date:20040803

I would never have read this if it hadn't been
referenced by Kenneth.

You have stated publicly on LBO-Talk that
censorship was not a problem in the USSR
and that people could read whatever they
want. You also quote liberally from the ,
which fails to meet Rupert Murdoch's
standards by all accounts

Virtually nothing was banned in the USSR. It was not
imported or printed, but that is not the same thing.
Just ask Wojtek Sokolowski. The same was true in
Poland.

What does it mean to quote liberally from the ,?



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Re: China and socialism

Putinite press -- You quote from all kinds of
things, yourself,
Louis.
-

How does somebody who doesn't read Russian know jack
shit about the Russian press, Putinite are
otherwise? How lame. That's not how the Russian media
work. Anyway that's my last word on the subject.



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Re: China and socialism

All right, one final word and then I am outta here.
The inanity of that statement is breathtaking. I
worked for the Russia Journal for three years.
(Actually I am somewhat proud of the fact that the
eXile praised my editorials. That's pretty rare.) I
think I know how the Russian media work.

Putinoid. How lame. How New York Times.

--- Chris Doss [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 Putinite press -- You quote from all kinds of
 things, yourself,
 Louis.
 -

 How does somebody who doesn't read Russian know jack
 shit about the Russian press, Putinite are
 otherwise? How lame. That's not how the Russian
 media
 work. Anyway that's my last word on the subject.



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Re: The Soviet empire was a drain on Moscow

--- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Any modern economy operating on the basis of the
exchange of labor is going to manifest economic
inequality. What Russia junked was socialism. The
people of the Soviet Union understood that Brezhnev
was not a Red. I remember their jokes from this period
. . . concerning Brezhnev trying to impress his mother
with his power and wealth and privileges.

At the end of the story . . . Brezhnev's mother looks
at him and says . . . you have done well son . . .
but what you gonna do when the Reds come back?
---

Everybody in the USSR knew about his fleet of cars,
his big boat, and the stuff with women and alcohol.
Andropov distributed videotapes of Brezhnev engaging
in compromising behavior as part of his anti-Brezhnev
campaign -- unfortunately for him, not many Soviets
had VCRs! That said, the Brezhnev-era USSR was a
reasonably OK place to live for most of the
population, if you weren't unlucky enough to get stuck
in a communal apartment with bad neighbors. It was the
apex of the Soviet way of life.



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Information from Beyond: Norman Bethune is Shocked Appalled

2004-08-03 Thread Hari Kumar

The below was written for a different purpose, after my recent extended
period of teaching in Shanghai.
It is not a profound economic analysis at all, rather it is a view of
the heatlh services. Even there I have omitted stats for lack of time to
research them, tho' this will follow.
Purpose was to convey the bitterness of indidivual decision making, that
is going on in China.
Hari
__
Health Care In China Today, following privatization of the Health Care
System
Astonishingly, there remain some who call themselves Marxist-Leninists,
yet who still believe that the China of today is a socialist state. Even
if we can agree to leave aside our fundamental differences with them
regarding the political character of Mao Ze Dong, this belief of such
people is too far beyond the pale not to challenge. Alliance can
understand at least [without agreeing with], that school of Maoists who
say that after Mao, socialism in China disintegrated. We do not agree
with the implied lauding of Mao, but this latter formulation at least
does recognise that the China post-Mao is not a socialist state. But to
say it remains a socialist state now, is untenable.
One does not need to visit China to be aware of the amazing rifts in the
social fabric that have been allowed to further accentuate differences
between rich and poor. Since Deng Xiaoping proclaimed it was socialist
to Enrich Yourself!  the green light for all manner of rapacious
grabs was given.
We will examine one small area that acts as a litmus indicator of how
every-day life for ordinary people has dramatically changed. In the days
when the pretence of being socialist was far more important than it is
now, there was at least a modicum of equality in the health care
services. The legacy of the legions of health care workers of Chinese
background was astounding. The legacy of foreign workers (those like Dr
Norman Bethune and Dr Joshua Horn) who came to China to assist the
Liberation forces and the Chinese medical corps, was honourable. What
has been done with this legacy?
It has been ravaged by market forces. A recent article by Geoffrey
York, lays out some disturbing facts.
Public health services have eroded. Medical services have crumbled.
Doctors and hospitals generate profit by charging higher fees. And those
who cannot afford the fees are left out in the cold. Two-thirds of the
population has no health insurance. About 60 to 70 percent of hospital
patients are forced to end hospital treatment prematurely because they
are unable to pay.
A recent UN report found that Chinas health system is suffering a
profound decline because of the shift to a profit based system.
Because of the commercialization of medicine, health costs have jumped
400% in the past decade. And the medical system has become the top cause
of poverty: more than 40% of poor families have fallen into poverty
because of high medical costs. In some of the poorest regions, illness
and mortality rates are increasing despite the economic prosperity in
the rest of the country. Diseases such as TB and Hepatitis B are
reappearing, and immunizations are being neglected because they dont
generate a profit. Drug prices are routinely inflated and unnecessary
treatments arte often prescribed so that the hospitals can earn income. 
York G: In New China, millions cant afford doctors; May 17th 2004;
Globe and Mail p. A10.
Under the previous era:
Health cooperatives, and barefoot doctors ensured a minimum level of
medical care for everyone even in the poor rural areas. Life expectancy
rose dramatically and most children were immunized. It was a public
health model for the world, and it achieved some incredible things,
said Lisa Lee, a medical officer in Beijing for the WHO. But as China
switched from socialism to free-market capitalism, it decided to
privatize most of its health system. The medical cooperatives have been
disbanded and nothing has replaced it Dr Lee said. Some very
vulnerable and poor segments of the population are being left behind.
Critical health services are falling through the gaps.
Geoffrey York Ibid.
These problems are enormous and naturally affect the most vulnerable and
poorest sections the hardest:
The problems are greatest in rural areas, where 90% of patients must
pay cash for health services. Chinese media have reported cases of women
dying in childbirth because they couldnt afford a hospital delivery.
But the problem is also hurting people in big cites. Forty percent of
urban dwellers have no insurance, and even the insured are often forced
to pay most of their medical costs from their own pockets.
York, G Ibid.
Health care workers are naturally disturbed and upset that they are
forced to participate in this sham of a heath care system:
In a recent report to the Chinese parliament, one physician told
poignant stories of impoverished patients and their lack of care. As
soon as the

Re: No Bounce for Kerry

Michael Perelman wrote:


 Also, I have never heard of any competitive contest where you aim to just get over
 the hump.  Sounds like a stupid strategy.

The alternative strategy would be to arouse public passion (and
participation!). It has long been my own theory that the DP leadership
would always choose losing rather than risk such arousal. The Public is
a great Beast, and dangerous when aroused. (I think Zinn argues this
someplace, but I'm not sure of my memory on this.)

Carrol

Re: China and socialism

Chris Doss wrote:
Virtually nothing was banned in the USSR.
The Washington Post
July 20, 2002 Saturday
Soviet Dissident Alexander Ginzburg Dies
BYLINE: Martin Weil, Washington Post Staff Writer
Alexander Ginzburg, 65, who was persecuted, imprisoned and exiled as a
leader of the dissident intellectual movement that worked for human
rights and individual freedom in the Soviet Union, died July 19 in Paris.
Mr. Ginzburg is often credited with being a founder of the Samizdat, or
self-publishing movement, by which intellectuals put forward their ideas
and challenged government repression.
The Associated Press attributed reports of Mr. Ginzburg's death to
Russian news accounts. No cause of death was given. After being expelled
from the Soviet Union, Mr. Ginzburg came first to the United States, and
then made France a base for writing, lecturing and worldwide campaigning.
The courage and dedication of the dissident movement -- including such
figures as Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Nathan Shcharansky and Andrei
Sakharov -- have been described as important to the ultimate downfall of
Soviet communism and the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Individual loose sheets -- often poetry, typed, handwritten and copied
by duplicating machine -- began appearing in Moscow a few years after
Stalin's death. Mr. Ginzburg, was credited with the creation in 1960 of
what was considered the first magazine to circumvent the Soviet
government's publishing monopoly.
The magazine's name has been translated as Syntax, or Syntaxis, and on
its pages appeared underground intellectuals, writers and poets not
officially sanctioned by the government, taking sly aim, through
literary techniques, at some of the abuses and hypocrisies of the Soviet
regime.
It lasted only a few issues, but the authorities recognized Mr.
Ginzburg's work with a two-year prison sentence. In 1965, dissident
writers Andrei Sinyavsky and Yuli Daniel were arrested, and they went on
trial the next year. In the White Book, Mr. Ginzburg offered an
account of what the dissidents viewed as a blatantly political prosecution.
This drew greater worldwide attention to Soviet repression and helped
amplify the voices of the dissidents. For Mr. Ginzburg, it brought a
closed trial and new five-year prison term.
--
The Marxism list: www.marxmail.org

Fiske on Iraq

2004-08-03 Thread ken hanly

August 01, 2004
The War Is a Fraud
Robert Fisk, The Independent, August 1, 2004:
The war is a fraud. I'm not talking about the weapons of mass destruction
that didn't exist. Nor the links between Saddam Hussein and al-Qa'ida which
didn't exist. Nor all the other lies upon which we went to war. I'm talking
about the new lies.
For just as, before the war, our governments warned us of threats that did
not exist, now they hide from us the threats that do exist. Much of Iraq has
fallen outside the control of America's puppet government in Baghdad but we
are not told. Hundreds of attacks are made against US troops every month.
But unless an American dies, we are not told. This month's death toll of
Iraqis in Baghdad alone has now reached 700 - the worst month since the
invasion ended. But we are not told.
The stage management of this catastrophe in Iraq was all too evident at
Saddam Hussein's trial. Not only did the US military censor the tapes of
the event. Not only did they effectively delete all sound of the 11 other
defendants. But the Americans led Saddam Hussein to believe - until he
reached the courtroom - that he was on his way to his execution. Indeed,
when he entered the room he believed that the judge was there to condemn him
to death. This, after all, was the way Saddam ran his own state security
courts. No wonder he initially looked disorientated - CNN's helpful
description - because, of course, he was meant to look that way. We had made
sure of that. Which is why Saddam asked Judge Juhi: Are you a lawyer? ...
Is this a trial? And swiftly, as he realised that this really was an
initial court hearing - not a preliminary to his own hanging - he quickly
adopted an attitude of belligerence.
But don't think we're going to learn much more about Saddam's future court
appearances. Salem Chalabi, the brother of convicted fraudster Ahmad and the
man entrusted by the Americans with the tribunal, told the Iraqi press two
weeks ago that all media would be excluded from future court hearings. And I
can see why. Because if Saddam does a Milosevic, he'll want to talk about
the real intelligence and military connections of his regime - which were
primarily with the United States.
Living in Iraq these past few weeks is a weird as well as dangerous
experience. I drive down to Najaf. Highway 8 is one of the worst in Iraq.
Westerners are murdered there. It is littered with burnt-out police vehicles
and American trucks. Every police post for 70 miles has been abandoned. Yet
a few hours later, I am sitting in my room in Baghdad watching Tony Blair,
grinning in the House of Commons as if he is the hero of a school debating
competition; so much for the Butler report.
Indeed, watching any Western television station in Baghdad these days is
like tuning in to Planet Mars. Doesn't Blair realise that Iraq is about to
implode? Doesn't Bush realise this? The American-appointed government
controls only parts of Baghdad - and even there its ministers and civil
servants are car-bombed and assassinated. Baquba, Samara, Kut, Mahmoudiya,
Hilla, Fallujah, Ramadi, all are outside government authority. Iyad Allawi,
the Prime Minister, is little more than mayor of Baghdad. Some
journalists, Blair announces, almost want there to be a disaster in Iraq.
He doesn't get it. The disaster exists now.
When suicide bombers ram their cars into hundreds of recruits outside police
stations, how on earth can anyone hold an election next January? Even the
National Conference to appoint those who will arrange elections has been
twice postponed. And looking back through my notebooks over the past five
weeks, I find that not a single Iraqi, not a single American soldier I have
spoken to, not a single mercenary - be he American, British or South
African - believes that there will be elections in January. All said that
Iraq is deteriorating by the day. And most asked why we journalists weren't
saying so.
But in Baghdad, I turn on my television and watch Bush telling his
Republican supporters that Iraq is improving, that Iraqis support the
coalition, that they support their new US-manufactured government, that
the war on terror is being won, that Americans are safer. Then I go to an
internet site and watch two hooded men hacking off the head of an American
in Riyadh, tearing at the vertebrae of an American in Iraq with a knife.
Each day, the papers here list another construction company pulling out of
the country. And I go down to visit the friendly, tragically sad staff of
the Baghdad mortuary and there, each day, are dozens of those Iraqis we
supposedly came to liberate, screaming and weeping and cursing as they carry
their loved ones on their shoulders in cheap coffins.
I keep re-reading Tony Blair's statement. I remain convinced it was right
to go to war. It was the most difficult decision of my life. And I cannot
understand it. It may be a terrible decision to go to war. Even Chamberlain
thought that; but he didn't find it a difficult decision - because,

Walmart costs California

2004-08-03 Thread ken hanly

Wal-Marts cost state, study says
Retailer refutes UC research that claims taxes subsidize wages
- George Raine, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 3, 2004

Employment practices at Wal-Mart, the nation's largest employer with
relatively lower labor costs in the retail sector, cost California taxpayers
about $86 million annually in public assistance to company workers,
according to a study released Monday by a UC Berkeley research institute.
The study estimates that low wages force employees to accept $32 million
annually in health-related services and $54 million per year in other
assistance, such as subsidized school lunches, food stamps and subsidized
housing.
Wal-Mart questioned the validity of the report, saying the authors
undervalued the wages and benefits the chain's employees receive.
The UC report comes from the Berkeley Labor Center, an institute that is
openly supportive of union causes. Although its researchers have in the past
accepted funding from the grocery workers' union to conduct studies, this
report was not funded by labor, its authors said.
Wal-Mart, and its possible expansion in California, is a major topic in
labor circles as negotiators for 45,000 union grocery clerks in the Bay Area
begin contract talks with Safeway, Albertson's and other major employers.
The current contract expires Sept. 11. The union, the United Food and
Commercial Workers, and management are also working on a separate pact
covering 15,000 Sacramento Valley union workers.
These negotiations follow the disruptive 139-day strike and lockout of
nearly 70,000 union grocery clerks in Southern California that ended Feb.
29.
In all these talks, management is using Wal-Mart's presence and proposed
California expansion as a negotiating tactic, arguing they must lower labor
costs to be competitive with the company and other low-cost grocers. Union
leadership is backing political efforts to limit Wal-Mart's growth. Authors
Arindrajit Dube of the UC Berkeley Institute of Industrial Relations and Ken
Jacobs of the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education make a
number of assumptions in their study, beginning with a workforce estimate of
44,000 Wal-Mart employees at 143 Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores in
California who earn an estimated 31 percent less than workers in the large
retail sector as a whole.
The wage difference is even greater when comparing Bay Area Wal-Mart workers
with other union retail workers: The estimate is that Wal-Mart workers earn
on average $9.40 an hour compared with $15.31 for union grocery workers, 39
percent less, and the study estimates that they are half as likely to have
health benefits.
A spokeswoman for Wal-Mart, Cynthia Lin, said, It's disappointing that UC
researchers would release a study which has such questionable findings, but
then again, they are going to arrive at faulty conclusions when they work
off faulty assumptions.''
She said the study reports wages incorrectly. Bay Area workers earn an
average of $11.08 an hour while statewide it is $10.37.
Also, 90 percent of Wal-Mart's workers have health insurance, Lin said.
Of them, 50 percent have coverage through Wal-Mart and 40 percent through
other sources. She added that two-thirds of workers are senior citizens,
college students or second-income providers.
The UC authors do not have data on actual public assistance for Wal-Mart
workers. They take information from several sources, including testimony
about company wages in a sex-discrimination lawsuit brought against
Wal-Mart. They say that, at such low wages, many Wal-Mart workers rely on a
public safety net.
The authors extrapolate that if other large California retailers apply the
Wal-Mart model of wages and benefits to their 750,000 employees, it would
cost taxpayers an additional $410 million a year in public assistance to
employees.
David Theroux, founder and president of the libertarian Independent
Institute in Oakland, said it is important to consider who the Wal-Mart
employees are: They may be former unemployed workers, they may be retirees
or have taken a second job out of necessity, or they may be developmentally
disabled or have any number of disadvantages. If we eliminate Wal-Mart ...
it means those people are unemployed. Is it better for them to be employed
or unemployed?'' Theroux asked.
Theroux also faulted the study for what he said is a presumption that Wal-
Mart employees are more prone to go on welfare rolls. How do they know
that? They need to show that,'' he said.
He added that, historically, competition drives up wages. It sharpens
workers' skills and boosts productivity so workers can command higher wages.
It works in high tech. Why would retail be any different?'' Theroux said.
The study authors say in their conclusion, In effect, Wal-Mart is shifting
part of its labor costs onto the public.'' Co-author Jacobs, in an
interview, said he hopes that policy-makers keep that argument in mind when
Wal-Mart seeks to expand.
Indeed, the Los Angeles City

new Rape situation






I don't know if this 
is a suburban legend ?

Charles

   Subject: FW: Pay attention to this new Rape 
situation THIS IS NO 
   JOKE
   
A woman at a nightclub on Saturday 
night was
   taken by 5 men, who
   according to hospital and police reports, 
gang raped her before 
   dumping her. Unable to remember the events of 
the evening, tests 
   later confirmed the repeat rapes along with 
traces of Rohypnol in 
   her blood and Progesterex, essentially a 
small sterilization 
   pill. The drug is now being used by rapists 
at parties to rape 
   AND sterilize their victims.
Progesterex is available to vets to 
sterilize
   large animals. Progesterex
   is being used together with Rohypnol, the 
date rape drug.
As with Rohypnol, all they have to 
do is drop it
   into the girl' drink. 
   The girl can't remember a thing the next 
morning, of all that had 
   taken place the nightb before.
Progesterex, which dissolves in 
drinks just as
   easily, is such that the
   victim doesn't conceive from the rape and the 
rapist needn't 
   worry about having a paternity test 
identifying him months later.
The drug's effects ARE NOT TEMPORARY 
- They are
   P*E*R*M*A*N*E*N*T
   Progesterex was designed to sterilize horses. 

Any female who takes it WILL NEVER 
BE ABLE TO
   CONCEIVE. 
The weasels can get this drug from 
anyone who is
   in the vet school or any
   university. It'sthat easy, and Progesterex is 
about to break out 
   big on campuses everywhere. Believe it or 
not, there are even 
   sites on the Internet telling people how to 
use it.
   
Please forward this to everyone you 
know,
   especially girls. Be careful
   when you're out and don't leave your drink 
unattended. Please 
   make the effort to forward this on to all you 
know...Guys, please 
   inform all your female friends and 
relatives.

Elementary school question




What is the total 
amount of "money" in the whole world ?

Charles

Jon Stewart versus Ted Koppel

(Koppel will be a guest on the Daily Show this thursday.)
slate.com
Battle of the Network Anchors
Ted Koppel and Jon Stewart face off on the convention floor.
By Dana Stevens
Updated Friday, July 30, 2004, at 6:30 PM PT
Because of our predilection (scroll down to Wednesday's entry) for 
watching convention coverage on the always-perverse MSNBC network, 
Surfergirl did not catch the much discussed balloon mishap that had CNN 
inadvertently broadcasting the shouted obscenities of a producer 
immediately after John Kerry's speech. If only it were possible to 
monitor all the channels at once from a wall-size bank of television 
monitors, like a crazy millionaire in the movies! But, as has been noted 
over and over this week, a modern political convention is a place where 
unexpected things like Balloongate very rarely happen.

One exception was Ted Koppel's surprising encounter with The Daily 
Show's Jon Stewart on the Wednesday night edition of Nightline. Koppel 
was in Boston that night, covering  well, the coverage; the theme of 
the show was the Democratic National Convention through the eyes of the 
beholders. I had tuned in mainly to watch what was billed as an 
interview with Ana Marie Cox, aka Wonkette, the D.C.-based satirical 
blogger hired this week by MTV to attract the nerdy blog-reading 
demographic. As it turned out, Wonkette's appearance on Nightline 
amounted to little more than a 20-second sound bitesomething about her 
Web site claiming to be no more than the journalistic equivalent of 
candy, albeit a kind of candy that takes a while to acquire a taste 
for. (Mmm, gimme some.)

But after the commercial break, something unforeseeable happened on 
Nightline: an anchorman showdown! What began as a casual 
media-on-the-media puff piece turned into a fascinating five-minute 
referendum on old and new ways of looking at the meaning and purpose of 
television news. In a one-on-one chat on the deserted convention floor 
after the day's festivities had ended, Koppel, in his low-key, 
dignified, What-Me-Worry way, got medieval on Stewart's ass.

full: http://slate.msn.com/id/2104473/#koppel
---
NIGHTLINE TRANSCRIPT:
TED KOPPEL
(Off Camera) A lot of television viewers, more, quite frankly, than I'm 
comfortable with, get their news from the comedy channel on a program 
called The Daily Show. Its host is Jon Stewart.

TED KOPPEL
(Off Camera) You were telling me before, and it's a very interesting 
concept, I'd like to steal it.

JON STEWART
Please. Please, feel free.
JON STEWART
(Off Camera) But you would only, you would draw everyone's attention to 
it. You called this a product launch.

JON STEWART
Yes.
TED KOPPEL
(Off Camera) This is like a product launch. What did you mean?
JON STEWART
It's not like a product launch.
TED KOPPEL
(Off Camera) It is a product launch.
JON STEWART
It's a product launch.
TED KOPPEL
(Off Camera) Tell me about it.
JON STEWART
The product is John Kerry, now with lemon, and they're launching what 
they consider to be, look, they went through a primary where they, you 
know, everybody was Taxi-Tested Tough, and they went through it. They've 
come up with this candidate, John Kerry, who apparently was in Vietnam. 
I don't know if you heard that.

TED KOPPEL
(Off Camera) I heard that.
JON STEWART
They mentioned it earlier.
TED KOPPEL
(Off Camera) They mentioned it once or twice.
JON STEWART
And what they're doing is now sort of, in the way that any company would 
want to put its product in the best light, whether it be Toyota or 
Tylenol, or the Democratic party, which is well within their right, and 
probably what they should do. No one's going to bring him out there and 
go, and by the way, in the back, there's a huge dent. You know, they're 
going to want to show it at its finest.

TED KOPPEL
(Off Camera) We used to come to, as we have both noted on separate 
occasions, I'm a lot older than you are, but back, you know, back 40 
years ago, we would actually come to these events in the expectation 
that unexpected things were going to happen.

JON STEWART
But unexpected things used to happen in the world. They don't happen 
anymore.

TED KOPPEL
(Off Camera) Oh, sure they do.
JON STEWART
Very rarely. Very rarely is an event not parsed prior to when it 
happens. And when it does happen unexpectedly, it's only because the 
speculation was off cue.

TED KOPPEL
(Off Camera) When there were only three of us, we were not as easy to 
manipulate, because you could only play A off against B off against C.

JON STEWART
That I agree with.
TED KOPPEL
(Off Camera) Right? Now you have got 200 of us. You don't like what Jon 
Stewart is doing, go to John Lovitz.

JON STEWART
But we are a separate, we are a peripheral, we're a sundae bar, and I 
don't think that, we're reactive, and not actual news. So I don't think, 
if you don't like Jon Stewart, then you'll have to go to another comedy 
program. Not another news program.

TED KOPPEL
(Off Camera) You're refreshingly honest about that. And I

Re: China and socialism

End of thread!  Why can you just discuss things without getting nasty and bringing up
material from other lists?
--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu

Re: Jon Stewart versus Ted Koppel

2004-08-03 Thread Carl Remick

From: Louis Proyect [EMAIL PROTECTED]
(Koppel will be a guest on the Daily Show this thursday.)
slate.com
Battle of the Network Anchors
Ted Koppel and Jon Stewart face off on the convention floor.
By Dana Stevens
... In a one-on-one chat on the deserted convention floor after the day's
festivities had ended, Koppel, in his low-key, dignified, What-Me-Worry
way, got medieval on Stewart's ass.
I hope that when he reports for duty on the Daily Show Thursday the
low-key, dignified, What-Me-Worry -- whatever that means (Alfred E. Neuman
should sue) -- Koppel wears the low-key, dignified combat outfit he sported
when he was embedded like a suppository in the US Army during the Iraq
invasion.
Carl
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Russian media

I am reminded by a recent exchange that the party line
in the West is that the Russian media are uniformly
pro-Putin. This is not true.

The three national TV channels generally follow the
Kremlin line. Some political shows have closed, which
is a shame. However, this is not true of the print
media. The print media are controlled by various
business groups and/or political factions. E.g.
Sovetskaya Rossiya is the newspaper of the Communist
Party. Zavtra is ultra-nationalist. Novaya Gazeta is
anti-Putin to the point of psychosis. Kommersant is
owned by Boris Berezovsky. If you want confirmation of
this, simply go to their respective websites and,
assuming you can't read Russian, Babelfish a couple of
articles. They will read like Dadaist poetry, but you
will get the idea.

The two widest-circulation papers in Russia, Argumenty
i Fakty and Komsomolskaya Pravda, are at www.aif.ru
and www.kp.ru, respectively. Novaya Gazeta's
often-bizarre ramblings are at
http://www.novayagazeta.ru/. Kommersant, which I guess
the Kremlin just forgot to shut down, is at
http://www.kommersant.ru/. Indeed, Kommersant has an
English-labguage website, which may or may not have
different content than the main one. I haven't
checked. http://www.kommersant.com/



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quotation du jour

George Monbiot in today's (Aug.3's) GUARDIAN on democracy in 
the so-called industrial democracies: we can vote out the monkeys but
not the organ-grinder.

Jim Devine

Re: No Bounce for Kerry

2004-08-03 Thread ken hanly

Well I think that Plato argued it a bit earlier..in The Republic..

Cheers, Ken Hanly
- Original Message -
From: Carrol Cox [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, August 03, 2004 8:42 AM
Subject: Re: [PEN-L] No Bounce for Kerry

 Michael Perelman wrote:

  Also, I have never heard of any competitive contest where you aim to
just get over
  the hump.  Sounds like a stupid strategy.

 The alternative strategy would be to arouse public passion (and
 participation!). It has long been my own theory that the DP leadership
 would always choose losing rather than risk such arousal. The Public is
 a great Beast, and dangerous when aroused. (I think Zinn argues this
 someplace, but I'm not sure of my memory on this.)

 Carrol

Re: No Bounce for Kerry

ken hanly wrote:

 Well I think that Plato argued it a bit earlier..in The Republic..


:-) Yup. My post was a bit ambiguous -- pronoun reference not clear. I
was thinking primarily of the DP rather than the general principle re a
great Beast. Whether the DP leadership reads Plato or not I do not
know, but I suspect they remember the '30s and '60s well enough not to
need specific guidance from him. I think Zinn argues specifically that
the DP has existed above all to keep the Beast down, but I'm not sure.

Carrol

ken hanly wrote:

Carrol wrote:
 
  The alternative strategy would be to arouse public passion (and
  participation!). It has long been my own theory that the DP leadership
  would always choose losing rather than risk such arousal. The Public is
  a great Beast, and dangerous when aroused. (I think Zinn argues this
  someplace, but I'm not sure of my memory on this.)
 
  Carrol

Re: Jon Stewart versus Ted Koppel

2004-08-03 Thread Dan Scanlan

 embedded like a suppository

I'm stealing this.
Dan

Re: quotation du jour

2004-08-03 Thread Craven, Jim

-Original Message-
From: PEN-L list [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Devine,
James
Sent: Tuesday, August 03, 2004 9:48 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [PEN-L] quotation du jour

George Monbiot in today's (Aug.3's) GUARDIAN on democracy in 
the so-called industrial democracies: we can vote out the monkeys but
not the organ-grinder.

Jim Devine

Response Jim C: Loved the quote. Here is another one from Monica
Lewinski (a real quote). For some time I was a Democrat but now I am a
Republican. The Democrats just left a bad taste in my mouth.

Re: China and socialism

Thanks LP for posting the review of Hart-Landsberg and Burkett's long MR
piece. I just picked up a copy yesterday, and have been looking it over.
I've got my own little quibbles with it (not enough emphasis on rural
China, which I think is desperately important right now, they lump
pre-1976 China together as 'Maoist' China, etc.), but personally I think
it's a very welcome and timely piece. I hope it continues to spark
debate and interest.
Many of the (reposted) digs against Hart-Landsberg and Burkett seem
wildly off the mark. The duo are mainly concerned about people using
China as a progressive model of development. Few in the US do, but I
think there is a growing sense in other parts of the world that China
offers a viable alternative to neoliberalism. Particularly when China
works together with Brazil and other countries in the Group of 77.
Stiglitz seems to be in this category, and you'll find lots of this in
UN orgs and other wonky progressive orgs.
To counter this, Hart-Landsberg and Burkett try to show how bad things
are in China for the working class. It's not the whole story, but it's
hard to deny, and it's only going to get worse. I think we should be
getting ready for this debate. When these kind of news stories - see
below - appear (and we're only hearing about this one because one of the
villagers was able to get to the internet), perhaps we should pause and
look a bit closer at what's going on. The way that these contradictions
are either displaced, resolved, or sublated will have, IMO, a
wide-reaching influence on how the 21st Century plays out, just as they
did last century.
Jonathan
-
 Villagers vow to fight on in face of police assault
Joint owners want to overturn the sale of 150 hectares worth 40 million
yuan
 SCMP | 3 aug
Villagers in Henan province vowed to continue their fight for justice
after police intervened at the weekend to quell their protest over land
sales, leaving several people injured and four detained.
What we ask for is simple: return our land and punish the corrupt
village officials, said a villager surnamed Liu, whose mother was
injured in the raid and was being treated yesterday for gunshot wounds.
Mr Liu, 22, said the district government had sent about 400 officials to
Shijiahe village in Zhengzhou city to try to stop the villagers from
petitioning.
About 600 police armed with tear gas, shotguns, dogs and electric
batons raided the village last Saturday looking for the organisers of
protests against land sales approved by village head Liu Guo-zhao. At
least 30 people were injured and four detained in the incident, Mr Liu
said. Most of the injured cannot even afford to go to hospital.
Villagers strongly opposed the land deal, which involved 150 hectares of
farmland worth up to 40 million yuan and owned by more than 6,000 of
them, Mr Liu said.
They had protested since June and sent their petitions to the city and
provincial governments but had not received any response.
A district government team went to the village about three weeks ago
after villagers threatened to hold a protest in Beijing.
The incident police raid happened on the same day the team had promised
to release an investigation result, Mr Liu said. The team disappeared
from the village before the police arrived.
He said local government representatives had visited his mother, one of
the four still in hospital.
It was merely a show. They did not even bother to visit the other
victims who were in other wards, he said. They tried to give my mother
1,000 yuan for medical care, but we refused to accept it because we knew
their real intention was to stop us from petitioning any further. My
mother said, 'We don't need your money now. Let us wait until the
problem is resolved'.
Mr Liu, who works in Zhengzhou, posted a report of the incident and his
mobile phone number on an overseas Chinese website on Sunday. He said
yesterday that internet police had phoned him and he dared not return
home for fear of further police harassment.
An official from the Huiji district government publicity department
confirmed that a group of officials had been sent to Shijiahe village to
deal with the dispute.
Most of our staff from the relevant departments are in the village
now, he said. They have been working on the dispute ever since it
started. The incident is still under investigation ... and things are
going in the right direction.
The official denied a report that the village head had been placed in
shuanggui, a disciplinary measure outside the regular legal system under
which party members are detained and interrogated.
A Zhengzhou city government spokeswoman said the fact that no local
media had covered the story proved the sensitivity of the case.
We cannot give any comment, not because it is a secret; we need time to
clarify the facts, she said.

China Study Group

2004-08-03 Thread Kenneth Campbell

Jonathan Lassen writes:

Thanks LP for posting the review of Hart-Landsberg and
Burkett's long MR piece. I just picked up a copy
yesterday, and have been looking it over. I've got my
own little quibbles with it (not enough emphasis on rural
China, which I think is desperately important right now, they lump
pre-1976 China together as 'Maoist' China, etc.), but
personally I think it's a very welcome and timely piece.
I hope it continues to spark debate and interest.

I do not like to diminish the MR. Just... put it in perspective. Who
funds it? Have you met the people who do?

(I have met some of them.)

Likewise, with groups using .orgs.

So, here, to save reader's time, is from the Web site of China Group:

China Study Group is a New York based non-profit organization
formed in 1995 to facilitate networking of scholars/activists,
and promote dissemination of info and research works,

Another New York intelligentsia leftist group.

Without roots, perhaps, based on the self-description:

Members of the CSG support the broad goals of the Chinese
revolution that triumphed in 1949, and seek to stimulate
knowledge and debate regarding its achievements and
limitations, as well as to offer a critical perspective of the
radical changes that have occurred in China over the past 25
years and an ongoing analysis of its role in the world today.

No mention of the money, though. Are these rich people in the CSG
support?

My guess is -- and this is prejudicial against me, not you -- that these
people are academics or dilettantes without any roots in the cultures
they write about. (Only a guess.)

Nonetheless, China exists without the CSG, so, please, do not interpret
my skeptical view of information from the CSG as a refutation of China.
I think China might possibly be there for a long time -- even without
me.

Ken.

--
I am the passenger
And I ride and I ride
I ride through the city's backside
I see the stars come out of the sky
Yeah, they're bright in a hollow sky
You know it looks so good tonight
  -- The Passenger
 Iggy Pop, 1977

So why did Bush, not Kerry, get the bounce?
Tue Aug 3, 7:09 AM ET
By Susan Page, USA TODAY
There was a bounce after last week's Democratic National Convention.
But it went to President Bush, not John Kerry.
Pollsters and strategists are puzzling over Kerry's failure to get a
boost from a convention that even critics acknowledged went almost
precisely as planned. Polls show it improved voters' impressions of
Kerry as a strong leader and a potential commander in chief. It
burnished views of the Democratic Party.

(clip)
Since polling became a routine part of politics, the only other
candidate who failed to see any improvement in his standing after the
convention that nominated him was George McGovern in 1972.

That year, Democrats fought bitterly over credentials and the platform.
Their convention in Miami Beach was so chaotic that the candidate didn't
deliver his acceptance speech until well after midnight.

This time, the Democratic convention in Boston was a sea of tranquility.
With an emphasis on Kerry's biography, particularly his service in
Vietnam, the convention succeeded in improving his image on almost every
front, the poll shows. He boosted his standing as a candidate who is
optimistic, honest, trustworthy and caring.

The ingredients were carefully chosen, the recipe time-tested. So why
didn't the cake rise?

Among the theories:
There wasn't enough red meat on the menu. The Kerry campaign tamped
down direct criticism of Bush, fearing that harsh convention rhetoric
would repel swing voters. One result: Kerry's ratings went up, but
Bush's ratings didn't go down significantly.

Bush's approval rating fell just 1 percentage point, to 48%. The
percentage who said Bush has the personality and leadership qualities
needed to be president stayed the same at 55%. Those who said they
agreed with Bush on the issues that matter to them stayed precisely the
same.

What they didn't really do was clear contrast with Bush, says
Democratic pollster Doug Schoen. All the contrasts that were made were
inferential. There wasn't anybody who said: 'Here's the problem. Here's
what we're going to do differently.' Some Democrats now will press
Kerry to take a harder line.

Republicans already have made it clear they won't repeat the Democratic
strategy. Criticism of Kerry, especially of his career in the Senate, is
expected to be a major component of the Republican convention, though
that approach carries its own risks.

Kerry failed to specify what he would do about Iraq. A 52% majority
still says that Kerry doesn't have a clear plan for handling the
situation in Iraq, down only slightly from 56% before the convention.
Just 38% say Kerry has a clear plan, compared with 42% for Bush. That
makes it more difficult for Kerry to capitalize on the political
vulnerabilities Bush faces stemming from the war.

In Boston, Democrats didn't blast the decision to invade Iraq, in part
because Kerry voted to authorize the war. The percentage of voters who
say it was a mistake to go to war actually dropped after the convention,
to 47% compared with 50% before.

He hasn't presented how he would do things differently, says Brooke
Fox, 40, a natural resource policy consultant from Windsor, Colo., who
was among those surveyed. How is he going to persuade the international
community to get on board? What he has said are platitudes.

full:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=storycid=676e=11u=/usatoday/sowhydidbushnotkerrygetthebounce

--
The Marxism list: www.marxmail.org

Re: China Study Group

Hi Kenneth Campbell,
Who funds Monthly Review? I have no idea.
I do know a bit about China Study Group, since I work with them. The
annual budget is about 100 dollars, which is what the website costs. All
the labor is volunteer.
 My guess is -- and this is prejudicial against me, not you -- that these
 people are academics or dilettantes without any roots in the cultures
 they write about. (Only a guess.)
Some are academics, most are not. Most of the members are from China.
None are dilettantes.
Cheers,
Jonathan
 wrote:
Jonathan Lassen writes:

Thanks LP for posting the review of Hart-Landsberg and
Burkett's long MR piece. I just picked up a copy
yesterday, and have been looking it over. I've got my
own little quibbles with it (not enough emphasis on rural
China, which I think is desperately important right now, they lump
pre-1976 China together as 'Maoist' China, etc.), but
personally I think it's a very welcome and timely piece.
I hope it continues to spark debate and interest.

I do not like to diminish the MR. Just... put it in perspective. Who
funds it? Have you met the people who do?
(I have met some of them.)
Likewise, with groups using .orgs.
So, here, to save reader's time, is from the Web site of China Group:
China Study Group is a New York based non-profit organization
formed in 1995 to facilitate networking of scholars/activists,
and promote dissemination of info and research works,
Another New York intelligentsia leftist group.
Without roots, perhaps, based on the self-description:
Members of the CSG support the broad goals of the Chinese
revolution that triumphed in 1949, and seek to stimulate
knowledge and debate regarding its achievements and
limitations, as well as to offer a critical perspective of the
radical changes that have occurred in China over the past 25
years and an ongoing analysis of its role in the world today.
No mention of the money, though. Are these rich people in the CSG
support?
My guess is -- and this is prejudicial against me, not you -- that these
people are academics or dilettantes without any roots in the cultures
they write about. (Only a guess.)
Nonetheless, China exists without the CSG, so, please, do not interpret
my skeptical view of information from the CSG as a refutation of China.
I think China might possibly be there for a long time -- even without
me.
Ken.
--
I am the passenger
And I ride and I ride
I ride through the city's backside
I see the stars come out of the sky
Yeah, they're bright in a hollow sky
You know it looks so good tonight
  -- The Passenger
 Iggy Pop, 1977

Re: No bounce for Kerry

2004-08-03 Thread Carl Remick

From: Louis Proyect [EMAIL PROTECTED]
So why did Bush, not Kerry, get the bounce?
Tue Aug 3, 7:09 AM ET
By Susan Page, USA TODAY
There was a bounce after last week's Democratic National Convention.
But it went to President Bush, not John Kerry.
Kerry should lose Licorice the hamster.
Carl
_
Dont just search. Find. Check out the new MSN Search!
http://search.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200636ave/direct/01/

Re: China Study Group

2004-08-03 Thread Kenneth Campbell

Hi Kenneth Campbell,

Hi Jonathan Lassen!

Who funds Monthly Review? I have no idea.

I have an idea... grin. But I love the publication, nonetheless.

I do know a bit about China Study Group, since I work with them. The
annual budget is about 100 dollars, which is what the website
costs. All the labor is volunteer.

Okay... that sounds noble. Volunteer labour is in most things -- like
Christian summer camps.

Some are academics, most are not. Most of the members are from
China. None are dilettantes.

As I hope you understood, I meant no offence. China needs no help from
us.

Ken.

--
An important scientific innovation rarely makes
its way by gradually winning over and converting
its opponents: it rarely happens that Saul becomes
Paul.  What does happen is that its opponents
gradually die out and that the growing generation
is familiarized with the idea from the beginning.
  -- Max Planck

Re: China and socialism

2004-08-03 Thread Joel Wendland

Jonathan Lassen wrote:
When these kind of news stories - see below - appear (and we're only
hearing about this one because one of  the villagers was able to get to the
internet), perhaps we should pause and look a bit closer at what's going
on. The way that these Contradictions
are either displaced, resolved, or sublated will have, IMO, a wide-reaching
influence on how the 21st Century plays out, just as  they did last
century.
Jonathan
-
 Villagers vow to fight on in face of police assault
Joint owners want to overturn the sale of 150 hectares worth 40 million
yuan
 SCMP | 3 aug
Villagers in Henan province vowed to continue their fight for justice
after police intervened at the weekend to quell their protest over land
sales, leaving several people injured and four detained.
Is this particular story emblematic of the restoration of capitalism,
though? Isn't it true that this kind of event took place in pre-reform China
-- and not necessarily to benefit the working and toiling classes? We expect
to see it in capitalist countries, of course. In a socialist country,
however, where the working class is the dominant social strata, one might
expect it not to happen.
My question is, to what extent is political repression in China the result
of a one-party system that had/s(?) the tendency to disallow dissenting
opinions and/or the insistence on a single path to socialism (if that kind
of rhetoric is allowable), or a political culture (not meant in the
anthropological sense) generated by a cultural-revolution-type atmosphere
rather than a restoration of capitalism? I think some parallels are easily
made with the Soviet Union and the means to an end mentality of some on
the left in that one-party system, considering that it doesn't exist
anymore.
Joel Wendland
http://www.politicalaffairs.net
_
Is your PC infected? Get a FREE online computer virus scan from McAfee®
Security. http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963

Re: No bounce for Kerry

 Kerry should lose Licorice the hamster.
 
 Carl

G.O.P. QUESTIONS KERRY'S HAMSTER HEROISM [by Andy Borowitz]

Rodent Story 'Doesn't Add Up,' Mass Email Claims

A mass email from the Republican National Committee is questioning whether or not 
Democratic nominee John Kerry actually saved his daughter Alexandra's pet hamster, 
Licorice, from drowning during a family boating trip as Ms. Kerry has claimed he did.

The email, with a subject line reading Kerry Hamster Story - We Smell a Rat, was 
sent to over two thousand news outlets just hours after Ms. Kerry charmed the 
Democratic national convention with her tale of the Senator's hamster heroism.

In the email message, the G.O.P. quotes an unnamed witness who claims that not only 
did Mr. Kerry not save the rodent's life, but he may have actually been responsible 
for its premature demise.

According to the witness, Licorice was breathing normally when Mr. Kerry pounced on 
the hamster and administered unnecessarily forceful CPR in an over-the-top bid to 
appear heroic, breaking several of the hamster's ribs and puncturing its left lung.

Speaking at a fundraiser held by the Creative Coalition in Hollywood, Mr. Kerry 
defended his daughter's version of events and was joined onstage by several veterans 
of the boating trip during which Licorice fell overboard, a group Mr. Kerry called his 
band of brothers.

But perhaps the most vehement defense came from wife Teresa Heinz Kerry, who told the 
gathering, The Licorice story is true, and if you don't believe it, you can shove a 
live hamster in a secure, undisclosed location.

Mrs. Kerry's remark drew long and loud applause from the Hollywood crowd, especially 
from actor and Pretty Woman star Richard Gere.

[I don't get the joke in the last line.] 

Jim Devine

Re: No Bounce for Kerry

2004-08-03 Thread Michael Hoover

 [EMAIL PROTECTED] 08/03/04 12:28 AM 
I was struck by the same thing as Michael H.  I doubt that they will
reciprocate for
the Dems.

On Tue, Aug 03, 2004 at 12:24:33AM -0400, Michael Hoover wrote:

 related point: tv media abandoned past convention coverage in giving
 reps so many opportunities to sprinkle on dem parade...michael
 hoover

Also, I have never heard of any competitive contest where you aim to
just get over
the hump.  Sounds like a stupid strategy.
Michael Perelman


meant to write in previous post that conservative media set up dems on
bounce by giving rep talking heads pre-convention opportunities to talk
about how kerry would probably get double digit post-convention bump...

re. dem/kerry strategy, elections are mechanisms of social control,
narrow kerry win
will actually be narrow bush loss, kerry's people think this can happen
with existing likely electorate which, of course, means doing nothing to
get more folks to vote, result will be few 'progressive' expectations of
kerry administration...michael hoover




--
Please Note:
Due to Florida's very broad public records law, most written communications to or from 
College employees
regarding College business are public records, available to the public and media upon 
request.
Therefore, this e-mail communication may be subject to public disclosure.

Re: No Bounce for Kerry

The strategy guarentees that Kerry will have no coattails.

On Tue, Aug 03, 2004 at 03:32:47PM -0400, Michael Hoover wrote:

 re. dem/kerry strategy, elections are mechanisms of social control,
 narrow kerry win
 will actually be narrow bush loss, kerry's people think this can happen
 with existing likely electorate which, of course, means doing nothing to
 get more folks to vote, result will be few 'progressive' expectations of
 kerry administration...michael hoover


--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu

Re: No Bounce for Kerry

If there's a great untapped reservoir of leftish populism in the
American masses, why did Kucinich do so badly in the primaries, and
why is Nader now down around 2%?
Doug

Re: No Bounce for Kerry

Kucinich had no money supporting him; Kerry has an organize (well, well-funded)
party.  Gore's support picked up when he did populism, so would Kerry's.  All he had
to do was to take Edwards' 2-America's riff a bit further.


On Tue, Aug 03, 2004 at 03:52:16PM -0400, Doug Henwood wrote:
 If there's a great untapped reservoir of leftish populism in the
 American masses, why did Kucinich do so badly in the primaries, and
 why is Nader now down around 2%?

 Doug

--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu

Re: No Bounce for Kerry

2004-08-03 Thread ravi

Doug Henwood wrote:
 If there's a great untapped reservoir of leftish populism in the
 American masses, why did Kucinich do so badly in the primaries...


it may not be populism, but leftist sentiment might be present. its a
media affair involving millions of dollars of course: kucinich was
relatively unknown to most, let alone his stand. in a democratic
nominees focus group session that was broadcast on c-span, some of the
participants referred to him not by name, but as the guy who was not
serious because he was looking for a bride on the internet.

--ravi

Re: No Bounce for Kerry

I don't know about Kucinich, but I remember that someone was 
complaining about his singing of America the Beautiful at his 
rallies and how embarrassing it was. Maybe that hurt.

Also, Nader is likely falling because of the view that any vote for 
Nader is a vote for Bush.

BTW, one reason for the lack of Kerry bounce is that so many
pro-Bush people are hard-core and would never shift. Also,
Krugman's column in today's NY TIMES suggests that the media
did Kerry in. 

(BTW, when will PK get back to Ec?)


Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED]   http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine

Michael Perelman:
 Kucinich had no money supporting him; Kerry has an organize 
 (well, well-funded)
 party.  Gore's support picked up when he did populism, so 
 would Kerry's.  All he had
 to do was to take Edwards' 2-America's riff a bit further.
 
 On Tue, Aug 03, 2004 at 03:52:16PM -0400, Doug Henwood wrote:
  If there's a great untapped reservoir of leftish populism in the
  American masses, why did Kucinich do so badly in the primaries, and
  why is Nader now down around 2%?

Re: No Bounce for Kerry

2004-08-03 Thread Robert Naiman

I worked for Kucinich in the Iowa caucuses. Lots of folks that supported
Kerry were way more progressive than Kerry. In particular, they were
against the war. What moved them was the electability issue. They wanted
to back a winner.
I don't claim that this completely answers your question (nor that there is
necessarily a great untapped reservoir of leftish populism), but it's an
important piece of the puzzle that should not be discounted.
At 03:52 PM 8/3/2004 -0400, you wrote:
If there's a great untapped reservoir of leftish populism in the
American masses, why did Kucinich do so badly in the primaries, and
why is Nader now down around 2%?
Doug
--
Robert Naiman
Senior Policy Analyst
Venezuela Information Office
733 15th Street, NW Suite 932
Washington, DC 20005
t. 202-347-8081 x. 605
f. 202-347-8091
www.veninfo.org
::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: :::
The Venezuela Information Office is dedicated to informing the American
public about contemporary Venezuela. More information is available from the
FARA office of the Department of Justice in Washington, DC.

What is the total wealth ?




What is the total 
wealth, networth, valueof all the economies of the world ? Do any 
economists estimate this ?

What is total wealth 
divided by the population of the earth ? If total wealth were divided equally, 
what would be per capitanetworth ?

Charles

Re: What is the total wealth ?

2004-08-03 Thread Max B. Sawicky




The Fed Gov says it's $89.9 trillion for the 
U.S.
Some of it -- like the Brooklyn Bridge -- 
would
be hard to divvy up. Would you want a 
share
in the Brooklyn Bridge? It would look nice 
on
the wall.

mbs



From: PEN-L list [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
On Behalf Of Charles BrownSent: Tuesday, August 03, 2004 4:10 
PMTo: [EMAIL PROTECTED]Subject: What is the total 
wealth ?

What is the total 
wealth, networth, valueof all the economies of the world ? Do any 
economists estimate this ?

What is total wealth 
divided by the population of the earth ? If total wealth were divided equally, 
what would be per capitanetworth ?

Charles

Re: No Bounce for Kerry

Devine, James wrote:
Also, Nader is likely falling because of the view that any vote for
Nader is a vote for Bush.
My understanding is that plans are afoot to arrest him and put him on
trial at the Hague for crimes against humanity.
--
The Marxism list: www.marxmail.org

Re: No Bounce for Kerry

no, they're going to put him in the free speech zone in Boston, now that it's no 
longer in use. 


Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED]   http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine


I wrote:
  Also, Nader is likely falling because of the view that any vote for
  Nader is a vote for Bush.

LP: 
 My understanding is that plans are afoot to arrest him and put him on
 trial at the Hague for crimes against humanity.

Changing Sex, Changing Islam

2004-08-03 Thread Yoshie Furuhashi

Changing Sex, Changing Islam (In Iran, transsexuals, changing sex,
have been changing Islam as well, under its still theocratic
government):
http://montages.blogspot.com/2004/08/changing-sex-changing-islam.html.
--
Yoshie
* Critical Montages: http://montages.blogspot.com/
* Greens for Nader: http://greensfornader.net/
* Bring Them Home Now! http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/
* Calendars of Events in Columbus:
http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html,
http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php,  http://www.cpanews.org/
* Student International Forum: http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/
* Committee for Justice in Palestine: http://www.osudivest.org/
* Al-Awda-Ohio: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio
* Solidarity: http://www.solidarity-us.org/

Re: No Bounce for Kerry

Michael Perelman wrote:
Kucinich had no money supporting him
C'mon - he was in the debates, he was on the road a lot. He should
have done better than, what?, 2% of the primary vote.
Doug

Re: No Bounce for Kerry

Robert Naiman wrote:

 What moved them was the electability issue. They wanted
 to back a winner.

This is the popular attitude that disturbs me most, for more than any
other attitude it represents despair at the possibility of people
affecting national policy.

Carrol

Re: No Bounce for Kerry

Devine, James wrote:
BTW, one reason for the lack of Kerry bounce is that so many
pro-Bush people are hard-core and would never shift. Also,
Krugman's column in today's NY TIMES suggests that the media
did Kerry in.
Cruising the dial after the speech it seemed that all the pundits
pronounced Kerry's speech a major success - which confused me,
because I thought it sucked.
Doug

Re: What is the total wealth ?

Charles Brown wrote:
What is the total wealth, networth, value of all the economies of
the world ? Do any economists estimate this ?
Wealth is tough. Income is easier. Acc to World Bank, per capita GDP
(PPP, with all Paul A's caveats incorporated by reference) in 2002
was $7,867.94. Cash money, no PPP magic: $5,212.56.
Doug

Re: No Bounce for Kerry

Carrol Cox wrote:
This is the popular attitude that disturbs me most, for more than any
other attitude it represents despair at the possibility of people
affecting national policy.
The other interesting thing going on is the trivialization of the
campaign, with major statements being made about Kerry's donning of a
clean suit at NASA, debunking his mouth-to-mouth resuscitation of a
hamster, etc. I strongly suspect that the corporate media will be going
gung-ho for Kerry in the next few months. I wouldn't be surprised at a
Bush landslide at this point. When Kerry functions in the electoral
arena like the opponents of the Harlem Globetrotters did in basketball,
what else would you expect? I myself think it would be a good thing if
Kerry lost, both in terms of the issues Andy Stern raised (and then was
pressured into recanting)as well as the likelihood that US imperialism
will have less room to manueuver with Bush reelected. In any case, I
think that it is imperative for those forces committed to Nader to
coalesce in preparation for 2008. If unchallenged DLC type politics
can't deliver the goods, then people might be ready to fight for an
alternative which surely won't come from within the DP.
--
The Marxism list: www.marxmail.org

Re: No Bounce for Kerry

alas I missed his speech. I had to work last night.

(I like to watch the candidates' convention speeches 
for the same reason I saw Terminator I and II, i.e., to 
keep up with popular culture.)


Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED]   http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine




 -Original Message-
 From: PEN-L list [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Doug
 Henwood
 Sent: Tuesday, August 03, 2004 1:34 PM
 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Subject: Re: [PEN-L] No Bounce for Kerry
 
 
 Devine, James wrote:
 
 BTW, one reason for the lack of Kerry bounce is that so many
 pro-Bush people are hard-core and would never shift. Also,
 Krugman's column in today's NY TIMES suggests that the media
 did Kerry in.
 
 Cruising the dial after the speech it seemed that all the pundits
 pronounced Kerry's speech a major success - which confused me,
 because I thought it sucked.
 
 Doug

Re: No Bounce for Kerry

2004-08-03 Thread Michael Hoover

 [EMAIL PROTECTED] 08/03/04 3:52 PM 
If there's a great untapped reservoir of leftish populism in the
American masses, why did Kucinich do so badly in the primaries, and
why is Nader now down around 2%?
Doug

uhhh, who said anything about 'untapped reservoir of leftish populism'
(whatever that is)...

come now doug, you know answers to above questions...

however, 'conventional wisdom'  holds that dem positions on  civil
rights/civil liberties issues began to alienate white working class in
late 1960s, race ostensibly drove  wedge between white and non-white
working workers with resultant diminution of class voting, such analysis
is mostly based upon assessments using self-identified class, this
measure fails to address voter economic circumstances, analysis relying
upon relative income situation of voters reflects relative level of
resources folks have, results show increasing support among less
affluent for dems, differences in voting by income position (social
class) have been increasing, not decreasing...

mainstream poli sci guy jeffrey stonecash uses nes data - see his _class
and party in american politics_  - to show that *even in south* white
working class voters remain more likely to vote dem than more affluent
white voters, big problem is relative scarcity of white working class
turnout in south (condition exacerbated nationally by similar scarcity
at polls among all workin people)...michael hoover


--
Please Note:
Due to Florida's very broad public records law, most written communications to or from 
College employees
regarding College business are public records, available to the public and media upon 
request.
Therefore, this e-mail communication may be subject to public disclosure.

What is the total wealth ?

by Max B. Sawicky

The Fed Gov says it's $89.9 trillion for the U.S.
Some of it -- like the Brooklyn Bridge -- would
be hard to divvy up.  Would you want a share
in the Brooklyn Bridge?  It would look nice on
the wall.

Mbs

^^

Ok I said it dumbly, but I'm trying to start a holistic thought like Levins
and Lewontin might advise. Is there enough wealth in the whole world to give
everybody a decent minimum ? Could we have a world minimum income/networth ?

So, you want to sell me the Brooklyn Bridge ? I must look like a peasant
from Detroit.

Can I sell the paper on the bridge and buy some use-values I can use ?

Charles

^



Subject: What is the total wealth ?


What is the total wealth, networth, value of all the economies of the world
? Do any economists estimate this ?

What is total wealth divided by the population of the earth ? If total
wealth were divided equally, what would be per capita networth ?

Charles

Date Rape Drug? HOAX

Sorry .

CB

^   http://hoaxinfo.com/progesterex.htm



Progesterex: Date Rape Drug?



First Published June, 2000
Updated September, 2002

In 1999,  an e-mail began circulating that proclaimed a new date
rape drug had been introduced.  This drug not only rendered the victim
helpless to defend themselves against a would-be rapist, but caused
permanent sterilization to the victim.

That drug was called Progesterex. It is also, an absolute
fabrication.  There is no drug called Progesterex.  An Go Ask Alice
http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/1597.html , Columbia University's
Internet Question and Answer Site looked in to this one and concluded there
was no such drug.

There are indeed date rape drugs, such as Rohypnol, and one would be
wise to keep an eye out for those who might take advantage of a young,
college aged woman at the many parties that are thrown on campus.  However,
this is one drug you can scratch off the list.

This is a copy of the hoax e-mail circulating:


PASS THIS ONTO YOUR FEMALE FRIENDS.
Ladies, be more alert and cautious when getting a drink offer from a
guy.   Good guys out there, please forward this message  to your lady
friends.  And boyfriends, take heed.  There  is a new drug that has been out
for less than a year.  Progesterex, that is a essentially a small
sterilization pill. The drug is now being used by rapists at parties to rape
AND sterilize their victims.  Progesterex is available to vets to sterilize
large animals.  Rumour has it  that the Progesterex is being used together
with Rohypnol, the date rape drug.  As with Rohypnol, all they have to do is
drop it into the woman's drink.  The woman can't remember a thing the next
morning, of all that had taken place the night before.

Progesterex, which dissolves in drinks  just as easily, is such
that the victim doesn't
 conceive from the rape and  the rapist needn't worry about having a
paternity test identifying him  months later. The drug's effects AREN'T
TEMPORARY.
Progesterex was designed to sterilize horses.

Any female  that takes it WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO CONCEIVE.  The
crooks can get this drug from anyone who is in the vet school of any
university.  It's that easy, and Progesterex is about to break  out big on
campuses everywhere.  Believe it or not, there is even a site on the
internet telling people how to use it.

 Please forward this to everyone you know, especially the gals.

Re: No Bounce for Kerry

When has a person in the debates been called a vanity candidate before.  The singing
schtick was stupid, though.

On Tue, Aug 03, 2004 at 04:32:11PM -0400, Doug Henwood wrote:
 Michael Perelman wrote:

 Kucinich had no money supporting him

 C'mon - he was in the debates, he was on the road a lot. He should
 have done better than, what?, 2% of the primary vote.

 Doug

--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu

What is the total wealth ?

by Doug Henwood


Wealth is tough. Income is easier. Acc to World Bank, per capita GDP
(PPP, with all Paul A's caveats incorporated by reference) in 2002
was $7,867.94. Cash money, no PPP magic: $5,212.56.

^^

So, in a very abstract sense, if everybody had equal cut from GDP in 2002,
everybody would be poor, but not real poor ? Or do I misinterpret this ?

Charles

The Women of Crawford Have a Secret

2004-08-03 Thread Michael Hoover

http://www.bushvchoice.com/trailer/crawford.swf

Find out how these successful, driven women could swing the election
and help bring the end of a woman's right to choose -- without saying a
word.

Produced by:  NARAL Pro-Choice America, Inc.
www.ProChoiceAmerica.org



--
Please Note:
Due to Florida's very broad public records law, most written communications to or from 
College employees
regarding College business are public records, available to the public and media upon 
request.
Therefore, this e-mail communication may be subject to public disclosure.

Correction

The other interesting thing going on is the trivialization of the
campaign, with major statements being made about Kerry's donning of a
clean suit at NASA, debunking his mouth-to-mouth resuscitation of a
hamster, etc. I strongly suspect that the corporate media will be going
gung-ho for BUSH in the next few months.
--
The Marxism list: www.marxmail.org

Re: What is the total wealth ?

Charles Brown wrote:
So, in a very abstract sense, if everybody had equal cut from GDP in 2002,
everybody would be poor, but not real poor ? Or do I misinterpret this ?
It's roughly at the level of Mexico, PPP-wise.
Doug

Re: No Bounce for Kerry

Devine, James wrote:

 alas I missed his speech. I had to work last night.

 (I like to watch the candidates' convention speeches
 for the same reason I saw Terminator I and II, i.e., to
 keep up with popular culture.)


That seems a better motive than most have. :-)

Maillists tend to tell  you everything you need to know (and sometimes a
lot more than you want to know) about popular culture.

The main problem is that no one seems to be able to describe what they
mean by popular culture.

That was partly behind the long list of questions I posted not long ago.
(How many watch Fox News, watch CBS, don't watch any, etc.) For example,
in addition to the high-rated TV shows there are in fact hundreds of TV
shows, presumably watched by _some_ people (who also presumably make up
part of popular culture). What percentage of the adult population
regularly watches at least one of the top three TV shows in a given
year? What do we have to say about those (number unknown to me) who do
not watch any of the top three TV shows? What percentage of the
population does NOT see at least seven of the 10 most popular movies?
What information about popular culture is  given us by the existence of
the Western Channel on cable tv. What is the cultural status (popular
or freakish) of those who watch reruns of Gunsmoke or old Autry movies?
How many do watch the reruns of Gunsmoke?

Carrol

P.S. The last president and/or presidential candidate that I heard
deliver more than two consecutive sentences by (the time it takes to
reach the radio dial) was LBJ in 1964. But I've never had any trouble
understanding anything anyone said to me about the current president
and/or candidate.

Re: What is the total wealth ?

Charles Brown wrote:


 Ok I said it dumbly, but I'm trying to start a holistic thought like Levins
 and Lewontin might advise. Is there enough wealth in the whole world to give
 everybody a decent minimum ? Could we have a world minimum income/networth ?


I don't think estimates of total wealth tell one much. What counts for
your purposes is the flow of material goods and services available at
any given moment. Or perhaps the productive capacity if everyone were
employed, but I doubt anyone could make even a wild estimate of that.

Carrol

Re: What is the total wealth ?

2004-08-03 Thread Daniel Davies

the reason why the income number is easier than the wealth number, of
course, is that if you had all the world's wealth, what would you buy with
it?  In a very real sense ( this phrase [c] Alan Bennett), the world's
wealth can probably only be measured in hours of equivalent socially
necessary average labour time, because that's what you'd command if you
owned all the other stuff.

The global money supply question is also very difficult indeed; my
ex-colleague Peter Warburton used to collect decent money for a now-defunct
brokerage by guesstimating a Global Hard Money Equivalent figure, but this
was about five years ago and I haven't kept in touch with him.  The
differential between the cash and PPP numbers Doug quotes below would
probably indicate to a better Keynesian economist than myself something
about the relative tightness/looseness of the GHME money supply, but I'm too
frazzled to work it out right now.

The answer to Charles' fundamental question is of course yes; if you're on
$1,000 per year you're doing much better than the official poverty levels,
and there's enough production going on in the world to give everybody that
much.

cheers

dd

-Original Message-
From: PEN-L list [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Doug
Henwood
Sent: 03 August 2004 21:41
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: What is the total wealth ?


Charles Brown wrote:

What is the total wealth, networth, value of all the economies of
the world ? Do any economists estimate this ?

Wealth is tough. Income is easier. Acc to World Bank, per capita GDP
(PPP, with all Paul A's caveats incorporated by reference) in 2002
was $7,867.94. Cash money, no PPP magic: $5,212.56.

Doug

Re: No Bounce for Kerry

I wrote:
  alas I missed his speech. I had to work last night.

obviously, I meant that night, i.e., last Thursday night.
More coffee is needed. 

I remember Bill C's DP convention speech well. He 
clearly came off as intelligent, as opposed to W (in 2000), 
who came off as dumb. Both were wrong, but that's 
another issue. 

By the way, Jim C, where did you get that quote from
Monica Lewinsky. (I tried to google it, but hit upon a 
site called JewWatch which turned my stomach, so
I gave up.) 

jd

Re: What is the total wealth ?

2004-08-03 Thread Tom Walker

Wealth is liberty... it is disposable time and nothing more.

Tom Walker
604 255 4812

What is the total wealth ?

by Carrol Cox


I don't think estimates of total wealth tell one much. What counts for
your purposes is the flow of material goods and services available at
any given moment. Or perhaps the productive capacity if everyone were
employed, but I doubt anyone could make even a wild estimate of that.

^

What proportion of total GDP is consumable ? How much is liquid ? What
proportion is in plant , equipment and bridges ?

Just full of questions.

CB

testing




there's 
no need to read this. How does the format look? 

Who needs 
enemas? Rebecca 
FrontTuesday August 3, 2004The 
Guardian A blow 
to conspiracy theorists appeared in this paper the other day. According to 
scientists, Napoleon Bonaparte was not murdered, as has long been suspected, but 
instead died as the result of a potassium imbalance. This, it's now thought, was 
brought about by a well-intentioned doctor being over-zealous in his use of 
enemas. I'm aware that the mere mention of an overzealous enema will have led 
many of you to start turning the page, but stay with me if you will. 

To historians and medics, you can 
see why Napoleon's enemas would be of interest. To ardent fans of colonic 
irrigation, such adverse publicity may be seen as a pain in the arse - but that, 
after all, is nothing they won't have dealt with before. To the would-be 
humourist, however, such a story presents a problem. Enemas. A great word, ripe 
with comic possibilities. There may never again be such a golden opportunity to 
use the old gag: "with friends like these ..." 
But puns are so last century. In 
the age of darker than dark, bitter without the sweet comedy, the sort of comedy 
in which I so often work, puns are simply not done. They're considered cheap, 
cheesy and a bit juvenile. Some might argue that that's what makes them funny. 
Puns are, after all, pretty harmless faux-confusions of two words that sound 
alike; surely hating them is... well, it's homophone-bia. But trust me, I write 
from experience. 
Some years ago I began working on a 
news satire show called The Day Today. The rest of the team were actors and 
writers too, but most had stand-up comedy experience. Not me. While they had 
been treading sticky, beer-sodden stages and helping to create the new wave of 
hard-hitting, postmodern irony, I had been sitting in radio studios with 
middle-aged actors, listening, between takes, to anecdotes with tag lines such 
as "stark bollock naked in front of Princess Margaret!" Of course, I had a lot 
of comedy experience, but when a show has a title such as The Nice Man Cometh or 
Rabble Without Applause, you know you can go for it all puns blazing. (Damn, 
there goes another one.) 


For the first few improvisation 
sessions on this new show, I felt too intimidated to utter a word. Then one day, 
someone set up an idea about capital punishment. I could see it rolling towards 
me ... a glorious, multi-layered pun. Someone was bound to get there first, to 
pick it up and run with it, but no. So I took a deep breath and said it: "No 
noose is good noose", then looked down modestly and waited for the guffaw. 
Silence. When I looked up again, some of my colleagues were pretending they 
hadn't heard me, others were frantically doodling on their notepads. One, 
sensing my bewilderment and fearful that I might repeat my crime, whispered: "No 
puns. No innuendo." I was mystified. This was a comedy. It was as if I'd been 
told to drive up a motorway with no gears and no steering wheel. But the comedy 
ground had shifted, and I had to jump on or fall through the gap. 
To many people, the kind of jokes 
you use are irrelevant. To Conservative party members in Congleton, for 
instance, the fact that their MP Ann Winterton made that irredeemably duff gag 
about Chinese cockle pickers has not deterred them from reselecting her. But the 
comedy world is as much dominated by fashion as... well, the fashion world. So I 
have learned to resist puns and innuendo, but it isn't easy. 
At a Blue Peter children's Prom 
this weekend - and let us just pause to consider the resonant potential of 
"Blue", "Peter" and "Prom" - I tried to sit stony faced while the presenters 
breathlessly praised the Royal Albert Hall's finest feature: 
"9,999 pipes! That's quite an 
organ, isn't it, Liz?" 
"Yes, Simon, that's certainly one 
powerful organ." 
I have to tell you it was hard. 
Keeping a straight face, I mean, not the organ. (Damn, I just can't help 
myself.) 
Which brings us back to Napoleon 
... Bonaparte ... (I'm resisting the innuendo locked within those three 
syllables, but it's killing me.) My brief for this column was to find a story 
that shouted to me and run with it. I could have chosen anything, but while 
Napoleon didn't shout to me, his enemas did. For all the wrong reasons. 

And, as I have my reputation to 
consider, instead of basing a column on a cheap joke, I've wasted one explaining 
my decision not to. But in doing so, I have created a spurious link between me 
and the great Corsican: Napoleon was defeated by Nelson; I, alas, was crushed by 
the column. 
 Rebecca Front is a comedy 
writer and performer, who recently appeared in the BBC's Nighty Night 

Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED]  http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine

Re: China and socialism

Joel Wendland wrote:
Is this particular story emblematic of the restoration of capitalism,
though? Isn't it true that this kind of event took place in pre-reform
China
-- and not necessarily to benefit the working and toiling classes? We
expect
to see it in capitalist countries, of course.
The pre-reform, post-revolutionary state in China did not resort to
organized violence in order secure land for industrial purposes. They
had sufficient legitimacy and power so that violence was not necessary.
The violence associated with land grabs is very much a recent problem,
developing since the late 90s as far as I know.
In a socialist country,
however, where the working class is the dominant social strata, one might
expect it not to happen.
China's working class may be the majority in urban China, but I don't
think anyone would consider them dominant.
My question is, to what extent is political repression in China the result
of a one-party system that had/s(?) the tendency to disallow dissenting
opinions and/or the insistence on a single path to socialism (if that kind
of rhetoric is allowable), or a political culture (not meant in the
anthropological sense) generated by a cultural-revolution-type atmosphere
rather than a restoration of capitalism?
I don't think you can separate the current development/restoration of
capitalism and repression in China. People living in non-capitalist
social relations have to be drawn kicking and screaming into the loving
embrace of the 'market.' Chinese farmers don't want to be locked cages
and thrown back into the 19th century. The corrupt bureaucratic class of
China's countryside is the underground pump for the sea of factories
that produce an increasingly large chunk of social materiality on this
planet. This can only be accomplished under the most ruthless of
dictatorships, regardless of the appearence of the political system.
The current 'political culture' in China has been generated by the
Cultural Revolution only in a negative way. Dengism was the conscious
rejection of everything Maoist, particularly the Cultural Revolution. It
emerged as the victorious ideology only after Mao's death, and the
failure of the Cultural Revolution.
Cheers,
Jonathan

Re: testing

2004-08-03 Thread Mario José de Lima

...perfect.

- Original Message -
From:
Devine, James

To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, August 03, 2004 7:18
PM
Subject: testing

there's no need to read this. How does the format
look?

Who needs
enemas? Rebecca FrontTuesday August 3, 2004The Guardian A blow to conspiracy theorists appeared in
this paper the other day. According to scientists, Napoleon Bonaparte was not
murdered, as has long been suspected, but instead died as the result of a
potassium imbalance. This, it's now thought, was brought about by a
well-intentioned doctor being over-zealous in his use of enemas. I'm aware
that the mere mention of an overzealous enema will have led many of you to
start turning the page, but stay with me if you will.
To historians and medics, you can
see why Napoleon's enemas would be of interest. To ardent fans of colonic
irrigation, such adverse publicity may be seen as a pain in the arse - but
that, after all, is nothing they won't have dealt with before. To the would-be
humourist, however, such a story presents a problem. Enemas. A great word,
ripe with comic possibilities. There may never again be such a golden
opportunity to use the old gag: "with friends like these ..."
But puns are so last century. In
the age of darker than dark, bitter without the sweet comedy, the sort of
comedy in which I so often work, puns are simply not done. They're considered
cheap, cheesy and a bit juvenile. Some might argue that that's what makes them
funny. Puns are, after all, pretty harmless faux-confusions of two words that
sound alike; surely hating them is... well, it's homophone-bia. But trust me,
I write from experience.
Some years ago I began working on
a news satire show called The Day Today. The rest of the team were actors and
writers too, but most had stand-up comedy experience. Not me. While they had
been treading sticky, beer-sodden stages and helping to create the new wave of
hard-hitting, postmodern irony, I had been sitting in radio studios with
middle-aged actors, listening, between takes, to anecdotes with tag lines such
as "stark bollock naked in front of Princess Margaret!" Of course, I had a lot
of comedy experience, but when a show has a title such as The Nice Man Cometh
or Rabble Without Applause, you know you can go for it all puns blazing.
(Damn, there goes another one.)

For the first few improvisation
sessions on this new show, I felt too intimidated to utter a word. Then one
day, someone set up an idea about capital punishment. I could see it rolling
towards me ... a glorious, multi-layered pun. Someone was bound to get there
first, to pick it up and run with it, but no. So I took a deep breath and said
it: "No noose is good noose", then looked down modestly and waited for the
guffaw. Silence. When I looked up again, some of my colleagues were pretending
they hadn't heard me, others were frantically doodling on their notepads. One,
sensing my bewilderment and fearful that I might repeat my crime, whispered:
"No puns. No innuendo." I was mystified. This was a comedy. It was as if I'd
been told to drive up a motorway with no gears and no steering wheel. But the
comedy ground had shifted, and I had to jump on or fall through the gap.

To many people, the kind of jokes
you use are irrelevant. To Conservative party members in Congleton, for
instance, the fact that their MP Ann Winterton made that irredeemably duff gag
about Chinese cockle pickers has not deterred them from reselecting her. But
the comedy world is as much dominated by fashion as... well, the fashion
world. So I have learned to resist puns and innuendo, but it isn't easy.

At a Blue Peter children's Prom
this weekend - and let us just pause to consider the resonant potential of
"Blue", "Peter" and "Prom" - I tried to sit stony faced while the presenters
breathlessly praised the Royal Albert Hall's finest feature:
"9,999 pipes! That's quite an
organ, isn't it, Liz?"
"Yes, Simon, that's certainly one
powerful organ."
I have to tell you it was hard.
Keeping a straight face, I mean, not the organ. (Damn, I just can't help
myself.)
Which brings us back to Napoleon
... Bonaparte ... (I'm resisting the innuendo locked within those three
syllables, but it's killing me.) My brief for this column was to find a story
that shouted to me and run with it. I could have chosen anything, but while
Napoleon didn't shout to me, his enemas did. For all the wrong reasons.

And, as I have my reputation to
consider, instead of basing a column on a cheap joke, I've wasted one
explaining my decision not to. But in doing so, I have created a spurious link
between me and the great Corsican: Napoleon was defeated by Nelson; I, alas,
was crushed by the column.
· Rebecca Front is a
comedy writer and

Re: China Study Group

Kenneth Campbell wrote:
As I hope you understood, I meant no offence. China needs no help from
us.
I'm not sure why China provokes such strong feelings of
separateness/alienation.
Let's all just stay in our hermetically sealed container-states, it's
much safer.
JL

Re: Changing Sex, Changing Islam

2004-08-03 Thread Mohammad Maljoo

An interesting piece! Apart from Islamic Rules, the body politics issue in
Iran has its origin mostly in the cultural codes of behavior. There are many
irreligious peoples who cant consider changing sex as a normal phenomenon
because of their cultural roots. For example, you cant believe that how
much I myself as an Iranian man goggled when a few years ago I discovered
that Mr. Donald McCloskey has became Mrs. Deirdre McCloskey or that how much
is exclamatory now that I am reading her _Crossing: A Memoir_. These
wonderments have not their origin so much in religion (I have no religion)
as in the cultural background. Therefore, it seems to me that the obstacles
in the changing sex in Iran are in the society itself rather than in
political scene in which the theocratic government is dominant. Of course,
this is not the case for Hijab as an incarnation of Islamic body politics in
Iran.
M. M.

Changing Sex, Changing Islam (In Iran, transsexuals, changing sex,
have been changing Islam as well, under its still theocratic
government):
http://montages.blogspot.com/2004/08/changing-sex-changing-islam.html.
--
Yoshie
_
Dont just search. Find. Check out the new MSN Search!
http://search.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200636ave/direct/01/

Re: No Bounce for Kerry

2004-08-03 Thread Yoshie Furuhashi

If there's a great untapped reservoir of leftish populism in the
American masses, why did Kucinich do so badly in the primaries,
1.  Kucinich is nice, poor, and white.
2.  Kucinich is short: 5 feet 7 inches.
3.  93% of Americans are still unsure about how to pronounce his last name.
and why is Nader now down around 2%?
1.  According to Gallup, Nader appears to have peaked at 5% in the
June 3-6, 2004:
img src=http://media.gallup.com/POLL/Releases/pr040713ii.gif;, so
his inability to get on the Green Party ballots brought down his
popularity.
2.  Nader is forced to waste money fighting off Democrats' demagogy
about Republican funding and legal challenges to his ballot accesses:
blockquoteWhile Mr. Nader digs in his heels, the Democrats are
trying to sideline him. The party has enlisted Howard Dean, the
former Vermont governor, who has declared an extraordinary
emergency to stomp out Nader votes. And some former associates of
Mr. Nader are organizing an extensive, well-financed national
campaign against him. Organizers include Toby Moffett, a former
congressman from Connecticut and onetime Nader Raider, who lost a
close race for the Senate in 1982 after his former boss endorsed his
opponent.
Mr. Moffett, now a lobbyist in Washington, worked against Mr. Nader
in six states in 2000, an informal effort that he now calls
amateurish. With that experience under his belt, he said, we're
vowing not to let it happen again.
Mr. Moffett and others from labor and feminist organizations spent
their time at the Democratic convention coordinating six or eight
anti-Nader groups. Calling themselves United Progressives for
Victory, they are raising money through an independent political
committee known as a 527, named for the section of the I.R.S. code
that governs it, and are working with other 527's that are already
identifying sympathetic voters. (By law, such committees can raise
unlimited amounts of money but cannot coordinate with the Kerry
campaign.)
The group is armed with a poll conducted by Stanley Greenberg, who
was President Bill Clinton's pollster. The group includes Roy Neel, a
former Gore associate who worked for Mr. Dean and is now preparing
the computer model for finding the 2.8 million people who voted for
Mr. Nader in 2000 and might vote for him again.
Mr. Moffett said there was no chance that Mr. Nader would drop out,
so the only way to stop him from throwing the election to Mr. Bush is
to discourage his supporters. . . .
. . . [For instance,] when Nader supporters learned that Mr. Nader
had accepted help and money from Republicans to get on the ballots in
various states, they dropped away. And one of the few public figures
who has credibility with Nader backers is former President Jimmy
Carter, who is perceived as not compromised by or profiting from the
political system. So some of the group's officials say they have
discussed redeploying Mr. Carter, who they say has indicated a
willingness to help.
The briefings in Boston drew dozens of donors, lawyers and activists,
including Arianna Huffington, the columnist. . . .
Mr. Moffett said that he and Elizabeth Holtzman, the former
congresswoman from New York, were coordinating with election lawyers
in several states to challenge Mr. Nader's ballot petitions. Their
strategy, he said, is to try to undercut Mr. Nader strong not only
in swing states where he could make a difference but in safe states,
to drain him of resources and force him to spend his time and
money./strong . . .
Mr. Nader has raised $1.5 million, tens of thousands of it from
Republicans, who also collected the signatures to get him on the
ballot in Michigan. But he shrugged off the significance of their
help, saying, We had nothing to do with it. . . .
I wish Republicans who support us would send us some donations, Mr.
Camejo said. In polls, 25 percent of our vote is from Republicans
and only 5 percent of our money.  (emphasis added, Katharine Q.
Seelye, Convictions Intact, Nader Soldiers On, emNew York
Times/em, a
href=http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/02/politics/campaign/02nader.html;August
2, 2004/a)/blockquote
--
Yoshie
* Critical Montages: http://montages.blogspot.com/
* Greens for Nader: http://greensfornader.net/
* Bring Them Home Now! http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/
* Calendars of Events in Columbus:
http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html,
http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php,  http://www.cpanews.org/
* Student International Forum: http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/
* Committee for Justice in Palestine: http://www.osudivest.org/
* Al-Awda-Ohio: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio
* Solidarity: http://www.solidarity-us.org/

Re: testing

2004-08-03 Thread Dan Scanlan

Title: Re: testing


there's no
need to read this. How does the format look?

Somewhat staid, but it flowed nicely.

Scanlan

The NY Times, the Democratic Party and Italian fascism

Alan A. Block, Space, Time  Organized Crime:
As a way of initially placing the fascist presence in America, consider 
Mussolini's reception in the United States. According to John P. 
Diggins' history, Mussolini enjoyed a vast popularity which was a 
product of the press. Diggins pointed out that The New York Times 
correspondents' writing on Italy approved of fascism and Mussolini. One 
of the most prolific was Anne O'Hare McCormick who rhapsodized upon the 
feats of the Blackshirts and consistently defended the twists and turns 
of Mussolini's diplomacy, justifying the Ethiopian invasion, the Italian 
'volunteers' in Spain, and the Rome-Berlin axis. Like the 
extraordinarily influential The New York Times which featured so many 
rhapsodic articles on fascism, the mass circulation Saturday Evening 
Post which had about three million subscribers in 1930 effectively 
created a respectable image of Mussolini. Indeed, Post writers did much 
more than make Mussolini respectable, they described him in numerous 
articles as a political savior, and economic genius, and the leader 
in the struggle of virtue over vice. In 1928, the Post went beyond 
description of fascism and Mussolini, and in serial form published 
Mussolini's autobiography. Negotiations for this publishing coup were 
carried out by the American ambassador to Italy, Richard Washburn Child 
who was infatuated with the Italian dictator and frequently conferred 
with him on the state of American opinion. Most likely the Mussolini 
autobiography published in the Post was in fact written by Child with 
the aid of Mussolini's brother.

Fascism was well established and deeply entrenched within the 
associational life of Italian-Americans. And, Generoso Pope as publisher 
of pro-Fascist papers was clearly one of the most important Fascist 
propagandists. Pope's Fascist activities, however, were not entirely 
subsumed by his newspapers. As a man of influence Pope played a role in 
legitimizing fascism by his participation in public events that extolled 
Mussolini and Italian Fascism. For instance, he was a member of a 
committee which arranged for the reception of Italo Balbo, Italian 
airman, on January 3, 1929. A few weeks later, Piero Parini, director 
of the bureau of Italians abroad and director general of the Italian 
schools abroad at the Rome Foreign Office came to the United States. 
While in New York, Parini received the honorary title of deputy sheriff 
of New York County at a dinner arranged for him by Pope. The chief 
editor of Il Progresso Italo-Americano was Italo Carlo Falbo who was a 
friend of Mussolini's and also represented the state-controlled 
Stefani News Agency in New York. Pope engaged in fund-raising activities 
for the Reverend Joseph Congedo's educational endeavors among 
Italian-American children which were laced with fascist propaganda. The 
Reverend Congedo was knighted by Mussolini in 1932 for spreading the 
fascist gospel. Early in 1934, Pope was a featured speaker at, what 
Salvemini described, the golden anniversary of the priesthood of the 
Fascist Reverend Francis P. Qrassi, paster of Saint Anthony, Wakefield, 
Bronx. In March 1934, Pope sent a representative to a birthday of 
Fascism party held at the Hotel Ambassador which had been promoted by 
Il Grido delta Stirpe and was attended by Count di Revel and other 
fascists. In October 1934 Pope sent a telegram of greeting and 
approval to the Lictor Association which had promoted a celebration of 
the March on Rome. Similar demonstrations took place in 1935 with Pope 
either speaking or as one of the distinguished guests. He was especially 
prominent in defending Italy's right to civilize Ethiopia during that 
year.

With only one substantial exception which will be dealt with shortly, 
there has never been any question of Pope's background in the 
Italian-American fascist movement. There is, however, a substantial 
question dealing with Pope and fascism which is concerned with precisely 
when he actually denounced Mussolini and Fascism. Furthermore, there are 
interpretive problems dealing with the meaning of Pope's anti-fascist 
statements coming as they did in general after Italy and America were at 
war.

Let us first deal with the exceptionPope's defender who claimed that he 
was never even a Fascist sympathizer. In the spring of 1941, [Democratic 
Party] Congressman Samuel Dickstein from New York took up cudgels for 
Pope in the House of Representatives and answered newspaper allegations 
that Pope had been a fascist sympathizer. Dickstein acknowledged that 
Pope was the publisher of two, as he put it, outstanding Italian 
newspapers, and then added that he was a benefactor to the poor and 
that He always condemned fascism and the Mussolini movement. Several 
months later, Dickstein continued his defense in Congress. This was 
necessary because in the interim, Dickstein's original statement had 
sparked a flurry of mail to Congress which as Dickstein stated

Re: testing

Title: Re: testing



thanks.

Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED]  http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine 

  -Original Message-From: PEN-L list 
  [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Dan ScanlanSent: 
  Tuesday, August 03, 2004 4:27 PMTo: 
  [EMAIL PROTECTED]Subject: Re: [PEN-L] 
  testing
  there's no need 
to read this. How does the format look?
  
  Somewhat staid, but it flowed nicely.
  
  Scanlan

Re: The NY Times, the Democratic Party and Italian fascism




[how does this look?]
Alan A. Block, "Space, Time  Organized Crime":
As a way of initially placing the fascist presence in America, consider 
Mussolini's reception in the United States. According to John P. Diggins' 
history, Mussolini enjoyed a "vast popularity" which was a "product of the 
press." Diggins pointed out that "The New York Times" correspondents' writing on 
Italy approved of fascism and Mussolini. One of the most prolific was Anne 
O'Hare McCormick who "rhapsodized upon the feats of the Blackshirts and 
consistently defended the twists and turns of Mussolini's diplomacy, justifying 
the Ethiopian invasion, the Italian 'volunteers' in Spain, and the Rome-Berlin 
axis."
the New York TIMES also had a reporter who loved Stalin. Is it possible that 
back then the NYT embraced generalized authoritarianism -- or simply suffered 
from low journalistic standards.
(Back in the 1970s, I went to a chiropractor who was also a right-wing nut 
(or a right wing-nut, I forget which). But he was a great chiropractor and a lot 
of Bay Area lefties went to him. Anyway, while he had me on the table, he used 
to rant about his politics, about how children didn't obey their parents 
anymore, how we need law and order, etc. Not wanting to disagree (given my 
posture), I said "don't they have law and order in the Soviet Union?" hoping to 
catch him on a contradiction. It turned out that he loved the USSR, since he was 
a _generalized_ authoritarian. He liked the fact that Soviet children wore 
uniforms, etc. Oh, my back!)
Jim Devine

Re: The NY Times, the Democratic Party and Italian fascism

 Devine, James wrote:

 [how does this look?]

 Alan A. Block, Space, Time  Organized Crime:

 As a way of initially placing the fascist presence in America,
 consider Mussolini's reception in the United States.

One of those random things one remembers from early youth (8 or 9 at
most). A cartoon in the Sunday Chicago Herald-American (a Hearst paper).
It was a double panel. One showed Stalin in an armored railroad car
surrounded by armed guards. The other showed Mussolini driving a tractor
pulling a combine or something, with scores of happy peasants working in
the fields around him. No guards. (I'm probably making some of the
details up, but the basic contrast was there.)

Carrol

Nuruddin Farah: We No Longer Own Our Country

2004-08-03 Thread Yoshie Furuhashi

Nuruddin Farah: 'We No Longer Own Our Country' (Nuruddin Farah, a
Somali novelist, writes of what it means to lose one's own country --
utterly):
http://montages.blogspot.com/2004/08/nuruddin-farah-we-no-longer-own-our.html
--
Yoshie
* Critical Montages: http://montages.blogspot.com/
* Greens for Nader: http://greensfornader.net/
* Bring Them Home Now! http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/
* Calendars of Events in Columbus:
http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html,
http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php,  http://www.cpanews.org/
* Student International Forum: http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/
* Committee for Justice in Palestine: http://www.osudivest.org/
* Al-Awda-Ohio: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio
* Solidarity: http://www.solidarity-us.org/

Re: Walmart costs California

Wal-Mart questioned the validity of the report, saying the authors
undervalued the wages and benefits the chain's employees receive.
The UC report comes from the Berkeley Labor Center, an institute that is
openly supportive of union causes. Although its researchers have in the past
accepted funding from the grocery workers' union to conduct studies, this
report was not funded by labor, its authors said.
 
_openly_ supportive of union causes? do they ever say openly
supportive of corporate causes? is Labor is such bad shape that
it's a market of shame to support it? 
 
Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine

Re: Walmart costs California