Part ii. [part i. is here: 'Selling the New Nixon, part i.'] According to one account, Stanley Kubrick had to fly somewhere and bought a copy of B.F. Skinner’s Beyond Freedom and Dignity at an airport for something to read. When he finished, he was apoplectic. Skinner believed that we could obtain “proper” social behavior by conditioning, as they’d proven in rats, and not have to mess...

By TMV commenter Cjjack… Okay, I wasn’t going to do this, but I’m feeling a little sorry for the GOP today. I’m going to help them out, by assisting them in writing the application for the 2016 Presidential campaign. In honor of Cain’s recently deceased candidacy, there are 9 questions. (There could be more) Here goes: “Dear 2016 Presidential hopeful, Thank you for your interest in the Republican...

The Republican strategy for 2012 is simple: stop anything from being done, watch the economy collapse, claim it’s the Democrats’ fault. Reap the rewards of frustration, anger and fear. But it goes deeper than that. By successfully prohibiting classes of action and endorsing classes of action — the abstract notion of, say, “taxes” rather than the concrete notion of this budget and...

Guest post by Justin Oberman Just over ten years ago, a far-reaching and convoluted bill was enacted. It created a new government agency that most Americans think is a big hassle, if not worse. The Transportation Security Administration, born in the wake of 9/11, enters its second decade with a list of successes and shortcomings that we should examine. As the agency’s third employee, I worked at the TSA...

John Brown mural in Kansas state capitol News Item: Disparaging tweet about Gov. Sam Brownback lands Kansas teen in principal’s office By Suzanne Perez Tobias The Wichita Eagle Published Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011, at 6:06 p.m. Updated Friday, Nov. 25, 2011, at 12:49 p.m. … On Tuesday, Sullivan was called to her principal’s office and told that the tweet had been flagged by someone on Brownback’s...

In Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow (a book that you’ve either read or will never read, so there’s no spoiler here) Yank Tyrone Slothrop turns out to have been the infamous (within psychological conditioning circles) Baby Tyrone. Young Baby (as opposed to Old Baby, which would be Toddler) Tyrone is conditioned to a Pavlovian response. And, when the scientists realize that the experiment...

Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber has just concluded a press conference* announcing that he was putting the execution of  double-murderer Gary Haugen on hold, and a moratorium on all executions through the remainder of his term. [* radio story .mp3 is here. Press conference link as soon as I get it. Got it: Video link is here.] Kitzhaber (the most neutral photo I could find. He’s either being shot as...

The times they are a changin’; the serpents are a-writhing’. MSNBC reports this morning [emphasis added]:   Exclusive: Lobbying Firm’s Memo Spells Out Plan to Undermine Occupy Wall Street (VIDEO) Sat Nov 19, 2011 5:53 AM PSTby Jonathan Larsen and Ken Olshansky (crossposted from MSNBC’s “Open Channel” blog)A well-known Washington lobbying firm with links to the financial...

This originally appeared on May 24, 2010, months BEFORE the “Tea Party” election. Let’s all see how prophetic* it was, or wasn’t, shall we? [* Certainly it was for NPR, which started a three part series on the Renaissance of Medievalist Ayn today. I had already reprinted this on MY blog Sunday. ] No. He wasn’t named after Ayn Rand, although he ought to have been. Suddenly, the...

It pains me to say it – well, not really because I actually enjoy writing about the idiocy of the right – but conservatism is fast approaching double face palm territory. Have you ever seen such a collection of losers, dunces, moral cretins, and blissfully unaware candidates for high office as showed up for last night’s CNBC debate? You have a certified imbecile (Perry). A serial sexual harasser...

OLANA, A FIVE-YEAR-OLD DROWNING VICTIM, IS LAID TO REST By SUSAN WINTERS COOK I’m facing about 200 people I don’t know and wondering how I will be able to deliver my message without choking up. I am the only white person at this funeral. That is the norm for my husband and me because only a minority of whites will venture into rural African communities. Thus we are treated like royalty, given seats...

One thing most Kochian front groups have in common is that they get nasty when you call them out. Case in point, ThinkProgress‘ Lee Fang: Koch Brother Front Group Americans For Prosperity Pushes Smear Campaign Against Me By Lee Fang on Nov 9, 2011 at 5:30 pm ThinkProgress Levi Russell, Americans for Prosperity Director of Public Affairs, contributed to a blog post calling me a “liar.” Russell,...

Herman Cain’s press conference to address the allegations of sexual harassment leveled against him by four women — Karen Kraushaar, Sharon Bailek and two unnamed women — was like that Alaskan bridge to nowhere. Herman Cain didn’t present a compelling case to disprove the allegations of these women. Further, he said there may be more accusations coming. His specific words were: “There...

Well, Ronald Reagan’s administration used arms money from sales to our enemy, Iran, laundered through Swiss bank accounts to try and stop him. Spreading freedom We shipped cocaine up from South America, tranferring it in Panama (which would cause us a quick, Christmas war to arrest and silence Noriega), glutted the market and midwifed the birth of crack cocaine (which brought the black market back to...

Some Disturbing Truths about Rick Perry’s Texas Local reports reveal how the governor turned a blind eye to civil rights violations and a crumbling infrastructure by Michael Winship I’m at sea this week — literally, for once — and learning helpful nautical stuff. For example, the old, three-mile limit for territorial waters was established in 1702 as the maximum distance a cannon ball could...

The Egyptian revolution is in gridlock. As elections loom ahead, the ruling military council is concerned that the Muslim Brotherhood will easily win more parliament seats than the secular candidates threatening the secular nature of Egypt. This weekend Islamic holiday, which centers on sacrifice and feeding the poor, offered the Muslim Brotherhood a golden opportunity. Putting to use its vast charity network,...

If Americans were educated in Classical Logic and Fallacies, they would automatically laugh at any assertion that one = all or that some = many (or most). (Still, ask American Muslims how prevalent that thinking is in actual practice.) They like to be in America.. That is the entire extent of my commentary on the astonishingly vile Occupy Wall Street coverage that’s being foisted off on a seemingly-hypnotized...

These are starving children. And this is a dead congressman.

I had originally planned to write this for Halloween, the day that UNESCO or WHO, or one of them acronyms calculates that the world population will reach seven billion. But though the papers have jumped the gun all week, prisoner of the zeitgeist that I am, I have held on until today. Happy Halloween. (All seven billion of you.) SEVEN BILLION, kiddies: Seven billion kiddies. We have overgrazed our forage, we...

I have pointedly refrained from commenting on the OWS protests now transpiring worldwide, prior to this date. The Antisemitic  ”Antisemitism” smear from the RNC last week There is a good reason for this: generally when I write about a topic, I like to know something about it. I like to THINK about it. The early reports and coverage presented us with a wealth of information, but a paucity of knowledge. Now,...

I will reveal here a controversial assertion that is — if not explicitly denied, then most assuredly implicitly trampled upon in common practice — as deceptively and seductively simple as it seems: words actually mean something, and what they mean matters. Note the Liberty [Phrygian] Cap on pole I will grant the Opposition’s case that in point of fact words are useless and as often used to...

Celebrities: Their Childhood Halloween Antics by Danny Tyree My seven-year-old son Gideon has a year-round obsession with Halloween, and I sometimes wonder how that will manifest itself in adulthood. Of course, there’s also the flip side. How did today’s movers and shakers behave back in their younger days when they were MOVING apples in a tub and SHAKING plastic skeletons? My well-placed spies tell...

Bexar County is pronounced “Behar” just as “Texas” ought to be pronounced “Tehas,” which undoubtedly explains the cluelessness of Fox News as they ejaculated their fear all over the airwaves this week. click here for YouTube I happened to be, literally, right across the street at the time that the TERROR scare was happening.

Syndicated radio show host Tom Joyner calls on blacks to support President Obama’s re-election based on “our blackness, pride & loyalty, and we should vote for him “because he’s a black man.” I won’t join other black influencers to call for black Americans to vote for President Obama because he is black. Casting one’s vote is a personal and private matter that should...

NATO’s Interference in Libya Led to more Civilian Casualties by Roni Druken 6 months ago civilian struggle erupted in Syria and Libya. While so far, western countries were not able to pass any serious resolution about Syria’s civil oppression, Libya is a different story. Concern for Libya’s oil reserves led NATO to launch military mission against Libya. Of course it was never described this...