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166 [lbo-talk] Christopher Hitchens -- rank: 1000

I remember him harrumphing at me I am a liberal imperialist in a meeting about humanitarian intervention, in New York, around 1993, I guess. He was wearing that off-white suit channelling Dirk Bogarde s character of the more-in-sorrow-than-anger colonial officer in The High Bright Sun . I agree that lots of his writing is very good, even after he embraced the cause of imperialism. That s because he had a good ear for the left s weaker points, which he mocked with wit and also with more grou ...

Document Size:	5512
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Fri Dec 16 11:24:29 PST 2011

167 [lbo-talk] Hitchens is dead -- rank: 1000

Rob Hoveman: learned from the eulogies to Hitchens on the BBC this morning that he supported the war of Thatcher's face in the Falklands/Malvinas, some 29 years, half his lifetime, ago. Really? He was a member of the SWP then, I think, which was opposed to the war. In fact if you read over his memoirs he seems to have carried on speaking at SWP meetings for some time after he moved to America, on his visits home, and there is an indication in the memoirs that he back-dates his breach with them. ...

Document Size:	5233
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Fri Dec 16 04:12:43 PST 2011

168 [lbo-talk] Defrosting the Arctic - Canada & Alaska Benign Neglect -- rank: 1000

Nicholas Roberts: James Hansen, remember him, told us, rather pleasantly and qiuetly, that we are all going to die, or most of us anyway, and this century which is uncontrovertibly true, no?

Document Size:	4952
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Wed Dec 14 09:40:44 PST 2011

169 [lbo-talk] The Planet is Fine -- rank: 1000

>From The Keeper of Flocks, XXVIII Talking about the soul of stones, of flowers, of rivers, Is talking about yourself and your false thoughts. Thank God stones are only stones, And rivers are nothing but rivers, And flowers are just flowers. Me, I write the prose of my poems And I'm at peace, Because I know I comprehend Nature on the outside; And I don't comprehend Nature on the inside Because Nature doesn't have an inside; If she did she wouldn't be Nature. Alberto Caeiro da Silva, 1914

Document Size:	4966
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Wed Dec 14 09:28:56 PST 2011

170 [lbo-talk] A Crisis of Neo-liberalism or a Crisis of Captialism?" by Christopher Carrico -- rank: 1000

Doug: The big rise in state & local gov spending happened in the 1960s. For federal spending, there was a rise in (non-cyclically adjusted) spending from around 16% of GDP in the early 1950s to around 20% in the early 1970s. Until the Great Recession, it's pretty much stayed there. So I m right then. There was no neo-liberal revolution.

Document Size:	5368
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Tue Dec 13 13:01:24 PST 2011

171 [lbo-talk] A Crisis of Neo-liberalism or a Crisis of Captialism?" by Christopher Carrico -- rank: 1000

The characterisation of contemporary capitalism as neo-liberalism seems particularly unfortunate to me. On the long trend state spending rose (absolutely and as a share of output) all through the twentieth century. A small state might be important for free market ideology, but capitalist economies have all tended to rely on larger and larger state sectors. The free marketeers polemics are ideological, and do not correspond to reality. Neither do the leftists critiques of neo-liberalism corr ...

Document Size:	5731
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Tue Dec 13 01:05:35 PST 2011

172 [lbo-talk] A Crisis of Neo-liberalism or a Crisis of Captialism?" by Christopher Carrico -- rank: 1000

The characterisation of contemporary capitalism as neo-liberalism seems particularly unfortunate to me. On the long trend state spending rose (absolutely and as a share of output) all through the twentieth century. A small state might be important for free market ideology, but capitalist economies have all tended to rely on larger and larger state sectors. The free marketeers polemics are ideological, and do not correspond to reality. Neither do the leftists critiques of neo-liberalism corr ...

Document Size:	5036
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Tue Dec 13 01:05:35 PST 2011

173 [lbo-talk] A German Europe -- rank: 1000

When USA Today wants to know what is happening in Europe, they know who to ask James Heartfield, a lecturer on EU politics at Queen Mary University in London, says... http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2011-12-11/europe-financial-crisis/51811684/1

Document Size:	4841
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Mon Dec 12 03:25:16 PST 2011

174 [lbo-talk] German Europe -- rank: 1000

Marv s points are very good. On some small things German suzerainty over Europe I know that it was me who put this out there with the subject head, but the truth is that the different paths that the EU takes do not truly correspond to different national interests. Germany, the nation, is as diminished by the greater authority of the EU as Britain and Greece are. The only differences are that 1) institutionally, Germany understands the game of advancing through subordinating oneself to multil ...

Document Size:	7048
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Sat Dec 10 15:35:50 PST 2011

175 [lbo-talk] German Europe -- rank: 1000

Doug Where ever did you get the idea that I think that the EZ is a socialist paradise? Hey, I can set up a straw man, too, can t I?

Document Size:	4570
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Sat Dec 10 11:03:37 PST 2011

176 [lbo-talk] A German Europe -- rank: 1000

The proposal would be a formalization of banker rule over the eurozone maybe you are under the illusion that the Eurozone is a socialist paradise, where banks have no sway? Merkel s proposal is a centralised brake on all public spending, and oversight of national budgets to achieve that.

Document Size:	4733
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Sat Dec 10 10:29:46 PST 2011

177 [lbo-talk] A German Europe -- rank: 1000

No doubt Cameron s reasons are not mine, but the proposed new treaty is more of what was rejected by a large, popular and left opposition in 2005. Wojtek and Joel are wrong to see this as a choice, the choice is between choice and no choice. What Merkel was proposing was that the sovereign governments of the European Union should submit their finances and policies for approval before a panel of unelected bureaucrats. By all means, Wojtek, if you think that the US should join the European Union, ...

Document Size:	5575
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Sat Dec 10 10:18:46 PST 2011

178 [lbo-talk] A German Europe -- rank: 1000

The European Union sets out its new treaty under Deutsche Bank rules, while David Cameron opts out. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/dec/09/dust-settles-cold-europe-germany?intcmp=239

Document Size:	4768
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Sat Dec 10 06:02:27 PST 2011

179 [lbo-talk] Speaking of University Bashing... -- rank: 1000

But I'll be happy to teach Latin to any lbosters who feel the need of it, at bargain rates Sadly, I think I am too old and too far away to learn, but definitely in awe of Joanna and Michael s knowledge of latin...

Document Size:	4876
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Fri Dec 9 12:48:23 PST 2011

180 [lbo-talk] Britain's failed experiment -- rank: 1000

Oh, and since SA points to a reduction in public servants, about one in five, working Britons are public servants, six million altogether, which I am guessing is probably a bigger share than in the US.

Document Size:	4723
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Fri Dec 9 06:42:10 PST 2011