All Hallow’s Eve has come and gone, and so has the day when the dead come back for a visit, but we’re not out of the dark woods of our self-inflicted nightmare yet. The days are still getting shorter, the nights longer, as we edge toward the spooky haunted house of a national election marked, more than any in my memory, by an overwhelming sense of dread.
Should social scientists seek the truth regardless of whose toes may be stepped on and cite, up front, possible conflicts of interest regarding matters they study?
All academic disciplines claim independence of thought and transparency are principles that guide good research. So, what to make of a Canadian foreign policy discussion dominated by individuals with ties to the decision-making structures they study?
We live in a country where the Hamburglar can freely walk down the street, but Ronald McDonald can’t.
— Twitter post by ‘BH’, Oct 12, 2016
Let’s go get stoned
Let’s go get stoned
And while we’re out
Let’s pick up six packs of
Cluster bombs from General
Dynamics—‘bombies’ for our
Babies and grandbabies to play with…
Let’s go get shot
Let’s go get shot
Attempting beer with a
Notorious Negro sheriff—
Judas/Stephen Clarke—and
Other bassackwards Negroz
Of the Thom-ass Clarence-
Strong-arm Williams Tribe…
Let’s go get screwed
Let’s go get screwed
By neo-liberal lemon-dick
Dems—since it’s the season of
A lot of people know about my work through my talks at the TED conference, and especially the first one, in 2006, ‘Do Schools Kill Creativity?’ At 41 million views and counting it is still the most viewed talk in TED’s history. A couple of years ago, I was at a university in the mid-West of America to give a speech to students. Over lunch, one of the faculty said, “You’ve been at this a long time, haven’t you?” “What’s that?” I asked. “Trying to transform education,” he said.
We believe in what we are doing… If you are pushed you push back.
— Julian Assange
By the turn of the 21st century, the United States military had already appropriated the entire earth, and was ready to flood the most obscure areas of it with troops at a moment’s notice. The Pentagon divided the planet into five area commands–similar to the way that the Indian Country of the American West had been divided in the mid-nineteenth century by the U.S. Army…’Welcome to Injun Country’ was the refrain I heard from troops from Columbia to the Philippines, including Afghanistan and Iraq.
In search of a haircut, I found Analog, Eugene’s favorite barber shop according to Yelp. Also a tattoo parlor. Upstairs, the walls are lined with LP album covers of the 60s, 70s and 80s, with good tunes on the sound system. But it was too busy that morning, with a long wait.
I remember a time when a cabbage could sell itself by being a cabbage. Nowadays it’s no good being a cabbage – unless you have an agent and pay him a commission. Nothing is free anymore to sell itself or give itself away. These days, Countess, every cabbage has its pimp.
― Jean Giraudoux, The Madwoman of Chaillot
I’m honored to say a few words in support of the Book of Joy, published today. The Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu share with us how to live a life of joy in the face of adversity. They show that joy and compassion will always win over anger, fear, and despair. A perfect message for these challenging times.
#sharethejoy www.BookofJoy.org
What is joy for you? Here’s my take.
