >>>>>>>>> Are full of passionate intensity. >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Yeats' "Second Coming" is nearly 100 years old now, written in the >>>>>>>>> immediate aftermath of WWI and in the middle of a six year convulsive >>>>>>>>> period (1916-1922) which led to Irish independence. I've read >>>>>>>>> somewhere >>>>>>>>> that it's one of the most quoted poems in the English language - the >>>>>>>>> "rough >>>>>>>>> beast [...] slouching towards Bethlehem to be born" seems to ring all >>>>>>>>> kinds >>>>>>>>> of bells. Reading your latest post, Neil, brought the first verse >>>>>>>>> immediately to my mind. >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Even data has problems; what data do you collect (though this >>>>>>>>> problem is solved if you collect everything about everything, which >>>>>>>>> is now >>>>>>>>> the normal digital standard, from Google to the NSA), more >>>>>>>>> importantly, >>>>>>>>> what criterea do you use to sort it - or, put more contemporarily, >>>>>>>>> what >>>>>>>>> algorithms do you use to mine it? >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> To quote another fellow Irishman, Oscar Wilde has a character in >>>>>>>>> "Earnest" observe; "The truth is rarely pure and never simple." In >>>>>>>>> our >>>>>>>>> fractured post-modernist realities, truth has become irrelevant. You >>>>>>>>> have >>>>>>>>> your truth, I have mine, the Salafist living across the road from me >>>>>>>>> has >>>>>>>>> another, the neo-Nazi down the street yet another. In the social >>>>>>>>> media the >>>>>>>>> extremists from both sides shout without listening and any nuanced >>>>>>>>> and more >>>>>>>>> complex analysis is, at best, ignored, more frequently >>>>>>>>> instrumentalised by >>>>>>>>> the one or other extreme. >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> The recent British election campaign has shown that neither of the >>>>>>>>> putative Prime Ministers wants to say anything real about any serious >>>>>>>>> issue, for fear of alienating potential supporters. They've both been >>>>>>>>> trying to learn from the doyenne of no-speak, Angela Merkel here in >>>>>>>>> Germany, whose only principle is to say as little as possible while, >>>>>>>>> at the >>>>>>>>> same time, mastering the art of producing anodyne balm for the >>>>>>>>> insecure, >>>>>>>>> self-righteous petit bourgeois soul of the German majority. >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> The first season of The Wire (in my view one of the best series TV >>>>>>>>> has ever produced) will be 13 years old next month. One of the >>>>>>>>> frightening >>>>>>>>> things about Baltimore is that the city and US society seem to have >>>>>>>>> learned >>>>>>>>> exactly nothing from David Simon's work. >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> "Il faut cultiver notre jardin," Voltaire's Candide increasingly >>>>>>>>> seems to me to have got it right. As you say, the temptation to >>>>>>>>> retreat to >>>>>>>>> an ivory tower, having secured - as far as possible - the necessities >>>>>>>>> of >>>>>>>>> basic living, is almost overwhelming. >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> And yet ... and yet ... >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Maybe all we can do is just not give up, try to cultivate decency >>>>>>>>> and humanity and openness and listening to each other in our own >>>>>>>>> lives and >>>>>>>>> in the small islands of dignity we can discover in our ordinary >>>>>>>>> lives. And >>>>>>>>> protest in our own little ways against the lies, and >>>>>>>>> oversimplifications, >>>>>>>>> and hypocrisy, and bigotry. Shout out. And howl ... >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, >>>>>>>>> starving hysterical naked, >>>>>>>>> dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking >>>>>>>>> for an angry fix, >>>>>>>>> angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly >>>>>>>>> connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night ... >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Am Montag, 4. Mai 2015 12:59:15 UTC+2 schrieb Molly: >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> The big ongoing news here in the states is the rash of clash >>>>>>>>>> between demonstrators and police. The demonstrations are >>>>>>>>>> (supposedly) >>>>>>>>>> brought on by the ever growing voice against the use of excessive >>>>>>>>>> force by >>>>>>>>>> police. It is such a complex issue, and the demonstrations >>>>>>>>>> themselves are >>>>>>>>>> not a simple problem. >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> Since living in Detroit I've heard many storied about how the >>>>>>>>>> riots of 1967 altered the course of history for the city, and >>>>>>>>>> changed >>>>>>>>>> individual lives forever. Most recently, I cried like a baby >>>>>>>>>> listening to >>>>>>>>>> the eulogy of a fine man given my his loving wife, my friend. He was >>>>>>>>>> a >>>>>>>>>> catholic priest at the time, and she a Detroit resident. He left the >>>>>>>>>> priesthood afterward and they married a couple of years later. There >>>>>>>>>> were >>>>>>>>>> over 40 priests at the services, three from Rome officiated the >>>>>>>>>> funeral >>>>>>>>>> mass. This guy was on the fast track to Cardinal when the riots >>>>>>>>>> shook his >>>>>>>>>> very core and changed his value system forever. >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> It gets me thinking about the very nature of the waves of >>>>>>>>>> demonstrations. In the sixties, of course, they were spurred by >>>>>>>>>> civil >>>>>>>>>> rights issues, Then the war in Vietnam (four dead in Ohio). Now it >>>>>>>>>> seems, >>>>>>>>>> in the age of transparency, the relationship between law enforcement >>>>>>>>>> and >>>>>>>>>> the criminals they deter (treatment during the time of arrest.) >>>>>>>>>> Complicated >>>>>>>>>> and exacerbated by the new "protest for hire" gang, the same well >>>>>>>>>> funded >>>>>>>>>> group that travels the US heightening racial tension (Al Sharpton, >>>>>>>>>> Jessie >>>>>>>>>> Jackson.) Baltimore's riots had a big gang problem that hasn't been >>>>>>>>>> seen >>>>>>>>>> yet, the street gangs hoping on board in an organized way to conduct >>>>>>>>>> criminal activity in the chaos. Something's gotta give. >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> Certainly, the police methods employed in some metropolitan >>>>>>>>>> cities should be eliminated and cleaned up. But the police have to >>>>>>>>>> be able >>>>>>>>>> to defend themselves and do their job (which should be protecting >>>>>>>>>> and >>>>>>>>>> serving the public.) Where any of that goes off the rail is where it >>>>>>>>>> gets >>>>>>>>>> murky. >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> When we can't have civil unrest without it being corrupted by >>>>>>>>>> monied interests looking to make things worse, there is little hope >>>>>>>>>> for >>>>>>>>>> societal change. This may be the reason for the current chaos. >>>>>>>>>> Follow the >>>>>>>>>> money. >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> -- >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> --- >>>>>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>>>>>> Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. >>>>>>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, >>>>>>>> send an email to [email protected]. >>>>>>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> -- >>>>>> >>>>>> --- >>>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>>>> Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. >>>>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, >>>>>> send an email to [email protected]. >>>>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >>>>>> >>>>> >>>>> -- >>>> >>>> --- >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>> Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. >>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>>> an email to [email protected]. >>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >>>> >>> -- --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. 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