Hot on the heels of the arrest of five senior members of the editorial staff, Rupert Murdoch announced the launch of a Sunday edition of his Sun 'newspaper'. The new Sun effectively replaces the News of the World which Murdoch was forced to close after criminal charges were brought against the editor and other members of the editorial staff.
The Sun staff are furious with Murdoch after revelations that the company disclosed confidential sources to police.
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GOP Primary Schedule | Elections | Economic Crisis | Jobs | #OWS
Monday, February 20, 2012
Have the Catholic Bishops and Barack Obama moved the Overton Window on contraception?
There's an interesting debate on the left (I abjure the term "liberal" as having two contradictory meanings, neither of which is worth a grad-school food fight) over President Obama's most recent cavage — to the Catholic Bishops on the issue of contraception for "conscience" objectors.
Much of the lefty interpretation has it that in this case, if only in this one, Obama has achieved his elevendy-mentional potential — demonstrated his mastery of double-fake politics — by outfoxing the Rs at their own game (no link; I'm not going to call out my brothers and sisters).
In other words, his cave laid a trap for the Republican Bishops (yes, I've merged the groups) and they walked right into it.
But it's been hard for me to imagine that a man so adept at caving to the disadvantage of progressives — time after time after time after time — has somehow grown a pair of left-wing brains.
So I was glad to read this take at Digby's site from David Atkins (my emphasis:
On reflection, I think Atkins is right. What he's referring to, without naming it, is the Overton Window:
This is Rush Limbaugh's function exactly. By calling Obama "uppity" and "the magic negro," for example, he makes Gingrich's "food stamp president" look mainstream, while containing the same idea.
That allows CNN to do its classic recirculation of the right-wing theme du jour:
It's a rolling coup, started in the 1970s (see Ch 1, The Republican Noise Machine), and considers itself a multi-generational conflict (that is, they see themselves as completing the failed work of conservatives in the 1930s in opposing the New Deal).
They don't care about the polls; all they want is the Big Win, the one when the last whistle blows. If Gov. Scott Walker could anoint himself lifelong Prefect of Wisconsin, accountable only to his master, he wouldn't care a dime what his popularity was. (Besides, that's what cops are for.)
In their world, Obama's one-month "win" (a poll bump that will die when the next news-blonde goes missing) is nothing but a firefly — lit bright, then gone.
In the meantime, MoveCons have mainstreamed the long-dead debate over contraception, and they did it on their own turf — they made it into a debate over female sexuality ("Don't you have a daughter?") and faux-conscience ("conscience," the perfect trump card, like "jobs").
By this analysis, Mr. Smarter Than You wasn't even smarter than them — he confirmed both the debate and the legitimacy of the frame. Smooth.
The Right moved the Overton Window to include contraception as a conscience item (just like abortion), and Obama said, "I accept your givens; can I have my 2nd term now please?"
Thanks for that; come back at Legacy Time.
(My personal Overton Window included a primary for Mr. You-Know-Who, but no one would step up. Guess it takes a radio show.)
GP Read the rest of this post...
Much of the lefty interpretation has it that in this case, if only in this one, Obama has achieved his elevendy-mentional potential — demonstrated his mastery of double-fake politics — by outfoxing the Rs at their own game (no link; I'm not going to call out my brothers and sisters).
In other words, his cave laid a trap for the Republican Bishops (yes, I've merged the groups) and they walked right into it.
But it's been hard for me to imagine that a man so adept at caving to the disadvantage of progressives — time after time after time after time — has somehow grown a pair of left-wing brains.
So I was glad to read this take at Digby's site from David Atkins (my emphasis:
Many people have critiqued my and Digby's assertions that the anti-contraception stance constitutes a victory for the GOP. Most of the comments and emails to me about this piece have indicated that I'm an avowed pessimist who cannot realize when the Republicans have overplayed their hand and lost an issue. In the critics' opinion, the Bishops overreacted and have now created an issue that will be easy for Democrats to exploit, thus creating a pre-packaged defeat for the Republicans. ...I've been holding my fire on this one, wanting to think it through. I don't want to deny Mr. Who Else You Gonna Vote For? his due, if indeed he has one coming. But something — perhaps the whole of my experience with him — said watch and wait. So I did.
What just a few weeks ago was considered so mainstream as to an afterthought (providing contraception) is now seen as some sort of controversial touchstone, even as "religious freedom" has become a buzzword in the press.
Democrats can high-five one another about Republican overreach and laugh hysterically at the increased number of votes Barack Obama will receive in 2012 over Mitt Santorum. But ultimately the joke's on us. ... The political ground on contraception has suddenly shifted to the right faster than I have seen on any social issue in my lifetime.
On reflection, I think Atkins is right. What he's referring to, without naming it, is the Overton Window:
The Overton window, in political theory, describes a "window" in the range of public reactions to ideas in public discourse, in a spectrum of all possible options on a particular issue. It is named after its originator, Joseph P. Overton, former vice president of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. ...One of the biggest cards in the Movement Conservative hand is the expansion of the Overton Window, so that previously settled battles can be refought.
At any given moment, the “window” includes a range of policies considered to be politically acceptable in the current climate of public opinion, which a politician can recommend without being considered too “extreme” or outside the mainstream to gain or keep public office. ... When the window moves or expands, ideas can accordingly become more or less politically acceptable.
This is Rush Limbaugh's function exactly. By calling Obama "uppity" and "the magic negro," for example, he makes Gingrich's "food stamp president" look mainstream, while containing the same idea.
That allows CNN to do its classic recirculation of the right-wing theme du jour:
"Is Obama the food stamp president? We look at the controversy, right after these messages."Remember, Movement Conservatism is a long-term project. It will be with us when you're dead, or until permanent rule by ilk like the Federalist Society (the Billionaire's Legal Goon Squad) is achieved.
It's a rolling coup, started in the 1970s (see Ch 1, The Republican Noise Machine), and considers itself a multi-generational conflict (that is, they see themselves as completing the failed work of conservatives in the 1930s in opposing the New Deal).
They don't care about the polls; all they want is the Big Win, the one when the last whistle blows. If Gov. Scott Walker could anoint himself lifelong Prefect of Wisconsin, accountable only to his master, he wouldn't care a dime what his popularity was. (Besides, that's what cops are for.)
In their world, Obama's one-month "win" (a poll bump that will die when the next news-blonde goes missing) is nothing but a firefly — lit bright, then gone.
In the meantime, MoveCons have mainstreamed the long-dead debate over contraception, and they did it on their own turf — they made it into a debate over female sexuality ("Don't you have a daughter?") and faux-conscience ("conscience," the perfect trump card, like "jobs").
By this analysis, Mr. Smarter Than You wasn't even smarter than them — he confirmed both the debate and the legitimacy of the frame. Smooth.
The Right moved the Overton Window to include contraception as a conscience item (just like abortion), and Obama said, "I accept your givens; can I have my 2nd term now please?"
Thanks for that; come back at Legacy Time.
(My personal Overton Window included a primary for Mr. You-Know-Who, but no one would step up. Guess it takes a radio show.)
GP Read the rest of this post...
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Earth is losing 39 cubic miles of ice per year
Not counting the ice in your glass, the one you grabbed after digesting that headline.
Via grist.org, there's this from Science Daily (my emphasis):
Click to big. More here (h/t Daily Kos).
GP Read the rest of this post...
Via grist.org, there's this from Science Daily (my emphasis):
Earth's glaciers and ice caps outside of the regions of Greenland and Antarctica are shedding roughly 150 billion tons of ice annually, according to a new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder.And:
The research effort is the first comprehensive satellite study of the contribution of the world's melting glaciers and ice caps to global sea level rise and indicates they are adding roughly 0.4 millimeters annually, said CU-Boulder physics Professor John Wahr, who helped lead the study. The measurements are important because the melting of the world's glaciers and ice caps, along with Greenland and Antarctica, pose the greatest threat to sea level increases in the future, Wahr said.
"This is the first time anyone has looked at all of the mass loss from all of Earth's glaciers and ice caps with GRACE," said Wahr. "The Earth is losing an incredible amount of ice to the oceans annually, and these new results will help us answer important questions in terms of both sea rise and how the planet's cold regions are responding to global change."Of course, money has the last word, even in the face of this:
Click to big. More here (h/t Daily Kos).
GP Read the rest of this post...
Video: Sasha versus the blueberry
No good blueberry goes unpunished. Basically, I offered my dog a blueberry this morning, she flipped out, so, recognizing she was in one of those moods, I grabbed my phone and decided to offer her a second blueberry, camera rolling. Here is what transpired.
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Santorum, who is pretty fringe himself, suggests Obama isn’t a Christian
Considering how far out of the mainstream Santorum is - the man thinks birth control is "harmful" - it's almost a joke that he'd criticism someone else's religious beliefs. Rick Santorum doesn't fully comprehend how fringe he really is.
From Jake Tapper:
From Jake Tapper:
Obama campaign strategist and former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs blasted GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum this morning, saying he was “well over the line” for questioning President Obama’s Christian faith.Then again, one of Rick Santorm's top funders suggested that women who can't afford contraceptives should just use Bayer aspirin:
“It’s wrong, it’s destructive and it makes it virtually impossible to solve the problems we face together as Americans,” Gibbs told me in an exclusive interview Sunday on “This Week.” “It’s just time to get rid of this mindset in our politics that if we disagree we have to question character and faith.”
Gibbs was responding to comments Santorum made Saturday that Obama is pushing a “phony theology” that is not based on the Bible and “imposing his secular values on the church.”
"This contraceptive thing, my gosh it's so inexpensive. Back in my days, they used Bayer aspirin for contraceptives. The gals put them between their knees and it wasn't that costly."Santorum wants to talk about phony theology? Show of hands: Whose church aids and abets pedophilia and still hasn't come clean about the rape of small children as young as five years old? Lift that hand a little higher, Mr. Santorum. Read the rest of this post...
Arcade Fire: "Poupée de cire, poupée de son"
This piece of music is fun on so many levels, I can't not share it.
First, Arcade Fire is one great band. Second, "Poupée de cire" is one great song. And this performance is just wonderful.
A word about the song. It's by Serge Gainsbourg, the brilliant bad-boy of French popular songs from about 1960—1980 or so. There's so much more to say about him than I have space for.
This song was introduced in 1965 by France Gall (one of the great French pop singers) when Gall was 18 years old, on Eurovision, one of Europe's "Pop Idol" shows. It won first place and launched both Gall and the song internationally.
The song has a trick — the lyrics:
▪ A "poupée" is a child's doll. "Cire" is wax, and "son" is grain, bran, or in an American context, sawdust (inert material to stuff a doll with).
So on the surface, the title "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" could be translated roughly as "Wax doll, rag doll" or "Wax doll, sawdust doll" — with the usual association of "doll" as a girl of interest. (Sam Seder on Majority.fm, for example, regularly plays a French song about a "doll who always says No" — same idea.)
▪ Next layer down — Who is the "wax doll" of "poupée de cire"? The singer herself, who makes recordings in an age when records were called "wax discs" (as in the old DJ's comment, "these are the wax to watch, the picks to click.") France Gall is herself the "wax doll" — a "doll" who makes wax recordings.
And there's a nice pun in French on "son" — it's "bran" (grain) but also "sound". In other words, "poupée de son" is another reference to France Gall, the singing doll. The lyrics are loaded with these double meanings.
▪ Ultimately the song is about innocence, and maybe not in a good way — "Am I better or worse than a fashion model [poupée de salon]," she sings, "(because) I see the world through bright rosy (innocent) eyes?" Is the songwriter actually making fun of youthful 60s singers like France Gall?
▪ Add to that the relationship between the singer and the writer. There's no indication that the 18-year-old was in a personal relationship with Gainsbourg, but the professional relationship was turbulent. There are layered sexual meanings buried in some of Gainsbourg's songs of the period (for example, "Les Sucettes", "The Lollypops" from 1966, another France Gall hit). Gall claimed that she was unaware of this aspect of the lyrics she was singing (and making hits with), all of which colored for a while the way the French public came to receive her.
France Gall managed to right her career, especially after meeting, working with, and marrying her perfect collaborator, Michel Berger. (I may present their classic jazzy "Il jouait du piano debout" — "He played the piano standing" — at some later date.)
If you really want to dig into the lyrics, try this or this.
But if you just want to listen to a heck of a song and performance, click below and sit back. (Earworm alert; it's seriously hard to get the opening melody out of your head.)
That's a live performance from Paris, 2007. To see France Gall's 1965 Eurovision performance, go here.
Music for a Republican-dominated February; they don't own the whole world yet, and they don't want France. Good.
GP Read the rest of this post...
First, Arcade Fire is one great band. Second, "Poupée de cire" is one great song. And this performance is just wonderful.
A word about the song. It's by Serge Gainsbourg, the brilliant bad-boy of French popular songs from about 1960—1980 or so. There's so much more to say about him than I have space for.
This song was introduced in 1965 by France Gall (one of the great French pop singers) when Gall was 18 years old, on Eurovision, one of Europe's "Pop Idol" shows. It won first place and launched both Gall and the song internationally.
The song has a trick — the lyrics: ▪ A "poupée" is a child's doll. "Cire" is wax, and "son" is grain, bran, or in an American context, sawdust (inert material to stuff a doll with).
So on the surface, the title "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" could be translated roughly as "Wax doll, rag doll" or "Wax doll, sawdust doll" — with the usual association of "doll" as a girl of interest. (Sam Seder on Majority.fm, for example, regularly plays a French song about a "doll who always says No" — same idea.)
▪ Next layer down — Who is the "wax doll" of "poupée de cire"? The singer herself, who makes recordings in an age when records were called "wax discs" (as in the old DJ's comment, "these are the wax to watch, the picks to click.") France Gall is herself the "wax doll" — a "doll" who makes wax recordings.
And there's a nice pun in French on "son" — it's "bran" (grain) but also "sound". In other words, "poupée de son" is another reference to France Gall, the singing doll. The lyrics are loaded with these double meanings.
▪ Ultimately the song is about innocence, and maybe not in a good way — "Am I better or worse than a fashion model [poupée de salon]," she sings, "(because) I see the world through bright rosy (innocent) eyes?" Is the songwriter actually making fun of youthful 60s singers like France Gall?
▪ Add to that the relationship between the singer and the writer. There's no indication that the 18-year-old was in a personal relationship with Gainsbourg, but the professional relationship was turbulent. There are layered sexual meanings buried in some of Gainsbourg's songs of the period (for example, "Les Sucettes", "The Lollypops" from 1966, another France Gall hit). Gall claimed that she was unaware of this aspect of the lyrics she was singing (and making hits with), all of which colored for a while the way the French public came to receive her.
France Gall managed to right her career, especially after meeting, working with, and marrying her perfect collaborator, Michel Berger. (I may present their classic jazzy "Il jouait du piano debout" — "He played the piano standing" — at some later date.)
If you really want to dig into the lyrics, try this or this.
But if you just want to listen to a heck of a song and performance, click below and sit back. (Earworm alert; it's seriously hard to get the opening melody out of your head.)
That's a live performance from Paris, 2007. To see France Gall's 1965 Eurovision performance, go here.
Music for a Republican-dominated February; they don't own the whole world yet, and they don't want France. Good.
GP Read the rest of this post...
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Video: Manhattan as pinball machine
Very cool, yet somewhat (unintentionally, I think) creepy.
Manhattan 4.33pm from Lizzie Oxby on Vimeo.
Read the rest of this post...
China cuts reserve ratio for banks, again
It's not a sign of fire, but it's definitely smokey. If the economy was still booming and the loans were being paid without problem, there would be no need to allow the banks to hold less cash reserves.
China's central bank cut the amount of cash that commercial lenders must hold as reserves on Saturday for the second time in nearly three months, the latest step to shore up the slowing economy. The People's Bank of China (PBOC) is on the course of gentle policy easing to cushion the world's second-largest economy against stiff global headwinds, although it has been treading warily. The PBOC delivered a 50-basis-point cut in banks' reserve requirement ratio (RRR), effective from next Friday, February 24, after repeatedly defying market expectations for such a move.Read the rest of this post...
Quick hits — Is MIT as compromised as other right-wing-funded colleges and universities?
This is a quick hit, something I found while researching something else.
I've been wondering for a while how compromised, how corrupted American colleges and universities are by the injection of corporate money into high-dollar education budgets.
For example, many have noted the special terms around the endowment of a chair at FSU by the Koch Bros (they get to pick the professors), and in that context I wrote this:
Florida State University
George Mason University (Mercatus Center)
Clemson University
West Virginia University
Brown University
Troy University
Utah State University
and dozens of others
Et tu, MIT? In researching a different article, I found this snippet:
Now look at who he is — the Alfred P. Sloan professor of meteorology at MIT, specifically the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. (Yes, that does say "sciences.")
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has mainstream cred, purchased in part from PBS — you hear that name all the time in the credits to PBS prime-time shows.
(If you didnt'know, that's what PBS is to guys like the Koch Foundation, a place to rinse clean in the blood of faux-neutrality. And PBS charges appropriately for that service — something to consider during those endless "it's the viewers that we really love" pledge breaks.)
MIT also has mainstream cred. Is global-warming denialism rinsing its hands there too? Or is the situation at MIT even worse? After all, the Alfred P. Sloan chair at MIT is acting like a paid operative of climate denialism, with the university laundering his Sloan-funded denialist paycheck.
Think he has that chair by accident? Or does MIT charge appropriately for this service as well? (Last I heard, amenities like, say, Grecian marble chess clubs don't build themselves these days.)
As I said above — Et tu, MIT? The jury's not yet in, but in my book you just went from "known good" to prove it, along with your now-co-equal, the estimable Florida State. Nice move.
GP Read the rest of this post...
I've been wondering for a while how compromised, how corrupted American colleges and universities are by the injection of corporate money into high-dollar education budgets.
For example, many have noted the special terms around the endowment of a chair at FSU by the Koch Bros (they get to pick the professors), and in that context I wrote this:
[I]t's not just Florida State's economics department they've bought. The Koch Brothers own a lot of university econ departments. From those departments come economists, and among those economists are political appointees.That ThinkProgress article quoted at the link lists these Koch-corrupted institutions:
So, let's start with universities owned by the Koch Brothers. [Joan] McCarter points us to this story from ThinkProgress about the Koch Brothers take-over of universities[.]
Florida State University
George Mason University (Mercatus Center)
Clemson University
West Virginia University
Brown University
Troy University
Utah State University
and dozens of others
Et tu, MIT? In researching a different article, I found this snippet:
And so the Heartland Institute's International Conference on Climate Change is over for another year. While we lament this loss, let us pause for a short moment on a concluding statement by one of its star speakers.The Heartland Institute is a big-money funder of global warming denialism (as we'll learn later, they have an $8 million denialist "daddy" in their pocket). Dr. Lindzen is one of their "star speakers." Note in the third paragraph what he says.
Richard Lindzen, the Alfred P. Sloan professor of meteorology at MIT's department of earth, atmospheric and planetary sciences, told his attendant fans (watch the video above) that he believes climate sceptics, such as himself, should "stop accepting the term 'sceptic'".
His reasoning? Because it affords too much legitimacy to the implausible theory of global warming[.]
Now look at who he is — the Alfred P. Sloan professor of meteorology at MIT, specifically the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. (Yes, that does say "sciences.")
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has mainstream cred, purchased in part from PBS — you hear that name all the time in the credits to PBS prime-time shows.
(If you didnt'know, that's what PBS is to guys like the Koch Foundation, a place to rinse clean in the blood of faux-neutrality. And PBS charges appropriately for that service — something to consider during those endless "it's the viewers that we really love" pledge breaks.)
MIT also has mainstream cred. Is global-warming denialism rinsing its hands there too? Or is the situation at MIT even worse? After all, the Alfred P. Sloan chair at MIT is acting like a paid operative of climate denialism, with the university laundering his Sloan-funded denialist paycheck.
Think he has that chair by accident? Or does MIT charge appropriately for this service as well? (Last I heard, amenities like, say, Grecian marble chess clubs don't build themselves these days.)
As I said above — Et tu, MIT? The jury's not yet in, but in my book you just went from "known good" to prove it, along with your now-co-equal, the estimable Florida State. Nice move.
GP Read the rest of this post...
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