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241 [lbo-talk] A $95, 000 question: why are whites five times richer than blacks in the US? -- rank: 1000

'A $95, 000 question: why are whites five times richer than blacks in the US?' 'Inheritance' says Doug 'Really?' asks Eric, pointing out that income differential had not increased that much. But income differential is enough to account for the difference in ability to save and raise a mortgage on a house, the climbing value of which, I would guess, is the reason for the difference in wealth (i.e. fixed assets, not income).

Document Size:	5488
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Tue May 18 11:54:39 PDT 2010

242 [lbo-talk] Obama appoints climate denialist and proud homophobe to 'fix' Gulf oil spill disaster -- rank: 1000

'Obama appoints climate denialist and proud homophobe to 'fix' Gulf oil spill disaster' And do either of these beliefs interfere with his ability to deal with the Gulf oil spill disaster? (BP, it should be said, was the oil firm that made great play of its commitment to determination to go 'Beyond Petroleum', and promote alternative energy sources - which did not seem to prevent them doing the dirty deed.)

Document Size:	5438
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Tue May 18 11:50:32 PDT 2010

243 [lbo-talk] the new Weekly Worker -- rank: 1000

Wojtek and Somebody or other poo poo the idea of a Continent-wide revolution, and dismiss opposition to the EU as British insularism. No doubt there were those who in 1776 thought that opposition to the British Empire was insularism, and a Continental revolution impossible. The key point is that the EU stands in the way of the rights of European peoples to control their own governments, whether country by country, or continent-wide, it must be overthrown.

Document Size:	4962
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Mon May 17 10:25:15 PDT 2010

244 [lbo-talk] Wrong, on so many levels... -- rank: 1000

Daniel Pipes wonders whether there is pro-Muslim bias in beauty contests 'They are all attractive, but this surprising frequency of Muslims winning beauty pageants makes me suspect an odd form of affirmative action.' http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2010/05/affirmative-action-in-beauty-contests

Document Size:	4883
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Mon May 17 02:44:27 PDT 2010

245 [lbo-talk] the new Weekly Worker -- rank: 1000

Bhaskar, citing the Weekly Worker, writes (quotes?): '"anti-capitalist exit" from the EU isn't a viable strategy' No, indeed. Nothing short of a European-wide revolt will overthrow this malignant dictatorship (which, for reasons I can't fathom, the 'Weekly Worker' seems to view with too much affection).

Document Size:	4830
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Sun May 16 11:03:48 PDT 2010

246 [lbo-talk] London Underground's Privatization Experiment Dead as Remaining PPP is Bought Out -- rank: 1000

It is not quite true to say that PPP represented the 'privatisation' of the underground. The PPPs were never really privatised companies, but more like mercantile corporations that were wholly dependent on state support - and indeed were created by the state. More than that, Ken Livingstone, who Jordan has railing against PPPs had his own version of the same thing, which was bonds raised on future LU income. I had a go at explaining the weirder dynamics of the PFI policy, here: http://www.metamu ...

Document Size:	5442
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Wed May 12 13:32:48 PDT 2010

247 [lbo-talk] The New Lib-Tory Govt -- rank: 1000

Watching the new government emerge in Britain, it is striking just how 'New Labour' the new Lib-Tory pact is. It has played v. well for Cameron to use the Libs to rise above his own party. Around the time of the first Blair government there was a lot of talk about a 'new politics' that would transcend the old tribal loyalties. All the rhetoric of 'new politics' that came with Blair (and Blair did talk about bringing the then Liberal leader, Paddy Ashdown into his cabinet, but reneged) now realis ...

Document Size:	5303
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Wed May 12 13:21:58 PDT 2010

248 [lbo-talk] National Journal: Do 'Family Values' Weaken Families? -- rank: 1000

Doug: 'Garance France-Ruta put it nicely a couple of years ago, when she said that "family values" are aspirational. Stable families are a feature of the better-off, so the worse-off members of the working class think that stability is the cause of prosperity, and not the other way around.' I don't know if this is similar, but at my daughters' school (Elementary, I think you would call it, anyway age five to 11) there was a row about sex education. The parents divided along class lines ...

Document Size:	6225
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Wed May 12 07:15:07 PDT 2010

249 [lbo-talk] Rwanda -- rank: 1000

I just read Ed Herman and David Peterson's chapter on Rwanda, from their forthcoming book on the Politics of Genocide, in Monthly Review. It really is excellent: Edward S. Herman and David Peterson, " Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo in the Propaganda System<http://www.monthlyreview.org/100501herman-peterson.php>," Monthly Review, May, 2010.

Document Size:	4845
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Wed May 12 01:36:24 PDT 2010

250 [lbo-talk] UK election exit polls (whatever happened to the Liberal Democrats) -- rank: 1000

Mike writes: 'Is it true that if the proportional representation system, which the Lib Dems were running on, became electoral law, the Conservatives could never hope to gain government again, except through coalition?' Well, that's one way of looking at it. Another would be that under proportional representation you would have a lot more of the kind of back-room deals that you see going on right now, with voters' choice coming a poor second to the spin-doctors' skullduggery. A nd is it true that ...

Document Size:	5467
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Tue May 11 05:39:26 PDT 2010

251 [lbo-talk] Christian right leader takes vacation with rent boy -- rank: 1000

Dennis, on gay porn and boners: 'Does anyone have suggestions for further reading?' This is a journey you have to make for yourself.

Document Size:	4819
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Tue May 4 14:09:11 PDT 2010

252 [lbo-talk] Christian right leader takes vacation with rent boy -- rank: 1000

Doug: ''C'mon. Going off on vacation with a rent boy isn't just a routine struggle with homosexual desires.'' It could be a whole new turning point in both of their lives. Let's wish them the best.

Document Size:	4885
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Tue May 4 14:06:00 PDT 2010

253 [lbo-talk] The Ideology Problem -- rank: 1000

Dennis (ever keen to get to grips with the question) asks 'Can we have a quote where he compared philosophy to wanking?' 'Philosophy and the study of the actual world have the same relation to one another as onanism and sexual love' in the German Ideology, here, under the first sub-heading 'Criticism of Religion', second paragraph http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/ch03e.htm

Document Size:	5006
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Tue May 4 13:59:36 PDT 2010

254 [lbo-talk] The Ideology Problem -- rank: 1000

SA writes, as if this view was absurd: '"Marxism" was essentially seen as a philosophy about how forces and relations of production are in conflict; how capitalism is concentrating production, immiserating the proletariat, driving down the rate of profit, and preparing the path for socialism.' Which to me sounds like a reasonable shorthand for what Marx spent most of his time writing about (apart from the word 'philosophy', which study, he compared to wanking). But apparently, no, Ma ...

Document Size:	5234
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Tue May 4 12:27:13 PDT 2010

255 [lbo-talk] Let's All Argue About Nuclear Power! -- rank: 1000

Dwayne: >> Are you, like me, down with thorium reactor research? Or do you >> think >> it's wind, solar, hydro or bust? The pro-nuclear position is quite popular with younger environmentalists here, because global warming is the overriding framework of all environmentalist thinking (as nuclear fall-out was so central to greens in the seventies and eighties). But that's not why I am pro-nuclear.

Document Size:	4981
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Wed Mar 31 17:47:06 PDT 2010