Diálogo Plural

Welcome to the era of compromise.  The way these developments were presented you'd think polarisation of politics in Washington was just an utter exaggeration. It is not; it is a preamble of much worse things to come. That is, long-term sound policy in favour of the American taxpayer - which is probably what they voted for -, will step aside fir short-termism with intent at political advantage.  All of it to deny a president they so pathologically hate a second term.  So... welcome to an short but intense period of bad-faith politics. But hey! You voted for it, so you deal with it.   A story from AP News: Obama, GOP reach deal to extend tax cuts Do tell me what you think...

Nobody said Healthcare reform was easy, or cheap. But, if one cares to notice, there is movement towards a very different dynamics of patient/provider economics of care. Check the article below, courtesy of The New York Times. Then check the rest of my normative considerations. Consumer Risks Feared as Health Law Spurs Mergers Consumer advocates fear the new health care law could worsen some problems it was meant to solve. http://nyti.ms/c889mS Two things: I'm uncomfortable with all this talk of cost-cutting and savings. The language of healthcare should be less of this and more of getting care to the ones who need it the most, especially to those suffering from chronic diseases. Which reminds me, where is the combative aura of Healthcare Reform supporters? Why is it that silence predominates in this group? Or am I mistaken? Where are the dynamics that should transform this antagonistic fight into an agonist discussion? Second, I can understand the concerns that come with petitioni...

Here's a quote that has resonated all this week: "the single most important thing we want to achieve" is defeating the president in 2012. Just a friendly reminder to the American voters about the kind of "republicans" they put in charge. I'd also like to point out to democrats that this is a self-inflicted wound. And to republicans (if there are still any left at this Conservative party called the GOP) you have lost the political center in the party and in national politics. Your obsession with winning for the sake of power and your intransigent despising of government opened the door to something worse and, totally, anti-republican. Can you deal with it? And as V said in the movie, "at the moment of looking for someone to blame, all we have to do is look in the mirror". The voters' desperation alongside their preference for fast-food politics and policy got them exactly what they wanted: gridlock, with a side of bad-faith politics and further ...

And, as we see Barack Obama's impetus running out of steam one has to wonder if his lack of immediate choice of an economic team is part of his present political and electoral woes. Six months, I can understand. But two years... You tell me. Read the article below. Obama Praises Elizabeth Warren and Hints Consumer Pick Near - NYTimes.com http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/11/business/economy/11empty.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

In this article we see not only a reflective tone, but a word of warning of the dangers of extremism.  If both parties are threatened by the Tea Party's media and financial savvy it is the GOP who stands to lose more from it.  As this lunatic fringe dominates the Republican Party's ideological agenda moderates and centrists within it are either moving out of the party or increasingly afraid to raise their voices to speak out against the polarizing forces that will put this republic on shaky ground politically and socially speaking. Politics not only deals with the exercise of power through decision-making and the formulation of policy.  It also deals with how we live with one another (cohabitation or in Spanish convivencia ) after the taking of those decisions and interacting socially with civility.  The Tea "Party" does not stand for that.  It does stand for the continuing atomization of American society.  It displays a pathological hatred of government ...

As a lecturer in political science research methods I always emphasize to my students the importance of dialogue within a community of academic researchers, social or otherwise, through the sharing and critical discussion of research. I believe as much is said in college texts on the matter. So why are the researchers in this news article below surprised at the progress made on identifying markers that give a broad profile of Alzheimer's disease that in turn will help in its treatment? Check the link to the article and keep reading afterwards, From The New York Times: Rare Sharing of Data Leads to Progress on Alzheimer's. The key to a collaborative Alzheimer's project was an ambitious agreement to share all the data, making every single finding public immediately. http://nyti.ms/9u3Ly3 One has to wonder the kind of anomic societies we live in, where scientists and researchers are not able to communicate nor share data and/or findings based on the selfish lure of financial g...

Wow! How is this surprising? Are democrats really that naive? Well...now they're going to have to talk to voters with their mouths, and think with their brains...oooohhhhhh! It is unbelievable how a party, unable to unite towards a few policy objectives, articulate a coherent discourse, and refusing to engage in public debate by allowing conservative opposition to dictate its terms, pin their hopes on just an economic turnabout. It's politics, you imbeciles! And you're realizing that detrimentally late. Check the link below.    Democrats Face Economic Facts: Updraft Unlikely http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703418004575456032134447578.html

This blog post by the DailyKos assessing Obama's form of governing is perhaps one of the most accurate I've read. Check the link below, Daily Kos: Obama's biggest mistake It is indeed one of his biggest mistakes. To think of separating politics from governing, especially a this extraordinary juncture, is political self-immolation (I don't want to say political suicide yet, though it increasingly looks like it; I shall wait for the mid-terms). In a polity such as the United States in 2010 to assume the reins of a government in a society so polarized, playing "hardball" or "politicking" is implied. The excellent communicator that he is, Barack Obama, Robert Gibbs and others in the administration should have worked tirelessly the air and television waves not allowing conservatives and the right-wing lunatic fringe to set the terms of the policy debate. This is, thus, a self-inflicted wound that has begun to show first signs of infection. I hope th...

I saw this article from The Independent and thought it might be of interest to you.  Beleaguered and defeated MP and former Home Secretary (i.e. Minister of Interior Affairs) Jacqui Smith writes a letter to Conservative MP and her replacement at the Home Office, Theresa May, on the challenges that await on this job. Some of them include tackling crime, including how communities are essential in combating it, police matters, and immigration. It is also a warning that much of the policies implemented - good and bad - will be inevitably judged in terms of her gender. Click on the link below.   The handover: An open letter from Jacqui Smith to Theresa May Both the letter and David Cameron's inaugural speech in Front of 10 Downing Street's door paying hommage to former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown are testimony that there is still some semblance of civility in politics. The British may yet give us some lessons in it.  Tell me what you think... © 2009 Independent News a...

Mr Cameron, who at 43 is the youngest PM in nearly 200 years, vowed to set aside party differences and govern "in the national interest". BBC News - David Cameron is UK's new prime minister

Check out the BBC News' live feed on the aftermath of last Thursday's elections in the United Kingdom. This is their latest, "2338: As Tuesday's 'crunch time' approaches, the Lib Dems are continuing to work out which deal to accept, if any. Labour and the Tories should find out more about their futures - and that of UK politics - in the next few hours." Click the link below: BBC News - Election 2010 - Live coverage - General Election 2010 :

This Twitter post from the Wall Street Journal offers a brief report and shows a graphic evidencing a positive market response to the European Union's bailout of Greece. Check it out and read the comment below. EU Bailout: Here's a Good Sign: Is the overwhelming show of financial force by Eurozone enough to sooth market... http://on.wsj.com/bDqxwJ Funny that this should come from the WSJ considering its philosophy... And we all know how much this newspaper loves the state and governments... I'll leave you to it, but tell me what you think. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

In this table I put some probable outcomes of the upcoming elections in the United Kingdom. Scenarios in British Elections Suggestions and additions are welcome.

"Labourites [affiliates of the British Labour Party] would have a strong incentive to cooperate: Neal Lawson, head of Labour-affiliated think tank Compass, warned that the alternative was irrelevance." 'If we are now in an era of three party politics then the party that fails to build a partnership condemns itself to the wilderness.' Read the rest of this report on the British election from AP in the link below The Associated Press: Wild scenarios emerge in UK's chaotic election

The link below from our friends at the London School of Economics will give you a glimpse into the uncertain world of elections in the United Kingdom. Check the link below. State of the Race for 30 April » Election experts It looks like a hung parliament all right. But as with all human events... one never knows.

"'The parliamentary culture and media commentary (in Canada) continues to be more about an ongoing battle to 'win' a coveted majority rather than a focus on achieving stable governance and policy -- an experience that may soon be replicated' in Britain" Will it? After all with an electorate split virtually in thirds and fatigued from thirteen years of a Labour government given high expectations back in 1997 anything's possible. The question is, if there is a hung parliament will Britain's political parties be mature enough to achieve, just like the quote from the Montreal Gazette says, a stable governance? Care to comment on probable scenarios in a hung Parliament?  Tell me what you think...

The paragraph below is a quote from the article that you can read in its entirety by clicking the link below Europe's sovereign-debt crisis: Acropolis now | The Economist : "The first is economic. Greece has become a symbol of government indebtedness. This crisis began last October when its new government admitted that its predecessor had falsified the national accounts. It is labouring under a budget deficit of 13.6% and a stock of debt equal to 115% of GDP. It cannot grow out of trouble because of fiscal retrenchment and its lack of export prowess. It cannot devalue, because it is in the euro zone. And yet its people seem unwilling to endure the cuts in wages and services needed to make the economy competitive. In short, Greece looks bust." Got to hand it to The Economist for the creative title. Tell me what you think...

An interesting article from our friends at the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. Kyrgyzstan has suffered through an extended political crisis in the last five years provoking two massive manifestations that overthrew corrupt and incompetent governments. Check the story below. Kyrgyzstan: The Woman in Charge - Pulitzer Center Untold Stories ...and now, this Central Asian republic is headed by a most circumstantial character. May it be for the best and for a better governance.

"Targets of the 'constitutional conservatives' would certainly include civil rights legislation that guarantees equal protection under law to minorities and women, with right-wing zealots, especially in the South, speaking openly again about state's rights -- the old code for racist oppression and segregation." Check out the rest of this blogpost from our friends at truthout t r u t h o u t | Joe Conason | Before a New Justice Is Chosen

En el día después de mi cumpleaños quiero agradecer a todos aquellos que me enviaron mensajes, textos y correos con sus felicitaciones. Su calor humano me conmovió y me confirmó una vez más lo afortunado que soy en ser el receptor del afecto de tanta gente hermosa. Mis seres queridos, amigos/as del alma y mis amados estudiantes, hombres y mujeres especiales todos que se desbordaron en cariño para conmigo. Les invito a que lean los hermosos mensajes que me dejaron en Facebook. La energía positiva que me brindaron, así como la compañía de los que más amo, fueron la razón de que ayer tuviese un día extraordinario. Por ello y por su afecto, gracias. -- Post From My iPhone

La cosas no se vislumbran positivas para el Primer Ministro del Reino Unido...y en la víspera de elecciones generales, nada menos. Desempleo en Gran Bretaña subió hasta 2,5 millones, su cifra más alta desde 1994

What's with the hateful speech? How is it free speech when you're advocating violence? Where is the responsibility that should be parallel to the very same free speech that tea partiers confess to love? Check out what this man said, or watch the video above, I pray to God that this revolt is one that we can handle with a ballot. Because if we can't handle [it] with a ballot, God forbid what comes next. If it isn't a ballot, at some point it will be a bullet. Are these democracy lovers? Why do they deny the democratic administration the very leverage and political space granted to the Bush Administration to ruin this republic? Tell me what you think...

It's electoral season in the UK and things couldn't look more uncertain. Check out the newspiece below (in Spanish).  Los jóvenes se convierten en los reyes de las elecciones británicas Will it be the year of Liberal Democrats?  That too is uncertain. Tell me what you think.  PATRICIA TUBELLA (20-4-2010) La comisión electoral y Facebook lanzan una campaña para animar a los que votan por primera vez Información obtenida de El País Sent from my iPhone

Some wise words from columnist Thomas Friedman : "While it would certainly help if the president voiced a more compelling narrative, I am under no illusion that this alone would solve all his problems and ours. It comes back to us: We have to demand the truth from our politicians and be ready to accept it ourselves. We simply do not have another presidency to waste. There are no more fat years to eat through. If Obama fails, we all fail." Read the whole article here, Op-Ed Columnist - The Fat Lady Has Sung - NYTimes.com

Paul Krugman said this in a recent article, "Nixon era was a time in which leading figures in both parties were capable of speaking rationally about policy, and in which policy decisions weren’t as warped by corporate cash as they are now." The rest of the article is below Op-Ed Columnist - Missing Richard Nixon - NYTimes.com : ...and then imagine how polarized US politics is - how bad it is now - for him to have said that. I agree with him. Tell me what you think. jrr

A funny and helpful way of using correct vocabulary when writing in English. In this case, should we use toward or towards ? Check it out... Toward or Towards? | TheWritersBag.com ...and read the funny remark at the end. jrr

In my small call to debate posted recently on this blog I made reference to the monolithic and rigid message and fanatical ultra right-wing conservatives push on the media and those who don't think like them. This wave of angry, unreasoned, shouting and intimidation is not only directed at Democratic Party officialdom, the Obama Administration, Democratic Congressional leadership, liberals and progressives all over the United States, but toward voices of reasoned, centered, commonsensical conservative intellectuals, in this case former fellow at the American Enterprise Institute David Frum. Frum Is Fired By AEI - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan Apparently, the reasons for Frum's dismissal of AEI are blog-post's from his page FrumForum , particularly this one titled Waterloo , a most scathing critique of republican and conservative disposition towards blocking any initiative from the Obama administration. This unbecoming, extremist behavior on the part of Republicans ...

The work in making this American republic more just is far from over. There will be a backlash in the form of a discourse centered on bad-faith and demagoguery. Democratic legislators at all levels and progressive people in the United States must be ready to debate publicly the issues in forums and Town Hall meetings. They must meet intimidation with courage, cacophony and angry noise with a firm demand for respect and the right to be heard. Liberals, progressives, democrats, and people with a genuine sense of social justice are Americans and Patriots too, these are not labels exclusive to conservatives and people of the angry and racist right-wing. Reasonable, common-sense Americans should not let their ideological adversaries to assign them epithets like fascist, communist, nazi, or socialist. These say more about the political pathology of the ones who say it: fanatics obssesed with the mythical and mystified (and certainly distorted) idea of absolute individual freedom (meani...

[NB: to my Politics of European Countries course, take note on how this event will affect politics in Turkey, especially what it bodes for the secular state] This news piece from Al-Jazeera's English language service narrates the arrangements made for the trial of several Turkish military and naval officers for their involvement in an alleged plot to destabilize this country's current government. See the link below. AJEnglish: Dozens charged over Turkey 'plot': Thirty-three suspects to stand trial over alleged "Cage Plan" to bring down gov... http://aje.me/bHVgOV Is it a clever political move to permanently subordinate Turkish military to civil authority or an assertive ploy by the moderate islamist goverment to widen its political operating space? That is, an attempt to redress secularist's dominance in Turkish politics. Tell me what you think.

Things in Greece are getting complicated. The two main trade unions in the country have called a general strike on March 11 to pressure the government into reconsidering its austerity measures. Recent manifestations have degraded into confrontations with police and riots in its two main cities: Athens and Thessaloniki. Talk about a rock and a hard place...for the government, that is. Check the article from French daily Le Monde below. La Grèce paralysée par une journée de mobilisation - LeMonde.fr Political decisions have human consequences, even those taken years ago, which makes you think about the kind of public scrutiny governments are subject to when they handle the state's finances. And what about institutional oversight at the Greek and European Union level? It leaves something to be desired when a government is allowed to bend the truth about its fiscal health and the supranational institutions of the EU did not catch it. Funny, how the tab of poor government...

It doesn't get any better than this...for now. Twenty years ago, I couldn't blog this to you. I had neither the maturity nor the instruments to do it. The Rundown News Blog | Pew Study: News Becoming More Personalized, Participatory, Portable | Online NewsHour | PBS

Amidst the turbulence, some semblance of political civility in Spain. Read the article below Los partidos presentan el primer acuerdo contra la crisis · ELPAÍS.com

En la noticia enlazada abajo se describen las circunstancias alrededor de las cuales se retiran las tropas holandesas que se encuentran en Afganistán. La misma se hace en medio de una crisis política de gran envergadura en el país europeo. De igual manera, el retiro holandés viene en momento inoportuno para los Estados Unidos, sus aliados de la OTAN y el gobierno afgano; esto es, justamente en la coyuntura crítica de la ofensiva afgano-estadounidense en la provincia de Helmand (ver aquí también). Dutch Troops To Pull Out Of Afghanistan This Year, Following Government Collapse, Says Prime Minister Al leer tengan en cuenta las siguientes consideraciones: La crisis política del gobierno holandés.  Generalmente es una de las democracias más estables del mundo y un modelo de democracia consensual o de consenso .  Cabría preguntarse cuales son los issues o problemas críticos que han debilitado el modelo político holandés y cuales de los textos teóricos leídos en las clase...

En el enlace abajo podrán ver una noticia del periódico The New York Times, en la que se describen los dilemas confrontados por la República Helénica (Grecia) a causa de una deuda pública fuera de control. No quiero entrar en detalles puesto que quiero que lean la noticia detalladamente. Sin embargo, quiero que presten atención a lo siguiente: Primeramente, el efecto que puede tener una institución privada de alcance internacional como Wall St. Según el reportaje, compañías como Goldman-Sachs instruyeron al gobierno en el arte de "ocultar" su déficit público para engañar a las instituciones de la Unión Europea. Fue así como Grecia, en el peor momento posible, accedió al Euro. El otro agravante: prestar dinero al gobierno griego más allá de sus capacidades de pago de modo que ahora está al borde de incumplir sus compromisos. Segundo, las limitaciones de las instituciones públicas vis-à-vis su relación con las entidades financieras privadas. Esto es: un mercado financiero ...

Never have I seen such indetermination from a majority party.  Nor political blandness from a people elected to enact change.  Nor so out of touch that they can't realize that the political costs for the democratic party are already amassing and that the future does indeed look bleak. House Democrats support ending tax cut, but see it as tough sell See the link above from congressional daily  The Hill A sad portrait to be sure, but one that was painted with the hands electoral self-interest (read egoism), false centrism, and narrow localism on one side, and lack of vision and leadership at the national level.  This bodes ill for democrats.  But it bodes ill for Americans as well, especially those who deserted the 'hope' bandwagon after it became evident that rekindling strength to a divided country meant hard work, and now are chastising the Obama administration for 'broken promises'. How easy it is to criticize.  I wonder where were the chastisers...