New issue of Speculations

The new issue of Speculations is out. The table of contents follows. In addition to Bryant's article I'm interested in the articles on Derrida and Badiou, post-theological thought and magical Marxism. There's also a review of TDOO, and here's Bryant's blog response to it.

--TABLE OF CONTENTS--

The President's convention speech

As usual he nailed it (transcript here). He's right that the election is about a clear and distinct choice between two radically different visions of America. His vision is one of opportunity for everyone versus one of enrichment and power for the few. It really is that simple. American values used to be about equal opportunity (not equal outcome), equal responsibility, fairness and justice. It hasn't been that way for a long time and although we want to move forward we want to maintain such values. I cannot say it or even summarize it any better than the President delivered it, so please read the transcript or see a video of his speech. All I can say is that despite my differences with some of Obama's policies this really is a very clear choice between better and far worse. And I choose the better by far.

Clinton's convention speech kills regressive lies

Damn, Bill Clinton is good. Despite vehemently disagreeing with a number of his policies he is still one of the very best speech givers and motivators around, right up there with the current President. And like the President he is authentic and genuine to his values and beliefs, which include character and truth-telling. Hence it was gratifying to see him lay bare the blatant lies of the regressive convention and agenda. In his speech he responded to all the the major GOP charges and made mincemeat of them. His winning focus was on something the regressives cannot abide: math (and science and facts). Or as Clinton puts the economic solution in one word, "arithmetic."

In the last 52 years of governance 66 million private sector jobs were created. The score: Republicans 24 million, Democrats 42 million. Why the disparity?

Deval Patrick's convention speech

MA Governor Deval Patrick's speech last night at the convention was by far the best, even better than the First Lady's, which was quite good in itself.  Patrick not only showed why the regressive agenda is no good but why the progressive agenda is, and what values motivate that agenda.Truly inspiring and emotional speech, filled with facts and specific policy too. This is what an effective progressive speech looks like. I especially appreciated when he said if we want to see this agenda enacted they we must grow a spine and be proud about our values and policies, as follows:

We ARE better off: Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive!

This was VP Biden's chant recently. And he's right in that like regressives we need to have short, to the point catch phrases like this that need to be repeated over and over again to not only frame but program in a stimulus-response. Yes, we must use propaganda techniques like the opposition, but as I've said before we can maintain the value of truth-telling while doing so, unlike their lies. Please repeat this often and with emotion, not only to yourself but to any who will listen:

We ARE better off: Osama bin Laden is dead and GM is alive!

And per this article the facts of which we should be proud:

Eichenwald on why Romney/Ryan must be defeated

This IPS thread turned me on to Kurt Eichenwald and his new blog post. I'll let him speak for himself, as he does so eloquently:

"The GOP must be stopped in 2012. The future of America’s ideals of democracy – and of the Republican Party itself – could well be at stake. Contrary to how it might seem, I am not a partisan bomb thrower. Throughout most of my adulthood, I have been just as likely to vote for a Republican as for a Democrat – in local, state and national contests. I have cast my ballot in presidential races for both Republicans and Democrats. But in the last four years, the GOP has transmogrified into something ugly and vicious and, more important, something wedded to the politics of fantasy and ignorance. It has rushed so far from its moorings that I cannot conceive of voting for members of this party until, hopefully, they pull themselves back from the precipice of self-destruction, paranoia and delusion.

Bryant on art

I enjoyed Bryant's post on art, and the linked article on art. One line reminded me of my old article, "Who decides what Wilber means?":

"The artist herself is an interpreter of her own work, not the authority of her work."

I also like his focus on the art as material medium. Often when enjoyed a work of art, say a painting, I don't look for a meaning or interpretation but rather just appreciate the brush or knife strokes, the texture, the color scheme, etc.

Krugman on Medicare

Paul Krugman appeared on Rachel Maddow's show Friday night and set the record straight on the Obama versus regressive Medicare program. Obama is proposing cost-saving measures while preserving the program as it is. No benefits are cut, only reduced payments to insurance companies and hospitals. And it's only over-payments to insurance companies for programs like Medicare Advantage, which has low benefits for a huge taxpayer cost. So no more subsidy for that. On the hospital side they have agreed to the cuts to payments because given the increased insurance pool with Obama's program they will make up for the small reductions in individual payments. This will also reduce the amount of patients that show up in emergency rooms without insurance, thereby having to treat them on the taxpayer's dime.

An integral postmetaphysical definition of states of consciousness

I was re-reading this IPS thread this morning, to which we often return in the forum. States of consciousness seem to be one of those keys around which an integral frame revolves. I've excerpted a few of my initial posts below to refresh the memory and revive these recurrent issues. I also delve into Mark Edwards' critique of kennilingus on states and then criticize his critique in some regards. See the thread for much more.

Here are some excerpts from New Developments in Consciousness Research by Vincent Fallio (Nova, 2007). For me it indicates that so-called “spiritual” states of consciousness probably arise in very early levels of consciousness and associated brain structures. Hence there is a very real sense in which “primordial” awareness is ancient, in that it arises from these early brain structures. But it is not timeless or absolute; it is grounded in our psychoneurophysiology.

"On a lower level can be found the state of alertness or of being conscious, which refers to a basic level of consciousness or matrix as a generalized state in which the system is receptive to information. This aspect of consciousness is clearly related to the concept of tonic attention, and is also related to neural mechanisms in the stimulatory reticular system, the thalamus, the limbic system, basal ganglia, and the prefrontal cortex" (81).

Bill Maher's New Rule on GOP amnesia

Last night his special comment on New Rules was about the GOP convention purposely avoiding their recent past. It seems they've completely forgotten who was their last President. Not only was he not invited to the convention, neither was Cheney, Rumsfield or Powell. He says if you can't invite them "you're not a political convention, you're the witness protection program." They might as well "just wave one of those Men in Black eraser wands." On not inviting Sarah Palin: "Even if conceiving here was a mistake, aren't you morally obligated to at least bring her to term?" According to the convention their history began with the Founding Fathers (who got the Constituion directly from Jesus), went straight to Lincoln and then to Reagan, and that's it.