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George Lakoff tells how conservatives use language to dominate politics "Why do conservatives appear to be so much better at framing? - Because they've put billions of dollars into it. Over the last 30 years their think tanks have made a heavy investment in ideas and in language. In 1970, [Supreme Court Justice] Lewis Powell wrote a fateful memo to the National Chamber of Commerce....He outlined the whole thing in 1970. They set up the Heritage Foundation in 1973" "So if you go on Fox News....and the question is, 'Are you in favor of the President’s tax relief program or are you against it?' -- it doesn't matter what you say. If you say, 'I’m against tax relief,' you're still evoking that framing. you're still in their frame..."

"George Lakoff, a professor of linguistics and cognitive science at the University of California Berkeley, is a specialist in the technique of "framing," a communication tool that creates a "frame" for a message that defines the terms of the debate." (Interview with Lakoff )
comment posted at 11:09 AM on Jan-14-04
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"The Media vs. Howard Dean." Salon (subscription or Flash ad viewing required) observes that the media have been doing everything in their power to attach negative labels to US presidential candidate Howard Dean. Will the adage that "there's no such thing as bad publicity" prevail? Meanwhile, the Internet is increasing in relevance as a news source, according to a recent survey. Which websites do you peruse for political coverage, if any?
comment posted at 1:47 PM on Jan-13-04
comment posted at 7:35 AM on Jan-14-04

What are the real causes of terrorism?
Tired of the "they hate our freedoms" spiel? What are the real causes of terrorism? and are we addressing them or in fact exacerbating them? "... the variable that came up most frequently was not poverty or human-rights abuses, but perceived humiliation. Humiliation emerged at every level of the terrorist groups I studied — leaders and followers."
comment posted at 1:32 PM on Jan-13-04

I.M.F. Report Says U.S. Deficits Threaten World Economy
With its rising budget deficit and ballooning trade imbalance, the United States is running up a foreign debt of such record-breaking proportions that it threatens the financial stability of the global economy, according to a report released Wednesday by the International Monetary Fund. Prepared by a team of I.M.F. economists, the report sounded a loud alarm about the shaky fiscal foundation of the United States, questioning the wisdom of the Bush administration's tax cuts and warning that large budget deficits pose "significant risks" not just for the United States but for the rest of the world. The report warns that the United States' net financial obligations to the rest of the world could be equal to 40 percent of its total economy within a few years--"an unprecedented level of external debt for a large industrial country," according to the fund, that could play havoc with the value of the dollar and international exchange rates.
From The Brookings Institute: Sustained Budget Deficits: Longer-Run U.S. Economic Performance and the Risk of Financial and Fiscal Disarray (Full Report PDF)
comment posted at 12:13 PM on Jan-8-04

Christiania, the spunky Danish autonomous zone near Copenhagen, may soon be shut down after 32 years of self governance. "I built my own house here. I have two young children who are third generation Christianites. I am not going to give all that up without a struggle."
comment posted at 7:56 AM on Dec-31-03

An End to Evil: How to Win the War on Terror by David Frum and Richard Perle. Firing the opening shot in a bid to set the agenda for a second Bush presidential term, Frum and Perle have issued a manifesto advocating a comprehensive expansion of the Bush Doctrine. [more inside]
comment posted at 6:48 AM on Dec-31-03
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The Bunny Museum
comment posted at 1:36 PM on Dec-29-03

ann coulter action figure i only wish i had seen this prior to christmas. it talks, too! sound samples included
comment posted at 1:31 PM on Dec-29-03
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Ralph Nader wants your opinion on whether he should run in '04. Via TPM.
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The 1911 Encyclopedia, or the LoveToKnow Free Online Encyclopedia, is advertised as "what many consider to be the best encyclopedia ever written. As a research tool, this 1911 encyclopedia edition is unparalleled - even today." But what about the definition for Negro? It reads in part: "A dark skin, varying from dark brown, reddish-brown, or chocolate to nearly black; dark tightly curled hair, flat in transverse section,1 of the 'woolly' or the 'frizzly' type; a greater or less tendency to prognathism; eyes dark brown with yellowish cornea; nose more or less broad and flat; and large teeth." Can an encyclopedia with definitions like these be considered useful at all?
comment posted at 2:18 PM on Nov-24-03

Alhamdullah. "I do say that freedom is the Almighty's gift to every person," the president replied. "I also condition it by saying freedom is not America's gift to the world. It's much greater than that, of course. And I believe we worship the same god." Apparently, this is causing no small amount of controversy in the Christian God-believing circles. I was always under the impression that it was commonly accepted that Jews, Christians, and Muslims were all working for the same Guy. So, Bush finally says something that's not completely stupid, and he gets all kind of hell for it. Great.
comment posted at 1:53 PM on Nov-24-03

Fearless? Physically fit? Need some Christmas Cash? Become practice police dog quarry for $8.50CND an hour.
comment posted at 12:20 PM on Nov-21-03

Johnny Hart at it again? "B.C." creator Johnny Hart is getting some negative publicity (again) for a comic that some say is anti-Islam. See the comic here. An outspoken Christian, Hart has had brushes with religious controversy in the past. Are people reading too much into this, or does it look like bigotry to you? (via Atrios)
comment posted at 8:34 AM on Nov-21-03
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bruno coulais pushes the envelope merging photography and motion at this beautiful site ... flash 6 required.
comment posted at 10:23 AM on Nov-18-03

Remind me: why did the U.S. government invade and destabilize Iraq? It's one thing to read this stuff, it's a whole other thing to hear it from the horse's, err, I mean chimp's mouth.
comment posted at 1:20 PM on Nov-17-03

Ted Rall's "Why we fight: Iraq from the other side." Excerpt: You are joining a broad and diverse coalition dedicated to one principle: Iraq for Iraqis. Our leaders include generals of President Saddam Hussein's secular government as well as fundamentalist Islamists. We are Sunni and Shia, Iraqi and foreign, Arab and Kurdish. Though we differ on what kind of future our country should have after liberation and many of us suffered under Saddam, we are fighting side by side because there is no dignity under the brutal and oppressive jackboot of the U.S. Coalition Provisional Authority or their Vichyite lapdogs on the Governing Council, headed by embezzler Ahmed Chalabi. Ted's cartoons can be seen here.
comment posted at 1:36 PM on Nov-14-03
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"George Bush killed my son." With these words, peace activist Rosemary Slavenas buried her son, Brian, a National Guardsman and "great, big kid" killed in the downing of a Chinook helicopter in Iraq. A tragic story of an Illinois family split in two by the death of their son, who received two funerals -- one military, with honors, and the other, with strong words for the current administration.
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Is David Lynch Really The Best Director In The World? The Guardian, along with many other Europeans, seems to think so, in an impressive but very subjective (not to say that dreaded word quirky) list of the best 40 film directors. (More inside.)
comment posted at 8:49 AM on Nov-14-03

Five champions of nonviolence. A look at five people who have fought for political and social justice using the principles of Mahatma Gandhi.
comment posted at 8:07 AM on Nov-14-03

"Right away you can tell: it's white people." Music reviews by 5th graders and kindergartners. via Slatch.
comment posted at 3:24 PM on Nov-13-03

Jeb Bush, comedian. "It looks like the people of San Francisco are an endangered species, which may not be a bad thing. That's probably good news for the country."
comment posted at 12:23 PM on Nov-13-03
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This Monopoly parody is causing quite a fuss among "black leaders". Is it a stereotype of the "ghetto life" image the media shows us? Sure. But is this game (and the "ghetto life" image) a stereotype that you connect directly to dark-skinned people, as the clergymen seem to think?
comment posted at 3:54 PM on Oct-9-03

Vatican declares fresh Death all around. It seems the Vatican is telling people in countries with high AIDS infection not to use condoms, because the virus is small enough to pass through the porous latex. The World Health Organization believes condoms do reduce the risk of AIDS transmission. To which the Vatican's Cardinal Trujillo replied: "They are wrong about that... this is an easily recognisable fact."
comment posted at 1:31 PM on Oct-9-03
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US TV news too liberal, say Americans. Nearly half of Americans think its news media is too liberal despite the rise of controversial hard-right cable channel Fox News. Only 14% of Americans believe the media to be too conservative, according to a poll by Gallup.
comment posted at 8:40 AM on Oct-8-03

Chickens Prefer Beautiful Humans. Suggests that human preferences arise from general properties of nervous systems, rather than from face-specific adaptations, in other words sorry fuglies, it's not socially constructed. N.b this research received a 2003 Ig Nobel Prize.
comment posted at 1:47 PM on Oct-3-03

Sexy? NOT! Nerve.com lists their top 50 "genital retracting people, places, and things". Safe for work. Linked via the the Sporting Press...
comment posted at 1:25 PM on Sep-24-03

Sonnet Central Wordsworth once said of the sonnet that he hoped that those "[w]ho have felt the weight of too much liberty,/Should find such brief solace there, as I have found." Sonnet Central offers a copious library of sonnets, mainly in the Anglo-American tradition but with examples from around the world. Those who wish to explore further in the sonnet's paradoxically expansive "scanty plot of ground" (Wordsworth again) may also wish to try Petrarch's Canzoniere (complete set, Italian with English translations); Shakespeare's Sonnets (self-described as "amazing"; the full cycle with glosses and paraphrases, plus illustrations and links to other poems); Golden Age Spanish Sonnets (translations); Christina Rossetti's Monna Innominata: A Sonnet of Sonnets (a reflection on the traditional sonnet sequence); George Meredith's Modern Love (a bleaker revision of the sonnet sequence tradition, featuring sixteen-line "sonnets"); and an excerpt from John Hollander's Powers of Thirteen (do the math and you'll see the experiment--it's an interesting modern sequence).
comment posted at 12:32 PM on Sep-24-03

Does India belong on the UN security council? A fascinating analysis of UN politics from a developing country's perspective.
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The myth of the "friendly and harmless" Dalai Lama exposed. While the Lama's PR machine runs in high gear here in the states only a few voices have come out about the truth behind the oppressive theocracy that was Tibet and how specially sanitized and marketed the Lama is when he crosses the Atlantic. It turns out the Lama isn't very different than any other man in a position of power and has much more in common with the Pope than, say, Deepak Chopra.
comment posted at 8:31 AM on Sep-23-03
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