[Marxism] Jonathan Cook - Palestinians will be t he losers – again
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == By Jonathan Cook - 17 Nov 2010 *Palestinians will be the losers – again* clip - http://www.israeli-occupation.org/2010-11-17/jonathan-cook-obama%E2%80%99s-bribe/ Watching the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians drag on year after year without conclusion, it is easy to overlook the enormous changes that have taken place on the ground since the Oslo Accords were signed 17 years ago. Each has undermined the Palestinians’ primary goal of achieving viable statehood, whether it is the near-trebling of Jewish settlers on Palestinian land to the current numbers of half a million, Israel’s increasing stranglehold on East Jerusalem, the wall that has effectively annexed large slices of the West Bank to Israel, or the splitting of the Palestinian national movement into rival camps following Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza in 2005. Another setback of similar magnitude may be unfolding as Barack Obama dangles a lavish package of incentives in the face of Benjamin Netanyahu in an attempt to lure the Israeli prime minister into renewing a three-month, partial freeze on Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank. full -- http://www.israeli-occupation.org/2010-11-17/jonathan-cook-obama%E2%80%99s-bribe/ http://www.israeli-occupation.org/2010-11-17/jonathan-cook-obama%E2%80%99s-bribe/ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] A new spectre haunts the WSJ
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == - Original Message - From: DW dwalters...@gmail.com Michael, I think the comparison one what China is doing with the what the US is or was doing are like apples and koala bears. There simply is no comparison albeit the motivations for both economies might be similar. Actually David I should clarify that the main point I was making was to ridicule the claim in the WSJ article that it is the free market in the US which was being contrasted to China's state-capitalism or whatever we call it, pointing to the fact that the US state (and other capitalist states) also give huge favours, include bucket loads of cash, to favoured businesses. I wasn't saying they are the same, but I concede my China does it better is a significant understatement. In fact while I agree with most of SArtesian's comments I probably am somewhat more impressed than he is, quite genuinely, with what China has done the last half-decade, and not only from the point of view of it being more effective from a capitalist point of view than the US model. A lot of that infrastructure probably is good and necessary, and as you say the Chinese capitalist state is being very successful - well apparently, to date anyway - in promoting its national bourgeoisie. Perhaps a better comparison than the current US stimulus would be Roosevelt's infrastructure program. But that is kind of the point too - US and Chinese capitalism have different needs and are at very different stages of development. It's quite possible however that quite a lot of that infrastrcuture is not so good and necessary, however, as the drive to hand out contracts to the national bourgeoisie and semi-'state' companies driven by profit, and with connections to various politicians, can have a life of its own in the process of accumulation of capital. If some of it does become dinosaurs it won't be those making a buck now who will pay in the future. For example, I haven't studied much about China's High Speed Rail but SArtesian's explanation of why such trains can't carry freight was very enlightening, because Vietnam has just gone through a similar discussion, and I hadn't quite got it (the point being that if they could carry freight they may be a little more viable). In Vietnam's case, the proposal was to build a 350 km/hr HSR from Hanoi to Saigon, to do the trip in 6 hours. Now personally that sounds like a dream to me, I'd do that rather than take a plane any day, but at a cost of 54 billion USD - some 50-60% of the country's GDP on one project - it met huge opposition and was actually voted down by the National Assembly despite strong advocacy by the government and most of the party leadership. How much land was it going to steal from peasants for shitty compensation, how many normal small roads or train lines or bridges or other simple infrastructure that would actually be used by people throughout the country could have been built with just a fraction of this sum? I'm glad it was canned, and I just wonder how many similar issues there are with the Chinese case. Actually it is not the only piece of grand infrastrcuture development recently rejected by the National Assembly following much opposition recently, it also rejected a plan by the government to move the entire governing apparatus from the centre to a new developing part of Hanoi where the rich have moved to; many believed it was a way for a bunch of connected people to buy up land cheap and cash in as land prices in the area hit the sky. The fact that things get knocked back here (there was also a small scale victory in a major park in hanoi preventing hotel development, for example) is one reason the development of infrastrcuture is so far behind China, though of course being a much poorer country has much to do with that too. My problem with all these articles about how dizzying China's recent infrastructure development has been is how much of a story are we missing about peasants and poor urban residents being shunted off their living places, relocated, getting shitty compensation, how many small scale struggles were efficiently suppressed by the cops in order for such a dizzying speed to have been achieved. One of this plethora of articles for example described how the IOC had to tell China to slow down as it had completed its Olympic Stadium so long before time. What tales of resistance and suppression were involved there? The result certainly is impressive - we recently went up to Beijing and its a first world city, whole worlds away from Hanoi. As for where you deny state companies are putting much into real estate, luxury apartment blocks, luxury hotels and other such construction nonsense, there was this article posted
[Marxism] Ramsy Baroud - who decides how the oppressed should fight their oppression?
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == clip - Violence and nonviolence are mostly collective decisions that are shaped and driven by specific political and socioeconomic conditions and contexts. Unfortunately, the violence of the occupier has a tremendous role in creating and manipulating these conditions. It is unsurprising that the Second Palestinian Uprising was much more violent than the first, and that violent resistance in Palestine gained a huge boost after the victory scored by the Lebanese resistance in 2000, and again in 2006. These factors must be contemplated seriously and with humility, and their complexity should be taken into account before any judgments are made. No oppressed nation should be faced with the demands that Palestinians constantly face. There may well be a thousand Palestinian Gandhis. There may be none. Frankly, it shouldn't matter. Only the unique experience of the Palestinian people and their genuine struggle for freedom could yield what Palestinians as a collective deem appropriate for their own. This is what happened with the people of India, France, Algeria, South Africa, and many other nations that sought and eventually attained their freedom. full -- http://www.truth-out.org/who-decides-how-oppressed-should-fight-oppression65044 Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Israel and apartheid - it's just rubbish
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == I have been calling Israel an apartheid state for years now--I was quite surprised to see my analysis was rubbish. Well, not just my analysis. For anyone interested, the following is a link to a substantial study conducted in South Africa by an international team of scholars, jurists, etc. Executive Summary and Full Report are available. Sorry if this was posted here before... --begin quote-- The Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa (HSRC) has released a study indicating that Israel is practicing both colonialism and apartheid in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). The study is being posted for public debate on this website. The HSRC commissioned an international team of scholars and practitioners of international public law from South Africa, the United Kingdom, Israel and the West Bank to conduct the study. The resulting 300-page draft, titled Occupation, Colonialism, Apartheid?: A re-assessment of Israel's practices in the occupied Palestinian territories under international law, represents 15 months of research and constitutes an exhaustive review of Israel's practices in the OPT according to definitions of colonialism and apartheid provided by international law. The project was suggested originally by the January 2007 report by eminent South African jurist John Dugard, in his capacity as Special Rapporteur to the United Nations Human Rights Council, when he indicated that Israel practices had assumed characteristics of colonialism and apartheid. [...] The Report finds that Israeli practices in the OPT exhibit the same [as South Africa] three 'pillars' of apartheid: The first pillar derives from Israeli laws and policies that establish Jewish identity for purposes of law and afford a preferential legal status and material benefits to Jews over non-Jews. The second pillar is reflected in Israel's 'grand' policy to fragment the OPT [and] ensure that Palestinians remain confined to the reserves designated for them while Israeli Jews are prohibited from entering those reserves but enjoy freedom of movement throughout the rest of the Palestinian territory. This policy is evidenced by Israel's extensive appropriation of Palestinian land, which continues to shrink the territorial space available to Palestinians; the hermetic closure and isolation of the Gaza Strip from the rest of the OPT; the deliberate severing of East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank; and the appropriation and construction policies serving to carve up the West Bank into an intricate and well-serviced network of connected settlements for Jewish-Israelis and an archipelago of besieged and non-contiguous enclaves for Palestinians. The third pillar is Israel's invocation of 'security' to validate sweeping restrictions on Palestinian freedom of opinion, expression, assembly, association and movement [to] mask a true underlying intent to suppress dissent to its system of domination and thereby maintain control over Palestinians as a group. ---end quote--- http://www.hsrc.ac.za/Media_Release-378.phtml On 11/15/10, Andrew Pollack acpolla...@gmail.com wrote: == Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Ismail's de facto support for Zionism is not worth responding to -- except as a hook to report that Palestinians in the US are proving in practice their determination and steadfastness. They just held their second popular conference under the auspices of the US Palestinian Community Network, and are better equipped than ever to challenge the capitulationist and collaborationist trends among the quisling Palestinian ruling class, and to work with progressive allies in other movements: http://popular.palestineconference.org/final-statement/ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/mason.akhnaten%40gmail.com Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Zionism is Not Apartheid
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Mason, this has nothing to do with YOUR analysis... Calling it apartheid is a superficial statement - it is something much deeper more dangerous and offensive. You could remove apartheid legislation (don't misread/misrepresent this; I am fully aware of the structural conditions in the country). You can't remove the Zionist entity. I don't usually discuss Israel/Zionism I should not have entered the discussion. I apologise. Ismail Ismail Lagardien Department of Politics and Public Administration Elon University Elon, NC 27244 Tel: +1(612) 227-5037 (Personal) From: Mason Akhnaten mason.akhna...@gmail.com To: Ismail Lagardien ilagard...@yahoo.com Sent: Thu, 18 November, 2010 19:07:52 Subject: Re: [Marxism] Israel and apartheid - it's just rubbish == Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == I have been calling Israel an apartheid state for years now--I was quite surprised to see my analysis was rubbish. Well, not just my analysis. For anyone interested, the following is a link to a substantial study conducted in South Africa by an international team of scholars, jurists, etc. Executive Summary and Full Report are available. Sorry if this was posted here before... --begin quote-- The Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa (HSRC) has released a study indicating that Israel is practicing both colonialism and apartheid in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). The study is being posted for public debate on this website. The HSRC commissioned an international team of scholars and practitioners of international public law from South Africa, the United Kingdom, Israel and the West Bank to conduct the study. The resulting 300-page draft, titled Occupation, Colonialism, Apartheid?: A re-assessment of Israel's practices in the occupied Palestinian territories under international law, represents 15 months of research and constitutes an exhaustive review of Israel's practices in the OPT according to definitions of colonialism and apartheid provided by international law. The project was suggested originally by the January 2007 report by eminent South African jurist John Dugard, in his capacity as Special Rapporteur to the United Nations Human Rights Council, when he indicated that Israel practices had assumed characteristics of colonialism and apartheid. [...] The Report finds that Israeli practices in the OPT exhibit the same [as South Africa] three 'pillars' of apartheid: The first pillar derives from Israeli laws and policies that establish Jewish identity for purposes of law and afford a preferential legal status and material benefits to Jews over non-Jews. The second pillar is reflected in Israel's 'grand' policy to fragment the OPT [and] ensure that Palestinians remain confined to the reserves designated for them while Israeli Jews are prohibited from entering those reserves but enjoy freedom of movement throughout the rest of the Palestinian territory. This policy is evidenced by Israel's extensive appropriation of Palestinian land, which continues to shrink the territorial space available to Palestinians; the hermetic closure and isolation of the Gaza Strip from the rest of the OPT; the deliberate severing of East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank; and the appropriation and construction policies serving to carve up the West Bank into an intricate and well-serviced network of connected settlements for Jewish-Israelis and an archipelago of besieged and non-contiguous enclaves for Palestinians. The third pillar is Israel's invocation of 'security' to validate sweeping restrictions on Palestinian freedom of opinion, expression, assembly, association and movement [to] mask a true underlying intent to suppress dissent to its system of domination and thereby maintain control over Palestinians as a group. ---end quote--- http://www.hsrc.ac.za/Media_Release-378.phtml On 11/15/10, Andrew Pollack acpolla...@gmail.com wrote: == Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Ismail's de facto support for Zionism is not worth responding to -- except as a hook to report that Palestinians in the US are proving in practice their determination and steadfastness. They just held their second popular conference under the auspices of the US Palestinian Community Network, and are better equipped than ever to challenge the capitulationist and collaborationist trends among the quisling Palestinian
Re: [Marxism] Sweden Issues Arrest Warrant for WikiLeaks' Assange
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Would it not make sense for the US to plant female volunteers? -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 530 898 5321 fax 530 898 5901 http://michaelperelman.wordpress.com Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] New on Climate Capitalism, November 18, 2019
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == CLIMATE AND CAPITALISM An online journal focusing on capitalism, climate change, and the ecosocialist alternative. http://climateandcapitalism.com Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/CandC-FaceBook November 18, 2010 G20 PUSHES BUSINESS AS USUAL, SMALL FARMERS DEMAND SYSTEM CHANGE http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=3468 La Via Campesina Statement: Failed institutions that have impoverished people the world over are being promoted as the solution to the current crisis RESPONDING TO THE COCHABAMBA CHALLENGE http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=3441 Talk by Ian Angus to the teach-in “Lessons from Bolivia: Building a Global Movement for Climate Justice” in Toronto, Saturday November 13 UN WARNS: FOOD PRICES SOAR IN 2010, HIGHER IN 2011 http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=3465 International food import bills could pass the one trillion dollar mark in 2010 with prices of most commodities up sharply CANADIAN GROUP SCAPEGOATS IMMIGRANTS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=3461 New anti-immigration “center” has strong ties to the ruling Conservative Party EVO MORALES: A LETTER TO THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF THE WORLD http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=3454 While we assert that capitalism is the cause of global warming and the destruction of forests, rainforests and Mother Earth, they seek to expand capitalism to the commoditization of nature with the word “green economy” ALBA NATIONS DECLARE: NATURE HAS NO PRICE! http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=3443 Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela declare: “Nature is our home and is the system of which we form a part, and therefore it has infinite value, but it does not have a price and is not for sale.” THE WORLD FOOD CRISIS: CAUSES AND SOLUTIONS http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=3432 Video: Peter Rosset presents the Food Sovereignty vision defended by La Via Campesina + Other Recent articles MALTHUS WITH A COMPUTER http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=3410 BRITISH TRADE UNIONISTS DEMAND ONE MILLION CLIMATE JOBS http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=3401 EUROPE’S BIOFUEL PLANS DRIVING SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=3405 STEWART BRAND IS WRONG ABOUT DDT. WILL HE ADMIT IT? http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=3403 Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] A new spectre haunts the WSJ
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == As an example, Eurostar does allow dedicated freight trains to operate through the channel tunnel, on the same tracks used by the HSR Eurostar. The freight being carried is generally containers on flat cars, or lorrys-- which are of much lighter weight than your average covered hopper, or gondola loaded with steel coil. Such trains are restricted in their hours of operations; the train length; their gross tonnage, and their speed. But more importantly than all that: Eurostar passenger train speeds ARE LIMITED while operating through the channel tunnel to [I think, not sure, haven't ridden the Eurostar in about a year] about 100 km/hr. Consequently any minor deformation of the track by the freight service will have no impact on the Eurostar operation. - Original Message - From: Michael Karadjis mkarad...@gmail.com To: sartes...@earthlink.net Sent: Thursday, November 18, 2010 1:54 PM Subject: Re: [Marxism] A new spectre haunts the WSJ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Sweden Issues Arrest Warrant for WikiLeaks' Assange
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == At this point, it would be the easiest thing in the world for anyone to do that. It can be strung out indefinately with nobody every having to prove anything. ML Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] defend gm tamas
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == A friend in Hungary recently wrote [in part]: We are living a nightmare here. The interwar autocratic regime is being reconstructed. The heads/members of counterpower institutions to the goverment (constitutional court, privy council, media authority, etc) are replaced by political delegates who behave accordingly. As a result a simple confiscation of individuals pension fund savings is on its way and the move cannot be challenged either at the constitutional court (its power being reduced) or by a referandum (subject being not authorized). -- Michael A. Lebowitz Professor Emeritus Economics Department Simon Fraser University University Drive Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6 Director, Programme in 'Transformative Practice and Human Development' Centro Internacional Miranda, P.H. Residencias Anauco Suites, Parque Central, final Av. Bolivar Caracas, Venezuela fax: 0212 5768274/0212 5777231 www.centrointernacionalmiranda.gob.ve mlebo...@sfu.ca Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Australian socialist wins Cartoonist Of The Year Award
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Canberra-based political cartoonist David Pope (AKA Heinrich Hinze) has won one of Australia’s top cartooning honours, taking out the 2010 Cartoonist of the Year Award in Melbourne on Nov 6. When the world is the obscenely ridiculous, unsustainable and cruel path that it is today, we need one, two, three… many David Popes! More: http://peterb1953.wordpress.com/2010/11/19/australias-best-political-cartoonist-wins-cartoonist-of-the-year-award/ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism-Thaxis] Analysis of Russia
http://www.russiaotherpointsofview.com/2010/11/the-third-turn.html?ref=nf November 17, 2010 THE THIRD TURN ROPV CONTRIBUTORS Patrick_Armstrong by Patrick Armstrong The hypothesis of this essay is that the conventional Western view of post-Communist Russia has passed through two cycles and is entering a third. While the first two were grounded mostly on what observers wished to see, the third is shaping up to be based more on reality. Little Brother As Tom Graham wisely observed some years ago: while no one will take seriously a country with a declining GDP, no one can ignore one whose GDP is rising. When the USSR fell apart in 1991, its extraordinarily centralised economy, whose links were now were blocked by new national borders, choked and died. Living standards sank, inflation exploded, the tax base collapsed, state employees went months without pay, factory employees were paid in kind, the social support system failed and the demographic decline that had begun in the Khrushchev period accelerated. All indicators worsened at once. This was the time when free fall was a favourite descriptor. A reminder of this period was a piece that appeared in the Atlantic Monthly in 2001, starkly entitled: Russia is Finished. Still available on the Net, it makes curious reading today. The apparently unstoppable collapse of Russia led to two prevailing views in the West. The first was that Russia was a kind of little brother which Western expertise could educate or lead into a future in which the world had reached the end point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government. In furtherance of this teaching mission, Russia filled with Western NGOs coming to transform its institutions. The second, and related view, was that Russia was no longer a threat but had become a danger. This was the period of red mercury, missing suitcase nukes and other nuclear weapons, crazy Russian generals in the provinces - in short, Russia's collapse was a danger to the rest of us. This first phase might be summed up by the expression that we must help little brother lest he blow up and spatter all over us. But Russians have a different view of the 1990s. I can think of no better illustration than a woman I know in Moscow. At the beginning of the period, she had saved up enough money - about 5000 Rubles - to buy a car. A year later that sum of money would have bought a monthly Moscow transit pass and a year later two loaves of bread. But at least she had a job. While hundreds of thousands saw their standard of living disappear, some individuals, feasting on the decaying carcass, became fabulously wealthy; the apogee of this period was Berezovskiy's boast in 1996 that he, and five others, owned Russia. And perhaps they did: through fixed auctions and financial prestidigitation, they certainly controlled a good deal of it. Much of the so-called free press of the time was devoted to their wars as they calumniated each other in order to steal more. Many Russians acquired bad associations with the word democracy. The democracy the West advocated was experienced by them as theft, corruption, poverty, crime and personal suffering. I recommend two books to readers for this first period: Janine Wedel's Collision and Collusion and Chrystia Freeland's Sale of the Century. Also, I recommend a consideration of the HIID scandal. In my more cynical periods, I think that the lasting effect of all the Western aid/assistance was to teach the Russians how to steal big time. Suspicious Russians, sticking to the zero-sum game, were strengthened in their suspicion that the West really wanted a weak and divided Russia. The Assertive Enemy But in 2000 the decline began to slow. The 1990s had been cursed, from Moscow's perspective, by declining energy prices. Given that the overwhelming proportion of Russia's money-earning exports came from sales of oil and gas, declining prices were a heavy blow. But they began to increase in the late 1990s giving the state budget some openings. Enter Putin. For reasons not entirely clear even now, Yeltsin picked Putin to be his successor. He brought him from St Petersburg where he had been Mayor Anatoliy Sobchak's deputy, to head Russia's internal security force in 1998. He appointed him Prime Minister next year, resigned in his favour and Putin was duly elected President in 2000. Western reporters, mostly based in Moscow and having little knowledge other than in the Rolodexes inherited from their predecessors, fixated on the fact that he had begun his career in the 1st Chief Directorate of the KGB and stuck with that as their descriptor. Had they bothered to go to St Petersburg, they would have learned that he was very well known there because one of his jobs had been the City's contact with Western businesses. But the mould was cast and Putin was forever a Chekist; his speeches and writings - especially his Russia at the turn of the
[Marxism-Thaxis] Moral dilemma
When a guy buys tickets for a basketball game and invites his girl to attend, isn't it fair that he gets at least 50% of a million dollar cash prize if his girl drains the free shot from half court? It was his dough that made that shit happen, right? LikeUnlike · Comment * * * o Would you give the girl half the money if she bought you the tickets, you made the shot? ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
[Marxism-Thaxis] The Democrats and Social Classes
The Democrats and Social Classes By Jack Metzgar November 15, 2010 Working-Class Perspectives http://workingclassstudies.wordpress.com/ It's more than a little frustrating trying to follow Democrats' analysis of social classes in this country. Most of the time now, there are only two classes - the rich (very precisely defined as those with at least $250,000 in annual family income) and the middle class, which includes everybody else. But in the analysis of elections a working class shows up, one which is invariably white and, it seems, predominantly male. Most Democrats, and especially the more progressive ones, know that moving the white working class away from its decades-long lopsided loyalty to the Republican Party is crucial to achieving a long-term governing majority. But instead of appealing to this demographic electoral block directly, it seeks to lump them in with what Dems think is a universally beloved middle class. This is a tactical mistake, as in many working-class precincts calling somebody middle class is meant as a put down and an insult - somebody who doesn't live real life, lacks common sense, and yet thinks they're all better. Believe me, I've been on the front end of this insult, sometimes deservedly so. Of all the ways of defining class in America the one that gets the least attention is how people self- identify - that is, what class people see themselves as being in. In exit polls, for example, you get a choice of White, Black, Hispanic/Latino, Asian, or Other in defining your race. There is no such question for class. Rather, pollsters ask questions about education and income, and then analysts assign people to various classes based on the analysts' own definitions. As is often pointed out on this site, the one national survey that consistently asks people to identify themselves by class has for decades found about 46% self-identify as working class and another 46% as middle class. Nobody has any idea how voters who see themselves as working class have actually voted - ever. Over the last decade, through what has often been a rich debate among political scientists, journalists, political operatives, and statisticians, the presence or absence of a bachelor's degree has come to be used as a marker identifying voters as either working class or middle class. Because having a bachelor's degree correlates pretty strongly with having a professional or managerial job and because these jobs correlate with higher incomes, this is a serviceable marker for middle class. Likewise, because the two- thirds of jobs that are not professional or managerial usually do not require bachelor's degrees and have lower average incomes, the absence of a bachelor's degree is a good-enough way of locating the working class among voters. Until exit-pollsters provide voters with a range of choices on class, as they do now for race, this education marker is the best we can do in measuring how social class affects voting. Problem is that in the last two elections, these two broad classes voted almost exactly the same way. In 2008 both college graduates and no college degree voters voted for Barack Obama by a margin of about 53% to 46%, whereas both groups in 2010 voted 52% to 46% for Congressional Republicans. So, there was a big swing in the last two years, but both the working class and the middle class swung exactly the same way and to the same degree. Thus, class by itself seems not to affect how people vote. If, however, you measure class along with race, then class matters a bit more. Neither class of whites gave Obama a majority in 2008, but middle-class whites gave him 47% of their vote, while working-class whites gave him only 40% of theirs. Meanwhile, among non-white voters (lumping together all Black, Hispanic/Latino, Asian and Other voters), there was a similar degree of difference by class but in the opposite direction - working-class non-whites gave Obama a larger majority (83%) than middle-class non-whites (75%). A similar race-class pattern occurred in the 2010 Congressional elections, with working-class whites giving Republicans 62% while middle-class whites gave them 57%, whereas working-class non-whites were more decisively Dem at 77% than middle-class non-whites at 71%. Two conclusions emerge from this breakdown: One is that race matters way more than class. In fact, very few large groups of whites have voted majority Democratic at the national level for decades. Using only the exit polls, which do not cover all possible groupings, the only whites who gave Obama a national majority in 2008 were Jews (83%), whites with no religion (71%) or other religion (67%), and 18- to-29-year-olds (54%) - though it is important to add that Obama won white majorities in 19 states and in the Northeast as a whole. The other conclusion is that the single largest race- class grouping, the base of the base of the Republican Party in America, is working-class whites. Even though
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] Moral dilemma
If it was me making the million dollar shot, I would say, lets go to Vegas and get married. Or Ohio. After all, if she invited me on a date, it means their is an interest. WL. In a message dated 11/18/2010 9:29:38 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, _cb31...@gmail.com_ (mailto:cb31...@gmail.com) writes: When a guy buys tickets for a basketball game and invites his girl to attend, isn't it fair that he gets at least 50% of a million dollar cash prize if his girl drains the free shot from half court? It was his dough that made that shit happen, right? LikeUnlike · Comment * * * o Would you give the girl half the money if she bought you the tickets, you made the shot? This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from _http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm_ (http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm) ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] Moral dilemma
On Thu, Nov 18, 2010 at 11:27 AM, waistli...@aol.com wrote: If it was me making the million dollar shot, I would say, lets go to Vegas and get married. Or Ohio. Without a prenuptual agreement ? After all, if she invited me on a date, it means their is an interest. WL. In a message dated 11/18/2010 9:29:38 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, _cb31...@gmail.com_ (mailto:cb31...@gmail.com) writes: When a guy buys tickets for a basketball game and invites his girl to attend, isn't it fair that he gets at least 50% of a million dollar cash prize if his girl drains the free shot from half court? It was his dough that made that shit happen, right? LikeUnlike · Comment * * * o Would you give the girl half the money if she bought you the tickets, you made the shot? This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from _http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm_ (http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm) ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
[Marxism-Thaxis] Spanish Lesson: Are computers masculine or feminine ?
I know the answer. Software is feminine and hardware is masculine
CB
Subject: Spanish Lesson
A SPANISH Teacher was explaining to her class that in Spanish, unlike
English, nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine.
'House' for instance, is feminine: 'la casa.'
'Pencil,' however, is masculine: 'el lapiz.'
A student asked, 'What gender is 'computer'?'
Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups,
male and female, and asked them to decide for themselves whether computer'
should be a masculine or a feminine noun. Each group was asked to give four
reasons for its recommendation.
The men's group decided that 'computer' should definitely be of the feminine
gender ('la computadora'), because:
1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic;
2 The native language they use to communicate with other computers is
incomprehensible to everyone else;
3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible
later retrieval; and
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half
your paycheck on accessories for it.
(THIS GETS BETTER!)
The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be Masculine
('el computador'), because:
1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on;
2. They have a lot of data but still can't think for themselves;
3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE
the problem; and
4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little
longer, you could have gotten a better model.
The women won.
Send this to all the smart women you know...and all the men that have a
sense of humor.
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