Language matters

 healthcare reform, Politics, Truth  Comments Off
Nov 302009
 

The purpose of language is to communicate most effectively the truth or essence of the information that you are trying to impart, simply, to make yourself understood.


In the case of political debate this form of communication though honorable and truthful is not the most effective method. Political debate, is not communicating YOUR stance or beliefs to others, it is to argue in a language that brings people to your conclusions.

Political debate is persuasion; language that assists in the effort need not be the cleverest, the most accurate or the most concise. Language that resonates with your audience and their preconceived notions is vital to making the argument simple repeatable and most importantly compelling.

Republicans do not win political debates based on the intelligence or validity of their ideas or arguments; they couldn’t get a shoeshine for the value of their ideas. They win arguments by tapping into the language that triggers peoples own pre conceived notions about what is true. The arguments are simple, visceral, frequently untruthful, but ultimately effective.

Progressives scream, cry foul, demand retractions blame the talking heads for not correcting the record and everyday, the debate slips further and further away as support is eroded.

So our language is more accurate. So we tell the truth about complicated issues. So we can prove our assertions with factual references. It makes no difference if the majority of the American people have been convinced to believe a distortion. I love being right, but I would rather win.

Why this discussion about language and politics? Gallup’s new poll on health care reform has 49% of respondents opposing legislation and 44% approving. Even though reform is desperately needed the right is winning the public opinion war and that is a problem for progressives trying to push politicians out of their comfort zone to enact meaningful legislation that has eluded lawmakers for better than seventy years.

From now on I will be referring to the debate as health care relief. The word reform doesn’t have emotional meaning to people, it means change and change can be frightening. Relief is an end to burden. Relief is an end to pain. Relief is making right what was wrong. Reform is easy to oppose, who the hell wants to be against relief?

It may seem like a small thing, but it is not. Republicans learned this lesson, if they had not their complete lack of ideas or facts to back up their positions would have relegated them to irrelevance long ago. Democrats have commanding majorities in both houses and the presidency and yet Republicans are convincing the voters that the reform that both parties ran on in the last election should be scuttled, it must not stand, the debate must continue and if our language must change to bring the low information average voter on board then change we must.

Health care relief is imperative, saddle up people we got some work to do.

Health Care Reform VS Jobs

 healthcare reform, Politics, Truth  Comments Off
Nov 292009
 

There is a new drumbeat from the right in the struggle to derail the debate for comprehensive health care reform. The argument sounds so very logical and reasonable and it is a total crock of shit.
“We should wait to do health care until after the economy has recovered”

“What good is affordable healthcare if you don’t have a job?”

“With all of the other things, we just can’t afford to do health care reform right now”
Rick Warren was on Meet the Press this morning claiming neutrality yet hitting the Republican talking point right on cue saying that health care reform should wait until after unemployment is brought down. He went on to say that most people are in the wrong job and how important it is for people to realize that they are not what they do. Well you may not be what you do, but if you are sick you could end up being what you have.
When you are battling cancer for your very life, that IS what you are, you eat, breathe, walk and talk that battle, it encompasses all that you are. If at the end of that battle, should you survive, what then? If the medical bills are more than you could possibly pay for the rest of your life, what then? That cancer has now defined who you are and at least a portion of what you do for the rest of your life.
Small businesses are being crushed under the pressure of health care costs.
Personal bankruptcies are dominated by those medically related.
The vast majority of Americans are under insured.
More than 10% of the American population is uninsured.
Insurance premiums are up 142% since the last time that health care reform was attempted.
There IS no more pressing issue before the country than comprehensive health care reform. Failure to make progress will retard our growth, our prosperity our society and our Union.
The United States has committed to two wars, hundreds of thousands of troops, more than four thousand of which have died and in excess of two trillion dollars in response to a terrorist attack that took three thousand lives.
I in no way want to devalue that loss, but in the interim an estimated 350,000 United States citizens have died for lack of healthcare… 350,000. Where is the perspective in this debate. At what point do we stop ignoring the deaths of the uninsured because “those people” are not worthy of our outrage, commitment or money.
Republicans are willing to talk “tax relief” for any circumstance that faces the nation, deficits, surpluses, peace time, war time, for the right it is the magic bullet.
This nation does not need tax relief, I’ll repeat that for effect, this nation does NOT need tax relief. our taxes haven’t gone up 142% in the last fifteen years. People are not declaring bankruptcy under the burden of taxes. Small Businesses are not struggling under yearly increases of taxes. This nation NEEDS health care relief. Health care relief is a necessity, it is pressing, it is crucial and it is time we got it done.

Thankful

 Politics, Truth  Comments Off
Nov 262009
 

As another Thanksgiving is upon us and as I prepare to celebrate the bounty that fate, luck and perseverance have provided it seems only fitting to reflect on the many things to be thankful for this year.

I am thankful that after eight years of boastful, bluster we have a President who will study, inquire and think before choosing a course of action instead of deciding what his gut or betters think and then justify the lack of critical analysis with a distortion of the facts to support the choice.

I am thankful the conversation about health care (or lack thereof) has progressed so far without being completely derailed by fear and lies. The struggle is far from over but I remain hopeful of the outcome and thankful to those engaged in the effort.


I am thankful for super majorities in the House and Senate, I don’t think the Democrats could do a damn thing with a narrow majority lacking the monolithic commitment to ideology over fact based decision making.

I am thankful that the Democrats lack monolithic commitment to ideology, our way is a hell of a lot more difficult but much more likely to ensure freedom and equality.

I am thankful for social media so that the horrific lack of integrity in journalism might be partially offset by those unwilling to sit quietly by while corporate conglomerates twist our democracy to their purposes.


I am thankful to live in a nation where a government of, by and for the people makes it possible to protect the rights, lives and freedoms of everyone (if not consistently, then eventually).
Thanks for reading and happy Thanksgiving.


Facts and fear

 healthcare reform, Politics, Truth  Comments Off
Nov 222009
 

FACT:

“a statement or assertion of verified information about something that is the case or has happened”

“a concept whose truth can be proved”

Facts are not inherently good or bad.


Facts just are…

Facts don’t mean anything. We make facts mean something. We draw conclusions and apply facts to make sense of our world.


A couple of points with respect to politics:

Facts cannot be disputed, if they could, they would not be facts.

What the facts are, and what people try to make them mean are two very different beasts.

Progressives, intellectuals, liberals… Democrats respect facts and debate what they mean, what the consequences might be, argue the nuances of the application of facts for the benefit or harm of the people, it is the way they are built and why they end up in the Democratic Party.

Conservatives, fundamentalists, theocrats… Republicans respect their opinions and their ideology, when the facts support them they are more than willing to throw them around, but when they don’t, their intellectual exercise turns into the most effective way of making the facts mean something that is the most dire or sinister, it is the way that they are built and why they end up in the Republican Party.

Politically, the Republicans have it a hell of a lot easier than Democrats specifically because of their relationship to facts. It has been quipped that “truth has a liberal bias” that is because liberals by their nature will let new facts inform their view of the world. Far too often a conservative will cherry pick their facts, ignore them completely or try to make them mean something that fits into their world view (think dinosaurs and men walking the earth together 6000 years ago).

So while the facts will lead the Democratic Party to accomplish a common goal, the nuance of their understanding of the challenges, ramifications and potential benefits will inform and necessarily fracture that effort, it’s messy and organic. The Republican Party on the other hand mostly buy into the ideology first and when the facts don’t support their effort, they make those facts mean something else, and since it is an artificial process they have no problem parroting the exact same talking points since none of it is nuanced or organic. The Republicans boil it down into a simple, scary and emotional argument that has no proof because it is not based in fact, it is based in what they have decided to make the facts mean.

Though I do not condone this behavior and think it damaging to our democracy, I have to admit that I am a little jealous of their advantage. Think about the average American and what they get exposed to in one of these political battles, health care, for instance. The Democrats will tell you the problem is difficult, requires hard work, might not work the way they hope and might have to be fixed in the future because of unintended consequences. The other side says that you will die, and you won’t be free while you are dying.

Which do you think is the easier sell?

The next time you hear someone throwing around facts, first know that the person is quoting facts to get you to make those facts mean something that may not be true. Second know that some will use facts to further their view, expand their knowledge and understanding and some will only allow facts that either already fit their world view or can be made to…

Watch the facts or they could become crap.

Doing the right thing.

 Uncategorized  Comments Off
Nov 202009
 

Dear Ralph,


Thank you for contacting CafePress.com!

This morning we made the decision to remove all Psalms 109:8 designs from CafePress.

The public debate started with questioning if the design was simply intended to be criticism of the President or something much worse. The discourse was surprisingly civil online, given the heated nature of the topic. Given that, and the positions of groups like the ACLU and the Anti-Defamation League, we decided to let the dialogue play out publicly before making a final decision.

Last night we posted a poll on our blog, read through the emails we’ve received and weighed the nature of the calls we’ve received on the topic. In the process we also learned that many of the original designers of the Psalm 109:8 designs had already decided to remove them on their own.

General consensus has proven that the design does point to a broader interpretation of the Psalm and thus has been deemed inappropriate for sale at CafePress.

We try to create an atmosphere of self-expression. Many of the things we encounter are not black and white, but grey. When the dialogue is civil, we want to let the larger community work things out rather than making an uninformed ruling. The dialogue has played out and common sentiment has reached agreement – this merchandise is not appropriate.

Thank you all for your input.
——

I strongly encourage everyone to browse their site to see if you want to pick up a Christmas gift for someone on your list, good behavior should be rewarded. That is CafeExpress.com

Senators on Twitter

 Uncategorized  Comments Off
Nov 202009
 


As Twitter has become a new battlefield to promote social change, or at least to socially promote change… The following is a list of Senators on Twitter. Let them know how we feel about health care reform!

@SenatorSessions @RichardShelby @lisamurkowski @MarkBegich @senbennelson @senjohnmccain @senatorreid @johnensign @barbara_boxer @senatormenendez @markudall @tomudall @SenChrisDodd @senbillnelson @jminhofe @tomcoburn @senjeffmerkley @dickdurbin @senarlenspecter @senatorlugar @chuckgrassley @jimdemint @sensambrownback @johnthune @senbobcorker @davidvitter @johncornyn @senatorcollins @orrinhatch @senatorsanders @johnkerry @markwarner @rogerwicker @russfeingold @clairemc

The list is courtesy of @EileenLeft, this one is just easier to cut and paste, for more contact info visit her site Progressive Blueprints

Keeping you hip.

 Uncategorized  Comments Off
Nov 192009
 

From the Urban Dictionary


1. Paliban

Pal·i·ban

The Paliban are an evangelically infused political movement following a strict interpretation of Sarah Palin’s life views. Paliban rule imposes draconian restrictions on women being allowed to self determine their own bodies. The Paliban are reactionary to science and prefer to base their beliefs on fear and faith. Environmental issues are generally brushed off or denied, because the rapture should take care of it, and the Paliban believes they will all be hoovered to heaven. Individual members of the Paliban are referred to as Palinistas. The Paliban has a particular fascination with tea bags and aren’t particularly good spellers. If you are not one of them, you are against all of them. You’ve been warned. 1.)The Paliban members are difficult to count since whenever they gather their numbers are greatly exaggerated by Fox news.

2.)I saw a member of the Paliban had made a facebook pledge to Palin, “I would die for you, I would kill for you.”

3)The Paliban should not be confused with Pal-Qaida.


Now here is the part that makes YOU hip, the coinster of this most awesome word is Shannyn Moore, Anchorage radio personality and all around wicked smart lady. Check out her blog, or follow her twitter @shannynmoore. Could trivial pursuit be all that far behind?

No partner for peace.

 healthcare reform, Politics, Truth  Comments Off
Nov 172009
 

The Republican Party has devolved into a fractured incoherent mess. The last election started a slide into a morass that can only be described as a farce of a national political party.

It started with John McCain’s selection of the moronically unqualified Sarah Palin as a running mate. The excitement that was generated bolstered the campaign temporarily but realistically the choice probably killed any possibility of him winning the presidency. What the choice did accomplish was to give credence to the furthest right whackjob crackpots who suddenly became mainstream when compared to the vice presidential nominee of the Republican Party.

As the campaign spun into “biggest celebrity” “Joe the plumber” “pallin around with terrorists” the conversation got less and less grounded in the actual political dialog of governance and the concerns of the American people. But the fringe had found their voice, and birthers, deathers, “you lie” extremists poured out of the woodwork because the right was listening, tailoring their message to the only excitement they could perceive, the excitement of “the mob”.

The right has swung so far away from a realistic discussion of the pressing matters of health care, deficits, the economy, engagements in Afghanistan and Iraq that bowing is the bullshit diversion of the day. The republican party is failing the country, as the minority party they are adding absolutely nothing to the debate, they do not want to engage in useful debate towards accomplishing the business of the country because they have let the radical fringe of their party control the debate until there is none. They have become irrelevant to governance, a hindrance, a speed bump, a joke.

We bring up end of life counseling – they say death panels

We say no funds to insure illegal aliens – they scream “you lie”

We say fix health insurer abuses – they say government takeover

We say save money by reforming medicare – they say “pulling the plug on grandma”

We say a serious review of strategy in Afghanistan – they say “dithering”

The time has come to push our representatives to do the hard work that needs doing without the cover of bipartisanship, even if they have to fall on their swords to get that work done.

It is not possible to engage the minority party in a meaningful debate if they refuse to even have the same conversation… So from now on, they say tomato, I say “FUCK YOU”

(image courtesy of @RioPuerco)

Bow wow wow

 Uncategorized  Comments Off
Nov 162009
 
A reader writes…

I am starting to get pissed off about the fuckers complaining about Obama’s bow to the emperor.
Finally we have a president who is trying to make up for our past imperial and self-righteous attitudes and he get’s bashed for showing some humility and grace in tradition. I guess it is still ok to show deference to the British Royals, but since he is Japanese, it is not ok? What a bunch of racist fuckers.

I could not have said it better, President Obama can do nothing to please these people because they would literally rather him fail as a person and president than to accept that an intelligent man of color could rise to the most powerful office in the world. Racist fuckers is a perfect description and speaking of bows,


“I never will, by any word or act, bow to the shrine of intolerance or admit a right of inquiry into the religious opinions of others.” Thomas Jefferson

Try try again

 KSM, terror  Comments Off
Nov 162009
 

The controversy swirling around the upcoming trial of Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four of his accused cohorts has prompted many a discussion about the wisdom of holding these trials. Having avoided any in depth conversation for a couple of days I am ready to plow headlong into that abyss that is taking a stand.

Khalid Sheik Mohammed and the others should stand trial in Federal court. The primary reasons I believe so are below:

Federal courts have vastly more experience at handling this kind of trial than military commissions do.

Military commissions lack the transparency of a federal trial.

The perception of fairness from a military commission could never rival that of a Federal court in the United States or around the world.

I am not willing to throw out our values for terrorists, and I will not be scared into believing I need to by hysterical rhetoric.

I don’t want these guys to be more special than they are, try them, convict them, and punish them.

If the process of trying KSM is more difficult because he was tortured than it should be! I don’t give a shit about KSM, but I do give a shit that members of my elected government that work for me broke our laws. This does not give KSM a pass for the deplorable things that he is accused of, it also doesn’t make it alright to ignore our values and laws to provide a fair trial prior to conviction and punishment.

There are people who claim that giving a trial to KSM would result in the United States being on trial, if memory serves these are the same people who defended the use of torture in the first place rendering their opinion in my view worth less than nothing. KSM confessed to his involvement before he was tortured, therefore the fact that he was tortured does not invalidate his confession. And while we are on the subject, torture is not legal, we are going to get a black eye for employing it. The real question is will we come clean and move forward, or let that stain hang around our neck. The fact that we are a great nation does not mean that we are a perfect nation, those that recognize our flaws are more likely to help the nation stay great than those who thump their chests and bury their heads.

Most importantly the prosecution of “the war on terror” should be removed from the military. The term “war on terror” is idiotic, terror is an emotion and war connotes a military response in a territorial theater of combat which is becoming less and less the case. It is time to start thinking and stop reacting, terrorism is not going to magically go away, but the fight should be waged through the intelligence community and international law enforcement. Trying to fight Al Qaeda with an army is like trying to kill a bacterial infection with a hammer, stupid and ineffective.

Ultimately the trial is not for KSM it is for the American people, an affirmation that the values we hold are more important than the terrorists. Why the hell would we want to throw our values on the rubble of the world trade center? What the terrorists knocked down was flesh, steel and concrete, what the hysterical right would have us tear down in response is far more precious.

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