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24676 [lbo-talk] how much to worry about bioterror? -- rank: 1000

[via Sam Smith's Progressive Review] HOW MUCH SHOULD WE WORRY ABOUT BIOCHEM ATTACKS? http://www.defensetech.org/archives/000618.html DEFENSE TECH - Lost in the hullabaloo over David Kay's report on Iraq's unconventional arms are some pretty basic questions. Like, why all the hysteria about biological and chemical weapons in the first place? And why is America spending billions to defend against on a large-scale biochem attack that'll almost certainly never come? Maybe the hyperventilating news a ...

Document Size:	6958
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Oct 10 14:50:44 PDT 2003

24677 [lbo-talk] A California Rant -- rank: 1000

dredmond at efn.org wrote: >To think that California has gone from Governor Moonbeam to Governor Skynet in >a single generation. Mayor Moonbeam invited the Marines to invade Oakland. While Gov, he first built up ridiculous surpluses that helped fuel the Prop 13 movement, and after initial resistance, he came to support it.

Document Size:	4836
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Oct 10 14:26:46 PDT 2003

24678 [lbo-talk] RE: black music makes history -- rank: 1000

Doug Henwood wrote: >his often breathtaking nastiness ...which by the way is also sadly representative of a lot of Old Left culture. You see it in party newspapers, meetings, personal interactions. Younger activists, esp those influenced by anarchism, treat each other much better. I suspect it has something to do with the relations between temperament and political philosophy - old Bolshies don't care about courtesy, since they have a revolution to make; younger anarcho-activists pay a lot mo ...

Document Size:	5263
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Oct 10 14:21:41 PDT 2003

24679 [lbo-talk] RE: black music makes history -- rank: 1000

joanna bujes wrote: >Doug, your Carrol-bashing is compulsive. Carrol, like everyone one >else on this list, simply states his opinion. Wrong, right, >insightful, superficial, whatever. Why do you pick him out in >particular for being a demagogue. To my ears, his tone and arguments >do not sound appreciably different from anyone elses on the list. Demagogue? Not at all - quite the opposite in fact. There are two reasons I respond to him repeatedly - one his often breathtaking nasti ...

Document Size:	5363
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Oct 10 14:15:38 PDT 2003

24680 [lbo-talk] religion & voting -- rank: 1000

http://slate.msn.com/id/2089641/#John How Prayers Poll Debunking myths about the religious right. By Steven Waldman October 10, 2003 I heard about this guy who called himself "evangelical," said he lived a "Bible-centered life," had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and voted for Al Gore over George W. Bush. A confused, lonely, iconoclast? Actually, in 2000, at least 10 million white "evangelical Christians" voted for Gore. Many people, especially secular l ...

Document Size:	11627
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Oct 10 14:00:48 PDT 2003

24681 [lbo-talk] currency -- rank: 1000

C. G. Estabrook wrote: >So the current account deficit is less than it's been in months and the >fed thinks that "sustainable recovery" is underway. Is this primarily a >result of the USG's allowing the dollar to fall against the euro, yen, and >rmb? Probably not - the main sources of the trade deficit are countries whose currencies are pegged to the dollar. The main reasons for the economic pickup are tax cuts and loose money. Doug

Document Size:	4880
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Oct 10 13:55:44 PDT 2003

24682 [lbo-talk] the other prison population -- rank: 1000

[Astra's a very cool friend of mine who used to work at Verso.] <http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20031020&s=taylor> The Other Prison Population by Astra Taylor On September 17, one of the longest, and arguably the most arduous, marches in the history of civil rights rolled into Washington, DC, and chances are you didn't hear about it. The participants had traveled 144 miles, from Philadelphia's Liberty Bell all the way to the Capitol Building, under the banner "Free Our Peopl ...

Document Size:	12476
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Oct 10 13:43:22 PDT 2003

24683 [lbo-talk] f'in' hell -- rank: 1000

[There really does seem to be a Cuss Control Academy <http://www.cusscontrol.com>.] Washington Times - October 10, 2003 FCC relaxes TV rules on use of f-word By Chris Baker Remember comedian George Carlin's list of the seven dirty words you can't say on television? It just got a little shorter. The Federal Communications Commission ruled this month that Irish rocker Bono did not violate federal indecency rules when he used the f-word during an acceptance speech at the Golden Globe Awards, ...

Document Size:	8046
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Oct 10 13:31:02 PDT 2003

24684 [lbo-talk] Black music makes history -- rank: 1000

Grant Lee wrote: >I wonder what that means. Not enough potential for the usual dreary angst >about US society and culture perhaps? You think dreary angst isn't a proper reaction to the state of U.S. culture? You don't resent our cultural imperialism? Etc.? Doug

Document Size:	4798
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Oct 10 13:19:43 PDT 2003

24685 [lbo-talk] Japan - poised for takeoff? -- rank: 1000

[from Merrill Lynch] Japan Macro Memo The Case For Japan Japan stands at a major inflection point. After more than a decade of stagnation, a new structural up-cycle is starting to emerge. Merrill Lynch forecast that Yen asset markets - equities and real estate - are poised to be both an important leading indicator and virtuous stabilizer in the coming Japan structural up-cycle. This time, the cycle is for real because: 1. Concrete Corporate Restructuring Success Corporate Japan is much better th ...

Document Size:	7061
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Oct 10 12:00:41 PDT 2003

24686 [lbo-talk] Fwd: [TD] Tomgram: Mike Davis on Schwarzenegger's victory -- rank: 1000

In it, Davis says: >Indeed exit polls show that, in San Diego as well as statewide, >support for Schwarzenegger increased with income and topped out at >the country-club and gated-community level. Here are the exit poll figures (Carrol, skip this part), from the LA Times <http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-pagea26topper9oct09155420,1,1325715.story>. No income pattern to the "yes" vote at all. Annual household income % of recall voters yes no ...

Document Size:	5952
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Oct 10 11:36:55 PDT 2003

24687 [lbo-talk] Black music makes history -- rank: 1000

Carrol Cox wrote: >Hence, for example, the dreary obsessions with Fox and with >public opinion surveys. Right. It doesn't matter what people think, or are urged to think. Let's just talk among ourselves. You like being marginal, don't you? It gives you some weird sense of superiority. Doug

Document Size:	4832
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Oct 10 11:07:04 PDT 2003

24688 [lbo-talk] radio Henwood & Levy -- rank: 1000

dave dorkin wrote: >Levy's in his weekly column in Le Point on 12/10/2001 >He manages to squeeze everything thing in from ritual >denunciations of Chomsky's supposed "apologetics" for >Bin Laden (and even Antonio Negri's), to praise for >Bush's restraint and ability, to equating discussion >of Israel with the threat to Israel's very existence, >calling the US's attack "legitimate defense", >describing Blair's "Churchillian moment" which the & ...

Document Size:	5480
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Oct 10 10:41:06 PDT 2003

24689 [lbo-talk] radio Henwood & Levy -- rank: 1000

dave dorkin wrote: >The difference between Levy and Ignacio Ramonet, >Rossana Rossanda, Serge Halimi or hundreds of others >is far from meaningless. I gave a few examples of what >his pursuit of 'fashionable' position taking in other >posts. Why do you think NO ONE on the left will have >Levy on in Europe? Uh, this isn't Europe. BHL is a ubiquitous media figure in France; here, almost no one knows who he is. And what exactly do you object to in what he had to say in the interv ...

Document Size:	5831
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Oct 10 10:37:48 PDT 2003

24690 [lbo-talk] Theory Hotline -- rank: 1000

Carrol Cox wrote: >Perhaps this is a bit of verbal purism, but I really do wish that more >posters would distinguish between _ad hominem_ arguments and personal >attacks. > >An _ad hominem_ argument holds that because Mary is a jerk her statement >is false. > >A personasl attack holds that because Mary's statement is false, she is >a jerk. > >There is a big difference. Ad hominem arguments are intellectually >poisonous. > >Personal attacks may be impolit ...

Document Size:	5568
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Oct 10 07:57:28 PDT 2003