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7486 [lbo-talk] Clinton takes lead over Obama in Gallup poll -- rank: 1000

On Mar 20, 2008, at 12:10 PM, Julio Huato wrote: > Nobody knows for sure whether Obama will get the nomination. > But if he does, the Republican coalition has enough divisions for a > smart campaign to exploit, hopefully fostering greater class unity. You may be right. Also, I'm wondering if the old GOP shit-flinging machine's tactics will work this time. It could mobilize their base, but their base is shrinking, and showing a serious lack of enthusiasm. People may be tired of all th ...

Document Size:	5270
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Mar 20 09:23:58 PDT 2008

7487 [lbo-talk] Scalia, Supreme Court Justice of Torture -- rank: 1000

On Mar 20, 2008, at 10:44 AM, Wojtek Sokolowski wrote: > --- Chris Doss <lookoverhere1 at yahoo.com> wrote: > >> >> The effectiveness or lack thereof of torture is an >> emprical question. Is there data? >> > > [WS:] Absolutely. This was precisely my point - it is > impossible to determine this a priori, because there > are compelling arguments for and against that > effectiveness. I thought that military and intelligence professionals frown on ...

Document Size:	5627
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Mar 20 09:05:08 PDT 2008

7488 [lbo-talk] Fwd: [Guest] Why Hope is Resonating with Americans -- rank: 1000

[another delightful outburst from a publicist - "hope" is so hopeful!] AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEW CONTACT IMMEDIATELY: xxxx What Can the Resonance of Hope Do for the United States and Each American? Relationship Expert Explains How to Use Hope as a Life Tool Discussion Topic Two words dominate the political discourse: hope and change. Primary stump speeches are meant to be full of inspiration, but can the average person motivate and inspire others and themselves on a persona ...

Document Size:	10815
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Mar 20 07:25:50 PDT 2008

7489 [lbo-talk] investor patriotism -- rank: 1000

It's a common line that the U.S. investing class has decoupled from the U.S., but here's an observation suggesting otherwise from Ed Hyman's sidekick Francois Trahan. Hyman is Wall Street's favorite economist whose skill is defining tomorrow's conventional wisdom today. "Another huge development that seems to have gone unnoticed this week was the new cycle low in many emerging markets. This is significant because it is typically a leading indicator of economic growth in this part of t ...

Document Size:	5707
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Mar 20 06:32:17 PDT 2008

7490 [lbo-talk] deliberative democracy -- rank: 1000

[from a NYT vox pop piece on Johnstown, Pa., Michael Yates's former stomping grounds] <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/20/us/politics/20penn.html? _r=1&st=cse&sq=johnstown&scp=1&oref=slogin> Peter Contacos, 42, the fourth generation of his family to own and operate Coney Island Lunch, a downtown Johnstown business that survived two floods and the loss of thousands of regular customers when Bethlehem Steel eliminated 15,000 jobs in the 1970s and 80s, will not vote for S ...

Document Size:	5373
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Mar 20 06:26:14 PDT 2008

7491 [lbo-talk] Clinton takes lead over Obama in Gallup poll -- rank: 1000

The Wright thing may be taking its toll, but they've been exchanging the lead for a while: <http://www.gallup.com/poll/105205/Gallup-Daily-Clinton-Moves-Into- Lead-Over-Obama.aspx>

Document Size:	4955
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Mar 20 06:13:08 PDT 2008

7492 [lbo-talk] Obama's Philadelphia race speech and the American Creed -- rank: 1000

On Mar 19, 2008, at 6:27 PM, B. wrote: > What you said sounds like the worldview of someone > who's been through years of psycho-therapy and has > internalized the fatalistic psycho-therapy mantra that > "You can't change other people -- but you CAN change > yourself." Heck no, Carrol hates shrinkery, esp of the Freudian sort. He's a pessimist, or maybe more a fatalist, about much of anything changing. Depression is just brain chemistry, and social change just happens ...

Document Size:	5409
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Mar 19 18:22:03 PDT 2008

7493 [lbo-talk] the new Indian piety -- rank: 1000

<http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2008-03-11-nanda-en.html> Meera Nanda Rush hour of the gods Today's generation of middle class Indians are discarding the secular- humanist version of Hinduism that appealed to an earlier generation of elites and opting for a more overt religiosity. Meera Nanda asks what lies behind the Hinduisation of the Indian public sphere. "The world today is as furiously religious as it ever was. [...] Experiments with secularized religions have generally fai ...

Document Size:	6383
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Mar 19 15:14:07 PDT 2008

7494 [lbo-talk] loss of faith -- rank: 1000

[a friend - who, among other things, once managed Abbie Hoffman's money - forwards this from the WSJ] Market Preacher Losing Religion? Josef Ackermann, the normally bullish 60-year-old head of Deutsche Bank, is sounding glum these days. After a recent trip in New York that included a chat with former Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan, Mr. Ackermann concluded that the situation in the markets amounted to a "meltdown" where "confidence seems to have vanished." "I h ...

Document Size:	6008
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Mar 19 13:02:12 PDT 2008

7495 [lbo-talk] Jeremiah Wright or Wrong? -- rank: 1000

On Mar 19, 2008, at 2:00 PM, Michael Smith wrote: > On Wednesday 19 March 2008 11:25:29 Julio Huato wrote: >> I don't see how Obama >> could have played this better than he did. > > That is certainly true. Whatever else one may > or may not believe about him, he is a very > remarkable talent. I couldn't agree more. The guy has lots of skills.

Document Size:	4963
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Mar 19 11:23:08 PDT 2008

7496 [lbo-talk] unconventional advice -- rank: 1000

<http://jezebel.com/369447/dear-ben-seriously-next-time-f-wall-street> Dear Ben: Seriously, Next Time, F*** Wall Street. Today the Federal Reserve, hot on the heels of saving Wall Street, elected to cut interest rates once again, by 75 basis points. And while the stock market had a screaming orgasm over this, I did not personally think it was such a great move. Herewith, a dissenting opinion. Fuck the Street. Please, Ben Bernanke, just fuck them. Raise interest rates to fucking 10% fo ...

Document Size:	10480
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Mar 19 10:37:52 PDT 2008

7497 [lbo-talk] Oooh, soo close! -- rank: 1000

On Mar 19, 2008, at 12:46 PM, Jordan Hayes wrote: > Shane writes: > >> The supposed "bailout" of Bear looks more like daylight >> robbery by Morgan and the Fed--their Manhattan headquarters alone is >> worth *4 times* the "offer they can't refuse" ... > > Don't forget that the probable value of Bear's other holdings is > negative. > > If I have $10M of debt and a $4M asset, selling the combined -$6M > value > for $500k doesn't make ...

Document Size:	5218
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Mar 19 10:09:56 PDT 2008

7498 [lbo-talk] Obama's Philadelphia race speech and the American Creed -- rank: 1000

On Mar 19, 2008, at 10:09 AM, Doug Henwood wrote: > On Mar 19, 2008, at 9:53 AM, Michael Pollak wrote: > >> Why? To me, that seems not only extreme but self-destructive. >> There is >> no way that liberals or the left will ever change the convictions >> of this >> country except by changing the dominant interpretation of the >> American >> creed. And this formula is exactly the means by which you do that. > > It's completely within the para ...

Document Size:	6385
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Mar 19 07:37:05 PDT 2008

7499 [lbo-talk] Obama's Philadelphia race speech and the American Creed -- rank: 1000

On Mar 19, 2008, at 9:53 AM, Michael Pollak wrote: > Why? To me, that seems not only extreme but self-destructive. > There is > no way that liberals or the left will ever change the convictions > of this > country except by changing the dominant interpretation of the American > creed. And this formula is exactly the means by which you do that. It's completely within the paradigm of the wretched American constitutional system. All that balance of powers crap, which was desig ...

Document Size:	5735
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Mar 19 07:09:42 PDT 2008

7500 [lbo-talk] forbearance -- rank: 1000

[This reminds me of the failed strategy to save the S&Ls in the 1980s: keep lowering standards in the hope that everything will work out. It didn't, and it took $200b of federal money to make it all work out in the end. We're not there yet.] NEWS ALERT from The Wall Street Journal March 19, 2008 Fannie and Freddie's regulator unveiled a reduction of the capital the firms must hold to 20% from 30% previously. Ofheo said the move could provide up to $200 billion in immediate liquidity to ...

Document Size:	5621
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Mar 19 06:59:10 PDT 2008