November 26, 2011
All the News That's Fit to Print?
Same story, competing headlines. The UK version in the Guardian: "Britain unites with smaller countries to block US bid to legalise cluster bombs." The US version in the New York Times: "Talks on Cluster Bomb Restrictions Collapse." Entirely contradictory, as is their content. Note that the reporter for the Guardian is Richard Norton-Taylor, one of the most seasoned international correspondents in the world. Nick Cumming-Bruce for the New York Times, by coincidence also a Brit, is not so well known, but the paper has editors in New York. Nor is it a trivial story, in either substantive or political terms. So a prime example of corporate media stenography in the U.S. political system. (Read both and decide for yourself but for me it's obvious that the UK report is the correct one.)
November 25, 2011
Taking a Rest
Today's podcast is the end of the season and of the year. I'll resume production in January 2012, though I haven't yet decided exactly when. I will, however, post advance notice a couple weeks ahead. And I won't be completely away: I'll continue blogging sporadically. If you miss the podcast please avail yourself of the archives — in six years' worth of podcasts I'm sure you'll find several of interest; or feel free even to download the entire archive, as newer listeners often do!
November 24, 2011
Happy Thanksgiving!
A little while ago I had a filling fall out. Then, before I could get to a dentist, part of the tooth also fell out. But the roots and the base were okay, so I got a crown. Gold — what the hell... Coincidentally, about a week later Sharon was chewing on a sandwich at work and cracked a tooth. A "virgin tooth," it had never had a filling or anything wrong. But it cracked all the way down into the root. So it had to be pulled. She'll be getting an implant. And she'll be chewing Thanksgiving dinner only on the left side of her mouth. But I keep telling her, 'we're so lucky that there's this great modern dental technology available, and that we can afford it. You should be thankful, and proud, to have an implant.' A couple hundred years ago, if you broke a tooth, you lost the tooth. If you could afford it, then you got a denture made from wood, or ivory, or something, like George Washington had (and, remember, his dentures never worked very well for him).
November 20, 2011
Zombie Police
A lot has been made of the psychological mindset behind police brutality/police riots. See, for example, James Fallows. And, quite deservedly, police assaults are to be condemned. But I'm less inclined to see the question in mainly personal terms. Think back, for example, to Philip Zimbardo's work in The Lucifer Effect, or to the earlier Milgram experiments. Isn't it reasonable, and, indeed, much more fair, to assess police behavior as an expression of the constraints their own system imposes on them? Seen in that light the important question really is: Why does "the system" want to deploy indiscriminate violence against protesters?
November 17, 2011
Civil Disobedience
The danger isn't police batons, it's infectious stupidity. Nobody in the Occupy movement should get drawn into a necessarily bounded discussion of "civil rights," the "law," the "First Amendment," or anything related. Of course the Occupy demonstrations aren't always legal. That's the point. And here is where a lack of leadership, organization, and agenda shows itself both as a blessing and a curse. More importantly — and much more interestingly — the dilemma also shows up a lack of outside leadership, whether from politicians, intellectuals, academics, the media, unions or the clergy. Which raises an additional, philosophical question of when it may be that going through the motions ineptly may be worse than not going through the motions at all.
November 16, 2011
WhistlePig
November 13, 2011
"A Little Bit Lazy"
Neither the New York Times nor the Washington Post figure that the bumpkins who read their rags need to know much about Mr. Obama's plans for an expanded Asian-U.S. "free trade" zone. For a headline regarding his announcement yesterday at the Asia Pacific summit in Honolulu you'd have to turn to the BBC. Moreover, none of the mainstream outlets — including the BBC — should be expected to make much of the fact that more "free trade" for America means the loss of more manufacturing jobs. And, certainly, none will connect that fact to the ability of Mr. Obama to attract bipartisan support for his plan, claim credit for transcending politics, and to then kill off as many manufacturing jobs as he can before the election.
November 11, 2011
11/11/11
In the spirit of a special Veterans Day, allow me to recommend one of the funniest books I've ever read about WWII: Roger Hall's You're Stepping on my Cloak and Dagger
November 10, 2011
Some Good News For A Change
Podcast listeners may remember the sad story of the Menhaden, a keystone fish species on the verge of being wiped out. Yesterday, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted to reduce the harvest by a lot, maybe up to 37%. That's not as good as stopping the harvest altogether but it's a step in the right direction. Kudos to all those keeping the Menhaden issue alive!
Knot a Union
Since its founding in 1999 it's been clear, theoretically, that the Eurozone cannot function smoothly — or democratically — without fiscal integration commensurate with a single currency. That the Eurozone has already lasted as long as it has without a catastrophically debilitating crisis is something of a miracle. Now, regardless of what precipitated the debt debacle (and I suspect the proximate cause to be exotic, opaque, unregulated financial instruments combined with old fashioned bond market manipulation) there are only two ways forward: on the one hand serial defaults and unending bailouts, on the other a restructuring of the Eurozone into a two-tier system with tighter fiscal integration of its larger, core economies. I've suggested a couple of times that I thought the latter outcome might be more likely, appearances from the Greek fail to the contrary, and now Reuters (via BBC) reports "France and Germany have had intense consultations... over the last months, at all levels..." Stay tuned, because as the bond vigilantes turn their attention to Italy developments may happen pretty fast.
November 9, 2011
EP Podcast Schedule for November
Here's the lineup for the rest of November: This Friday, Veterans Day, my guest is Elliot Carlson, who has a book published just last month by the Naval Institute Press, Joe Rochefort's Warand this interview is scheduled but not yet recorded, my guest will be Lord Robert Skidelsky, Keynes' biographer. Enjoy!
November 1, 2011
Stray Voltage
Oakland police may have been the first, but they won't be the last. Police riots are just waiting to happen all over the country. Although the OWS movement has a ton of problems to deal with this one has at least a reasonably plausible tactical fix: a consistent, widespread, highly repetitive message that the banksters are out to steal public pensions, including in particular police pensions — the OWS movement is, if you stop to think about it, altogether on the side of the police. It's a Republican-style tactic, one that would certainly resonate with older, e.g., more senior, police officers.
