Why won't Congress debate the ISIS war?

Jon Stewart quotes a regressive House member, noting their strategy is to avoid a debate at all costs: "At a time of war our Congressional inaction is pure political calculation." This after all the regressive rhetoric that they would like to discuss the situation, since ISIS is going to kill us all. But the President just hasn't invited us to do so. Congress doesn't need the President's permission for debate on the issue. Regressives just really don't want to debate it, instead preferring to avoid taking responsibility for their vote on the war. They are cowards and liars, but we already knew that.

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Who will pay for the zero marginal cost society?

From this article, "Who will pay for the zero marginal cost society?":

"The first concern that arose in my mind as I began reading the book was simple and likely one that most people will raise: What about the fixed costs? Who is going to supply the infrastructures necessary for the various near zero marginal cost systems to function? [...] Who will bear the fixed costs and supply these infrastructures? If the supplier is a private company that owns the infrastructure, how will the supplier manage it? (To lay bare my concerns: Rent extraction and control by private, for-profit infrastructure owners may very well undermine most of Rifkin's dreams.) If the government supplies the infrastructure, how will it raise the funds and how will it decide which infrastructures to build and when to build them? [...] To be fair, Rifkin does address some supply side issues."

Maher's new rule on liberal judgment

This is not liberal relativism incapable of passing judgment on other cultures or practices. Everyone is not ok just as they are, and Maher makes no bones about it. And reams those so-called liberals that cannot so adjudicate.

William Desmond

Balder started a new IPS thread on the above. Some of my comments so far follow.

It does sound like a lot of the various and sundry contemporary philosophies we've discussed in the forum. All of which could be considered in/of the new wave of popo, pama or paraphysics I brought up in a FB forum. We've compared this new wave to Wilber's work, and while the latter is in some ways like these others, in other ways it is not.

Have you given any further thought to my proposition that prepositions, and other parts of speech, are the linguistic extension of image schema? The latter, while pre-positioning language, do not just extend into linguistic prepositions but all parts of speech. And as I noted elsewhere, image schema as basic categories are in the middle of classical hierarchies so fulfill this 'in between' ontological nature. Which itself changes the nature of how we see hierarchy (and holarchy), a key ingredient in many philosophies. We see it manifest in all these contemporary philosophies of the between, multiplicity, relationship, even in OOO, as well as the more metaphysical ones. Yet none of them have made this connection to how image schema and its linguistic extension in metaphor explain said philosophies and contextualize them cross-paradigmatically.

Obamacare is reducing the growth of healthcare spending

See this article. More facts to hammer home for the upcoming election, and why progressives should proudly support Obamacare as part of their campaign. This chart shows the CBO's projected Medicare costs, and how those costs have been revised based on actual costs to date.

Obamacare saves hospitals $5.7 billion

This election regressives will ignore facts like the following, while progressives must hammer them home. See this article, which states that according to Health and Human Services hospitals will save this amount due to typically unpaid hospital bills being paid by Obamacare. Such unpaid bills have fallen by a third. And of course this applies more to those States that instituted Obamacare Medicaid, but even those States that did not will still save.

Senator Warren calls for investigation of the NY Fed

Following up on the last post, Senators Warren and Brown, both members of the banking committee, are calling for an investigation of the NY Fed in light of Segarra's recordings. She reiterates that this sort of Wall Street ass-licking by regulators is what caused the meltdown in 2008. In one recording a Goldman Sachs executive said “once clients became wealthy enough, certain consumer laws didn’t apply to them,” an Fed regulators told her to ignore the remark and change her meeting minutes. Why is it that only progressive Democrats want to investigate this? We know full well the answer.

The Fed is corrupted by its Wall Street targets

This is a fascinating story on the corruption in the New York Fed, tasked with investigating Wall Street conflicts of interest. The Fed realized that their own investigators were too deferential to Wall Street, often looking the other way, or not including factual findings contrary to Wall Street's wishes. So the Fed decided to change its own corrupt policies in this regard and hired investigators to work inside Wall Street banks. These investigators had to be "out of the box thinkers," even "disruptive personalities." They wanted them to be contrarian and question the orthodoxy of the Fed's lapdog culture.

Regressive morality

From Robert Reich's FB page:

"At yesterday’s Values Voter Summit – the annual gathering of social conservatives that’s a critical step for Republican presidential hopefuls – Texas Senator Ted Cruz told the redemptive story of his alcoholic parents to show the role faith has played in his life, and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul told the crowd how liberty, virtue, and God were intertwined.

"When Republicans talk about morality, they talk about God and redemption. But they don't mention the immorality of one in five of American children being impoverished, of cuts in food stamps that are causing many to go hungry, and of reduced education funding that’s condemning them to lousy schools. They don't talk about the immorality of declining worker incomes when corporations are making record profits and CEOs are taking home record pay. They leave out the immorality of billionaires flooding our democracy with money to elect candidates that will make them even richer. We are in a moral crisis but it has nothing to do with private redemption. It is a crisis of public morality, and the redemption of America."

Stewart to Fox News: "Fuck you and all your false patriotism"

Recall Colbert on this story. Stewart takes it on too, noting that "diseased minds" are behind this nonsense. He tell Fox News: "Fuck you." It's the only reasonable way to deal with these sick fucks.

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Regressives have given up on the truth

So reports Steven Benan here. He provides examples of Romney so doing in the last election but the focus now is on Tom Cotton, Senatorial candidate. He was fact-checked and caught red-handed in a lie about his vote on the Farm Bill. But no matter, he continues to run the ad that lies because truth, along with facts and science, just don't matter to these people. It's all about political spin getting the desired result, winning to gain power. The ends justify the means in these Machiavellian regressives hell bent on feudalistic fascism.

Latte disrespect

Colbert is particularly funny in this clip destroying the bizarre regressive response to the President saluting soldiers with a coffee cup in his hand.

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Senator Sanders on if the regressives take the Senate

This November election is critical, for if the regressives get the majority the good Senator lays out their agenda. Is this what you want? If not, get out to vote damn it. From his recent email:

"As a member of the U.S. Senate, let me tell you what a Republican Senate will mean for America. Are you concerned about campaign finance law, and the ability of billionaires to buy elections? Well, not one Republican in the Senate voted in support of a recent effort to pass a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United. In fact, many Republicans now want to eliminate all restrictions on campaign spending.

Evolutionary democracy

From this IPS thread discussion. Here's a new Integral World article on evolutionary democracy for all you meme creamers, sure to elicit a wet spot in your panties. It's written by Elza Maalouf, an associate of Don Beck who practices his SDi. Before we get those panties in a bunch again, this is relevant to 'spirituality' in that I agree with Wilber from excerpt A that the techno-economic base is a leading factor in determining the overall general superstructure view of society at large, including how that view expresses in religious or spiritual generative (en)closures. We might explore how this manifests in our integral postmetaphysical spiritualiy, like how ontological pluralism is an example of the "distributed intelligence model" below.

Kennilingus catch up

Continuing from the last few posts, recall Wilber's discussion of Marx in excerpt A, how the techno-economic base largely determines the superstructure view. And that techno-economic innovations are what tend to lead the way in changing those views. So what is the integral socio-economic paradigm? Conscious capitalism? We see right now the emerging techno-economic base of the Commons, so how does that change the integral view on conscious capitalism? Does Wilber describe the sort of distributed capitalism Rifkin talks about? Not that I've seen. He does note that the techno-economic base happens much faster than the superstructure views, which take time to catch up. I'd suggest his view has some catching up to do.

The superhuman operating system

I finally listened to Ken Wilber's interview on the superhuman operating system. The first part is about ladder, climber, view. We retain the basic structures (ladder rungs) in subsequent development but the views change. That is, the self disidentifies with the old view when moving up the rungs to identify with the new. Granted there can be fixation or dissociation, where sub-personalities hang on to lower views. But as a rule the view is transitional, transcended and excluded, while the basic structure is transcended and included.

In the next section though he criticizes all the first tier views for believing that each of their views in the only view. But he just got done saying that is natural and healthy for views, given their transitional and excluded structure. Hence the 3 higher 1st tier views engage in culture wars as to which is better. But according to Wilber the higher the view the better it is, since it embraces more and more in its basic structures. It is natural for the pluralist to argue its view is better, since it is. Also see the IPS thread on ladder, climber, view here.

More on the kennilingus warping of the green meme

There's a lengthy and at times ascerbic debate at the IPS FB forum once again on the green meme.
So I went to Morin's book Seven Complex Lessons for Education in the Future, available at this link. The section on false rationality begins on p. 17. He describes it as "abstract unidimensional rationalization" and "technobureaucratic rationality" (18) expressed in free market economics, since it is divorced from the sort of ecological thinking that takes account of multiple systems in interdependence, instead imposing on nature a fixed abstract ideal. In so doing environmental devastation has been wrought.

Also of interest is the footnote on that page that false rationality in the green movement is guilty as well. The well-intentioned Green Revolution sought to feed the third world with a program that selected a single vegetal genome which failed to account for how it would affect its local ecosystem to disastrous results. But note, this was not due to a "green" meme but how it still contained a false reason inherent to the orange meme. Recall Lakoff's complaint about how the liberals can't frame for shit because they still adhere to this false Enlightenment reasoning.

Photo library of the climate march

400,000 people showed up for the climate march in NYC a few days ago. See this link for several photos taken thereof, just one of which is below. Large public demonstrations like this are a key ingredient in an activism that gets results.

Turn regressive rhetoric back on them

Obamacare is succeeding yet the regressives keep putting out nasty, lying rhetoric. It's time to turn that same sort of rhetoric around on them but backed by the truth.

Jon Stewart on regressives in the House Committee on Science, Space & Technology

It's amazing that they let regressives who don't accept science on this committee. Stewart pokes fun at the utter idiocy of these cretins.

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Laske on dialectic, development and kennilingus

In this  IPS post is a link to Foreman's interview with Laske. I posted a few comments thereafter. Picking up where I left off:

Developmental theories are "strictly a social theory that says very little about development" (10:10).

"I don't really care about CDF and what it says about people that much. That's developmental theory and as you know I have doubts that these developments really happen and it what sense they happen" (24:30).

“You cannot access dialectical thinking if you do not practice it yourself” (38:40). 

Bill Maher live from DC

Here are a couple of clips from his recent live performance in DC. The first is that Obamacare is not too much socialism but too much capitalism. Public services like healthcare should not be for profit.



The second clip is on Pope Francis.

What Americans really want

The following is from Populist Majority on where we the people really stand.

If you believe the mainstream media, America is a center-right nation that supports smaller government and lower taxes. If you believe the pundits, what Americans care about most is the deficit. It's not true.

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%).

That's why we created the Populist Majority. It's a new project from Campaign for America's Future that will present the facts, challenge the media, and arm activists and political leaders with the truth.

The real regressive agenda behind the Hobby Lobby case

See this article. The Supreme Corp sided with Hobby Lobby that they don't have to provide contraception coverage based on religious grounds. The Obama administration, in trying to accomodate the ruling as well as provide that coverage for its employees, just asked for Hobby Lobby to provide the name of its insurance carrier so that the government could pay for it directly. But even that's not acceptable for Hobby Lobby. To provide that information would be accepting complicity in the contraception process so they don't even want to do that. Bottom line: if you work for Hobby Lobby you just cannot get contraception coverage, period. That's the agenda all along. No doubt next will be you cannot be in a homosexual relationship. Or have sex for anything other than procreation if in a sanctioned "Biblical" relationship. This win is only the beginning.

Fair doesn't mean equal

Sometimes a picture says it best, so I'll let this one speak for itself.

Para and pama

The prefix meta is tired, as in metaphysical, so I now use paraphysical. Same with paratheory instead of metatheory. Para as prefix is used by Priest in describing a paraconsistent logic of the kind used by Nagarjuna, also (para)consistent with my applications. Also of note is the word paradox, literally "beyond belief." In a word then I am paraspiritual.

Pomo is the accepted short form of the word postmodern.

Maher on fear mongers

In the following video from last Friday's show, his special new rule is in our next rush to war. We just got done being tired of war and forced a withdrawal from Iraq and another from Afghanistan in the future. But a couple of beheadings and here we go again. The fear mongers are once again saying if we don't want war over this we are appeasers. Maher correctly points out that in rushing to war we are doing exactly what they want, so the fear mongers are the real appeasers.

Creating terror takes two, and the regressives are buying into it wholesale. Linsey Graham is convinced if we don't immediately go to war we'll all get killed back here, and as early as next week. Another regressive idiot actually said ISIS is already infiltrating the US border. Not only that, the 'other' brown people of Mexico are conspiring with them to cut off our heads with hedge trimmers.

Maher also notes, as I did in an earlier post, that these regressives fear things so remote as to be near impossible, yet haven't the least fear for real dangers as the chemicals Monsanto uses in week killer. That can't be fearful, it's business! The same goes for climate change, which regressives simply refuse to believe, as again, it's business.

An oligarch's opinion on why Sanders can't win

This article lays out what it takes to be President of the US. And why Senator Sanders is therefore not qualified. A successful candidate must be "a member of either major political party" and their "network of cronyism and backroom deals." One also needs to be "beholden to a major corporate interest or investment bank."Although the quoted author thinks that this "system works," because it eliminates the possibility for someone with integrity like Sanders from even having a chance. That's what "it works" means to the oligarchs. While the author is right that Sanders couldn't generate contributions from the billionaire class, he is so popular with the rest of us that I'd bet he'd generate plenty of money from millions of small contributions.

Regressives just don't get it

And they can't, since it's in their twisted ideology to assume that if you don't have a job, and have been unemployed for any length of time, it's your own fault. House Speaker Boehner's recent comments once again confirm this decrepit social Darwinism of the Ayn Randian type. He said that "it's a very sick idea" that the unemployed prefer to "just sit around." No Boehner, you're the sick bastard for assuming this when most of these folks would love to be working. But your personal blocking of jobs bills is the real reason they are not.

House climate hearing

See this link for videos of the White House science adviser answering climate-denying regressive House members. I've just included the first video below. It's astounding that we have such ignoramuses is positions of power.

Jorge Ferrer interview

Balder started an IPS thread on this here. My initial comment follows. 

Good article. On p. 101 I appreciate how different religions emphasize and develop different aspects, like contemplation, psychophysical integration, social service etc. All these aspects are part and parcel of a 'spiritual' tradition. It's a point I made in the FB thread on Clinton v. Warren. It seems some traditions make state experiences the foci of what's important and foundation for the whole shebang (like Sam Harris recently). Ferrer expands on this later on the page and into the next page with the eco-social-political test. That was also part of my argument in that thread as part of a legitimate 'spiritual' tradition.

In response to LP's initial comment I said (see the thread for his comment):

Hier(an)archy

Continuing from the last posts, in terms of hier(an)archy the object a as embodied image schema 'in the middle' is the networked interactions of the particular and the general. It appears as a hole or absence in such diagrams but it's not nothing. Like Buddhist emptiness it is the transcendental interrelations of dependent origination, not some outside or transcendent force and ground. This doesn't negate hierarchy per se, just contextualizes it with the middle ground as that which transcendentalizes the apparent transcendent and abstract top/bottom on a vertical ladder via formal, metaphysical reason. The top/bottom curve back on themselves, infolding back into the middle, while the middle curves out to enfold and relate the top/bottom. Hier(an)archy indeed.

Borromean rings in motion

Following up on the last few posts, this video shows the Borromean Rings in motion and the geometry behind them.

Inside/out, outside/in

Continuing from this post, I prefer the following symbol though, since the basic categories are akin to the objet a at the center of the diagram. I.e., they are that which traverses all boundaries which being at all boundaries.

And yet the following gif shows the dynamics in action, how the inside center is always moving out, enfolding the general/particular. And simultaneously the outside is always moving in, being infolded by the concrete. All kinds of folds going on. It's a bit harder to imagine how the above looks translated into the below, since the edges are rounded and no corners.

The scale as image schema

Continuing from this post, and the one linked therein, I'm reminded of  this article. In discussing the r-terms as the basis of the a-terms he said: "As the concrete includes and exceeds the abstract." I.e, the concrete transcends and includes the abstract. This is an entirely different mereology than kennilingus where the more abstract transcends and includes the concrete. The most particular and the most general are the abstract a-terms while the basic categories are the most concrete and r-terms. Since basic categories are our most concrete connection with ourselves and our environments, and in the middle of such formal hierarchies, this turns such formal hierarchies inside out. 

Consulting with Musique via tarot the following image was chosen at random.

Senator Warren on the revolving door

See her blog post on the topic in response to liberal Anthony Weiner criticizing her for berating former House majority Cantor for taking a Wall Street job. This is the difference between corporate liberals and progressives. The latter are not paid off and beholding to their corporate masters but fight both the masters and their congressional lapdogs, both Democrat and Republican. See the post for several examples of how this revolving door corrupts our democracy to the point of oligarchy.

Enlightenment dissociation and poor framing

Recall from this Koestler source thread that "the regenerative potential of organisms and societies manifests itself in fluctuations from the highest level of integration down to earlier, more primitive levels, and up again to a new, modified pattern." We can integrate and re-program evolutionary wiring. As I argue in the fold thread it's not about every-increasing complexity but about a more fully conscious integration. Just adding complexity only continues the metaphysical underpinnings of an abstract ego divorced from individual and collective bodies, including the environment.

Btw, this agrees with Wilber's notion of modernism's dissociation of the value spheres. We differentiated them, an advance, but then instead of fully integrating them they went into dissociation. This is an ongoing phenomenon and one in which even kennilingus (and the rest of us) unconsciously participates. But we can get over it.

US solar grid parity

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, based on National Renewable Energy Laboratory analyses, by 2017 more than half of US States "could have rooftop solar that's as cheap as local electricity prices." Grid parity has already been reached in 11 States. Great news for us and the environment, bad for the power companies unless they get with the program. See the article for more details.

More on regressive paranoia

The fear nonexistent threats and pretend real threats don't exist.

Regressives live in fear

Jon Stewart shows how a top Congressional regressive is constantly scared by his own shadow. And how he spreads that meme like herpes all around his ideologically bankrupt Party. If you have congress with these folks you can expect to catch their fear.

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When a sick ideology trumps reality

Another trickle down in a nutshell

Renewable energy revolution

See this NY Times article. It's already happening, though you wouldn't know it through most media outlets. And you know it's working when the big energy companies are lobbying to thwart the RE industry, and they are BIG time. E.g.: "They have started attacking rules that encourage solar panels." Germany is out course leading the way, with their agenda drawing Chinese manufacturers into the market. Which in turn is driving down costs much faster than anticipated. E.g., solar: "The prices of the panels have plunged 70 percent in the past five years." See the story for many more details. The following chart is from the International Energy Agency, showing by country the % of power generated by fossil fuels and RE.

Pointing out racism is not itself racism

See the video below made by some black kids from Ferguson. Many of the YouTube comments are racist but can't see it. And think that by merely pointing it out that makes one racist. Hence the video pointing out that racism is still rampant, even if the Supreme Corp thinks otherwise.

Paraphysics

Joseph provided a link to the "Para-Academic Handbook." These folks are responding to corporate education. I like the term para-academics as indicative of the p2p knowledge generation inherent to the emerging Commons. I'm thinking prefixes like meta are old school in still adhering to the representation paradigm with its classical, abstract hierarchies based on naive set theory. The prefix para is much more conducive to a metaphysics of adjacency, given its meaning as prefix: at or to one side of, beside, side by side. Therefore and henceforth to hell with meta-theory; I'm calling it para-theory.

Fucking a-terms

Continuing from this post, another way of approaching r/a terms is through basic categories and image schema. Recall that these prototypes are in the middle of classical categorical hierarchies, between the most general and the most particular. Basic categories are the most concrete way we have of relating to and operating within the environment. Thus both the more particular and more general categories are more abstract. And yet our usual way of thinking is that the more particular the category the more concrete or relative the object it represents is and vice versa.

The truth about raising the minimum wage and jobs

GOP disapproval rating

The regressives keep making a big deal out of President Obama's 54% disapproval rating. True, it's not good. But the GOP's disapproval rating is 72%. The Democrats fare only slightly better at 61%. And yet polls show the "public trusts Republicans more than Democrats on the economy, spending, foreign policy and immigration." Based on what evidence? There is no evidence to support such trust. I guess it's true that these folks are falling for the framing manipulation instead of actually informing themselves on the facts and issues. Which of course is exactly what the regressives want, since they could in no way get such support based on evidence.

Senator Sanders on running for President

"The only way we bring about change is when the American people are mobilized." He's right, and we need candidates like Sanders (and Warren), as they are exactly the impetus we need to get mobilized.

We know Zimmerman will kill again

And probably get away with it again. He was a cold-blooder killer to begin with and letting him off only reinforced to him that he's immune to prosecution should he do it again. See this story. Zimmerman and a buddy pulled up to a guy at a stop light and threatened him for no reason, saying: "Do you know who I am? I'll fucking kill you." The victim reported it but out of fear declined to press charges. A couple days later Zimmerman showed up where the victim works and the victim reported that as well, this time police verifying that Zimmerman was there. But again the victim was afraid to press charges. Again no surprise, since Zimmerman is convinced he can get away with murder since he already has. And give Florida's stand-your-ground laws, he most likely could.

The rangtong/shentong debate in a nutshell

Balder said in a FB IPS post: “Whitehead and Hartshorne suggest that a-terms (absolutes) are asymmetrically dependent on, and abstracted from, (relative) r-terms. […] What would be the reason for the differing testimonies (such as you find between Rangtong and Shentong schools, for instance)?”

That's the difference in a nutshell: the shentongs see that the r-terms are asymmetrically dependent on, and abstracted from, the a-terms. It's quite clear in Wilber's writings. And no, the solution isn't a 'balance' of the two in some higher integration, which is an extension of the shentong (aka 'false' a la Lakoff) reasoning. There's a lot in Lakoff and company's research that supports the rangtong version as noted in several threads, like 'real/false' reason.

Buddhist logic

In this post I discussed Graham Priest's article on Buddhist logic, which argues around Aristotle's excluded middle. The latter is prerequisite to the claim of performative contradiction, whereas Priest's Buddhist logic doesn't accept that premise. Priest's logic is what he calls paraconsistent, and I of course twist and fold it even further to show how their is an ultimate truth, but not in the metaphysical sense.

PS: accepting the excluded middle is a hallmark of formal operations with its bivalent either/or, and in that sense is 'metaphysical.' Postformal dialectics of the kind Priest discusses goes 'postmetaphysical' in that sense, while still making metaphysical (ontological) claims as to the nature of reality. I've also weaved this into Lakoff's work on embodied realism in various threads (especially real/false reason), another story, but 'on topic' to this thread.

Robert Reich on 7 regressive lies

Countered with the facts. Which of course and no surprise, the regressives have none of.

Some powerful images and words

Instigated by thoughts on September 11. There are more below the fold so click on 'read more.'

Bill Maher prefers Warren over Clinton

Join the club. In this brief clip of Charlie Rose interviewing him Maher said in passing while discussing Obama's policies that he'd absolutely prefer Warren over Clinton for the Democrat Presidential nomination. As would most if not all of us progressives, since Clinton has already proven she'd be a center right corporate Democrat. We need the Warren revolution to take back democracy from the cold defeated hands of the oligarchs. And she's just the one to do it, no doubt carrying the Democrats back into control of the House on her coattails.

The Senate vote on overturning Citizens United

Here's the roll call vote on the amendment to reverse Citizens United. Not one Republican voted for it, not one Democrat voted against it. Polls consistently show Americans are against what Citizens United created and favor an amendment overturning it. Remember this come the November election, who supports we the people or the big money that could give a shit about us. Bring this vote up time and again as a clear example of what your vote will directly support. If you're tired of oligarchy and want a return to democracy, this vote couldn't be any more indicative.

Some polling results from this post:

"A recent poll commissioned by Public Citizen indicated that "more than three in five voters are opposed" to Citizens United (including 62 percent of independent voters and 58 percent of Republican voters), and majorities of both Democrats and Republicans supported a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United. A recent CBS News poll also showed that a strong majority of Americans from across the political spectrum believe that the wealthy unfairly influence elections, that there should be limits on individual campaign contributions, and that campaign spending from "outside groups" should also be limited -- the precise commonsense campaign finance laws that Citizens United and McCutcheon eliminated."

And from this post: 

Colbert on the Dalai Lama

Or the DLam as he affectionately calls him.

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I Get Off

This is an interesting comment on voyeurism from Halestorm. It's most obvious in porn but also applies to performers in general. Musicians, actors and so on, who get off on providing the vicarious thrill and other emotions that affect their audiences. As a dance performer I know this one well. Let's get off on this song then and help Lzzy get off too. As she sings: "It's a give and take."

Senator Warren on overturning Citizens United

Her speech on the Senate floor a few days ago highlighting that the Supreme Corp is the most corporate ass-licking in a long time. And that their rulings have allowed for said corps to buy elections to further their own, and only their own, interests. Democracy is truly at stake, and this amendment is necessary to help restore it. That along with getting these corporate ass-lickers out of office and retired from the Supreme Corp.

It's time to rename Dancing with the Stars

DWTS has been struggling each season coming up with actual stars for their lineup. They've had a few stars but usually they've been has-beens long out of the limelight. At least the latter were at one time stars so it was acceptable. But with the announcement of their new lineup I strongly suggest they rename the show to Dancing With Who The Fuck Are These People? The only ones I recognize are  Tommy Chong, Lea Thompson, Lolo Jones and Randy Couture. I suppose the others are 'celebrities' in the broadest sense as being in the media, sort of like the Kardashians are celebrities for doing absolutely nothing of any account.

Over or under?

This is a contentious, ongoing debate since the invention of toilet paper. This video gives the pros and cons of each style and settles definitively, imo, the correct way to do this.

Your brain on metaphors

See this recent article on neuroscientific studies testing Lakoff & Johnson's theory of metaphors. This quote therein supports Desilet's criticism of Wilber, but from this other paradigm: "Lakoff and Johnson’s program is as anti-Platonic as it’s possible to get. It undermines the argument that human minds can reveal transcendent truths about reality in transparent language."

Therein is also referenced a book for which Lakoff wrote the Foreward:  Louder Than Words: The New Science of How the Mind Makes Meaning.

Senator Warren reams financial regulators

The financial regulators, having no prosecution power, can refer financial misconduct to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution. Warren hammers home that not one banking executive involved in admitted criminal conduct has been so referred by the regulators. Such a corrupt and bankrupt 'justice' system.

More on meditative states of consciousness

See this recent meditation and brain update. The material is consistent with what I've been reporting but he doesn't cite sources in this article. Interestingly in the IPS “Washburn and the psychodynamics of meditation" thread he suggests that it is the more open or receptive practices that notice our buried, sub- or unconscious patterns. The more concentrative or arousal practices are too preoccupied with intent focus on its object and tend to not notice such buried content. For this particular purpose it seems the slower brainwave practices are more applicable. Also of note that such concentrative practices are susceptible to the ego ideal, which leads to confusion about the nature of the experiences with a metaphysical overlay. This could be in part due to ignoring the subconscious content that arises into awareness in the more receptive types of practice.

The anarchy of atheism

Bryant's recent post on atheism is of interest in light of this recent post on the Dalai Lama saying he should be the last of his kind. Bryant thinks that atheism is not so much about the refutation of the supernatural but that of sovereignty. He also relates the latter to arche, the master narrative that rules over all. Atheism is more properly anarchy, or as Caputo says an-arche or hier(an)archy. Bryant sees it as a democracy of objects, "an egalitarianism of actors," i.e., a P2P commons.

Global Center for Advanced Studies

Joseph referenced GCAS in the IPS forum. I appreciate this from CGAS's about page, indeed resonant with the focus in my blog: "Committed to ideas, art and justice for the oppressed. [...] We need each other to do this believing that banks and corporate interests should not continue to dictate the terms on which 'education' is determined. We want to create an education that is inclusive, democratic, and committed to justice for the oppressed." I'd add that I want to enact a political-economic system along the same lines.

Joseph also referenced the GCAS course "Formalism for Ontology and Politics," to which I replied:

Dance and superfluidity

As a dancer I'm also interested in how that art induces states akin to meditation, since I have experience with both. This article discusses how dance induces peak performance through cerebrum and cerebellum integration to elicit superfluity. The article links to his previous article on superfluidity, which he describes thusly:

Comparing Theravada and Tibetan meditation

In Thompson's paper "Dreamless sleep, the embodied mind and consciousness," one study measured experienced Theravadan and Tibetan meditators during deep, slow-wave sleep and found they had 20-25% higher incidence of gamma wave activity in the parietal-occipital region. So this sort of gamma wave activity is not limited to Tibetan style meditation, since both styles include both concentrative and receptive meditations.

This study discussed these two kinds of meditation, calling them focused or distributed. It noted that both types in Theravada produced more the relaxation response, whereas both types in the Tibetan produced more the arousal response. They suggest that it therefore behooves us to not use the focused (concentrative) and distributed (receptive) categories in this research, since both styles were studied from each tradition. They further suggest that the relaxed and arousal categories are more indicative of the two traditions.

So-called job creators don't want to create jobs

We already knew this but here's  more evidence. Most business leaders would rather use robots, outsource work and use part-time workers than create good full-time jobs. This according to a Harvard Business School survey. The chart follows. See the link for the details.

Supreme Corp's rationalization in the Hobby Lobby case

In a nutshell:

The Dalai Lama lets go of one myth

See this story. He doesn't think there is any longer a need for the institution of Dalai Lama. At least he's let go of one myth, that of a necessary hero/leader. And that a more peer-to-peer structure is sufficient to carry on the tradition. He still believes in other myths though, like reincarnation. And that his dreams foretell the future. One myth at a time I guess.

Warren and Krugman at CUNY

It's a lengthy video (1:19:29) but well worth the time. One could view it in available chucks of time over a few visits. A good presentation from two of our most progressive voices on how to make an economy work for everyone.

Is this what you want?

Have you found Jesus?

Examine the picture carefully.

Money for Nothing

An old fav. I love this old rockin' roadhouse blues sound. Interesting video interpretation.

Wall Street Journal lies on climate change

I know, big surprise, right? Jeffrey Sachs destroys their recent article purportedly debunking the WSJ's claim that global warming is a hoax due to the natural Atlantic ocean cycle, citing a recent study in Science Magazine. Sachs ably points out that the study in question affirms exactly the opposite. It differentiates surface and deep ocean warming and it's true that overall warming cycles between the two. While there may be a recent trend for surface cooling it is offset by greater deep ocean warming. When it cycles around to the former it will be significant. The WSJ takes a sentence fragment on the recent surface cooling and thinks that refutes the entire warming process, obviously taking it out of context. Again, big surprise.

Who are the job creators?

From robinhoodtax.org

The Great Attractor

In this video scientists have discovered a new supercluster of galaxies called Laniakea, of which the Milky Way is a peripheral part. They did so by observing how galaxies move in relation to each other and found that superclusters have a 'great attractor' at their center, which gravitationally binds the galaxies into these superclusters and determines their movement. It's very much like the strange attractors of dynamic systems theory. And the hyperobjects of ontocartography.

More on the ego

Continuing from this post, here is Epstein's article "The deconstruction of the self: ego and 'egolessness' in Buddhist insight meditation." An excerpt from the introductory paragraphs:

"The tendency of contemporary theorists has been to propose developmental schema in which meditation systems develop 'beyond the ego,' yet this approach has ignored aspects of the ego which are not abandoned and which are, in fact, developed through meditation practice itself. [...] Meditation can be seen as operating in different ways on many distinctive facets of the ego, promoting change and development within the ego, rather than beyond it. This view requires that the ego be understood as a complex and sophisticated matrix of structures, functions and representations, rather than as a single entity that could be readily abandoned. It recognizes the indispensability of the ego while at the same time revealing how meditation practice can uniquely modify it, producing an ego no longer obsessed with its own solidity" (61-2).

And Wilber from Integral Psychology (Shambhala, 2000) on the different aspects of ego, and what is transcended and included or replaced in its stages:

Funny or Die does Ferguson

It's too close to reality to be parody though.

COPS: Ferguson from Funny Or Die

There is no general psychological structure

I was reminded of this post today, from Fischer and Mascalo, “The dynamic of development of thinking, feeling, and acting over the lifespan,” in The Handbook of Lifespan Development, Wiley and Sons, 2010. Some edited excerpts:

"To speak of the development of psychological structures is not the same as speaking about the development of a person. There are no general or 'all purpose' psychological structures. Although they undergo massive development over the lifespan, psychological structures consist of localized skills that are tied to particular situational demands, psychological demands and social contexts. [...] It is not appropriate to say that an individual functions at a single developmental level, even for a particular skill. Instead it is more appropriate to say that an individual's skills function at a range of levels depending on context, domain, time of day, emotional state and other variables" (17, 35-36).

The ego is part of enlightenment

I explored the idea that meditation states are in fact developing skill with the "evolutionary...deeper, more primary levels of being." And that said traditional and metaphysical interpretations of such states, maybe appropriate for their time, must now move into the postmetaphysical. I included some of Bonnie's (and many others') work on this in this IPS thread.

Fight Citizens United

From the Other 98%:

This Monday will be a showdown between we the people and so called “corporate people.”  The US Senate will vote on Tom Udall’s Constitutional amendment to reverse Citizens United and stop the flow of secret money into politics. The Bill now has a whopping 48 co-sponsors.  

Join us in demanding the Senate pass this constitutional amendment to get money out of politics.  

The movement to get money out of politics is growing fast; 16 states and more than 400 local governments have used ballot initiatives, resolutions or other measures to call on Congress to overturn Citizens United. 75% of Americans now believe that there is too much money in our political system. With those kinds of numbers, a Constitutional Amendment is possible.  

We’re putting the Senate on notice: heed the will of the people and vote yes on Sen. Udall’s amendment.  

Citizens United has done damage on a global scale over its four-year lifespan, but the damage is not irreversible. We can amend the Constitution and take back our democracy. Thanks for everything you do to make this a better world.  

Sincerely,  John Sellers 
The Other 98%

The regressive view should NOT be integrated

These legislators are truly regressive. Do we really think that this ideology is just the equal and opposite of the progressive view that needs to be 'integrated?' See the article for the 10 recent examples.

"Instead of moving more to the center, the Republican Party and the Tea Party have resolved to 'rally the base' by doubling down on their insanity, especially in the Deep South and Texas, where it is much easier to push a far-right agenda than it is in more centrist or liberal-leaning parts of the United States. And in a mid-term election year like 2014, railing against their usual targets—African Americans, gays, immigrants, atheists, women seeking abortions and pretty much anyone else who isn’t a white male Christian fundamentalist over 50—is an all-too-familiar GOP get-out-the-vote strategy for the Bible Belt. Here are 10 examples of Republicans showing their 'southern hospitality' in 2013 and 2014 with oppressive laws, bills and official platforms in the Deep South and Texas."

Fast food workers unite and strike

Kudos to these people for doing something about their horrible situation. We too need to act if we agree. If not our inaction feeds the system we purport to decry. That doesn't necessarily mean get arrested in the street; there are other avenues of dissent. But to do nothing is no longer an option. One action is to consider this petition.

More 'gratitude' from Wall Street

Continuing from this post, Jon Stewart discusses former House majority leader Cantor's new job on Wall Street. "It's payment for services already rendered," as well as continuing payola influence for ongoing Wall Street deregulation.

The Daily Show
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Trickle down economics in a shapshot

The Pusher

This song is about drug pushers, but in the context of recent posts I see it now more as those oligarchs that push the dream of democracy while actually destroying it. God damn the pusher.

Reframing corruption into gratitude

See this piece by Bill Moyers and Michael Winship. Gratitude is how Chief Justice Roberts of the Supreme Corp reframed the blatant and insidious corruption behind campaign contributions in the McCutcheon decision. And those contributions by the rich are being courted big time by both the left and right. Said contributions also pay off when the recipients pass legislation to further enrich the powerful and further impoverish the rest of us.

The myth of trickle down economics

According to Nick Hanauer, a member of the 1%. In this video he lays out that the 1% are not the job creators; it's us, the consumers. It's a feedback loop of our demand that requires businesses to hire more people to handle that demand. Giving more tax breaks to the wealthy doesn't create jobs; it just creates more wealth for the 1%. The wealthy's effective tax rate is already one of the lowest in the world due to such tax dodges, yet where are the jobs? At the end of the talk he shows a diagram of how the rich and their ideology are deified to rationalize their privilege. It's part of the feudal system that was still stuck in the mythological-religious and hierarchical Great Chain of Being. (Recall this diagram.) TED ended up banning this talk, I guess due to the kickbacks (I mean donations...) they receive from the 1%.

The physics behind the apparent metaphysics

See David Lane's recent IW article on body surfing. He talks about picking up subtle physical cues through experience that were previously considered magical. He discusses the physics of how to ride the tube of a big wave as it breaks so that one gets tucked under the wave and out the back instead of getting pushed forward and down. Which reminded of my tai chi training with a Chinese-American student of our Chinese master.