Not everything should be public knowledge. We all have conversations with people that we don't want publicized. National diplomacy needs the same. The trick is in the balancing of the public right to know with the national interest.
When we are at work, especially for the government our conversations are not completely our own, unless we work in some field such as health care where individual personal information has to be kept secret. When the power to decide what information shall be given to the people is given to a small number they can use information against the will and interests of the people. National interest can be defined as almost anything, especially when it comes to the interests of corporations.
When your talking about diplomacy involving possible nuclear weapons in Iran, India, Pakistan, etc. I think an "executive session" of privacy is warranted. The Saudis would never have leveled with us of their Iranian fears if they knew it would be broadcasted. The Pentagon Papers certainly showed abuse of power involving lying to Americans. There must be some middle ground of confidentiality with accountability.
"'Stop it, Professor, it's too much. Please don't be a hate-monger.'"
-- please explain..."
I'm not the Anonymous who posted that comment, yet I have to say I'm also chagrined by your occasional excursions into hate-mongering against President Obama. I follow your blog regularly, I admire your talent as a musician and educator, and I respect your commitment to the "progressive agenda" (which I share, incidentally). Yet I question whether you lose perspective sometimes and let your animus against the current political climate convince you that Obama is the "enemy." That's troubling to me, especially when I consider the (realistic) alternatives.
"your occasional excursions into hate-mongering against President Obama."
Please amplify. I don't hate this president. Is it OK to criticize him? Or - when one does that, am I required to do the criticism in some ways differently than when I criticized his predecessor?
A true progressive would never stoop to the level you did Mr. Munger in throwing out the Hussein middle name in a disrespectful manner. This isn't the first time you have shown your true colors, perhaps changing the blog name to Libertarian Alaska might be better.
"My thumbs are too clumsy" sez the President who nearly used the nuclear option with the Secret Service to keep his Blackberry... Sounds like he took veracity lessons from the woman who was supposed to live in juneau. Phil's headline is fine and spot on. Obama never really addressed "National Security" and the industry thereof during the campaign and he rolled over on his tummy for the NSA and all their ilk and revolving door partners without even a whimper. Eric "State Secrets" Holder who through his "oversight" of the FBI represents the best interests of the "best interests" of the upper economic echelons made a shrewd move with his racism speech by putting all the focus on his apparent personal philosophy vis a vis us "Whaat Folk" and completely spun away from the fact that he is no more progressive then Ed Meese. In fact, maybe I miss Ol' Ed in some ways. At least you knew which sleeve his heart was sewn on to. The present administration isn't progressive- it is perpetual. History, provided there is still a FOIA and National Archives when it is written, should be harsh but interesting.
"A true progressive would never stoop to the level you did Mr. Munger in throwing out the Hussein middle name in a disrespectful manner."
The disrespect in the headline wasn't toward his middle name being Hussein. It was the first time I've written out his entire name here, IIRC, and was only put in there to cross it out and put in one I thought more fitting for what I see emerging in the actions of this administration.
We're seeing a lot of truth emerging about the Obama administration's continuation of, or increasing of unconstitutional practices of the George W. Bush administration. Prisoners are still being tortured (at Bagram's black sites - every fucking day), targeting of U.S. citizens for assassination, roundups of people advocating Palestinian rights (in MN, IL and other places) and - as of today - not one major bankster involved in the theft of TRILLIONS (!!!!) has been charged. Instead, monsters who shielded this theft get promoted by Obama; people who blow whistles on them get prosecuted.
If there is a libertarian streak in me and in my writing, it is a left libertarian one, as in former member of the Green Party of Alaska for 15 years.
Phil- I'm just stuck ... Every single day I'm glad John McCain is not President and every single day I am furious that whatever road we started down with acceptance of neoliberal horsepunky left us with a President for whom "pragmatism" has been reduced to a stinking shadow of what-works-is-real either by his own human limitations , a snotty over insulated Congress, and/ or our own collective unwillingness to step up to the plate. What-works is limited to graphs and charts and foo-fa-ra statistics. What-works is an overabundance of attention to economic indicators instead of human indicators... We seem to be taking the temperature of the photo of the person on the box the thermometer came in instead of real live people... and that we includes all the snots in Congress and the President. Some of your ways of framing things torch my shorts but as is so most times I think you have made important points here- especially in your further comments. At whatever level I was gratified to see some of the big-business types lashing out at this President before the mid-terms because they felt he didn't offer enough security for them to invest in financial recovery I have been equally fried that he didn't demand they pay up or shut up. These were the negligent drivers that ran us up to the brink along with their drunk co-pilots from Congress who kept throwing regulatory cautions out the window faster than their empty power hooch bottles and he's pretending they have parity at the table with anyone? What-works is NOT putting those jerks back behind the wheel and we're almost there again? alaskapi
14 comments:
Stop it, Professor, it's too much. Please don't be a hate-monger.
" Fool me once...shame on...shame on you. Uh-fool me can't get fooled again."
-GWB
"Stop it, Professor, it's too much. Please don't be a hate-monger."
-- please explain...
Phil,
Not everything should be public knowledge. We all have conversations with people that we don't want publicized. National diplomacy needs the same. The trick is in the balancing of the public right to know with the national interest.
When we are at work, especially for the government our conversations are not completely our own, unless we work in some field such as health care where individual personal information has to be kept secret. When the power to decide what information shall be given to the people is given to a small number they can use information against the will and interests of the people. National interest can be defined as almost anything, especially when it comes to the interests of corporations.
Free Bradley Manning, and thank Julian Assange.
When your talking about diplomacy involving possible nuclear weapons in Iran, India, Pakistan, etc. I think an
"executive session" of privacy is warranted. The Saudis would never have leveled with us of their Iranian fears if they knew it would be broadcasted. The Pentagon Papers certainly showed abuse of power involving lying to Americans. There must be some middle ground of confidentiality with accountability.
"'Stop it, Professor, it's too much. Please don't be a hate-monger.'"
-- please explain..."
I'm not the Anonymous who posted that comment, yet I have to say I'm also chagrined by your occasional excursions into hate-mongering against President Obama. I follow your blog regularly, I admire your talent as a musician and educator, and I respect your commitment to the "progressive agenda" (which I share, incidentally). Yet I question whether you lose perspective sometimes and let your animus against the current political climate convince you that Obama is the "enemy." That's troubling to me, especially when I consider the (realistic) alternatives.
"your occasional excursions into hate-mongering against President Obama."
Please amplify. I don't hate this president. Is it OK to criticize him? Or - when one does that, am I required to do the criticism in some ways differently than when I criticized his predecessor?
A true progressive would never stoop to the level you did Mr. Munger in throwing out the Hussein middle name in a disrespectful manner.
This isn't the first time you have shown your true colors, perhaps changing the blog name to Libertarian Alaska might be better.
"My thumbs are too clumsy" sez the President who nearly used the nuclear option with the Secret Service to keep his Blackberry...
Sounds like he took veracity lessons from the woman who was supposed to live in juneau.
Phil's headline is fine and spot on. Obama never really addressed "National Security" and the industry thereof during the campaign and he rolled over on his tummy for the NSA and all their ilk and revolving door partners without even a whimper.
Eric "State Secrets" Holder who through his "oversight" of the FBI represents the best interests of the "best interests" of the upper economic echelons made a shrewd move with his racism speech by putting all the focus on his apparent personal philosophy vis a vis us "Whaat Folk" and completely spun away from the fact that he is no more progressive then Ed Meese. In fact, maybe I miss Ol' Ed in some ways. At least you knew which sleeve his heart was sewn on to.
The present administration isn't progressive- it is perpetual. History, provided there is still a FOIA and National Archives when it is written, should be harsh but interesting.
And hey Lisa, please vote YES on NEW START.
Mark E. Springer
Bethel
"A true progressive would never stoop to the level you did Mr. Munger in throwing out the Hussein middle name in a disrespectful manner."
The disrespect in the headline wasn't toward his middle name being Hussein. It was the first time I've written out his entire name here, IIRC, and was only put in there to cross it out and put in one I thought more fitting for what I see emerging in the actions of this administration.
We're seeing a lot of truth emerging about the Obama administration's continuation of, or increasing of unconstitutional practices of the George W. Bush administration. Prisoners are still being tortured (at Bagram's black sites - every fucking day), targeting of U.S. citizens for assassination, roundups of people advocating Palestinian rights (in MN, IL and other places) and - as of today - not one major bankster involved in the theft of TRILLIONS (!!!!) has been charged. Instead, monsters who shielded this theft get promoted by Obama; people who blow whistles on them get prosecuted.
If there is a libertarian streak in me and in my writing, it is a left libertarian one, as in former member of the Green Party of Alaska for 15 years.
Phil-
I'm just stuck ...
Every single day I'm glad John McCain is not President and every single day I am furious that whatever road we started down with acceptance of neoliberal horsepunky left us with a President for whom "pragmatism" has been reduced to a stinking shadow of what-works-is-real either by his own human limitations , a snotty over insulated Congress, and/ or our own collective unwillingness to step up to the plate.
What-works is limited to graphs and charts and foo-fa-ra statistics.
What-works is an overabundance of attention to economic indicators instead of human indicators...
We seem to be taking the temperature of the photo of the person on the box the thermometer came in instead of real live people... and that we includes all the snots in Congress and the President.
Some of your ways of framing things torch my shorts but as is so most times I think you have made important points here- especially in your further comments.
At whatever level I was gratified to see some of the big-business types lashing out at this President before the mid-terms because they felt he didn't offer enough security for them to invest in financial recovery I have been equally fried that he didn't demand they pay up or shut up. These were the negligent drivers that ran us up to the brink along with their drunk co-pilots from Congress who kept throwing regulatory cautions out the window faster than their empty power hooch bottles and he's pretending they have parity at the table with anyone?
What-works is NOT putting those jerks back behind the wheel and we're almost there again?
alaskapi
{{{{alaskapi}}}}
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