- We progressives may not vote for a Republican, but we can stay home. Or vote for third party candidates. I will _not_ vote for Obama — no matter what. His sell-out on healthcare, Wall Street, constitutional due process, human rights — and much more — all guarantee I would not vote for him under any circumstances.
- Clearly, neither of these former journalists were at The New York Times, CNN, or NPR, since none of those any longer do anything get to the bottom of things, especially in American foreign policy, domestic spying, Wall Street or American economics.
- In a recent interview with an actor, I believe Mr. Lopate made the distinction between actors who take a role into themselves, adapt themselves to the role, and those who put themselves in the role, adapt the role. I'm making a mess of the way Mr. Lopate put it, but it seems to me that John Lithgow is one of the very few who does both simultaneously.
- So Jacob, the Israeli caller, is concerned about Egypt's military budget, but not about Israel's, which is far larger. It is Israel, not Egypt, that has attacked _every_ one of its neighbors.
- If a Republican in power right now, Fawaz Gerges would be telling us about the wonders of that president. Gerges sounds like a classic go-along-to-get-along pseudo-intellectual. He won't say anything that really upsets the mainstream because he is more concerned about getting invited to the right estates for summer vacations than he is about the truth or the welfare of any public.
- Given Christie's dictatorial inclinations on so many issues and his stance on gay marriage, how are we to understand his sounding like a human being on parental rights of gays? Is his stance on marriage just a cynical gimmick to win votes of right-wingers?
- The hysterical rage over Facebook's failure to soar to $50 per share in 2 hours is a perfect example of how Wall Street has come to believe that it has a _right_ to enormous profits.
The only surprise is that Obama hasn't stepped in to offer a 'bailout.'
The Economist has an essay on how there have been fewer IPOs for precisely the reason the guest notes. Rates of IPOs are way down over fifteen or twenty years ago.
The caller who is griping about how she didn't get the price she wanted is clearly — one — an amateur, and — two — an example of the right-to-profit mentality.
If she had bought an _option_ with a strike of $38, she would have been protected. But Americans are complete idiots about stock markets and Wall Street is leading the way.
- To Tom LI --
I'm very sympathetic to the need for tough questions, but in fairness to Mr. Lopate, however interesting the tough questions are, the interviewer has to elicit the subject's position, not press his own. And, purely from a strategic point, there's nothing to be gained from asking a question that absolutely won't be answered.
By contrast, if this were a press conference, and the subject were an active decision maker, then there is a lot to be said for putting him (or her) on the spot.
- Jose Rodriguez was a whisker's breadth away from being prosecuted for his crimes.
Sounds like Henry Crumpton endorses those crimes. This is sufficient to undermine everything he has said in this interview, to the extent that he has said anything substantive (which isn't much).
- Didn't Mr. Lopate have William Binney, Jacob Appelbaum, and Laura Poitras on recently? They offer a really interesting counterpoint to Mr. Crumpton, who offers little more than mildly-stated sabre-rattling for the CIA.
- More
