GETTING AT TRUTH

1 Political
Correctness in 2015
Every
man I knew in my father's generation used the term "Spade" as a pronoun
identifying a Black man.
Today that makes a
person gasp with horror, though in truth "spade" was one of those
slightly intangible words that might have been meant as derogatory
coming from the mouths of some, while carrying a kind of descriptive
respect coming from the mouths of others. Those in the latter category
had real submerged admiration for those Black men whom they "honored"
with the term, which was reflected in the design found on 13 cards of
every 52-card playing deck. The spade is of a strong color black, and
it's shape is confident, sensuous, and clever. It is hard to find the
negative in that association, though of course the social crime was in
the dehumanizing of persons into pronouns in the first place.
Humans have all
sorts of names that we have devised to identify others, typically in
ways intended to demean. Honky, Cracker, Chink, Gook, Nip, Spic, Wop,
Greaseball, Coon, Nigger, Flip, Slant, Hebe, Kraut, Frog, Red, Rag Head,
and tons of others - we said all that stuff in previous generations, and
some has survived into the present age. It was how we told the world
that we held certain points of view, which as a societal safeguard was
useful. Give a person enough room to speak their minds and they will
usually reveal themselves through the words they choose, even as they
slip on greasy explanations for the feelings and rationales behind their
attitudes. For most of human history, the people of the world have
mouthed off like we were on our own personal drips of sodium pentothal. We
get killed for such audacities, and yet we vent like spitting cobras, as
if the world needs our special venoms to remain balanced, especially
given the way it has been so improperly populated with competing
thoughts. That argument works no matter what side of any racial divide
you may personally be on. We would all be a lot better off if those
"others" weren't around.
READ MORE

2 Bernie Sanders,
Meet Donald Trump
David Brooks article, NY Times -
Last month I wrote that Joe Biden should
not run for president this year. The electorate is in an
anti-establishment mood, and as a longtime insider, Biden, I argued,
would suffer from the same disadvantages Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush
are now enduring, without any of their advantages. It would end badly.
But then came Biden’s moment with Stephen
Colbert. His discussion of his own grief over his son Beau’s death was
beautiful and genuine and revealed the golden heart that everybody knows
is at the core of the man.
Biden talked about Beau. “My son was
better than me. And he was better than me in almost every way.” He
gestured toward how fluid grief is, how it goes round and round, hides
for a few hours and then suddenly overwhelms. But there was something
else embedded in that Colbert moment: a formation story.
Every presidential candidate needs a narrative to explain how his or her
character was formed. They need a story line that begins outside of
politics with some experience or life-defining crucible moment that then
defines the nature of their public service.
Candidates like John F. Kennedy and John
McCain were formed by war. Candidates like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama
were formed by their rise from broken homes and their dedication to lift
others and heal divisions. Without a clear formation story, a candidate
is just a hodgepodge of positions and logos.
Democrats this year are looking for a
formation story that proves commitment. This is a party that is moving
boldly leftward. Its voters want to know their candidate has the inner
drive to push through structural changes, not just half measures.
Bernie Sanders has such a story. From his
days at the University of Chicago onward, he has been a pile driver for
progressive causes, regardless of the prevailing winds. Hillary Clinton
hasn’t yet presented a clear formation story. She talks about being a
grandmother, which humanizes her, but doesn’t explain how she got to be
the person she is.
With Colbert, one saw the kernel of a
Biden formation story that could connect not only with Democratic voters
but with other voters as well. It is a story of dual loss: his wife and
daughter decades ago and his son this year. Out of that loss comes a
great empathy, a connection to those who are suffering in this economy
and this world. Out of that loss comes a hypercharged sense of mission.
Out of that loss comes a liberation from the fear of failure that dogs
most politicians, and causes them to dodge, prevaricate and spin.
People who have suffered a loss often
want to connect their tragedy to some larger redemptive mission. Biden
could plausibly and genuinely emerge sadder but more empathetic and more
driven. That would be not only a natural reaction, but also the basis
for a compelling campaign. Biden would then benefit from the greater
verbal self-discipline he has developed while vice president and from
the fact that this year, as Donald Trump proves, voters seem tolerant of
free-talkers.
Republican presidential candidates have
found that the strongest way to win favor on the stump is to attack the
leaders of their party in Congress for being timid and inept. Many
Republican voters are alienated from their party’s leadership. They’re
looking for a candidate who can lead a mutiny.
Donald Trump’s mutiny story is pretty
clear. In doing business deal after business deal, he mastered the
skills needed to take on the morons who are now running the party and
the world. Ben Carson’s story is clear, too. Through his faith and
through his medical career he developed the purity of heart and the
discipline of will required to walk into Washington without being
corrupted by the rottenness found there.
The Republican desire for a mutiny has
kept Trump and Carson aloft longer than most people supposed. I still
think they will implode. Their followers need them to be the superheroes
they are portraying themselves to be. But politics is hard, especially
for beginners, and sooner or later they will flounder and look like
they’re in over their heads. At that point it’s all over. At that point,
a Bush, Rubio, Kasich or Walker will have an opening to tell a different
and more positive story.
On the Democratic side, a Biden run would
be more formidable than I thought last month. You need emotion to beat
emotion. With Stephen Colbert he revealed a story and suggested a
campaign that is moving, compelling and in tune with the moment.
.
READ MORE
3 Going Agile
It
seems to me that when we experience big changes in our broad, shared experience
with the world, it is usually the result of tribal tinkering. Somebody will come
up with an idea and develop it until others see the value in it, and they adopt
whatever behaviors are associated with the big idea, and because people have the
following characteristics of sheep, you get adherence to the popular behavior
until it becomes a group norm. Outside of behaviors that are reactions to
natural disasters, there is very little else that shapes our experience with
life other than the reverberations we feel from the machinations of our fellow
man.
In the tribal world of
software development, the biggest reverberator in the lives of most of
its groups is “agile development”. It is the most logically conceived
idea that you will ever encounter, and the most difficult for anybody to
explain. That grey foggy area of understanding is like a John Carpenter
phenomenon, populated by autonomous knifing pirates who are having
devastating impacts on certain segments of the workplace jungle.
READ MORE

4
Leaving Planet Earth
xxxxxx.
READ MORE
5
World Saving Energy
We already
have all the renewable energy resources we need to get rid of the fossil fuels
oil industry right now. The solutions are not all solar and wind power, either,
and they are most certainly not nuclear. They are clean and inexpensive, and
they could save our world. So what are we waiting for?
READ MORE
6
Western Drought
xxxx. READ MORE
7
Character G.P.A.
xxxx
READ MORE
8
Birdman and Social Media
xxx
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9 Wake Up America
 The
media is flooded these days with documentaries imploring Americans to wake up to
the truth of what the United States of America actually is, versus the way the
general public has been Mesmerized into believing it to be. The RCJ takes a look
at some of these messages. READ MORE
10
Alien Invasion
xxxxx. READ MORE
11 Why Do
College Text Books Cost So Much
xxxxx. READ MORE
12 The
Myth of Traveled Enlightenment
xxxxx. READ MORE
13
Entertaining Reading
xxxxx. READ MORE
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