Tarot, categories & the unconscious

I posted the following in the IPS thread on the Noah movie:

To riff on Joseph's comment about God or the Real not fitting into categories, I offer this book for this thread: Jung and tarot: An archetypal Journey by Sallie Nichols. There is a free Google book preview here. She chose the Marseilles deck because it does not have accompanying text to categorize the symbols into some system like the Golden Dawn or BOTA. Also the following from the introduction might be a message for our desire to continually categorize into ever more complex meta-systems. That the practice just might be to bring awareness into deeper contact with the unconscious via symbol rather than higher and more complex abstract categories. Just maybe.

"Intellectual categories are a way of systematizing our experience of this nonverbal world. [...] Each such system is useful [...] but each in unique. [...] But to superimpose these many grids, one atop the other, would be to distort their symmetry and destroy their usefulness" (6).

I'm wondering if the Trump Judgment might fit the Noah story?

False equivalencies

Stock market is rigged

I know, a real shocker. And of course, Wall Street paid off Congress so that this is 'legal.' Also see this article on the story.

Walmart faces reality, sort of

See this story. Walmart has a problem keeping their shelves stocked fully and properly. The cause? Walmart has fired 20,000 workers since 2008 while opening 650 stores. They don't have enough workers to get the job done, with the current workforce having to work overtime and in unfamiliar departments. It's not enough that they pay them like shit, they have to work them to the bone by doing more than one job. So they finally got the message they need to hire an adequate workforce instead of pushing fewer to do more.

Another regressive myth exposed: the skills gap

Krugman as usual brings facts to regressive fiction. They do like their fiction though. In this case, it's the myth that the reason people are unemployed is because they don't have the necessary skills to meet today's job demands. That is, "it's their own fault," the typical regressive response to everything. And what empirical evidence did they use to come up with this faux statistic. A phone interview asking the executives a loaded question about the skills gap, a circular ideological belief that justified itself based on predisposed opinion. That's their notion of 'science.' Read the piece for the facts.

The real death panels

We all remember the regressives telling us that Obamacare created death panels. The fact is that with regressive States refusing to implement the Obamacare Medicaid expansion this is directly causing needless deaths due to lack of coverage for the poor. See this article for the details and see the chart below.

The metaphysics of capitalism

Building on the last post, following are some previous posts on Rifkin and Human on how capitalism operates.

On Rifkin: He notes that Adam Smith's notion of wealth and the capital that produced it was in the context of Newtonian physics, another guiding worldview of the time. Hence markets were seen like the well-ordered clock metaphor of physics, with enlightened self-interest its invisible hand. All of which was based on the reversible nature of Newtonian physics, which had yet to account for the irreversible nature of time via the laws of thermodynamics. However Smith's economics had by then become an ideology and refused to account for these laws in its economic model. And which models all have to do with thermodynamic 'energy' production. Smith's economics was based on virtually limitless energy but did not account for the thermodynamic costs of coal usage, since its scientific base did not yet recognize it. And refused to do so when the science became available.

On Human:

Repent what?

In this post Andrew gives credit to Christianity for the capacity to repent. My response:

Repent what though? Repenting that we are imperfect and make mistakes, taking responsibility for those mistakes, and committing to do better is one thing. Repenting that we are thereby somehow tainted beings in the light of a perfect God who will lead our kind (the house of Noah) into heaven is another matter entirely.

Put your $ where your mouth is

See this link after watching the following from Maine Senate candidate Shenna Bellow.

Maher's new rule for Democrats: Grow a pair

He lays it on the line. Dems have to quit running from things they believe in, especially when the public supports them. Obamacare is one of those things. They need to not only have a spine but to grow some balls. This is the winning ticket for this November and it's time for the usually tepid and effete Dems to 'stand your ground.' The progressives like Grayson, Sanders and Warren are already doing this and winning big, so take heed (and maybe some testosterone) you girly boys. Note: I'm using metaphors here. And focusing on the male Dems because the females already have bigger balls then their counterparts.

A Republican letter to the President on Obamacare

See this link for the source. The author is Mark D. Bearden, a retired psychologist living in Monroe, North Carolina. This is exactly what the GOP feared, and why they are trying to undo it. Quote:

I am a staunch Republican, a self-proclaimed Fox News addict, and I didn't vote for the President. And I'm here to tell you that Obamacare works. I'm living proof. I'm a chemotherapy patient, and was previously paying $428 a month for my health coverage. I was not thrilled when it was cancelled.
Then I submitted an application at HealthCare.gov. I looked at my options. And I signed up for a plan for $62 a month. It's the best health care I have ever had. So right now, here's what I want to tell anyone who still needs health insurance, or knows someone who does:

Sign up. Follow the instructions on the website. Apply, and look at your options. You still have time, and take it from me: This is something you want to do.

A message on 'free trade' from Representative Grayson

I got this email today and will pass it along. Grayson exposes how the oligarchs work, and the spin they use to fool you. Another bold progressive exposing the lies and speaking for the people. Here are his words:

Recently, ABC infohack Cokie Roberts, doyenne of the D.C. Establishment, attacked me in her nationally syndicated column. Why? Because I dared to speak the truth about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a so-called "free trade agreement" that has lobbyists and Washington insiders alike clamoring to stuff their pockets with corrupt corporate cash. And because I dared to speak the truth about "Fast Track," legislation whose sole purpose is to cram TPP and other corporate rip-offs down our throats.

By attacking me, Cokie Roberts unintentionally has provided a fascinating case study in how Washington, D.C. really works. Her attack on me was really an attack on the American middle class. Her attack on me was an attack on you.

Let's look at the facts. Our corporatized "free trade" policy has been an abject failure. It began with NAFTA, which impoverished workers in both the United States and abroad, solely for the benefit of wealthy corporate special interests. So has every "free trade" deal since. For the past dozen years, every year, the United States has run the largest trade deficits of any country, anywhere in the world, at any time in history. Since NAFTA went into effect, our trade deficits total $10,000,000,000,000.00, or one-sixth of our national net worth. We are buying foreign goods and assets, putting foreigners to work. Instead of buying our goods and services, they are buying our assets, driving us deeper and deeper into debt. We lose - twice.

Dierkes on development

In this IPS post DavidM58 referenced Dierkes' blog post here. Dierkes highlights some of the themes in this thread, like the following:

"But to my mind postmodernism is more than simply a cultural value system. Postmodernism also has its own social, technological, and political contexts--contexts that are missing in the US and therefore I think from much of the American integral theorists. For example, postmodernism is built around networks (particularly as seen in nature) rather than strictly vertical conceptions of the universe."

"In Pattern Dynamics, postmodernism isn't the Western counterculture of Boomers but rather organic realities like creativity, emergence, adaptation, and so on. The intrinsic value of humans in this model is one in which they have the conscious choice to incorporate these patterns, leading to a fully integrated sphere of mind (noosphere) and sphere of life (biosphere). That, to me, would be a more developed culture but that had developed by going deeper (not higher)."

"Jean Gebser is a major influence on Jeremy--Jeremy mentions Gebser in the video. Gebser did not see the worldviews he articulates as moving in a vertical developmental sequence (contrary how he is often depicted in integral theory)."

The onto-graphic gravity of frames

Continuing from this post, recall Bryant's criticism of Zizek here, which I turned around on Bryant. And which I think applies to the integral movement as a whole. The way it's framed and disseminated, its onto-graphic gravity, who are they reaching? It seems aimed at the ivory tower, which has little effect in the political sphere. Sure there's a populist movement, but quite honestly that is seen as a religious cult to most outside it. For the most part it stays in its own bubble. I commend those in the movement who are engaging in activism, but again, framing it in AQAL is off putting and doesn't connect. I'm trying to take cues from Lakoff and even the conservative Luntz and using frames that are more effective and get the job done. The job, in this case, is influencing voting and activism behavior.

Jesus Christ Superstar

Since I discussed the movie Noah in another post, the only movie of this ilk I every liked was Jesus Christ Superstar. The whole movie is here. For now here's the opening song that highlights the humanitarian interpretation, and why to this day I still like it.

Fuck Noah, hail Cesar Chavez

I saw it today knowing it would be the mythical crap from the Bible. But I thought I'd give it a chance, giving Aronofsky's involvement. Sure, the CGI and cinematography are spectacular but it's still the same mythic and magical crap. I'd had enough when Noah tells his wife that in another of his visions from God Almighty he saw that he and his family were corrupt no-good sinners too and had to die with the rest of impure humanity. I held on a bit longer to see the flood come but shortly thereafter Noah and family are sitting around hearing the human screams of agony outside from those who survived the first wave. With absolute conviction that those people deserved their fate, or rather God's will, he starts telling the story of Genesis. That was the last straw and I walked out.

I was however in time to see Cesar Chavez from the start in another theater.

Senator Sanders on oligarchy and Citizens United

Senator Warren rips Obama administration on Sallie Mae

See this article. She is the difference between a true progressive and those who pretend. The administration is going to renew its contract with Sallie Mae (SM) to service student loans. The admin defends this by asserting that if it saw evidence something was amiss it would take action. Warren points out that SM has not only repeated broken rules and violated contacts but it is under federal investigation for such activity. And therein lies the difference: Warren rightly thinks we should not be doing business with cheaters and the admin, while decrying such behaviors, continues to engage with them.

I really hope Warren decides to run for President. She has the support of progressive America, with recent polls showing this is where the majority lies. It's time we had the people's candidate in the Presidency rather than more of the same corporate Democrats like Hillary and Obama. Obama paved the wave being halfway there. It's time to go all in with Warren.

Hartmann's sign-off

"And remember: Democracy is not a spectator sport, it begins with you." Thom Hartmann signs off with this at the end of every broadcast. It is well worth remembering to motivate us to participate in our political process. Without it democracy withers and oligarchy grows. If we don't like the latter we need to engage the former, so please participate.

Progressive Participatory Enaction

I've decided to change the name of my blog from Integral Postmetaphysical Enaction to the above, largely due to no longer having much interest in integral theory. Still some, but not enough to justify it in the name. I'm still interested in postmetaphysics, but who the hell has heard of that outside a select few eggheads? I am much more interested in motivating myself and others into participating with progressive ideals and enacting those policies in all domains. Keeping the old blog name was more than a bit off putting for that broader agenda. I'll keep the old name as a subtitle for now for those familiar with and searching for it. But my intent is to get more people involved in the hope of actually changing things for the better instead of engaging in interesting but mostly armchair speculations.

Stewart destroys Hobby Lobby's nonsense

He destroys Hobby Lobby's (HL) Supreme Court (SC) case in wanting to deny coverage for certain female contraception coverage under Obamacare. HL believes that certain forms of contraception cause abortions, and the particular ones singled out do not in fact do so; they are contraception prior to conception. And yet the regressive Justices are taking into consideration HL's belief and not the point in fact. And all of which is beside the point that the SC has already decided in other precedents on the same issue and found that when any religious organization offers public services they cannot deny such services based on their religion. This also goes for laws, which religious belief cannot contravene.

The Daily Show
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Progressive dogfight to retain the Senate

Democrats are a titter and a Twitter over Nate Silver's prediction that the GOP has a slight advantage to win the Senate in 2014. Others are predicting likewise, so progressives have to get off their asses and get busy to ensure this doesn't happen. We can turn around their slight advantage into our own but we're going to have to work hard at this one. And get progressives out to vote for the mid-terms. Here's Senator Warren and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee on two key races.

If you think things are dysfunctional in Washington now, just imagine what will happen if Democrats lose control of the Senate. Scary, huh? But that’s the future we’ll have to live with if we don’t get to work right now. Two of my Democratic colleagues in the Senate, Tom Harkin of Iowa and Tim Johnson of South Dakota, are retiring this year. Karl Rove and the Koch Brothers are already spending huge amounts of money to pick up those seats. 

Luckily, we’ve got two smart, experienced, bold progressives running in Iowa and South Dakota: Bruce Braley and Rick Weiland. The Progressive Change Campaign Committee and I are proud to endorse their campaigns.

Will you donate $3 or more to Bruce Braley and Rick Weiland to protect the Democratic majority and send more bold progressives to the Senate?

Born to be wild

Here's another one from my yute, the theme song to the movie Easy Rider. Both are part of my DNA.

The birds and the bees

This one from my yute popped into my head today.

Arnsperger on regression and progression

In my research today I found a couple of old Arnsperger articles at Integral Life: Obama's Jobs Speech and The American Jobs Act. From the latter:

"Obama’s economic worldview, in terms of spiral dynamics, is orange-going-on-green. [...] He is a Keynesian, basically demand-side Democrat who believes the capitalist economy can be helped by budget policy to grow and to create many more jobs than it destroys; he is an egalitarian liberal, meaning a liberal who thinks equality shouldn’t be total (you need a significant degree of income inequality to keep incentives active and to keep people innovative and entrepreneurial) but who believes that America should embody the ideal of equal opportunity to the fullest and that public policy can be active in providing the conditions for this to be the case; he thinks that earning your income through a job—rather than through either unemployment insurance extended too long, or financial speculation made too easy—is an expression of personal responsibility, and that endeavoring to provide jobs for everyone is an expression of collective responsibility.

A message for progressives

If we want to enact our policies then take heed to these wise words. We have to work hard to take over the Democrat party much like the Tea Party that took over the GOP. It can be done but it requires commitment and work, and getting your hands dirty every day.

Populist Majority agenda

Continuing from the last post, see this link for an intro to Populist Majority and the details of the following agenda items. We are the majority and we can enact this agenda if we but fulfill our responsibility as citizens. This is why the oligarchs and plutocrats are freaking out; they don't want the following agenda because it means we'd have to more evenly distribute overall wealth. Thing is, they'd still be rich, just not a filthy rich. And the rest of us would be prosperous if not wealthy. Is that really too much to ask? If so, tough shit. This is what we the people have decided, we're mad as hell, and we're not going to take it anymore. Get busy people.

1. Revive Sustainable Economic Growth, Creating Jobs for All.
2. Invest in America’s Infrastructure and in New Jobs for the 21st Century.
3. Make Work Pay – and Fight to Reduce Inequality in America.
4. If The Rising American Electorate Succeeds, America Succeeds.
5. Guarantee a High Quality Public Education For All. 

Polling shows we are a progressive nation

The following stats are from Campaign for America's Future, which is launching Populist Majority. Given these facts we need to support and elect representatives that want to enact our will, not that of the plutocrats and oligarchs. Consider supporting the new endeavor here.

Americans know the rules are rigged (69%), and the rich and special interests have too much power in Washington (63%).

Americans want to raise the minimum wage (72%), rebuild our infrastructure (71%) and make the hedge fund managers and corporations pay their fair share (68%).

Americans want to invest in public education (69%) and for Congress to protect programs that provide help for the most vulnerable (86%).

Atheist joke

What does an atheist scream at the moment of climax? No God!

Senator Elizabeth Warren's message on The Supremes

From her recent emailer:

Hobby Lobby doesn't want to cover its employees' birth control on company insurance plans. In fact, they're so outraged about women having access to birth control that they've taken the issue all the way to the Supreme Court. I cannot believe that we live in a world where we would even consider letting some big corporation deny the women who work for it access to the basic medical tests, treatments or prescriptions that they need based on vague moral objections.

But here's the scary thing: With the judges we've got on the Supreme Court, Hobby Lobby might actually win. The current Supreme Court has headed in a very scary direction. Recently, three well-respected legal scholars examined almost 20,000 Supreme Court cases from the last 65 years. They found that the five conservative justices currently sitting on the Supreme Court are in the top 10 most pro-corporate justices in more than half a century. And Justices Samuel Alito and John Roberts? They were number one and number two.

Safe corporate sex

Building on the last post, Darrell has a Trojan Horse strategy for dealing with capitalism. My corporate experience failed as a Trojan Horse, but my progressive ideals did work as a Trojan prophylactic in keeping my values protected while engaged in corporate intercourse.

 

Sometimes you just gotta punch them out

I worked in corporations for many years, trying to inculcate progressive ideas in the most subtle of ways, given they were outright rejected. I had little to no effect in that regard. There were a few like-minded others in said corps working with me, but even together we were no match for the ingrained corporate worldview and structure.

I'm reminded of the Wolf of Wall Street, who started out with delusions of helping people but was quickly corrupted by the system. Or good-intentioned greenwashing like Whole Foods, which has been corrupted by capitalism. Systemic change requires large political change. And when dealing with bullies like the plutocrats and oligarchs sometimes (ofttimes?) the only thing they understand is a punch in the face (or wallet).

Progressivism as an attractor

In the US the term Democrat does not equal progressive. We have plenty of corporate Democrats who are at least ostensibly more liberal on social issues but still rather conservative on fiscal issues. Meaning many of them are bought off too. The only true progressives belong to the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which has 74 members. That's about 14% of our Congress. See their new budget as but one example that these folks do not bow down to Kash but rather the people. E.g.:

Onto-Cartography as meta-theory and not practice

As a follow up to this post and its comment, in a recent post Bryant provided a link to the intro of Onto-Cartography. A few excerpts:

"I am not convinced that matter is one type of thing. Rather, everything seems to point to the conclusion that there are many different types of matter" (6).

Uh oh, ontological pluralism!

"The work that follows can be described as a work of of meta-politics and meta-ethics. It does not stipulate what political issues we should be concerned with, what we ought to do, or what ethics we ought to advocate, but rather attempts to outline the ontological framework within which political and ethical questions should be thought" (8).

So I'm using the meta-theory of onto-cartography to criticize the lack of specific practical commitments in Onto-Cartography. And to show how the meta-theory might be applied in such political and ethical ways as to effect a better socio-economic system with a more equitable gravitational pull up for everyone. Someone's gotta do it, since this book is just a meta-theory.

Recall this from his pre-book lecture "The gravity of things," which applies to the meta-theory of onto-cartography itself, though aimed here at Zizek:

What good is the integral movement?

Continuing from the last post, unless by integral movement we mean circle-jerking each other with grandiose theories that benefit our own insular, elite, narcissistic in-groups and have little to do with enacting said equal opportunity for the rest of mankind. At least religious groups keep the latter in mind, except perhaps for those engrossed in capitalism. Would not our 'more highly evolved' postmetaphysical spirituality have some, if not greater, responsibility to said 'rest of mankind?' And do our theories help them improve the quality of their lives? Important questions, don't you think?

Fight oligarchy

The following is a message from Senator Bernie Sanders. Therein he asks for monetary support. Given the amount of money being spent by the Kochs the progressive movement needs $ to fight back. Otherwise what little is left of democracy will soon be completely gone, no exaggeration. If you can afford to contribute please do.

If you don't there is no effective integral movement. Below Sanders articulately lays out the regressive agenda and how we need to controvert it. IMO he is an integral exemplar of effectively enacting a progressive agenda, thereby providing the political and economic infrastructure for equal opportunity into the higher reaches of human potential. This is the real program to that end, not the superhuman operating system.

Here's Sanders:

The unprecedented struggle that we're engaged in now against the Billionaire Class is not just about preserving Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, or whether we create the millions of jobs our economy desperately needs.  It's not merely about whether we raise the minimum wage, make college affordable, protect women's rights or take the bold initiatives we need to reverse climate change and save our planet.  It's not just about creating a health care system which guarantees health care to all as a right, or addressing the abysmally high rate of childhood poverty.

THE STRUGGLE THAT WE'RE ENGAGED IN RIGHT NOW IS MUCH MORE THAN ALL THAT.  IT IS WHETHER WE CAN PREVENT THIS COUNTRY FROM MOVING TO AN OLIGARCHIC FORM OF SOCIETY IN WHICH VIRTUALLY ALL ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL POWER RESTS WITH A HANDFUL OF BILLIONAIRES.

I know that some of you think I am exaggerating when I say that.  I'm not.

In my view, there are now three major political forces in this country.  The Democratic Party, the Republican Party and the Koch brothers led Billionaire Party.  As a result of the disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court ruling which regards corporations as people and allows the super-rich to spend as much as they want on elections, the Billionaire Party (aligned with the Republicans) is now the major political force in the country.

Please support our efforts today to counter the unlimited resources of the Koch brothers and their right-wing allies.

Pluralism as realism, aka the Pluralism Wars

Archive Fire blog has a post on the above. Therein it has links* to the ongoing debate in ontographic circles, and also highlights a few points of its own. They are as follows: 1) The only realism worthy of its claims is a type of pluralism; 2) The only pluralism worthy of its claims is a type of realism. See the post for details.

* This link has links to many of the posts in the debate.

Maher's new rule on political framing

He's caught on to what Lakoff has been talking about for some time: the need to frame political rhetoric in a way that influences public opinion and voting behavior. He like Lakoff rightly acknowledges that the regressives via their framing expert Frank Luntz have known this all along. So the progressives need to take heed, like Obama did in the last election. This segment starts around 2:35 in the video below. As usual he makes it funny, at times LOL (when he reframes 'food stamps').

Climate change is already here

See this article and the IPCC website. The IPCC's working group fifth assessment report is due out 3/31/14. The article discusses some previews of the report that says human life is already being seriously affected by climate change and it will only get worse. All of which are caused by producing and burning fossil fuels. Current changes include an

Mystical claims & embodied knowledge in a post-metaphysical age

I started the above IPS discussion thread here with a link to the paper here. See the IPS thread for the ongoing discussion. My intial post follows.

Murray is critical of the metaphysical claims and language used by kennilinguists. And that such claims and language do not take account of the indeterministic factors he discusses. And he states that "in the postmetaphysical milieu we can no longer allow for the possibility of direct contact with 'reality' or 'true knowledge' by some privileged few" (18).

Putin as US GOP Presidential nominee?

He seems perfect for our regressive party.

New Rules

From Friday's Real Time.

Jim Wallis on food stamps

A progressive religious message for this Sunday morning:

Albuquerque's paralegal market

I saw the following in craigslist and couldn't say it any better myself so repost it here.

"This is to inform Abq. law firms the capacities of a paralegal. It's necessary because they seem oblivious to the obvious. Paralegals are not secretaries or assistants. They are trained in academic programs to handle many attorney functions except the practice of legal representation. They are fully capable of doing the following: legal research and writing; understanding and communicating legal concepts; organizing the prior two in legal memorandums with intelligent, coherent plans of action; interviewing clients and other sources to obtain pertinent facts; not only organizing legal documents in preparation for testimony and trial but offering invaluable insights into how to proceed in those settings. There is a host of other legal functions they can fulfill beside this initial list. Basically the paralegal can do anything a lawyer can do except represent someone.* Get over your monumental hubris.

8 ancient beliefs backed by modern science

See this article for the details. I'll just list the 8:

Helping others can make you healthier.
Acupuncture can restore balance to your body.

Parody of Paul Ryan's racist comments

Divergent

I saw the movie Divergent today. Therein its a caste system based on type for which one is tested. This was no doubt dreamed up by the Erudites, the intellectual class. Everyone must neatly fit into a category. If they don't they are divergent and must be killed, as those with aspects of the different categories (factions) upset the neat Order of things. Interestingly, the head Erudite thinks its human nature that must be suppressed, since it doesn't fit into their perfect abstract Order.

Happy Holi

Rifkin's "The rise of anti-capitalism"

See Rifkin's recent article called "The rise of anti-capitalism." He talks about how the sharing economy is undermining capitalism in that it reduces the cost of many goods and services to being virtually free. This will only increase with the emerging Internet of Things, which connects sensors of energy use and flow, natural resources, production lines etc. to the internet. People can then use this information to further reduce the cost and share resources. Combined with in-building green energy production we can give and take energy as needed, sharing this most fundamental of resources globally.

Facebook and others lied about participating in NSA spying

See this article. Facebook and other companies gave NSA access to their customer information and then lied about it. The NSA's lawyer admitted as much during an oversight board hearing, saying the companies engaged in legal processes giving permission. Yet they all deny this complicity. Plus the likes of Facebook CEO Zuckerberg feints public indignation over something for which he gave legal permission. Do you really want to keep supporting these companies with your participation?

Prosecute bankster gangsters

See the petition below. I added this comment to it: Really? The lowest priority? The situation that is directly responsible for the market crash? Come on, these are criminals at the highest level and if you don't prosecute them it's giving carte blanche for them to continue. Do you really want another crash like the last one? It's inevitable if you don't prosecute these criminals.

From Daily Kos et al:

Join Daily Kos, Action for the Common Good and Home Defenders League in signing our petition to Attorney General Eric Holder to make mortgage fraud a top priority for prosecutions. Click here to sign our joint petition.

We have long suspected this, but now we have proof: according to the Justice Department’s own audit, the FBI has placed mortgage fraud as its LOWEST priority in criminal investigations. The report also found that much of the data collected on mortgage fraud prosecutions was not accurate. More than five years after Wall Street crashed our economy, the banksters continue to get a slap on the wrist—while families lose their homes.

Click here to join Daily Kos, Action for the Common Good and Home Defenders League in signing our petition to Attorney General Eric Holder demanding he make mortgage fraud a top priority.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren and two House Democrats have requested a meeting with Attorney General Holder. We can help strengthen their hand by signing this petition today.

Keep fighting,
Paul Hogarth, Daily Kos

Zalamea's extended reason and image schema

In this piece Zalamea talks of an extended reason, one that includes and integrates imagery (eidos) as well as language (logos).

"One of the greatest strengths of images, and, consequently, of an expanded reason [...] consists in the peculiar capacity of the eidolon to capture simultaneously [...] an interior, an exterior and a border." (Can you find a more basic image schema?)

It is the border between reason and imagination where he finds "some of the best creative manifestations." He also finds a relation of this to Plato's "middle way" between the sensible and the intelligible. (Remember my gal Khora?) Therein we can unite with the "continuous universal [...] beyond the superficial cognitive levels of the mind." (Remember differance as hyperobject?) He gives examples of how this is so in art, but I've yet to see him go below this into image schema, which are exactly the imaginative rationality he discusses. Recall this post:

"Recall this from L&J (Metaphors We Live By) on imagination and reason:

McDonald's is standard business operating procedure

In keeping with the theme of the last few posts, see this article. If we don't want things to degenerate into the kind of situation we have had in the past then we best learn its lessons and get busy. An excerpt that speaks well for itself:

"If too much power resides in the hands of employers and capital more broadly, the tension builds and builds until, ultimately, the masses seek to check that power through the only means that remain available to them. They go outside the political system. They engage in mass demonstrations, strikes, and other civil actions. And if that doesn't work, then you get revolution and bloodshed. No one wants things to get bad enough for that to be seen as the only alternative.

McDonald's settlement for stealing wages

Recall this prior story. NY State reached a settlement those McDonald's so accused to pay $500,000 back from stolen wages. This will go to more than 1600 workers, which amounts to about $313 per worker. Something tells me the stores ripped off far more than that per worker. The theft came from workers not being compensated for work off-the-clock, and for uniform upkeep reimbursement. Similar suits have been filed in NY, CA and MI.

McDonald's says it's the fault of the franchisees, as this is not the official policy. Yet per above wage theft is not an isolated incident with McDonald's. The fast-food giant sets the tone by paying slave wages, thereby inculcating the model that workers are not valued and to be abused. Franchisees get this message loud and clear and are only extending that corporate model.

Integral warriors

Layman Pascal has an IPS thread, Only the Athenians Exist. The article therein asks if integralites are willing to fight, and even die if necessary, to defend their worldview. He uses historical examples of those who did so in the name of democracy, for example. The following is my initial response.

As is no doubt already obvious, I am a fighter. But the fight for me is not so much to protect the integralites but a slide away from democracy. As you well note, a lot of people died to instill democracy, and it required that sort of fight. And we are losing that democracy to the regressive forces from which we forged it in blood in the first place.

Regressive rationalization

The ACLU challenges Idaho's ag-gag law

See this story. It's on the same theme of freedom of speech that regressives hate if it reveals the facts. ID passed a law making it illegal to take photos or videos of animal farms without the owner's permission. This was enacted because said photos and videos exposed the incredibly inhumane practices at these farms. So the law in effect says that one cannot expose a crime via free speech without the criminal's permission.

Louisiana Governor's hypocricy on free speech

In the following video Al Sharpton calls out LA Governor Jindal. In the name of free speech Jindal defended that Duck Dynasty cretin after the latter made anti-gay and racially charged statements. But now Jindal is trying to silence that very same free speech by MoveOn, who put up a billboard in LA stating facts: Jindal, by refusing the Obamacare Medicaid expansion, is denying healthcare coverage to 242,000 of his own residents. So the State of LA is suing MoveOn under the pretext that the ad is parodying a regional slogan, when really Jindal just doesn't want the facts out about his cruelty. Free speech only works if your statements are based not in fact but in prejudice and ideology, right Jindal?

Sex is ok, really

Irreversible collapse a distinct possibility

See this article on a NASA-funded study on possible scenarios of global economic collapse. The two main causes of such a collapse: "unsustainable resource exploitation and increasingly unequal wealth distribution." To dispel the regressive charge that collapse stories are fringe they detail several historical examples of previous civilizational collapses and their causes. To think that ours is beyond such considerations is outright delusion and denial.

Looking at the history may help us to avoid the same mistakes of the past, if we would but listen. Key ingredients to consider in past collapses are as listed above: depletion of resources beyond carrying capacity and a widening income inequality gap. The ultra-rich consume inordinate amounts of resources leaving little for the rest of us to fight over. Increases in technology have not reversed this trend, instead increasing it.

Guinness joins NY parade boycott

See this prior post on St. Paddy parade boycotts. Guinness will boycott the NY parade for the same reason. They will not tolerate discrimination and exclusion, especially given the history of anti-Irish exclusion and prejudice. Bravo to these brave souls standing up for equal rights and against religious bigotry and intolerance.

Petition in support of the Better Off Budget

See this prior post on the Better Off Budget. If you support it please consider signing this petition, thanks.

Punography

A letter to the haters

This letter is a must read for progressives. The author points out that regressives hate Obama so much that they'd rather see the country fail than give Obama any credit. They espouse patriotism yet really don't give a shit about the country if it means progressive policies will improve it. They're really about hating a lot of things, as hate is the key to their ideology. This letter says a lot of the things I've said in a lot of different places, but it's all wrapped up in one accurate and incisive diatribe. Please pass it along if you agree.

Also see this letter to a young man who has been abused by the 1% and is proud of it! Like he's some kind of hero because he works 60 hours a week in 2 jobs with no health insurance so the rest of us must be lazy to complain. And this is the American dream he wants?  This is what we've come down to with the 1%ers; fighting over what little crumbs are left and hating the others struggling for them too.

The Nasir al-Mulk Mosque of Iran

See this link for more pictures like the below. Just the architecture, the windows, the light are enough to induce altered states. While I highly value such states I strongly question that they have anything to do with (any) god/dess. Still, awe-inspiring. Also see this YouTube video on the mosque with music. It gets quite psychedelic when focused on the ceiling.

Maher's new rule on religion

The new movie Noah sets off Maher in one of his anti-religious tirades. As usual though, his points are well made via humor.

Boycotts on St. Paddy parades anti-gay stance

Heineken and Sam Adams are both boycotting the Boston and New York St. Paddie's parade because of the parade's anti-gay policy. Actually parade organizers say they are not ant-gay per se, and gays can participate, they just can't self-identify as gay. I imagine they can though self-identify as Irish. The NY mayor is also boycotting his city's parade.

So the regressives think openly gay pride should not be allowed because this is after all a Catholic holiday.* As if there aren't any gay priests? Or there isn't a history of priests sexually abusing young boys? The latter is probably in large part due to the religious dogma about homosexual behavior. If the religion (Roman Catholicism) allowed homosexuality then their priests, not having to repress and hide their proclivities, would likely have healthy homosexual relations and partners. But the regressives simply cannot admit that there is any health involved with homosexuality; it's a crime against God, damn it!

Bad self portraits

In this post I featured a video by Lake Street Dive. According to wikipedia their sound is jazz and soul, with influences of The Beatles, The Drifters, The Momas and the Papas, Fleetwood Mac and The Jackson Five. Their home page is here, where one can learn about their new album with the above title. The title song is below.

Piaget supports my thesis

See this prior post for reference. "Piaget, DeLanda and Deleuze" is a section in the article "On the structure of history" by Lars Marcussen. The following paragraph is from the section "Jean Piaget's epistemology and psychology" and of relevance to this thread, in that it feeds my notion that further evolution requires a return and fuller integration of earlier stage-states (aka the fold). Also that math and science are man-made inventions, not a priori essences or reflective of reality per se. And out of the mouth of Piaget, the founder of developmental psychology!

Jon Stewart responds to Fox on food stamps

Fox fired back at Stewart for the latter's criticisms of Fox on so-called rampant food stamp abuse. Stewart responded here that he wasn't denying food stamp abuse but rather Fox's attempt to take those few genuine cases of abuse and generalize it to all food stamp recipients, like they're all lazy takers who don't want to work and just feed on society's good will. In the video below Stewart proceeds to show the real societal takers that feed off the government, and that costs us taxpayers far more than the food stamp program. Care to guess who these takers are?

The Daily Show
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The GOP is irrelevant

Krystal Ball decimates the regressive Republicans. They no longer matter. They gone so far right as to be completely dysfunctional. The battle will be between the corporate Democrats (what Republicans used to be before going over the edge) and the progressive Democrats (like the Congressional Progressive Caucus). I've long said that the GOP will eventually go extinct, and that what remains of the US two-party system will be this Democrat divide. Ball supports the thesis in this video.

LeBron James for Obamacare

With the deadline looming people need to get signed up soon. NBA star James does this PSA:

The 'paid what your worth' myth

Robert Reich as usual nails it in this piece. Corporate CEOs rationalize that their huge salaries and bonuses are earned, that they worked for it, that they're worth it. And that minimum wage employees have no skills and are thus worth their meager wage. So did that hold true for when the typical GM worker 50 years ago when they were earning $35 an hour in today's wages?

They weren't more educated or smarter than today's minimum wage earners. They were earning such wages because they were in unions. That was a time when more than a third of private industry employees were in unions. Non-union businesses had to give higher wages to compete with the union jobs. Unions raised wages for everyone. And CEO's earned about 30 times as much as the minimum wage earner because the wealth was distributed more equitably.

What is old is new again

See this post in the real/false reason thread, re-posted below. I'll follow up with more research in that thread following this post.

Re-reading some old IPN thread posts I realized they belong here too. And that I'd like to further explore some of them. I ofttimes get on a research roll and rapidly fire off quotes from numerous sources with little follow up. I'd like to follow up on some of these sources so I'll re-post some of those posts below from p. 6 of the IPN thread:

Per above Fisher is into the dynamics of development but seems to be using, like Commons, a static mathematical model to measure it. So why not a dynamic mathematical model based on living systems? Just such a mathematical model exists in dynamic systems theory applied to cognition, which uses differential equations instead of nested algebraic sets.

Lewis, Mark D. (2000-02-25). "The Promise of Dynamic Systems Approaches for an Integrated Accoun... (PDF). Child Development 71 (1): 36–43

Smith, Linda B.; Esther Thelen (2003-07-30). "Development as a dynamic system" (PDF). TRENDS in Cognitive Sciences 7 (8): 343–8.

In the article cited below it says something interesting about the kind of increasing complexity in dynamic systems:

The regressive worldview on poverty

See this Randi Rhodes blog post. Representative Ryan just can't help himself. He's hooked line and sinker to a regressive worldview that cannot see past its ideology. Hence now he's making blatant racist remarks about poor inner city black men, that they are raised in a culture averse to work and likely never will. Thing it, most of US poverty is in rural areas, and most of those poor are white. Randi cites articles with the stats; she's really good at that. Also see the section on Ryan on her homework page.

Colbert on Faux's freakout

Recall Obama appeared on Funny or Die. Faux Snooze freaked out over the President apparently demeaning his office. Colbert points out they're just pissed because that is their job. And the fact that the appearance generated a 40% increase in visits to healthcare.gov.

McDonald's gets worse

I know, it's hard to believe that McDonald's could get any worse. But now they are accused of stealing earned wages from their low-paid employees in a lawsuit. I guess they're not making enough and feel they're paying their employees too much that they have to now steal earned wages from said employees? Good ole capitalism at work, right? It's just business, right? Not!

Some compassionate States avert food stamp cuts

See this article. The recent Farm Bill cut $9 billion in food stamp benefits for low-income families in 15 states and DC for those also receiving heating assistance by raising the threshhold of the later to qualify for the former. Some States though are fighting back by exploiting a loophole, slightly increasing the heating assistance thereby restoring the food stamp benefits to levels before the cuts. Those 5 States are MT, CT, NY, PA and OR. Please encourage the remaining 10 States to do the same via this petition.

American foreign policy

Makes sense that we'd try to stop Putin from doing what we do in this most reasonable manner.

Governor Christie shuts down Tesla car stores in NJ

In typical regressive fashion, NJ Governor Christie spent last week in DC railing about Obama's government interventions in the free market. So he returns to NJ and first thing is to hypocritically and unilaterally shut down Tesla car stores, i.e., government intervention in the free market. Why? The 'reason' cited is because Tesla doesn't use middle-men dealerships to sell their cars, instead selling directly to the consumer. And the car dealerships are pissed over being cut out of the equation. So the usual regressive corporate control of government (aka fascism) didn't want the free market competition and their bought Governor eliminated that threat. Oh, and neither like the very idea of electric cars, as that cuts out their other funder, the oil companies. Free market, eh?

Peirce's Continuum continued

Continuing from this post:

"Veronese's continuum -- intuitive, prelogical, pretopological -- starts from a non-set theoretic notion of emptiness, a weaving and amalgamating synthetic notion which can be viewed as a smooth fluid, both finite and unlimited, in which parts melt naturally with the whole" (31).

On 32 he discusses Brouer's continuum, where human minds can both mark the continuum and observe it, sounding a lot like Bryant's use of Spencer-Brown. Brouer calls this 'two-oneness' (32) (akin to our notions of Buddhist emptiness as 'not one, not two'), and how the general possibilia of continuum moves into the actual particular (33). This leads to a theory of 'boundaries unfolding' (34).

Onto-Cartography

In this post Bryant informs us that his new book is in circulation. Recall in this post I asked him why this one was not published in open source. He said that it was up to the publisher to not do so. But it was up to Bryant to choose this publisher. I'm wondering if he had a choice to publish it with Open Humanities Press, who published his previous book open source? And if so, why not choose open source again, given his diatribe in this post that publishing in the usual way sets up all of those onto-cartographic barriers for most people to read such texts, thereby perpetuating what he purports to be against in the new book.

And speaking of Edie

I always liked this one, still do every time I hear it.

Lake Street Dive

I heard this band and song for the first time just now. I didn't like the guitar intro, as it reminded me of the kind of soft pop rock sound of the late 60s. But then the singer opened her mouth and I was hooked. She has this 50s bohemian beat sound, styled a bit like Edie Brickell. Then the back-up vocals kicked in nicely. And the bass player warmed up with some nice riffs.

The Better Off Budget

The Congressional Progressive Caucus has come out with its new budget. Budgets are moral documents reflecting one's values, what one is willing to spend on and what cuts should be made. This budget is more in alignment with my morals and values. A brief two-page summary is here, and a more detailed description here. A few items from the former follow.

Implements a new Hard Work Tax Credit for households earning less than $150,000. Returns to Clinton tax rates for households making over $250,000 and implements new brackets for those making over $1 million. Equalizes tax rates for investment income and income from a hard day’s work.

What the hell is wrong with Obama now?

Again. This time it's his nominee for deputy trade representative, Robert Holleyman. This guy was a lobbyist pushing the SOPA bill, which would have privatized the internet. Fortunately we the people protested in such huge numbers that that bill never came to pass. We need to mobilize again to block this guy's approval for the above position. We know his agenda and he'll be a key player in trade agreements like the TPP and we know what that's all about. See the Credo Action petition below and please take action.

The petition to the Senate reads:

"Don’t confirm the anti-consumer, anti-internet user, pro-SOPA lobbyist Robert Holleyman to be deputy U.S. trade representative. Giant corporations already have too much influence on our trade policy, and confirming Robert Holleyman would only stack the deck further in favor of corporate interests."

Fact and fiction

Neil deGrasse Tyson notes that it's not 'fair' for media sources to give equal time to scientific fact and ideological fiction. They are not equivalent views that deserve the same treatment. It's a distortion of the equal time principle, which might apply if both sides used the same facts. But climate change deniers are not using scientific fact in their diatribes. (I can't in good conscience call them arguments.)

Speaker Boehner's suit jacket

See this article by Ralph Nader. He thinks the Speaker should advertise his corporate sponsors on his suit jacket, much like race car drivers. After all, he's all about giving giant tax subsidies to his task masters while refusing to bring an increased minimum wage bill to a House vote. He'd rather see regular folks who work full-time live in poverty than ask for one cent more from his buddies who make billions in profits on those very workers. And who get us, meaning the government, to pay for their food stamps and housing assistance.