![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 35 to 59 of 93. Go back in thread:
Posted by sigismund on October 9, 2018, at 15:03:40
In reply to Re: Mark Blyth, posted by sigismund on October 9, 2018, at 14:42:07
I guess you have read this......
Posted by beckett2 on October 9, 2018, at 21:11:23
In reply to Re: Mark Blyth, posted by sigismund on October 9, 2018, at 15:03:40
> I guess you have read this......
>
> https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/10/06/kavanaugh-confirmation-temperament-yale-dean-221086I haven't, but I've left it on a tab. After the confirmation, I had to back away out of self preservation. The entire process was just-- it's all about being bullied now. That's frightening.
Someone was describing the US as a rogue superpower. As example, they gave the trade agreements the US has forced out of and upon Canada.
Posted by sigismund on October 9, 2018, at 23:40:14
In reply to Re: Mark Blyth » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on October 9, 2018, at 21:11:23
I'm not surprised you feel bad about this. Allowing for a pretty dodgy foreign policy since forever, what has become of the USA in my lifetime is one of the tragedies of the age. I remember how the USA was viewed in my parents time.
Posted by sigismund on October 17, 2018, at 16:34:16
In reply to Re: Mark Blyth » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on October 9, 2018, at 21:11:23
was talking to a Japanese chef (I guess) and one said
'The Grateful Dead are boring'
to which the other replied
'There isn't enough acid in the whole of Berkley to make them interesting'.But is this really the case?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGmg_PALJXs
If you're up for some advice from Andrew Bacevich to Elizabeth Warren
Posted by beckett2 on October 19, 2018, at 1:28:52
In reply to Anthony Bourdain » beckett2, posted by sigismund on October 17, 2018, at 16:34:16
> was talking to a Japanese chef (I guess) and one said
>
> 'The Grateful Dead are boring'
> to which the other replied
> 'There isn't enough acid in the whole of Berkley to make them interesting'.
>
> But is this really the case?
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGmg_PALJXsSome of their songs I really like. Maybe because the time in my life I heard them and the heavy rotation on NY FM radio. I dunno. Lots of folks find them the aural equivalent of paint drying, esp in CA.
>
> If you're up for some advice from Andrew Bacevich to Elizabeth Warren
>
> https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/10/16/unsolicited-advice-for-an-undeclared-presidential-candidate-a-letter-to-elizabeth-warren/Admittedly, I'm tired atm, and it's late. I've left the tab open to Bacevich to read tomorrow. Warren has been on my mind because I'm not convinced she's up for the actual battle. He's already had her produce a dna test, which, to me, means he's defining the argument as he as with others. I think Kamala Harris could kick his *ss in a debate, but she is early in her career.
I did read the first paragraph, and so Bacevich will likely discuss the military further. But I believe trump loves war because he's enchanted by power, It's to him as blood to a tick. I don't doubt that if he's up against the wall, he'll create a distraction w/o caring the death his cover would cause. Maybe I'm wrong, but this is something that keeps me awake some nights.
Today he threatened to send the military to our southern border. More and more people are held in immigrant detention where they are now working for nothing and without medical care. Yes, snakes whisper in his ear but only music to which he is susceptible.
I'm beginning to rant. Apologies for the drama :/
What do you think about trump and military conflict?
Posted by sigismund on October 19, 2018, at 4:52:10
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on October 19, 2018, at 1:28:52
>What do you think about trump and military conflict?
Send him in to lead the army. Honestly, I don't know what to make of him. The only time I could say I almost but not quite liked him (I was at least amused) was when he got Steffanny/Strormy (bloody English spelling) to spank him with a rolled up copy of Forbes Magazine with the family on the cover. (It made me laugh.) Many racists are not prime examples of the breeding they profess. You would know the list with the Nazis.
I imagine he is wanting to do Iran after the midterms, depending on how that goes. Rephrasing Chairman Mao, political power grows out of narcissism. Well, some sort of power. The West is cactus. (I was reading about General George Marshall in China.) I am not more uncomfortable with Trump than CNN. Should I have to stoop to say that?
I will write later when less tired. That version of Morning Dew has some lovely guitar playing, like swallows in flight.
Posted by beckett2 on October 19, 2018, at 16:08:40
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain, posted by sigismund on October 19, 2018, at 4:52:10
I used to be very optimistic in an odd way for someone with chronic depression and personal pessimism. Now I write horrible, angry, bitter comments like above. Sure, I was angry over injustice, esp environmental injustices, but now I can barely shut off how obsessed and bitter I feel. Bitterness stings. It robs. However, when I thought my heart would break again over Kavanaugh, I was able to spin (on my wheel). So that's progress.
Posted by sigismund on October 19, 2018, at 19:44:40
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on October 19, 2018, at 16:08:40
Well, I was thinking about my bitterness today.
It's not helpful. (Be the change you want to see.)
But is it appropriate?
If not now, when?
The Australian parliament just had a vote on a motion about whether it was OK to be white.
I told my friend here that 28 members had voted in favour.
He replied 'Only 28?'
I think he understood.
Just as well we have no serious problems (other than this) ahead of us.
Posted by beckett2 on October 19, 2018, at 19:54:19
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain, posted by sigismund on October 19, 2018, at 19:44:40
> Well, I was thinking about my bitterness today.
>
> It's not helpful. (Be the change you want to see.)
>
> But is it appropriate?
>
> If not now, when?
>
> The Australian parliament just had a vote on a motion about whether it was OK to be white.
>
> I told my friend here that 28 members had voted in favour.
>
> He replied 'Only 28?'
>
> I think he understood.
>
> Just as well we have no serious problems (other than this) ahead of us.What? Like ok to use the word white?
Posted by beckett2 on October 19, 2018, at 19:56:08
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain, posted by sigismund on October 19, 2018, at 19:44:40
> Well, I was thinking about my bitterness today.
>
> It's not helpful. (Be the change you want to see.)
>
> But is it appropriate?
>
> If not now, when?
>
> The Australian parliament just had a vote on a motion about whether it was OK to be white.
>
> I told my friend here that 28 members had voted in favour.
>
> He replied 'Only 28?'
>
> I think he understood.
>
> Just as well we have no serious problems (other than this) ahead of us.I think your bitterness is softer. Maybe sadder?
Posted by beckett2 on October 19, 2018, at 19:59:44
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on October 19, 2018, at 19:56:08
There's this from today's Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/18/stunned-then-shocked-race-adviser-tasered-by-police-is-targeted-again
Posted by sigismund on October 20, 2018, at 4:25:45
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on October 19, 2018, at 19:54:19
I am just making this up, but some people feel that cultural marxism has threatened the identity of white people who are now subject to the same discrimination as everyone else. So cultural Marxism has replaced the Politics of Envy as the Get Out of jail Free card.
I might even hazard a guess that all those coloured people threaten us by socialising together (talking together in groups!), thus the Sudanese gangs. in Melbourne that Dutton, backed by Murdoch and company, were using to get rid of Turnbull. Why should decent Mums and Dads feel threatened by groups of black (really black) young (probably handsome) young men in the streets. The movements of the politics of envy over they years is interesting.
Fortunately all Australian political parties have passed motions declaring themselves non-racist. So that fixes that. This is like King Canute.
I wouldn't call my tone here bitter. Scornful is more like it.
Posted by sigismund on October 20, 2018, at 4:53:17
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain » beckett2, posted by beckett2 on October 19, 2018, at 19:59:44
In the US a 93 yo woman was at a demonstration. There must have been a disturbance. She faced a police officer. 'Come on! Tazer me, you bastard! I dare you.'
So he did.Where we live a 16 yo boy ran naked into the street at 3 in the morning yelling for water. Acid? Meth? He refused to obey (couldn't hear or make sense of?) a reasonable police order (Stay still? Stop asking for water?) so they (four of them, I think) tazered him 16 times and beat him up with their batons. All captured on cctv. If I say 'This is the price of freedom', is that bitter? That's what Bill O'Reilly said after Las Vegas. What about 'tough love'? (a concept popularised in a book from the Reagan years, although in his defence I should mention the words from Crimmond (sp?) 'For thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff me comfort still'.
'We go to great efforts to avoid violence, using the least injurious methods of control.' Irony?
When I was a kid some police officers might have said, 'What's the matter, son? What are you doing out here with no clothes in the middle of the night? Here, take my coat, put it around you, come down to the station and have some water and a cup tea and we will see what we can do for you.' (Sounds like John Wayne trying to be gracious.)
Or was that how we imagined ourselves to be? You knew better than to be out there like that.
Posted by sigismund on October 20, 2018, at 4:59:12
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain, posted by sigismund on October 20, 2018, at 4:53:17
Posted by sigismund on October 20, 2018, at 5:05:47
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain, posted by sigismund on October 20, 2018, at 4:59:12
Auden is sounding more appropriate, don't you think?
In the nightmare of the dark
All the dogs of Europe bark,
And the living nations wait,
Each sequestered in its hate;Intellectual disgrace
Stares from every human face,
And the seas of pity lie
Locked and frozen in each eye.Follow, poet, follow right
To the bottom of the night,
With your unconstraining voice
Still persuade us to rejoice;With the farming of a verse
Make a vineyard of the curse,
Sing of human unsuccess
In a rapture of distress;In the deserts of the heart
Let the healing fountain start,
In the prison of his days
Teach the free man how to praise.
Posted by sigismund on October 20, 2018, at 5:49:29
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain, posted by sigismund on October 20, 2018, at 5:05:47
From one of our better journalists.......
Maybe some Liberals and Nationals actually believe there is anti-white racism in Australia. That white Australians suffer under the burden of living significantly longer lives than Indigenous Australians. That we endure the xenophobic torment of having better health and fewer chronic diseases. That we suffer the apartheid of better access to health and education services. That we are forced to live with greater wealth, more and better-paying jobs, and greater economic opportunity than non-whites. After all, is there not a Closing The Gap program to address exactly these kinds of racial injustices for whites?
Lets Godwin this garbage. Yes, lets go there. This is how Nazism grabbed power in Germany, by being indulged and legitimised and enabled by conservative politicians for their own political purposes. What was the Coalitions political purpose? Presumably to keep in Hansons good books so as to ensure their chances of securing legislative outcomes in the Senate. As if their experience with Hanson on company tax cuts hadnt shown them that Hanson lacks both the brains and basic decency to either stick to a policy position or a commitment once shes given it.
The job of fighting fascism isnt merely one for progressives and centrists. Conservatives also have a crucial role conservatives with decency, values, a belief in protecting institutions and an understanding of history.
Posted by beckett2 on October 20, 2018, at 14:45:32
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain » beckett2, posted by sigismund on October 20, 2018, at 4:25:45
> I am just making this up, but some people feel that cultural marxism has threatened the identity of white people who are now subject to the same discrimination as everyone else. So cultural Marxism has replaced the Politics of Envy as the Get Out of jail Free card.
>
> I might even hazard a guess that all those coloured people threaten us by socialising together (talking together in groups!), thus the Sudanese gangs. in Melbourne that Dutton, backed by Murdoch and company, were using to get rid of Turnbull. Why should decent Mums and Dads feel threatened by groups of black (really black) young (probably handsome) young men in the streets. The movements of the politics of envy over they years is interesting.
>
> Fortunately all Australian political parties have passed motions declaring themselves non-racist. So that fixes that. This is like King Canute.
>
> I wouldn't call my tone here bitter. Scornful is more like it.Ok, I don't know Australian politics, and I was alarmed (and startled) that Morrison grabbed onto Trump. So maybe this above has to do with that.
Posted by beckett2 on October 20, 2018, at 15:03:54
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain, posted by sigismund on October 20, 2018, at 4:53:17
> In the US a 93 yo woman was at a demonstration. There must have been a disturbance. She faced a police officer. 'Come on! Tazer me, you bastard! I dare you.'
> So he did.
>
> Where we live a 16 yo boy ran naked into the street at 3 in the morning yelling for water. Acid? Meth? He refused to obey (couldn't hear or make sense of?) a reasonable police order (Stay still? Stop asking for water?) so they (four of them, I think) tazered him 16 times and beat him up with their batons. All captured on cctv. If I say 'This is the price of freedom', is that bitter? That's what Bill O'Reilly said after Las Vegas. What about 'tough love'? (a concept popularised in a book from the Reagan years, although in his defence I should mention the words from Crimmond (sp?) 'For thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff me comfort still'.
>
> 'We go to great efforts to avoid violence, using the least injurious methods of control.' Irony?
>
> When I was a kid some police officers might have said, 'What's the matter, son? What are you doing out here with no clothes in the middle of the night? Here, take my coat, put it around you, come down to the station and have some water and a cup tea and we will see what we can do for you.' (Sounds like John Wayne trying to be gracious.)
>
> Or was that how we imagined ourselves to be? You knew better than to be out there like that.I've pointedly instructed my son on how to behave around law enforcement. You're right, I think, (that before tasers), police had less recourse to over-exerting force. Common sense would be you talk to someone, and when you're tasering them, you realize your command to cooperate might not be obeyed because the suspect (?) was convulsing. So hold off shooting.
Posted by beckett2 on October 20, 2018, at 15:41:10
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain, posted by sigismund on October 20, 2018, at 5:49:29
> From one of our better journalists.......
>
> Maybe some Liberals and Nationals actually believe there is anti-white racism in Australia. That white Australians suffer under the burden of living significantly longer lives than Indigenous Australians. That we endure the xenophobic torment of having better health and fewer chronic diseases. That we suffer the apartheid of better access to health and education services. That we are forced to live with greater wealth, more and better-paying jobs, and greater economic opportunity than non-whites. After all, is there not a Closing The Gap program to address exactly these kinds of racial injustices for whites?
> Lets Godwin this garbage. Yes, lets go there. This is how Nazism grabbed power in Germany, by being indulged and legitimised and enabled by conservative politicians for their own political purposes. What was the Coalitions political purpose? Presumably to keep in Hansons good books so as to ensure their chances of securing legislative outcomes in the Senate. As if their experience with Hanson on company tax cuts hadnt shown them that Hanson lacks both the brains and basic decency to either stick to a policy position or a commitment once shes given it.
> The job of fighting fascism isnt merely one for progressives and centrists. Conservatives also have a crucial role conservatives with decency, values, a belief in protecting institutions and an understanding of history.Lots of Godwinning going on. Maybe that is what trump was referring to when he said we'd be winning so much, we'd get tired of winning.
Posted by beckett2 on October 20, 2018, at 16:12:32
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain, posted by sigismund on October 20, 2018, at 4:59:12
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoIIio5ffi4
I don't know him. Joanna Newsom accompanied him (apparently; I just read), and he influenced her. I can hear it clearly in this song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXPFfgdxp9o
Her brother is running for CA governor, another event I'm nervous about because I'm pretty happy with our current governor who is terming out. Not sure Newsom has the necessary gravitas to keep our state steady. We have 44 lawsuits against the trump administration--and our attorney general is up, too. We are great irritant.I'm a dodo, I know, but I didn't realize how deep racism is in Australia. Similarly, the US was born with racism, First Nation and slavery. Technology has it's way? Thinking about how much crueler the police can be behind tasers. I need my coffee, my thoughts are half thoughts.
You must have a great vinyl collection. I'm enjoying Stormcock right now. But on Apple Music (sorry!)
Last night my family was watching Cold Mountain and at a point I left the room. The movie is not particularly notable except for the inclusion of a terrible event from our civil war. https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/07/29/the-battle-of-the-crater/
Posted by beckett2 on October 20, 2018, at 18:49:07
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on October 20, 2018, at 16:12:32
Who coined 'shock and awe'? There are a series of documentaries by Adam Curtis for bbc, one called All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace. I love it.
Looking up the term, the wiki entry closes with this:
In popular culture
Following the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the US, the term "shock and awe" has been used for commercial purposes. The United States Patent and Trademark Office received at least 29 trademark applications in 2003 for exclusive use of the term.[23] The first came from a fireworks company on the day the US started bombing Baghdad. Sony registered the trademark the day after the beginning of the operation for use in a video game title but later withdrew the application and described it as "an exercise of regrettable bad judgment."[24] It is also the name of a level in the video game Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, in which the player character experiences a nuclear detonation. The preceding section of the game is an example of Shock and Awe tactics, as the United States Marine Corps executes the strategy in an unnamed Middle Eastern country. The term is also used as an achievement in the popularly acclaimed game Starcraft 2, where it is obtained when a certain number of units die to the tactical strike craft whilst invisible. It is also the name of an achievement in Gears of War 2 and Miss Fortune's weapons in League of Legends. Miscellaneous other uses of the term include golf equipment, an insecticide, a set of bowling balls, a racehorse, a shampoo, condoms, and heroin.In an interview, Harlan Ullman stated that he believed that using the term to try to sell products was "probably a mistake," and "the marketing value will be somewhere between slim and none."[25]
Despite the bile I vent over trump and feel very very angry about the votes cast for him, the US is experiencing something like disaster capitalism. Puerto Rico is literally experiencing this.Did I mention this? My kid asked why I am practically apoplectic at the mention of trump. Because I'm a parent, and of course this is a topic of both amusement and bemusement. I say it's because he comes from where I lived and has always been a person deserving (?) scorn and ridicule; imagine if Logan Paul or Rice Gum (youtube personalities) became president when you were an adult. Well, this was hilarious, and I've never again been called out for my extreme response.
Posted by alexandra_k on October 21, 2018, at 2:07:50
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on October 20, 2018, at 16:12:32
> I'm a dodo, I know, but I didn't realize how deep racism is in Australia. Similarly, the US was born with racism, First Nation and slavery.
I've come to see a lot of racism in NZ, too.
I'm fairly race-blind. Having been raised on tv made by artists who had fairly idealistic views of race blindness, or at least a generous dose of tokenism inclusion. TV shows like Benson... And I'm sure most of the surgeons on TV are black...
The secondary school I attended had a fairly large Maori influence and a Marae and culture group. The foster home I lived in was run by a lady who was Scottish (very pale, red hair, freckles) and a guy who was a big Maori guy who never wore shoes... They were decent people. A little superficial rougness (maybe some tattoos) and at least one of their (all grown up now) kids were into some slighly more dodgey stuff (gang stuff and jail time)... But decent people, again... They would drag us around a variety of Maraes for various things... Weddings... Someones birthday...
Coming back...
I didn't think there were any Maori here. Down south, I mean. Only over this last year (maybe this last year and a half) have I seen them come out of the woodwork. Students firstly (from out of town). Now they are starting to say they've been here all along living in the suburburbs and rural communities down here. Really? First I heard...
Racism has been pretty successful, I guess is what that means.
I found this video on Maaori rural doctors for up north... In recent years... Around 70+ student doctors being sent up north... The Maaori rural candidates...
Saying they would look after their people better than the others looked after their people. That'd be true. Given the rheumatic fever thing.
I found there was a batch of cold and flu tablets recalled because they found penicillum mould growing on them.
Huh.
Huh.
I guess that would be a good way of trying to increase antibiotic resistance. Try and cultivate low levels of antibiotics in things like that...
Posted by alexandra_k on October 21, 2018, at 2:11:19
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain, posted by alexandra_k on October 21, 2018, at 2:07:50
http://www.medsafe.govt.nz/hot/RecallActionNoticesNew/21992.asp
Posted by alexandra_k on October 21, 2018, at 2:29:19
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain, posted by alexandra_k on October 21, 2018, at 2:11:19
Different Maaori tribes are different...
There's some awful Maaori in Auckland (my personal experience of them was that they were awful to me).
There was a real focus in Auckland on Maaori-dom. On this idea of people being on a hierarchy and equality for Maaori or equity for Maaori was when they had comperable positions on the hierarchy as white people.
The idea of the Treaty as being an international thing. So there is no nation of New Zealand. Maaori soverignty. They didn't ask settlers to settle here and we should go away.
Or spend all our time sitting still on the Marae keeping our mouths shut listening to the Maaori elders rant at us in Maaori because...
Well...
In reparation of how he was supposed to sit still and shut up in the classroom when he was a kid, I suppose.
I don't know.
By Maori for Maori. They are clear. I'm not Maori. So...
Where does that leave me?
Sh*t out of luck.
So... It's hard not to be racist in Auckland. Becuase the Auckland Maori I experienced were racist towards me because I'm not Maori. So all I'm allowed to do is parrot back to them exactly what they've said to me. Unthinkingly and without understanding. And... For me to get out / get away because I am not wanted there.
They couldn't be any clearer.
The Waikato Maori weren't like that... From memory. And they didn't much like the Auckland Maori, either. Something something about selling out their own people and...
But I haven't even seen a Marae down here...
I read something about how peoples used to be more diverse...
Like how fruits and vegetables and so on... There used to be far more people and they were more distict from one another...
Anyway...
Posted by sigismund on October 21, 2018, at 18:11:56
In reply to post coffee » beckett2, posted by beckett2 on October 20, 2018, at 18:49:07
Did you know that the morning dew in 'Morning Dew' actually referred to nuclear fallout? The radioactive stuff. Walking out in the morning dew wondering where everyone had gone.
I just despair for our culture. If the lies were the exception......I was thinking that if you destroy a people, steal their country, denigrate them and blame them for it, and do your best to ignore and forget it, then perhaps, even though you may wish otherwise, these crimes confidently assigned to oblivion may return in how you respond to the distress of others, including your own children. Australians fought in the war in South Sudan, well before the Boer War, in defence of the white race. Oh well, it doesn't matter anyway as the song says. I never understood exactly why I felt better outside the English speaking world. The children in some of those places look happier. I have held the hands of my godchildren in Peru for 100 times longer than those of my father. I understand that children are a complete nuisance, but when they are loved and left alone they are so beautiful they melt my heart, and since I despair so much I don't think their nonsense is nearly as toxic as the nonsense of adulta. Like Leonard Cohen said 'We don't like children anyhow'. Maybe we need that motion in parliament that it is OK to be white, but that won't do it for me. This is reminding me of self-hating Jews. But I don't really hate myself. I suppose my thinking was formed by the Christian idea of confession, atonement and repentance.
I will try to do justice to your posts when I can. Right now I need a drink.
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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
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