Vast Left: Hegelian vs. Predator

Hegelian vs. Predator

Yes, I turned the blog off for a bit

because I felt guilty that I haven't had time to blog. And where did that get me?

There are better blogs to read. See this blog list.

Will blog when/if. No promises.

It's life.

I don't think I even posted my virtual buddhist part of Christmas Christmas tree, either, this year.

Hmm.

Read It And Weep

Via Corrente, Stirling Newberry: Government prints money. Arabs raise price of oil. Checkmate. Thank you.

Say, sir, would you care for a little class warfare garnish on your spanky new pro-am blogframe?

This is interesting article by Chris Bowers, who is suggesting a new division of labor: amateur bloggers versus "pro" (sic) bloggers, in his article "Amateur Blogosphere: RIP."

[Say, might that be pro-blogese for "STFU, the rest of you bloggers who aren't yet corporate and/or special interest shills?" Oh, okay, maybe not.]

Pro blogs are, like, money blogs. And they count, see. Because of the money. Tom Paine, alas, was no pro blogger. Bummer.

Anyhow, one of the blogs he names as a super big fab pro blogger is--HuffPo.

Now, I dunno about you, but when I look at HuffPo my heart sinks and I have to take a real hefty suck on my inhaler, because so much of HuffPo is not about politics, but about sleazy, tabloid-y, sexist, ageist, intrusive, superficial, ridiculous, rabid-mob-hysterical, unapologetically- Mean-Girls-Mean-Boys-High-School mean, worthless.

I think, "what a waste of bandwidth."

I'm not buyin' HuffPo as pro, as in pro = good.

And what's up with Bowers positing this split?

Why's he cooking up this bloggy dualism about pro versus am? Cui bono?

Like we were in need of raising our class consciousness?

Like we hadn't heard of the ol' "Us" versus "Them"?

Haves versus have-nots?

It's kinda classic. Uh--one-up? One-down? Ring a bell?

Why mention it at all?

Guys and gals, might it not be a smoke-and-mirror cover-up frame to obscure the fact that the very definition of this awesome (sic) pro (sic) status is that it's All About the Benjamins?

You betcha!!

Only five years ago, the progressive political blogosphere was still predominately a gathering place for amateur (that is, unpaid or barely paid) journalists and activists unattached to existing media companies and advocacy organizations. Those days are almost completely over. Now, the progressive blogosphere is almost entirely professionalized, and inextricably linked to existing media companies and advocacy organizations.

This transformation has been brought about by three developments (fellow bloggers, please forgive me in advance if I fail to mention your or your blog as an example):

1. Established media companies and advocacy organizations hiring bloggers to blog, full-time: The Washington Post, New York Times, Politico, Center for American Progress, Salon, CQ, Atlantic, Washington Monthly, the American Independent News Network, and more have all hired hired bloggers to blog, full-time. Many of these bloggers, such as fivethirtyeight, Unclaimed Territory, or the Carpetbagger Report, operated their blogs independently of any established organization, and were key hubs in the "amateur" or "independent" progressive blogosphere. Now, those bloggers do pretty much the same thing they did before, they just (quite understandably) do it for a much better salary from an established organization.

2. Previously "amateur" progressive blogs became professional operations: Another trend, less common than the first, has been for blogs like Daily Kos, Firedoglake and Talking Points Memo to transform themselves from hobbies into professional media outlets and/or activist organizations. These blogs have increased their revenue stream to the point where they can hire multiple full-time staff.

3. Bloggers translate blogging into consulting and advocacy work: Many bloggers have also found a way to make a living by combining their blogging with blog-friendly advocacy and consulting work. This is actually the path I am currently following, as are, I believe, Oliver Willis, Atrios, Jerome Armstrong, and more. This involves finding part-time or full time work in politics that is conducive to still maintaining a full-time blog (which also generates a part-time income).

Add up all three of these paths, not even to mention the emergence of the utterly dominant Huffington Post, and the progressive political blogosphere is now both thoroughly professionalized and integrated into the progressive media an political ecosystem.

That didn't take very long. The progressive blogosphere really first emerged onto the political scene in late 2002 over fights like the run up to Iraq, the 2003 Democratic primaries, and Trent Lott's comments at Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party. In less than eight years, it went from a loosely knit, rag-tag network of amateur outsiders into a fixture in the world of professional political advocacy and media.

I want to make it clear that I know there are still "amateur" independent blogs around. Also, I do not begrudge a single person for taking any of these various routes to professionalism. Hell, I have wanted to be a professional blogger since Kos first began selling ads in late 2003. I am simply describing a trend that has, quite obviously, been underway for years now. In fact, my first post ever at Open Left was on this very subject).

It was, really, inevitable. Avant-garde, "outsider" developments which prove to have real support are invariably co-opted by any successful, institutional establishment. At the same time, these avant-garde movements are often willing to be co-opted, since established institutions usually have vastly greater resources than the independent, shoestring distribution networks of the avant-garde. Before I became a blogger, I was an ABD graduate student in English, and I was going to write my dissertation about this phenomenon in 20th century American poetry. I am quite thrilled that instead of writing that dissertation, I was able to participate in a real-life example of it.

Wow, dude! Kewl! You've made it! Isn't Townhouse List da bomb?

The Oil Drum

Something to keep your mind off the endless misery of samsara?

Nope.

The Oil Drum.

Domestic Violence Homicides Up, Way Up, in MA

Interesting story, save for the unbelievable blame-the-victim-ism.

It's never too late to keep victimizing victims, is it?

Thanks for nothing, MA

Really.

So (expletive deleted) stupid.

And so (expletive deleted) wrong.

Is That Egg On Brit Hume's Face Or Is He Just Happy to . . .

Hey, kids!

Remember--it's never too late for a loudmouth "Christian" talking head to slam a major world religion he knows absolutely nothing about!

Have an auspicious Western New Year, everyone!




Kvatch's take, here.

Buddhist Jihad, here.

The Illness Industry: Sometimes Less Is More, Sometimes More is More. Profitable.

From: the Heart Scan blog.

Something for Veterans' Day

Dulce et Decorum Est

Bent double, like of old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind:
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime…
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in sonic smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,-
My friend, you would not talk with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.


Wilfrid Owen (1917)

Al-Jazeera on Fort Hood Shootings

Deaths in US army base shooting

. . . Lieutenant-General Bob Cone, the base's commanding officer, said the shooting took place at about 1:30pm local time (1930 GMT) on Thursday at a Soldier Readiness Facility.

The suspect has been named as Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a 39-year-old army psychiatrist.

"There was a single shooter that was shot multiple times at the scene. He was not killed as previously reported. He is currently in custody and in stable condition," Cone said.

Hasan was born in the US to Muslim Palestinian parents who had emigrated from a small town near Jerusalem, US media said. . .

Josh Rushing, Al Jazeera's correspondent at Fort Hood, Texas, said: "[Hasan] is a first-generation American. He joined the army after high school and went to the Virginia Tech university to get a psychiatry degree through a military programme.

"He became a psychiatrist at the Walter Reed Army Medical Centre in Washington ... where he counselled soldiers coming back from war.

"Every day, he heard how horrible those stories were and he really started to question the wars, according to what his cousin and sources who knew him said.

"Hasan became more devout in his religion and started arguing with soldiers about whether the wars were right or not, to the point where he received disciplinary action and negative work reviews.

"He was transferred to the medical facility here at Fort Hood, where apparently these feelings continued.

"It raises a major question - how can a person responsible for the mental health of soldiers returning [from war] be allowed to continue in this profession when he has these kinds of questions himself?"

The rampage occurs at a time of stress for the US armed services burdened by two wars, with commanders struggling to ease the effect of repeated combat tours on troops and their families.

Repeated deployments

Suicides in the army hit a record level last year, with at least 128 taking their lives, and are on track to set a new high this year - surpassing the rate among the wider civilian population.

US commanders believe repeated deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan have played a role in the spike in suicides, as well a surge in post-traumatic stress and depression.

Hasan faced his own imminent deployment for military service, officials said.

Nader Hasan, a cousin, said Hasan was "mortified by the idea of having to deploy" and that he had been harassed by other soldiers for being a Muslim.

He told the New York Times newspaper that Hasan had retained a lawyer and sought to get out of the army before the end of his contract.

Full story here.

Fort Hood Shooter Said to Be Army Psychiatrist

.

Army Major said to be psychiatrist treating traumatic stress who was about to be deployed to Iraq.
He had worked at Walter Reed. Just promoted to Major.


[Interlude]

PTSD symptoms, short form:


1. Numbing and avoidance


2. Intrusive thoughts

flashbacks,
nightmares


3. Hyperarousal

anxiety,
insomnia,
hypervigilance,
irritability,
panic attacks,
angry outbusts,
aggression

Torture Is as Torture Does (CIA version)

Manacled to the ceiling?

Well, and why not?
They were, like, Teh Enemy! Once they're dubbed Teh Enemy, you get to do anything you want, do you not?

Million Moran March

It's at The Woodshed.

Stay Classy, Mob-GOPS

Rabid Right Mommy Scared Timid Centrist Prez Is Really Tulku of Mao-Tse Tung

How can people be so f*cking stupid?

Really.

Crappy "Christian' Prays Prez Dies of Brain Cancer

What would Jesus do?

You know, I'm Buddhist, but I had actually thought that the whole Golden Rule teachings of Jesus were not optional.

Alabama Mom Drags Kid By Leash Through Store

Yes, sure, it's cruelty to children.

But America's compassion begins with preborns. And ends there.

Iran Blames West for Deaths Caused by Neo-SAVAK Basij Murderers

Yuh. The swine claim it's all our fault.

Apparently the Iranian people didn't know they were being repressed by a brutal regime till we all twittered them.

Warning: Graphic Video Tehran: wounded girl dying in front of camera

I apologize for posting this -- and oddly enough, it went up before I had even finished working on it -- but it is important to note that the Iranian regime has apparently gone with "shoot to kill" now.

The whole world is watching, and this sad video could not be more eloquent, could it?

Update: now we know her name was Neda.
Update 2: Later coverage here.

Neda

Roger Cohen.