Disqus - Latest Comments for JWindish

Re: Alaska More Indebted Than Any Other State

JWindish — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 15:03:50 -0000

I'm telling you, I'm going to miss comments more than anyone! My prompt to Twitter & email has gone unanswered...

The article said that small states had bigger problems because their smaller economies. I looked for more on Alaska but didn't find it.

Re: The Most Explosive Exhilarating Music Is Often Greeted By Total Silence

JWindish — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 12:37:01 -0000

heheheh!

Re: Discontinuing Self-Published Reader Comments

JWindish — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 22:03:59 -0000

duh, that's embarrassing! Thanks for asking... @jwindish And my first attempt at tweeting a comment invite is here: http://twitter.com/jwindish...

Re: Discontinuing Self-Published Reader Comments

JWindish — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 21:43:36 -0000

I understand, it's not the same. And I hate change, but change happens. When one door closes, another opens. [Insert your favorite cliche here.] I think Twitter CAN pick up SOME of what's here. And maybe add something new, too. I'm going to give it a shot. I'd like it if some of the commenters here could help show me the way.

Re: Discontinuing Self-Published Reader Comments

JWindish — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 17:51:44 -0000

Dear commenters, I value each of the comments you have made on my posts. In some ways it feels like this decision came just as I was getting up to speed and winning some of you over! I have saved most of those comments on my own (Evernote!) so I do want to thank all of you and let you know that I sincerely appreciate the time and energy you put into them. I am richer - and tougher - for it.

[ADDED MOMENTS LATER: Dr.e and Joe and Pete and Tyrone, all working behind the scenes, have made all of this possible. I appreciate their hours of time and energy, too. And with that I completely understand the need to try a "no comments" policy. Disqus is cool software, but it doesn't solve the moderation problem.]

So let's look at this as an opportunity to try something new. Pete has proposed one way of keeping the conversation going. I will join him in that. And Green Dreams has made a generous offer to extend conversation on Disqus. I will follow there, too. But what I will also try to do is extend our conversation to Twitter. That will keep us together (#TMV) and open us up to others.

One line from this OJR post,

Re: Georgia Supreme Court: Malpractice Lawsuits Unconstitutional

JWindish — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 11:56:19 -0000

Thanks D, great point. I also "Liked" your rural health comment on another thread.

Re: Frum: Republican Waterloo

JWindish — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 19:25:03 -0000

Prof, I allowed myself the fantasy that Democrats lost on HCR then, like the Whigs post 1858, broke up in the aftermath of devastating losses in the 2010 elections. And a new party emerged by 2012.

Alas, it's looking like we'll be stuck with both the Democrats & Republicans for a while still.

Re: Bravo New Left Media!

JWindish — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 15:02:30 -0000

This is the internet... Link, people, link! Not that I doubt you.

And I didn't see anyone call the New Left Media piece "brave." I applaud it as a fine piece of authentic grass-roots advocacy journalism.

Re: Jon Barrow’s Mailbox Is Full: A Blue Dog Tale

JWindish — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 12:59:12 -0000

I guess, like any pol, I can go back on my word at any time. :-)

AKE, the photo is from here.

Re: Women’s Reservation Bill In India Designates 33% of National and State Legislatures for Women

JWindish — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:01:36 -0000

For her thoughtful exploration of alternative voting systems.

I agree on equality of opportunity, not results. But how one defines "opportunity" is tricky, too. Obama's kids (or Tiger Woods') are going to have opportunities I never had.

BTW & so you know, I keep all your links in Evernote to have as a resource, even if I don't get to click through every one every time. They're much appreciated!

Re: Women’s Reservation Bill In India Designates 33% of National and State Legislatures for Women

JWindish — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 21:32:15 -0000

Uh oh, I'm in trouble now... Would it surprise you to learn that I am a fan of Lani Guinier?

Re: Happy Pi Day

JWindish — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 07:46:08 -0000

Thanks D!

Re: The Real Problem Is The American Dream

JWindish — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 11:56:55 -0000

More good links and thought-provoking argument. I'm interested in both sides as represented by ordinarysparrow and DLS. Both make sense to me (though I don't see Rifkin "US bashing"). And both could be right. While these ideas may echo historical critiques of libertarianism and defenses of collectivism, it's possible that now is the historical time when collectivism prevails.

I am inclined to believe there are and will be impacts from global population growth. It took all of history for the planet to get to 1.6 billion people in 1900, then one century to more than quadruple that to 7 billion people. On a planet with 7+ billion people, collectivism may have some real advantages it did not at 1.6 billion.

Re: Why John Brown Matters Still

JWindish — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 11:42:44 -0000

I was raised near Harrisburg, PA, so I visited Gettysburg often. It's been a while since I've been back. I have not been to Harper's Ferry. I'm coming north in June. I will plan to visit then. I expect it will be particularly interesting in light of living in the south and taking Blight's civil war course.

Re: The Real Problem Is The American Dream

JWindish — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 19:39:18 -0000

That is a terrific excerpt, ordinarysparrow! This comment thread is rich and fascinating. Thanks to all. With that, I have another post on Rifkin's book to point to. Robert D. Stolorow's 'Empathic Civilization' in an Age of Trauma. An excerpt:

It is my view that, here in America, our Age of Trauma began with the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001. In horrifyingly demonstrating that even America can be assaulted on its native soil, the attack of 9/11 was a devastating collective trauma that shattered our customary illusions of safety, inviolability, and grandiose invincibility--illusions that had long been mainstays of the American historical identity. The economic meltdown and the fall of iconic companies and financial institutions inaugurated a second wave of collective trauma.

Several outcomes of trauma, whether individual or collective, are possible. If what I call a relational home--a context of human understanding--can be found in which traumatized states can be held and eventually integrated (and I will have more to say about this later), a traumatized person may actually move toward a more authentic way of existing, in which existential vulnerabilities are embraced rather than disowned. More commonly, in the absence of such a relational home, he or she may succumb to various forms of dissociative numbing. Alternatively, traumatized people may attempt to restore the lost illusions shattered by trauma through some form of what I call resurrective ideology--collective beliefs that seek to bring back to life the illusory absolutisms that have been nullified. [...]

Jeremy Rifkin looks to neuroscientists and social scientists for the answer. Neuroscientists are claiming that human brains possess special neurons--"mirror-neurons"--that allow one to feel another person's emotional situation vicariously, as if it were one's own. Accordingly, it is built into our genetic endowment to be an empathic species, and human evolution is characterized by expansion of our empathic capacities to ever-broadening domains. Indeed, in Rifkin's utopian vision, communications technology is now extending the empathic capacities of human nervous systems so vastly as to make possible a global empathic interconnectedness, a universal empathic connectivity that can avert a planetary collapse. [...]

Whatever differences we may have, Rifkin and I both apprehend the critical importance of mutual empathic understanding in our current Age of Trauma. Imagine an "empathic civilization" in which the obligation to provide a relational home for the emotional pain that is inherent to the traumatizing impact of our finiteness has become a shared ethical principle. In such a society, human beings would be much more capable of living in their existential vulnerability, anxiety, and grief, rather than having to revert to destructive ideological evasions of them. In such a societal context, a new form of identity would become possible, based on owning rather than covering up our existential vulnerability. Vulnerability that finds a hospitable relational home could be seamlessly and constitutively integrated into whom we experience ourselves as being. A new form of human solidarity would also become possible rooted not in shared resurrective grandiosity but in shared recognition and respect for our common human finiteness. If we can help one another bear the darkness rather than evade it, perhaps one day we will be able to see the light.

A couple other connections, these from WNYC's Radio Lab. In Killing Babies, Saving the World, Harvard professor Josh Greene suggests that we may be able to grow the now small part of our brain that handles abstract thinking to become a more moral species and make better choices. He says our modern "common sense" is really still "hunter-gatherer common sense" and that doesn't always serve us well in the modern world. The hopeful part is the learning part. He thinks we can learn and change. And in

Re: Wendell Potter Speaks In Favor Of The Haelth Reform Bill

JWindish — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 15:43:46 -0000

I'll be watching Warren and Rose and reading the links. Thanks again for the pointers!

Re: Wendell Potter Speaks In Favor Of The Haelth Reform Bill

JWindish — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 15:42:03 -0000

Most of our presidential elections are won by just such slim margins. Remember Bush v. Gore? But we accept that as majority rules. I expect the dems can cut a deal that they will pass separate legislation to address the concerns of Stupak and his ilk. Yes, we need to reform anti-democratic senate traditions but, then, the senate itself is antidemocratic by constitution (2 from each state no matter the population) and Constitution. We find that palatable. Maybe we should accept reconciliation and filibustering, too.

Re: Wendell Potter Speaks In Favor Of The Haelth Reform Bill

JWindish — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 13:39:43 -0000

It's pretty bad when you not only have thrown away the most power you've held in ages, but if you can't do whatever it takes to misuse and exploit a device (reconciliation) in the legislative process that gives you yet another advantage over the GOP.

It's the Congressional Dems at this point that have to either recover, or fall (Waterloo, for THEM, not Obama)."

Sadly, I agree (even if I do think the GOP gets away with shenanigans like reconciliation all the time).

On Charlie Rose, thanks for the pointer. I will check it out. GPB in Georgia only recently started carrying the program. It's gone from their listings again. I'm not sure what happened or if it will be back.

Re: Ok Go Is Back & Better Than Ever!

JWindish — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:45:55 -0000

I might still have posted, but I would have acknowledged my co-blogger. I appreciate you're readership and want to be sure to always add value!

Re: Ok Go Is Back & Better Than Ever!

JWindish — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 08:33:23 -0000

That's twice for me on the duplicates in recent weeks. Ouch! And I try so hard to keep up with my co-bloggers' posts...

Re: 81 Words: The Unsung Heroism of Dr. Evelyn Hooker

JWindish — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 17:45:23 -0000

Golly JD, where have you been looking for evidence? There's plenty out there. You just disagree? You have something to cite? Let's please be clear that the reason many of us prefer the word 'gay' (which has a long and distinguished etymology, some of which can be found here) or lesbian is that we are NOT defined by our sexuality.

Do you marry only for sex? Or do you marry to form a greater lasting commitment and bond that includes, but is not limited to, sex? I don't see anything in what I've written anywhere that says a word about my sexual proclivities. I am a whole and contributing member to my community. My stable commitment to my relationship is a part of that.

Re: 81 Words: The Unsung Heroism of Dr. Evelyn Hooker

JWindish — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 23:45:21 -0000

Sil, I suspect a sampling error has led you to the wrong conclusion. If you were to meet me and my partner, you'd have to either conclude we're both straight-acting or swishy. I wonder, too, about the eye of the beholder effect.

As to your apparent assumption that Hooker was herself a lesbian, she was not. I should have included this Wikipedia link which includes an outline of her personal life. I chose instead to link to her academic work.

Re: 81 Words: The Unsung Heroism of Dr. Evelyn Hooker

JWindish — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 23:36:37 -0000

Thanks DdW. I value both your understanding and the supportive comment. I tend to shy away from personal posts. With the one earlier this morning, today is a twofer!

Re: Pew: Dems Lose Millennial Edge

JWindish — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 10:03:44 -0000

Bravo Joe! Thanks shannonlee for pointing to it for me. You've got better TMV search skills than I do... Sorry for the retread, folks, but I'll just ~~assume~~ hope it's worth a revisit. :-)

Re: Pew: Dems Lose Millennial Edge

JWindish — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:01:17 -0000

Yes, I thought so too. But the report came out today and I couldn't find it when I searched the site. Point me to it?