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Pre-election America Reads In Red And Blue
If the following "heatmap" of readership political bent by state from Amazon is any indication of the votership inclination in the coming election, then Mitt Romney, more natural disasters notwithstanding, has nothing to worry about. Then again in the world of oxymorons, there are few quite as potent as "America Reads" (with the exception of the occasional money-losing Kindle for the aspirationally cool reader).
h/t Nolsgrad
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LTER, you make a lot of sense. Some of the hardcore Libertarians on this site are ideologues to the point of being illogical and not demonstrating awareness of reality; further, many of them deny 911 truth, which I cannot fathom.
crap, crap and... crap. How's von rumpoy doin', brussels?
Foolish. Attack the ideas not the person.
I take it you are not familiar with Margaret Sanger and Eugenics, the current vogue of Democrat politics. Old Margie wanted Planned Parenthood to rid the world of Black and Brown people through abortion. And maybe, like her Fabaian lover, HG Wells, rid the world of the unproductive and halt and lame.
She was a bit shocked that the Nazi's beat her to the punch by utilizing her gestalt and George Bernard Shaw's gas to rid themselves of the people they thought useless.
Things must be mighty slow over at OFA to be hanging around here and spreading the dis-information. Obama is all for infanticide and this is the best you got?
FORWARD SOVIET!
+1
+2
Leave it asshole Ames and Levine to get the facts wrong....again. They have about as much credibility as Howard Stern, and only a fraction of the entertainment value.
http://freestudents.blogspot.com/2010/03/smearing-ayn-rand-nietzsche-and...
Ryan supported tarp, debt ceiling increases, the bailout of gm, both wars, ndaa, patriot.........STFU already about who ryan worships or quotes.....he says one thing and does another, like all of the other republicrats in government....start talking about a third party candidate and you will be making progress...enough of this bullshit bread and circuses.........
+1 Exactly.
kito, kito... What happened? You're not your dark sarcastic self. You're starting to sound like this whole thing is salvageable.
Have you forgotten it's a lot more fun to watch idiots believe the next election is going to save them?
Ryan is the replacement Newton Gingrich for TPTB, they need a fresh Decepti-Con to talk conservative and stop any and all challenges to the "Progressive Statist" agenda.
If Rand is so evil then why do you have to tell lies in your attempt to indict her? She said that she conceived a character extrapolated from," A Hickman with a purpose. And without the degeneracy. It is more exact to say that the model is not Hickman, but what Hickman suggested to me." Great minds often find inspiration in odd places. A falling apple caused Issac Newton to consider the gravitational forces which effect planetary bodies but that doesn't mean that Newton was a crazy person who thought the Earth was an apple.
Christopher Hitchens, author and former editor of Vanity Fair once said of Ayn Rand, “I don’t think there’s any need to have essays advocating selfishness among human beings; I don’t know what your impression has been, but some things require no further reinforcement.”
Is that the same Hitchens who insisted that we murder innocent Iraqis over the WMD they didn't have?
hey BANK GUY! What about the Prez that eats dogs?
She certainly seems to have cavorted with satanists in her later years.
Gonna disagree with you. Rand's philosophy was more closely aligned with Neoconservativism than it is with libertarianiasm ('hippies of the right' as she used to call them)
"Rand's philosophy was more closely aligned with Neoconservativism than it is with libertarianias"
Exactly! I suppose it's just coincidence that she was of the same 'tribe' as a large number of the neoconservative 'leadership.'
Rothbard was also of that tribe. As was Mises.
I know, and I've posted on ZH before that I'm of the opinion that all the 'isms'(capitalism, communism, etc.) grew from the same root.
Would you care to provide some documentation to back that up?
Yes, her interview on Phil Donahue from years back (sorry don't have link handy as I'm using mobile device). IIRC she said Iran was out of line for stealing us oil drilling technology, or something similar.
Rand was great on economics and personal liberty. Not so good on foreign policy issues though. And she despised libertarians and anarchists.
I've seen the interview and Rand was definitely wrong about Western involvement in the Middle East. If I'd had the opportunity I'd have suggested that she check her premises. But that doesn't mean that she was aligned with neocons or more aligned with them than libertarians. Rand spent far more time speaking out against the use of force against others than she did disparaging Iranians.
Watch this clip from Rand's appearance on Tom Snyder's Tomorrow show. She says that Americans can rise again and the movement will come from the right but not the religious right.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFy9A7WEzPA
Your're right, I exaggeratted a bit in tying her in with neocons based upon one position. What confuses me is why she harbored such disdain for libertarians when her novels so closely align with libertarian ideals (as I understand them)?
Regardless, I still love her work and resepct the hell out of her achievements. I first read "Atlas Shrugged" while stationed in Baghdad. I was already questioning US warmongering; she just pushed me over the edge so to speak.
Have you ever watched two libertarians argue the finer points of their philosophies? There are few things in life whcih are initially more funny and ultimately more enervating. The good news is that in a free society libertarians have the opportunity to spend more time acting and interacting productively than talking unproductively.
That issue greatly confounded me as well. I think the answer lies in her all-too-human failings, namely her inability to "share the spotlight" once the libertarian theme (and Ayn Rand's message WAS undeniably libertarian) became accepted and disseminated by a wider audience. Her personal prudery against the use of ANY kind of recreational drug (aside from her beloved tobacco --- once again highlighting her hypocrisy) was undoubtedly part of her irrational denunciations of Libertarians as well.
But her hypocrisy here was a sidenote to, NOT an inherent part of, the pro-liberty message which she otherwise successfully managed to broadcast.
Like all religious zealots/hero worshippers, you conveniently gloss over those things with which you disagree. Rand was a neocon war monger when it suited her, and she was anti-drug because she didn't like them. But she staunchly defended cigarette smoking because ... wait for it ... she smoked.
Her hypocrisy is not a side-note, but I know I won't convince you. If I could prove she murdered 10 people you would still defend her and say it was a lapse, like Greenspan was supposedly an abberation.
So we must await the perfect person, spotless in every thought and deed, before we can accept any of their teachings or arguments?
Maybe after you wipe the rabid foam from your mouth and stop howling at the moon (in whose face you see Ayn Rand trampling on humanity, rather than the man that everyone else sees there), I will be able to begin to understand what you are trying to say here.
That's right. LTER has never read a single book by any author who was ever wrong about anything. At least it keeps his library clear of clutter.
[quote] So we must await the perfect person, spotless in every thought and deed, before we can accept any of their teachings or arguments? [/quote]
THAT person, it is said, got nailed to a cross...
LTER, glad to see you keeping a balance in here.
Rand's connection w/Rothschild is something all of these folks simply ignore.
Go sniff a chemtrail.
Crockett, akak -
Thanks guys. Agree re: libertarian arguments as interesting thought experiments, but ultimately unfulfilling. Much, much larger fish to fry.
I enjoy reading you guys' comments...please keep it up.
I am not opposed to libertarian viewpoints. I am a libertarian, objectivist, Austrian, anarchist voluntaryist to one degree or another. I'm just noting that libertarians who live in cages tend to nip at each other on occasion in a way that is humorous but ultimately boring. Set us free so that we can start working; all this talking is driving me nuts.
Youve got to be correct. I do wonder what she would have thought of her disciple Chairman Greenspan, and his CBank house of cards he help create. Also, his wife is a leftist - think Ayn would have invited her to dinner?
Are you a medium?
"Read"? ... Not too sure ... I do know for certain that many can't punch-out a hole in a damn card.
Apparently only red state voters. The blue state people are at Obama rallies.
"American voters can read?"
Elders in school before 1955.
Old paradigm: be sure Jonny can read before passing him to the next level even if he must stay late and work harder
New paradigm: NEVER be so impolite to tell Johnny he cannot read and reward Johnny just for showing up to class
You didn't read that book. Somebody else did that.
Not according to Allen Dulles' famous remarks to the Warren Commission -- he successfully predicted only a few professors would ever read the entire Warren Commission Report and realize it was total trash.
My political book/and financial recommendations:
Battling Wall Street: The Kennedy presidency, by Donald Gibson
Thy Will Be Done, by Gerard Colby with Charlotte Dennett
Wall Street Capitalism: theory of the bondholder class, by E. Ray Canterbery
Extreme Money, by Satyajit Das
Billionaires' Ball, by McQuaig and Brooks
etc.
Americans read books?
Of course.....on our iPads.
On the iPads the Chinese lent them (or did the USA succeed in paying all their debts?).
Sunday Morning Humor at its greatest
I thought I Pads were an essential part of a nutritious breakfast.
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/former-goldmanite-and-head-new-york-fed...
Another name for shoes.
I was visiting my son last night when I asked if I could borrow a newspaper.
'This is the 21st century, Dad,' he said. 'I don't waste money on newspapers. Here, you can borrow my iPad.'
I can tell you, that bloody fly never knew what hit it...
I'm just thrilled that America knows how to read. Maybe it's the comprehension thing . . . .
There are far more "Red" books and they are peddled far more heavily than "Blue" books. Rush Limbaugh's sheeple buy every book he recommends -- it's almost as if he's a male Oprah.
There are far more "Red" books and they are peddled far more heavily than "Blue" books. Rush Limbaugh's sheeple buy every book he recommends -- it's almost as if he's a male Oprah.
Yeah,I am sure ALL those are reccomended by Rush LimPbaugh, at least their reading,and things that shows a lot are awake.
Go see 2016, all u Baba nubbers,see what u think of ur last vote.
Awake to the socialist Muslim Usurper....
DURRRRRRRRRRR
So when do we attack Israel? After we kill a couple million of muslim brothers in Iran do we get to attack Israel?
What percentage is porn?
I'm thinking there would be a very dark colour in central New York for this!
Can't give you a real number.....just Shades of Grey.
"50 Shades of Grey" is thinly disguised child pornography.
"The female character has no sexual experience. None. She is given the age of 21, but that age is itself a cover. Her true emotional age is much-much younger. She has never even masturbated. She has never even experienced an orgasm. That alone is one of the greatest attractions to the pedophile. That is the psychology of that kind of act. You get off on taking purity.
But move from the fact the girl has no sexual experience whatsoever. Now pay attention to her narrative dialogue. Really listen to how she talks. Again, she’s not talking like a young woman, she’s talking like a girl. She talks about cartwheels, and skipping, over and over again it is the language and the imagery of a girl.
After that this girl has her innocence taken from her. The abuser, the older man, makes her think its her choice. Again, you and I both know that is one of the primary tools of the pedophile. They create an environment where the child feels it’s their idea. It’s what they want. But what happens after that innocence is taken away? Then the abuser becomes more openly abusive. Controlling. In this story he tells the little girl how to speak. What to wear. What to eat. He is Daddy and she is daughter. When you read it read it like a mother who is also a woman who is experienced with the real life tragedy of abuse.
And there is many more themes about that abuse in this book. There is spanking and the use of Baby oil. Why baby oil? Think about it. The girl wears pigtails. She complains that he is treating her like a child. He says she acts like a child. There is even a scene where the abuser creates a situation to take her innocence from her again. He rips out her tampon and engages in forceful sex yet again. Her hymen is ripped, and the bloody remnants of it are again symbolized in an act of pedophile rape.”
http://theulstermanreport.com/2012/08/16/50-shades-of-grey-pedophilia-hi...
The target audience is women. Based on what I've seen and heard mostly middle aged women.
This doesn't mean that much since much of Obama's constituency is on the dole and doesn't use the internet or, if they do, their credit cards are maxed out.
Is "US" magazine considered "blue"
I know that map is wrong because the people around here can't read.
I got a kindle, and I never actually purchase books. I just download them. I highly recommend it!
You still purchased a Kindle.
I still read books, ink on paper you know.
Here is the thing I want to know, if you are downloading books from the ether of modern technology how do you know they have not been subtly changed by TPTB to engender a completely different perception in the reader? Are there banks of readers who sit there comparing the original hardback published editions of books to the new electronic versions word for word and comma by comma?
Is there anything that TPTB would not do to manipulate the public?
I like books that don't require any voltage or current. They tend to last a long time, and you can spill tomato soup on them without them exploding or gumming up the keyboard.
They're just scared of guys named Montag, and musty basements.
I am not blue or red but our whole house is stacked wall to wall with books.
We unrepentantly read on a Kindle and Project Gutenberg is a great source of free books, particularly if you like classics.
Right now I'm half way through Upton Sinclair's "Jungle". Sinclair is a self-described Socialist so I believe the red book buyers will be against it, and the blue book buyers will for it.
Personally, I think the common denominator in any political or social system is it's people and I'm convinced that all "systems" can only be as good or bad as it's people.
That Ferfal (sp?) fella from Argentina has written about the meltdown there has said books become precious in such a situation. If you have the solar charger a life-time supply of books can be stored on a Kindle. Just don't break it.
For this kind of analysis, shouldn't different versions of the same book (hardcover, paperback, ebook) be included together?
It's really questionable:
So this survey heavily favors the party that pimps their books, namely the Republican party
what is questionable? both red and blue lists of books had prices next to them.
I think it shows what people want to read about not which side is better at pimping.
The Diebold Factor will have more influence on the outcome than sheeple reading habits.
Joseph Stalin was right. Those who count the votes determine everything.
Amerikans read TMZ and Danielle Steel. The fantasy and crap is only thing they care about. They do care about thier fucking phones and endless apps. POS sheeples. Too much inbred fucks
It's never too late to get your G.E.D.
By the next election cycle, we will probably need to show our reader ID cards to vote.
is there an APP for this shit? is ehat Amerikas are asking. Nothing else matters,
Interesting that DC is reading books, but no time to "read" legislation prior to voting.
Those voters are registered elsewhere.
The New New Deal... keynesian/FDR bullshit.
The New Jim Crow... book on how blacks are overtargeted by cops...
Atlas Shrugged... regulations on any business is bad...
The Amateur & Obama's America : books on how Obama is incomptent...thanks for the scoop captain obvious.
Nickel and Dimed... book on how poor suffer...
So basically... ``Leftist books``... we need more government to control our lives and save the poor with welfare...
``Rightist books``... Obama is bad, regulation is bad...
Seems to me, both sides are full of shit.
Nope, Over-regulation and Obama are both bad.
And again what's a big part of the economy blowing up??? Ah yes, regulation of the financial industry was abolished by Clinton.
Lolwut? The financial industry is the most heavily regulated industry there is. The problem isn't "regulation", it's enforcement. So, how many indictments were handed down by the Obama justice department? None? How many after the S&L scandal? Over 1,000?
Please explain to me what good regulations are if there is no enforcement of basic fundamentals like fraud?
Then, we can talk about all of the moral hazard injected into the system by "progressives".
I agree with ya. Regulation is indeed worthless when it's not enforced.
The Gramm-Bliley act did really pass, you know. That actually happened--it's part of history, kinda like WWII and the attempted assassination of Reagan.
It was a tremendous DEregulation of the banking industry. If it hadn't occurred, the "commercial banks" would've been largely kept out of the derivatives market.
Most voters don't read books. As long as people have become dependant on the government, they will vote for a bigger government.
I read one book,called the truth,and it was a lie!!!
So i stopped!
Try reading 'The Book of Lies', just for balance.
Most voters rely on the lame-stream-media for information.
The bestseller stats are as cooked as anything coming out of the BLS. The way the thinktanks buy up truckloads of whatever crap Ann Coulter just republished? Crown and Regnery are not the biggest legitimate publishers in America, really. They're just tied in with the Heritage Foundation and the radio and TV outlets in one large communications conglomerate advancing a certain marketing strategy to manage public discourse. It works very well.
Over the past couple of decades we've seen words completely change their meanings through this managed strategy, we have absolutely ludicrous statements being accepted as fact, and very nearly no serious or constructive examination or discussion of the real underlying problems threatening this country. We may not even have the vocabulary any more to come to grips with the crisis undermining our economic system, as a result of this.
While it is lining the pockets of a small group of Neo-Con entrepreneurs, it may be killing America. They don't care; they don't consider that their responsibility. And it certainly isn't as though the Washington Generals (oops, I mean, "The Democratic Party") has any ideas that could help us with what we face. But it is depressing to see how poorly the supposed opposition gets their word out.
Left... Right... Left.... Right.... Before you know it the sheep are being led to slaughter.
Correction: conservatives and libertarians read more than modern liberals and progressives. Unfortunately, they dont vote more than MLs and Ps do as even being dead doesnt seem to prevent ML/Ps from getting to the polls.
Using reading habits as a surrgate marker for the election outcome couldnt be more misleading.
Left! right! Left! Right!
http://garrisongraphics.blogspot.com/2010/08/march-of-tyranny.html
"Anyone can use the cartoon on their blogs IF they do not change or alter the cartoon and if they leave my name on it." Ben Garrison
"Repression is the only lasting philosophy. The dark deference of fear and slavery, my friend," observed the Marquis, "will keep the dogs obedient to the whip, as long as this roof," looking up to it, "shuts out the sky."
Obamas America,somewhere in Africa,courtesy, Earth Band!
Isnt it all, Americans America, the dream,that you gota be asleep to belive in,besides, You didnt build this,they did!!
Well here is news, for Ya Americans,the Europeans sleeps in the same dream,its called Ununited Europa,a wet dream of Royal Familys=The inbreeds,same Father,just look att Christian 7 ,the Lunatic king of the Danes.
Equals, they chose a Wimp, by the name Rumpy for President,from the contry without Goverment!
If books are an indicator what about movies?
Anti-Obama movie beats Batman, Bourne
This article is worthy of Newsweek.
I was thinking it pecfect for the USA Today.
I see that horrible shit at airports and hotels- basically CNN in print form.
Poor Gannett it's a dead paper walkin.
Voting for More or Less of the Same
As if elections mattered.
Global militarism, financial racketeering, and curtailed rights.
Endless terror wars and Prohibition II, handouts and bailouts to enrich a few, assassination, imprisonment without trial, rendition, torture, militarized Homeland police, all are endorsed by both Obama and Romney. (Sorry to burst anyone's bubble, but Obama is another war criminal.)
Logic might indicate in one way that is a good thing.
Why? Because the candidates are so alike, they should split the vote, allowing a third party advantage.
Nope say the pundits. They insist you should find some difference between the two evils, however small, and vote on that basis.
But then, with no registered voter opposition to further wars, swindles, and repression,
won’t whoever is elected be encouraged, explicitly supported, to continue more of the same?
Nope say the pundits. Voting for the lesser evil will steadily bring improvement. Always works, almost.
But I don’t want to vote for what I don’t want. Wouldn’t that be an offense to my conscience? The major parties wouldn’t be major if you stopped voting for them.
Nope say the pundits. You have to be practical. Expediency is the higher morality. Politics is the art of the possible.
wouldn’t it be better to register opposition, to speak out for what should be done, perhaps persuade others, instead of telling everyone that the best thing to do is vote support of bad policies and more crimes?
I’ll bet there are a lot of voters from both major parties who want an end to overseas militarism, government-bankster corruption, and infringements of liberties. If not now, when?
Nope say the pundits. That’s not possible. It can’t be done. Don’t rock the boat voting third party.
Maybe the boat needs to be rocked.?
If the choices were:
(a) Obama
(b) Romney
(c) none of the above.
"None of the above" would win!
You forgot these favorites:
"End Free Will" by Degenerate Dichotomy
"Vote Your Conscience" by American Pariah
and
"A Farewell to Qualms" by Earnest Lemmingway
Plus a new zerohedge favorite:
Commenting for Dummies: How to Script Your Political Attacks So Even a Minimum Wage Blog Monkey Can Bot It.
Very good.
Atlas Shrugged and The New Jim Crow are the only two of these I've read, and both were good. I think everyone knows what Atlas is about, the Jim Crow book is actually pretty libertarian as it attacks the Drug War as being racist, something that is definitely true.
Conclusion - despite what the media wants us to believe, right wing reads more than left wing, therefore is prob better informed.
It's not likely true, but even if it is, it's not the "reading" that informs people. They have to understand what they're reading, or it doesn't work.
I've seen a few recent examples of "conservatives" right here quoting sources that say the exact opposite of whatever nonsense they've claimed.
Important to keep a sense of humor about such things, but indeed it does lead me to despair at how we describe "literacy."
probably the same dum fuks who use the song Born in the USA as a patriotic jingle.
I'm amazed how some misread what an article exposes.
First off, there is nothing so say which political leanings those readers are. Eveyone assumes they are only people on the right. However, look at the map, and we only see blue (democan) states in the Northeast.
There is nothing to say that a large part of the readership are leftist that see a failed economic Obama administration.
But to say that would be incorrect also as there is NO conclusive evidence since there is nothing that says what politica leanings the readers have. It only suggests the readers are reading more conservative books. A perfect example of someone reading something and not understanding what they are reading, blunderdog.
Well, seems we're in agreement.
But can you break this up into smaller and grammatically correct sentences? I have no idea what you're saying.
"There is nothing to say that a large part of the readership are leftist that see a failed economic Obama administration."
USA! USA!
http://s016.radikal.ru/i336/1208/cf/8fc65cda22e3.jpg
Interesting forecasting tool for social mood.
http://bullandbearmash.com/chart/standard-poors-500-weekly-august-24-2012/
If this market holds (possible), Obama has a chance. If this market tanks (probable), Obama is finished. Presidential elections correlate well with market tops and bottoms.
Ayn Rand was a Russian Jew (name me one other conservative Russian Jew) who wrote The Fountainhead and started a cult on a bet- not unlike L Ron Hubbard.
And your point is...?
My point is I dont trust her or any other Russian Jews in that period after WW II.
Watch the 1959 interview with Mike Wallace (another Russian Jew)- he gets her on a philosphical question she can't answer.
And she approved of Hitler-too funny.
I understand.
I don't trust left-handed Albanian Christian unicycle riders with leather boots in a field of wheat on a blue moon on a Monday, either.
*
As determined by our totally unbiased poll of obscenely rich white guys, and ignorant rednecks of either sex.
Other than Howard Zinn's "A People's History Of The United States" & "The New Jim Crow", those books are full of skewed BS pandering to ignoramuses who believe this 2 party dictatorship actually gives them a choice.
Suckers.
Choose your preferred fascist
Nobody who accepts the premise of Zinn's People's History of the United States would be caught dead voting for a Repugnican OR a DemonRat.
'Blue book' my ass -- this article is just a dimwitted application of the 'false alternatives' sales technique on behalf of the ruling duopoly.
Ahhhh here we go with the "red state, blue state " charade, right on cue!
"Last week of August, cue the red state, blue state debate, fade into an over obsession with Florida and Ohio, set up the montages of Romney or Obama as our saviors...... And take in 3..2..1!"
Jesus this Presidential shit is so scripted and manipulated, it makes wall street look real!!! My only question is, WTF are all these "Obama is the devil" industry types going to do when Romney wins????? Go to the same fucking worthless place that all the "Bush is the devil" idiots went, I hope!
Then we can start are new industry, "Romney is the devil, and trying to use the WH to convert everyone in the world to Mormonism".
Meanwhile, in the real fucking world, everyone gets poorer and losses more liberties and freedom, just like they did under Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, and now Obama!! She any patterns sheeple who think politics in America is anything but fucking theatre??? I'll let you think about a while!
Have some faith, think positive, mustard seeds and green shoots and all that.
Now: would you like the Blueberry or Cherry Koolaid?
Ambien or Lunesta?
Xanax or Valium?
VOTE!
> <
O
What worries me is that fully half the voters have below-average IQ.
Since half the adult population intelligently refrains from voting, essentially EVERY lab rat who pulls little levers for politicians is a below-average moron.
Half the drivers surrounding you in traffic too.
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/08/john-henry-a-conservative-defense...
This article is meaningless, as the majority of Democrat voters (handout seeking ticks and leeches) cannot read.
Blue or Red?
Is that a choice between blueberry or cherry Koolaid?
now the powers that be has americans fighting americans about who reads more the red or blue, mission accomplished!
It really doesn’t matter who wins, creating despotism is the Central Planners wet dream.
Learn how to see through your Government issued rose colored glasses.
More Deadly Than War-1968
I will vote for Romney, in hopes that we can dilute the core agenda.
my brothers. I am a formerwall street trader wno lost everythig. an angel named biff appeared to me showed me the jehovahs word. he has a plan...but time is running out. biff will destroy the earrh in 2012012. biff has told me and the faithful to dig out and hollow th# earth so we can create a new jerusalem.
sweet
first, they call you a sociopath
then, they tell you how wonderful you after you confiscate their property and beat the daylights out of them with their own belt
-gandhi
Dazed And Confused-Led Zeppelin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auDv6cf2PBM (6:27)
I'm sure this is too far down to be seen. But what is most alarming has nothing to do with the map but rather that book purchases are being classified as "red" and "blue". How long until they are classified as "state sanctioned" and "unsanctioned"?
Don't worry about that. Its covered. The unsanctioned "white" books will not be found on Amazon, or collecting dust on the shelves of your local library.
My local library has zero of the books written by Dr. Timothy Leary, a free man who got his first degree under the GI bill, was kidnapped in Afghanistan by Nixon and incarcerated by Nixon for his ideas, then escaped prison and was granted asylum in Switzerland because the USA was persecuting him for his ideas. But the library does have 32 copies of the Palin's gibberish, 28 copies of Obama's and their 'used' bookstore is lined with tomes by all the other political freeloaders, all paid for with tax dollars... thanks ever so much, moppets. Apparently the printed word is a money laundering scam, and Assah is 15% better connected than Barry, at least around here.
Look! Kittens, and porn, and cat fights, oh, my! Free Electronic Heroin 2.0, oh, NO! Those who do not read are no better than those who can't. You will all be kept too busy to stop and realize how badly you are being fucked, anyway.
Hang on to your old books, the revisionists have been sanitizing them of "offensive content" since at least 1974.
I dont think it really matters, both parties seem to be doing everything they can to crush the middle class, one party wants to hand it to the poor, disabled, and illegals. The other party wants to give it to the corporations and war machines. Either way the working class will be held down by the jack-boot of poiticians hell-bent and spending our country into oblivian
They can try. I recommend the clam chowder.
I love listening to democrat and republican voters argue, especially when it gets heated, it inevitably turns into one of those fanboy who-would- win- a-fight-hulk -or-superman contests. everything gets exaggerated, "accomplishments" get blown up to super hero proportions while everything that ever went wrong (including that leak in your kitchen sink plumbing that just won't go away) is squarely, obviously and exclusively the fault of the "other guys". one side is always out to starve children, kill the poor, turn Washington into a 21st century version of the soviet Kremlin and of course, wreck the economy, while if the rest of America would just see the light, vote for their guys and keep them in power America would become the utopia. of course, when their guys can't get something done, it's always because the other guys wouldn't let them, thereby neatly deflecting responsibility so their guys never actually fail, in politics and political arguments the buck never really stops, in fact it's not a buck at all, it's a hot potato that just keeps getting tossed around.
convenient that, nobody ever really has to take responsibility for anything, the blame can always be shifted from side to side, a never ending, self sustaining cycle of political stupidity. and we need to get off this carousel of idiocracy or this car is never, ever going to get out of the ditch.
This seems like an excuse to be complacent.
All you Romney fans best turn out if you really want him in the White House. Don't take anything for granted--it's still way too close to call.
The problem with Rand, libertarianism and pro-capitalist ideologies in general is that human beings are *naturally* social. Natural socialbility was the key to the survival of the huan species in evolutionary time, and humans will spontaineously form associations, especially including economic associations. However economic sociality would threaten to suffocate the individualist, truck&barter, greed is good personality. That personality MUST resort to force simply to defend its existence. The urge to force is latent in this personality, no matter how much Rand eschews it. And somehow I don't think Rand denies the resort to force and violence in *self-defence*.
The personality is sociopathic by its own ideological self-definition: it hates natural human sociability, especially economic sociability, and *must* resort to violence in self defense.
Good points, big questions, but I don't think they are mutually exclusive.
Being part of a social group is naturally in human's self-interest for group security, suitable mates, food, and goods -- per our Heirarchy of Needs. But thereafter, humans will naturally pursue individual self-interest within the social group to acquire the best means, or resources (eg., best job, best house), to attract the best mate, etc., -- Meritocracy.
If someone grossly violates the social norm to acquire an unfair advantage within the group (Goldman Sachs, Corzine), it is in the self-interest of the rest of the group to stop it -- which is our Rule of Law. This is our prescribed feedback mechanism.
But that feedback mechanism is clearly broken. How Western society is going to prevail and stop the gross violators (CBs and Gov enablers) without destroying the natural meritocracy is the challenge of our day and an open question.
Meritocracy and individual self-interest will just go underground to black markets in an authoritarian collectivist society.
I can't help but wonder about the left right left right. Is this just something we should now embrace because I don't recall this approach in 2008.
I think America is having it's period. Being all red and all.
Clearing up an old canard...
America is actually #6 in the world for % with college degrees. And the Red team earns 55% more degrees than Blue team, true every single year since records were first kept in 1953, for both men and the women (Joseph Fried, 2008, "Rhetoric vs Reality... Democrat vs Republican"). Huge gap. Free range Dems merely project the fake meme that Red team is dumb because the Blue team can't keep up and are at least 3 generations behind.
Russia is #1 > Canada> Israel... >USA ... >>> Britain #12. Surprise?: Germany France, Spain, Italy, Belgium and the rest of the Eurobabble effetes don't even register in the top 16. ZH readers everywhere are naturally highly intelligent and any negative adjectives do not apply.
Yes, we have racked up billions in debt earning degrees to work at Papa Johns.
Anthropology or something else fun and entertaining that doesn't pay unless your Dad owns the company.
The problem with the methodology is that Demograt's prime constituencies either can't read or can't read English. Don't believe me....visit your local Section 8 housing project and check what they can read and for whom they're voting.
Jim
The Emperor Wears No Clothes
http://www.jackherer.com/thebook/
Pre-election America reads tabloids and centrally planned propaganda. Goose step...goose step...goose step
Obama 2016 doing record #'s a the box office ......do ya think people are starting to wake up ?
Nope
Nope
There's a good indie book called "The Case for a New America"...neither red nor blue.
This isn't really all that surprising...is it????
I'm not sure how the stats play out exactly, but I'm pretty darn sure that, in general, older people (i.e., 30+ ?) tend to vote more "conservatively" - Republican, that is. Whether or not you can call most Republican politicians "conservative" anymore is another story...
I would GUESS that people in that age group (i.e., 30+) are also much more likely to read books. Not that people under 30 don't read...but I would think they are more likely to just read stuff on the internet, etc...as opposed to actually buying a book.
Therefore, it seems to make sense that a majority of the "reads" of actual books are of the "conservative" flavor.
Don't get me wrong - I hope this DOES indicate that Romney has a good chance of winning...
...but I really consider it a pick of the lesser of two evils.
I read only non fiction, but rarely political books. Nobody out there has an opinion that I feel deserves a whole day of my time. It seems like Saturday morning cartoons has bled into the whole damn week with the pundits littering the airwaves, but rarely do they give me pause. Same regurgitated shit. The macro picture is what I am trying to discern, the left/right stuff is distraction. Jesse had an interesting article on an interview with Chris Hedges, I recommend that you watch..
http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2012/08/chris-hedges-on-empire-of-illusion.html