Language: A Key Mechanism of Control

Back in 1996, Newt Gingrich, then Speaker of the House, (shown above with "Sugar Daddy" Sheldon Adelson NY Times / Brian Lehrer the last surviving member of the Gangsters what built Las Vegas) wrote "Language: A Key Mechanism of Control" (here and here). This was a memo on the use of language to frame an issue. It's a primer on the use of propaganda to win political campaigns by deamonizing your opponent. Hitler would be proud. But don't take my word for it - read on. The full text of Newt's memo is below.

Language: A Key Mechanism of Control

Newt Gingrich's 1996 GOPAC memo 

   As you know, one of the key points in the GOPAC tapes is that "language matters." In the video "We are a Majority," Language is listed as a key mechanism of control used by a majority party, along with Agenda, Rules, Attitude and Learning. As the tapes have been used in training sessions across the country and mailed to candidates we have heard a plaintive plea: "I wish I could speak like Newt."

   That takes years of practice. But, we believe that you could have a significant impact on your campaign and the way you communicate if we help a little. That is why we have created this list of words and phrases.

   This list is prepared so that you might have a directory of words to use in writing literature and mail, in preparing speeches, and in producing electronic media. The words and phrases are powerful. Read them. Memorize as many as possible. And remember that like any tool, these words will not help if they are not used.

   While the list could be the size of the latest "College Edition" dictionary, we have attempted to keep it small enough to be readily useful yet large enough to be broadly functional. The list is divided into two sections: Optimistic Positive Governing words and phrases to help describe your vision for the future of your community (your message) and Contrasting words to help you clearly define the policies and record of your opponent and the Democratic party.

   Please let us know if you have any other suggestions or additions. We would also like to know how you use the list. Call us at GOPAC or write with your suggestions and comments. We may include them in the next tape mailing so that others can benefit from your knowledge and experience.

Optimistic Positive Governing Words

   Use the list below to help define your campaign and your vision of public service. These words can help give extra power to your message. In addition, these words help develop the positive side of the contrast you should create with your opponent, giving your community something to vote for!

active(ly) activist building candid(ly) care(ing) challenge change children choice/choose citizen commitment common sense compete confident conflict control courage crusade debate dream duty eliminate good-time in prison empower(ment) fair family freedom hard work help humane incentive initiative lead

learn legacy liberty light listen mobilize moral movement opportunity passionate peace pioneer precious premise preserve principle(d) pristine pro- (issue): flag, children, environment, reform prosperity protect proud/pride provide reform rights share strength success tough truth unique vision we/us/our

Contrasting Words

   Often we search hard for words to define our opponents. Sometimes we are hesitant to use contrast. Remember that creating a difference helps you. These are powerful words that can create a clear and easily understood contrast. Apply these to the opponent, their record, proposals and their party.

abuse of power anti- (issue): flag, family, child, jobs betray bizarre bosses bureaucracy cheat coercion "compassion" is not enough collapse(ing) consequences corrupt corruption criminal rights crisis cynicism decay deeper destroy destructive devour disgrace endanger excuses failure (fail) greed hypocrisy ideological impose incompetent insecure insensitive

intolerant liberal lie limit(s) machine mandate(s) obsolete pathetic patronage permissive attitude pessimistic punish (poor ...) radical red tape self-serving selfish sensationalists shallow shame sick spend(ing) stagnation status quo steal taxes they/them threaten traitors unionized urgent (cy) waste welfare

It's About the Middle Class, and Elephants

James Carville and Stan Greenberg on "On Point," Wednesday, 7/11/12. (here) said

1. Obama is tied or only slightly ahead of Romney in the polls. 
2. Obama and Romney present profoundly different visions of the challenges facing the United States and the world, and, consequently, strikingly different solutions.Actually, Romney offers no solutions, only vague promises that he can do things.
3. In order to win re-election, President Obama has to focus on the future and the middle class. 

I agree. I also think Obama is doing a good job, particularly on foreign policy. Bin Laden is dead and American combat troops have left Iraq. Operation "Olympic Games" is slowing down Iran's nuclear ambitions. (Part of the reason for this may be that the Rush Limbaugh, the Koch Brothers, Rupert Murdoch Sheldon Adelson, the Republicans in Congress and on the Supreme Court, etc. - can't stymie the President on foreign policy the way they can on domestic policy.)

Carville and Greenberg focused on the economy.

• Unemployment is at 8.2%, 
• Under-employment is another 4% to 8%, 
• That's 13 million unemployed and another 6.5 million to 13 million underemployed. 
• Wages, for people who work for a living, are stagnant or dropping. 
• Energy costs are going up, real estate taxes are going up, housing values are, at best, stabilizing.
• College costs are rising, and the career prospects for recent college grads are in the toilet. 

Carville and Greenberg basically said "In order for Obama to win re-election, he needs to present a vision for the future that addresses these issues." I agree there too, however, I see a herd of elephants in the room that I didn't hear them talk about:

1. Obama's mother was a white woman from Kansas, his father, however, was African, and Barack Houssein Obama is a funny name for a US President. Still, enough people were inspired by his candidacy, rhetoric, and character to vote for him in 2008.  Martin Luther King, Jr., would have been proud.Yet Obama is an African American. Still, it seems to me, white boy that I am, that there may be some people who are "concerned" about Obama's race, and this is the real sentiment under all that "Birther" nonsense.
2. While he's African-American, he doesn't talk like Jesse Jackson, Martin Luther King, Jr., or Mohammed Ali. He's a cerebral, analytical, lawyer. If Bill Clinton was the first black President, then Obama is the first Jewish President. Actually, he's the first Vulcan President, or at least the first since Wilson. Obama's a "Servant Leader." Ambitious but not arrogant. Sure of himself but not full of himself. Not full of self-doubt and insecurities, but full of an awareness that while he's unique and wonderful, so is everyone else.  He's a President who, if - when - his wife says "take out the garbage;" he takes out the garbage. I can see George H. W. Bush doing that, and Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton (course he would smile at Hillary and she would melt), and Al Gore, but not George W. Bush or Willard Mitt Romney. They would have help to do that - servants. ("W" would joke with them, give them nicknames, and dimly be aware of the ages of their children. Romney wouldn't even know their names.) Most of the folks in Washington don't understand this. Clinton might. And Richard Lugar, the soon to be former Senator (R) from Indiana.
3. Fox News, the GOP, the Koch Brothers, Sheldon Adelson (Newt Gingrich's Sugar Daddy), Rush Limbaugh, etc. have been focused, since before the inauguration in January, 2009, with trying to make Obama fail, pretending that trying to force the President to fail is not the bad for the United States. When in reality 
4. Our environment is increasingly polluted. And our economy - and the global economy - is on a largely unsustainable path.  We have, mostly in the last 50 years, burned so much coal, oil, and methane that we have added about two trillion tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, increasing the concentration of CO2 by about 50%, from about 260 ppm to 390 ppm. The scientific consensus is that this is sufficient to change climate and weather.  As Bill McKibben put it, we have changed Earth into Eaarth.

I Have A Dream

"I have a dream where one day my four little children are judged by the content of their character not the color of their skin." - Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. (here)

Dr. King made that statement on August 28, 1963, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, in Washington DC.

Election Day, 2008, was that day. Enough voters judged Barack Obama by the content of his character, not the color of is skin, that he was elected President of the United States.

Let's hope for the same in November, 2012, and going forward.  And that all are judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin.  As Dr. King said,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

                Free at last! Free at last!

                Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

The Affordable Health Care Act - and Socialism

All the misleading hoopla about the Affordable Care Act, aka “Obamacare,” or as Rick Santorum put it, “Romneycare,” leaves out several actual facts.

1.  The law forces insurance companies to insure young adults on their parents' policies.

2.  The law prohibits insurance companies from dropping people with pre-existing conditions.

If this is socialism, then I am a socialist.

3. The law requires 30 million of the 50 million Americans without health insurance, to buy it (the same way that the governments of New York, New Jersey, and the governments of many other states require people who want to register an automobile to buy car insurance). This should, over time, lower costs for the rest of us.

4. The law does not replace the health insurance industry with a government run program; it does not expand Medicare to cover all Americans. Similarly, it does not transform the Veteran's Health Administration into a “Citizen's Health Administration."

Actually, expanding Medicare to cover all citizens, perhaps by transforming the Veterans Health Administration into a Citizens Health Administration sounds like a good to me.

However, as President George Bush said, “Every American has access to health care. All people need to do is go to the Emergency Room.”  What he failed to mention is that using a Hospital's ER as a primary care clinic is very expensive.  When people without insurance do it, the hospitals make up for the loss by charging patients with health insurance for the costs of patients without health insurance. This is inefficient and expensive, and actually is socialism.

You Can Judge a Man by His Friends, part 2

Here we see Russian President & Dictator Vladimir Putin and American President Barack Obama at the G 20 Summit in Mexico in June, 2012. Unlike the pictures, below, of Putin with Assad and Ahmadinejad, these men are not smiling. They don't seem pleased to be in each other's company.

As an American, I am proud that the President of the United States does not seem happy to be in the company of the dictator of Russia.

Thanks to the NY Times for the image of Obama and Putin. 

Future of Civilization

State of the world, 2012, a companion to the World Watch Institute's papers, here.

Civilization
what will there be tomorrow
may we drink the rain

see only today
ignore toxic mountains seas
child tomorrow dies

we know not of worth
but cash flows, prices, some costs
happy counting beans
 
Fukushima and
the Deep Water Horizon
one map from Malthus

then there's energy
from Sun and Earth wind, water
we will then flourish

Civilization
what will there be tomorrow
may we drink the rain

You Can Judge a Man By His Friends, part 1

You can tell a lot about a man from his friends, and their body language. Above we see Russia's President / Dictator Vladimir Putin and Mahmoud Achmadinejad, his counterpart in Iran. Below we see Putin with Bashir Al Assad, his counterpart in Syria.  In the first picture, Putin has rotated his hand so that it is on top of Achmadinejad's. Note the smiles. They appear genuine.And why not? These guys like and understand each other. Just as Putin has a firm grip on Achmadinejad's hand, they all have a firm grip on power. Russia sells weapons to Syria and probably sells weapons to Iran.

Obama calls GOP budget 'Social Darwinism'

Washington, DC, April 3, 2012. President Obama attacked the Ryan - Boehner Grand Old Tea Party budget passed in the House of Representatives, calling it "Social Darwinism." The Grand Old Tea Party immediately attacked the President saying "Darwinism? That's evolution. We can't practice evolution. We don't believe in it!"

When he heard about the response from the GOP and Tea Party, President Obama started laughing. His laughter, however, subsided when he was reminded of the November 2010 elections, the Grand Old Tea Party majority in the House, their votes in the Senate, and their apparent 5 - 4 majority in the Supreme Court.

President Obama was having lunch with editors and reporters of the Associated Press when he condemned the Ryan - Boehner Grand Old Tea Party budget. He called it a “Trojan horse” and “thinly veiled social Darwinism.” Mark Landler, in the New York Times, aka "the Liberal Elitist media,"  (here), wrote that Obama said the Ryan - Boehner Grand Old Tea Party budget "would greatly deepen inequality in the country."

While expanding the disparity of wealth that exists between the 3.07 million richest Americans, i.e. the 1%, compared to the 303.93 million not-richest Americans, i.e. the 99%; by decreasing educational opportunities and access to health care, and by increasing poverty, the Ryan - Boehner Grand Old Tea Party budget would actually serve to expand equality among the 303.93 million non-richest Americans, albeit in what many consider to be the wrong direction.

The Ryan - Boehner Grand Old Tea Party budget has been endorsed by all four remaining candidates running in the Republican primaries. Altho Newt Gingrich, opposed it before he was for it, calling it "right wing social engineering." As Speaker of the House, Mr. Gingrich, it must also be noted, pioneered the technique of shutting down the government as a way to protect the taxpayers from the services they need from their government.

The Grand Old Tea Party also attacked the President for having lunch when he should be working. There are rumors that Mr. Gingrich called President Obama "shiftless" and "lazy" for having lunch when he should be working. However, as there are no reporters covering Mr. Gingrich, those rumors could neither be confirmed nor denied.

Rush Limbaugh demanded videos of the President with young female reporters. Mr. Limbaugh later changed his statement, demanding videos of young female reporters without the President, and large quantities of various controlled substances.

Former Vice President Cheney could not be reached for comment. It is believed that he is in a secure but undisclosed location where he may be hunting with lawyers. Or hunting lawyers. 
 

Investment Advice: The STUBL Index

Carl Richards, author of "The Behavior Gap," and a columnist in the NY Times, wrote "Beware of 'Market Predictors' (here)

"To demonstrate how ridiculous market predictors can be, ... David Leinweber decided he could prove a point with butter production in Bangladesh:

    After casting about to find a statistic so absurd that no sensible person could possibly believe it could forecast U.S. stock prices, Mr. Leinweber settled on annual butter production in Bangladesh. Over an 13-year period, he found, this statistic “explained” 75 percent of the variation in the annual returns of the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index.

    By tossing in U.S. cheese production and the total population of sheep in both Bangladesh and the U.S., Mr. Leinweber was able to “predict” past U.S. stock returns with 99 percent accuracy."

I've used the STUBL index, pronounced "Stubble" index. It stands for "Standard Transitory Unshaved Beard Length." I look at college students on Monday mornings. When a majority of them are clean-shaven I conclude they went to sleep early enough to get up early and shave, and therefore didn't have a great weekend. When a majority of them have a two day beard I conclude they had a great weekend. 

This is a leading predictor of the market.  However, I'm not sure when the correlation is positive and when it's negative. That's where the crystal ball comes in.

See, it's an integrated approach.

Gingrich "I'll set the price of gasoline at $2.50 per gallon."

Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker, former lobbyist, and former husband to two different women, wants to set gasoline prices back to $2.50 per gallon. (here) But how? Would a President Gingrich sign an “Executive Order” setting the price of gasoline at $2.50 per gallon? The President can authorize a mission to attempt to kill terrorists, as Obama did with Bin Laden and Awlaki. But how can the President set the price of a commodity?

I suppose he can order rationing of gasoline – say 10 gallons per citizen per day. And if he does, with my 30 mpg '99 Chevy Malibu w 165,000 miles, I will be able to drive 300 miles per week. If you have a Hummer that gets about 8 mpg, you can go about 80 miles. Or you can buy gas from me for $10 per gallon. (I's a capitalist, yo.)

Or a President Gingrich can say “The market price for gasoline is $5.00 per gallon. But we'll set it artificially to $2.50 via a government subsidies. We'll tax the oil companies." When a lobbyist for the oil companies reminds him that rather than tax oil companies we give them subsidies, as one will, he will flip-flop and tax poor people and the middle class – who don't have lobbyists.

Or, a President Gingrich can say, ““The market price for gasoline is $5.00 per gallon. But we can set it artificially to $2.50 simply by revaluing the dollar so it takes Two Real Dollars to buy one Newt Dollar. As a stroke of marketing genius he could put Reagan's picture on the Newt Dollar. But Newt, never known for his humility, seems more likely to put his own picture on the Newt Dollar.  

Of course, if you have a brain then you'll realize that this is not exactly small government. But then again if you've a brain then you're not going to vote for Mr. Gingrich.

There is actually one other way to cut the price of gasoline: cut demand.

Suppose we build very efficient cars and a mass transit infrastructure. And we do research into bio-gasoline and figure out how to get octane and other hydrocarbons from plants we can grow without fossil fuel based fertilizers, rather than from fossilized plants. The only problem with that strategy is that it requires thinking, science, and engineering. Gingrich and Santorum, like Palin, Bachmann, Perry and Cain don't believe in thinking, science, and engineering (except engineering what people believe). Ron Paul might believe in thinking, science, and engineering, but he doesn't believe that the government should do anything. And Romney might, but he won't admit it until after the convention.

Or maybe Gingrich wants us to go metric, and actually meant $2.50 per liter.  He is getting old. He might be getting confused.

What do we know about President Obama?

Our allies in NATO like and respect President Obama. I don't believe Putin likes him. And I am pretty sure that Achmadinejad is afraid of him. He killed bin Laden and Awlaki (I know he didn't pull the trigger), led NATO to help the insurgents bring down Gadafi, led the international sanctions against Iran, pulled troops out of Iraq, is carefully watching the situation in Syria. He saved the American auto industry - and in so doing saved the midwest from Depression.

He says "I have Israel's back, but don't take my word for it, look at what I've done." His support for Israel at the UN and managing our response to the "Arab Spring" are good for the Americans, Europeans, Israelis, many Arabs, and many Persians, but not for Assad, Achmadinejad, and the Mullahs, or Putin. That's good enough for me.

That's not to say I like everything he's done. There are aspects of his health care, tax, energy, and environmental policies I would like to change.
 
But you asked "what do we know?"

He was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961.

He was raised by his mom and her parents, who were from Kansas.

He went to elementary school in Indonesia, where his mom was living w her 2nd husband.

He went to high school in Hawaii. Played basketball. Went by the nickname "Barry."

His mom and her parents were middle class. His mom was lower middle class in terms of money, income, wealth. On occasions his meals were paid for w food stamps.

This is conjecture but he probably was quiet, introspective and thoughtful. Obama the man is introspective and thoughtful. Most boys are quiet, and Obama was a black kid w a white mom and white grandparents in Indonesia and Hawaii.

I don't know what it was like - I grew up Jewish in Staten Island at a time when there was one Jewish family per square mile - one family out of about 500 families - that's 0.2% - and had my share of "incidents" involving religion and bigotry. There were some colorful people in my neighborhood, but except for one kid with a Native American grandparent, there were no "people of color." None in my elementary school or Junior high. I was the only Jewish kid in in my class, I think my grade, until 4th grade. Then it was me and a very cute Jewish girl named Laurie. But I digress.

In the south he would have been a scandal. In Indonesia he was a paradox - a black kid w a white mom and Indonesian step-father. Privileged as an American, and yet conscious of it. In Hawaii there are 4 groups: Whites, Chinese, Japanese, and Hawaiians. A black kid w a white mom in the 1960's would have been his own category, especially with a half-Indonesian kid-sister. And divorce was uncommon and scandalous back in the 60's.  

My wife - who's from Eastern Europe - asks why we say he's Black because his mom was white. But she doesn't really understand race in America. A black friend of mine says I don't understand race in America from a black person's perspective, and, lawyer that he is, he makes a cogent argument, based on facts.

What else do we know?

Obama graduated Columbia University, then Harvard Law, and didn't go to either as a legacy kid. Ergo, he must be pretty smart and capable of hard work.

He went to Chicago trying to help poor people.  Met and married Michelle. He lost one or two elections early on. Got elected to the State Legislature, then the US Senate, then the Presidency.  

As we saw in the 2012 White House Press Correspondant's Dinner, he is able to laugh at himself. That evening he grinned ruefully when Seth Meyers said "I don't know who among the Republicans can beat you, but I do know who could beat you - the Barack Obama of 2008. Remember him?" And Obama himself, after issuing the order authorizing the mission that killed Osama bin Laden, and before knowing the results of the mission, before knowing whether it failed or succeeded, calmly and ironically saluted Donald Trump, saying "choosing whether to fire Gary Busey or Meatloaf- would keep me up at night." 

As a leader, he seems to listen to people he has reason to believe are experts, and make intelligent and informed decisions based on the facts and insight. That, in my opinion, is exactly what we need in a President. The melanin content in his skin, and the texture of his hair are irrelevant to his ability to do his job.

Mittens and He Who Should Be Neutered

Why is Buddy Roemer excluded from the GOP debates? It's not that I don't like Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, and Ron Paul, it's that I have nothing but contempt for Mittens, he who should be neutered, and Santorum (who's name doesn't really mean what Google says it means) and ... Ron Paul is a white supremacist. Or he may not be, but he's their boy.

Gingrich cheats on wife 1, Jackie, with Other Woman 1, Marianne, who becomes Wife 2. Then cheats on Wife 2, Marianne, with Young Intern / Other Woman 2, Callista, who becomes Wife 3. This last while blasting Clinton for having a relationship with an intern. What Hypocrisy! What Arrogance! I mean "The Gingrich Wives" - sounds like the title of a film - a porn film.

Romney may be 'Wall Street.' But Gingrich is a lobbyist for Wall Street. Oh, I forgot- Gingrich is an historian.

Why don't I like Romney? He's not Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Bill Gates, Tom Watson, Henry Ford, Bill Hewlett, Dave Packard, Walt Disney: They created stuff. Romney looked for companies to raid.

Romney on Obama: "He had no jobs plan." But he saved all the union jobs at GM and Chrysler. "He never even managed a corner store; he was a community organizer (helping poor people). Romney didn't create jobs; he created poor people.

Mittens, Newter, Santorum, and Ron Paul will solve poverty by eliminating food stamps, Medicare. They will save poor people by allowing them to die.

So the problem with the Republican Party is that it has become the party of the lunatic fringe. Why is Buddy Roemer exlcuded from the GOP debates?

Romney: “Obama apologizes for America.” How, Mitt? By killing bin Laden? By going after Quadafi? Romney should apologize for driving for 12 hours with his dog strapped to the roof of his car.

 

John McCain was called a "Maverick" because he actually worked with Democrats.