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Al Gore's "The Assault on Reason"

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Jade Hellene
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« on: May 22, 2007, 01:18:38 pm »

Al Gore's "The Assault on Reason" (Hardcover) -- Now Shipping
By Al Gore





BUZZFLASH REVIEWS


 Remember when Al Gore gave a series of "truth to power" speeches hosted by moveon.org?

Well, he's back.

No, he hasn't given up his global warming crusade, but he has returned to the fundamental ailments that face America -- particularly in regards to our current rogue government.

We haven't read this book yet. It's under tight wraps.

But here is what the publisher has to say: "An indictment of the Bush-led radical Right's disdain for the principles of reasoned decision-making, and a reckoning with the degradation of the public sphere that facilitates their rule of unreason."

Ah, music to our ears, President Al, music to our ears.

By the way, the complete title for the book is "The Assault on Reason: How the Politics of Fear, Secrecy, and Blind Faith Subvert Wise Decision-Making, Degrade Our Democracy, and Put Our Country and Our World in Peril."

Here's more from the publisher, Penguin Books: "A visionary analysis of how the politics of fear, secrecy, cronyism, and blind faith has combined with the degration of the public sphere to create an environment dangerously hostile to reason

At the time George W. Bush ordered American forces to invade Iraq, 70 percent of Americans believed Saddam Hussein was linked to 9/11. Voters in Ohio, when asked by pollsters to list what stuck in their minds about the campaign, most frequently named two Bush television ads that played to fears of terrorism.

We live in an age when the thirty-second television spot is the most powerful force shaping the electorate's thinking, and America is in the hands of an administration less interested than any previous administration in sharing the truth with the citizenry. Related to this and of even greater concern is this administration's disinterest in the process by which the truth is ascertained, the tenets of fact-based reasoning-first among them an embrace of open inquiry in which unexpected and even inconvenient facts can lead to unexpected conclusions.

How did we get here? How much damage has been done to the functioning of our democracy and its role as steward of our security? Never has there been a worse time for us to lose the capacity to face the reality of our long-term challenges, from national security to the economy, from issues of health and social welfare to the environment. As The Assault on Reason shows us, we have precious little time to waste.

Gore's larger goal in this book is to explain how the public sphere itself has evolved into a place hospitable to reason's enemies, to make us more aware of the forces at work on our own minds, and to lead us to an understanding of what we can do, individually and collectively, to restore the rule of reason and safeguard our future. Drawing on a life's work in politics as well as on the work of experts across a broad range of disciplines, Al Gore has written a farsighted and powerful manifesto for clear thinking."


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Volitzer
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« Reply #1 on: May 23, 2007, 10:44:05 am »

Get a Gore/Edwards ticket on the ballot and I think we'll have a winner.
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Wanderer
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« Reply #2 on: May 25, 2007, 10:26:52 am »

Wow, a pair of losers to go up against the opposing pair of probable crooks.  Sounds exciting. Roll Eyes
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« Reply #3 on: May 25, 2007, 12:09:53 pm »

I saw Gore on Letterman last night,  Oh jeeze, I can't help but feel deep sadness for our loss at not having this man serve as a leader in these times. 
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ILLIGITIMI NON CARBORUNDUM

Thus ye may find in thy mental and spiritual self, ye can make thyself just as happy or just as miserable as ye like. How miserable do ye want to be?......For you GROW to heaven, you don't GO to heaven. It is within thine own conscience that ye grow there.

Edgar Cayce
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« Reply #4 on: May 25, 2007, 01:29:08 pm »

Wow, a pair of losers to go up against the opposing pair of probable crooks.  Sounds exciting. Roll Eyes

Gore isn't a loser. He has been right on about everything since he left the VP office.  The only reason he is not President is cause of the voter corruption in Florida (and the complicity of the Supremer Court). Katherine Harris struck 10,000 black voters from the voter rolls prior to 2000, most of whom would have gone for Gore.

And he only lost by 537 votes.

As for Edwards, well, if he had been the nominee instead of Kerry, they would have beat Bush hands down.  Ohio and it's rigged voting machines (without a paper trail) gave Bush the 2004 election.

Bush didn't win either election fairly.

How different would the world have been if Gore had been Prez instead of Bush?

Well, one thing we can all agree on - a lot less people would be DEAD than there are now.
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« Reply #5 on: May 27, 2007, 07:27:19 am »

Lot less deaths and more jobs and innovation.
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« Reply #6 on: May 27, 2007, 07:31:10 am »

Wow, a pair of losers to go up against the opposing pair of probable crooks.  Sounds exciting. Roll Eyes

So you got any Liberterian or Socialist candidates you want to make known??

Be a part of the solution and not the problem.  Cheesy
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Volitzer
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« Reply #7 on: May 27, 2007, 07:33:23 am »

Al Gore's "The Assault on Reason" (Hardcover) -- Now Shipping
By Al Gore





BUZZFLASH REVIEWS


I'm surprised Gloria Steinem didn't already have a copyright to that title.   Grin Grin Grin
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Bianca
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« Reply #8 on: June 12, 2007, 06:44:39 pm »





You People Just Aren't Very Bright, Are You?


by Grand Moff Texan
Tue Jun 12, 2007 at 02:27:52 PM PDT



Well, I guess I'm going to have to read Al Gore's new book, since apparently none of his critics have. 

Of course, that didn't stop them from trashing it.  It seems the book's title was a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

Grand Moff Texan's diary :: ::
Follow Eric Boehlert as he takes a spin around the stinking wasteland that is our media elite: 

The Washington Post -
"Ferguson made a whopping error when he condescendingly observed that The Assault on Reason had no footnotes."

Except, as you all now know, there were endnotes and Ferguson could have answered his own question ... except that he's an idiot.  No wonder he works for the Weekly Standard:  he makes his boss feel smart. 

Diane Sawyer -
"Are you saying, in this book and this morning, that Americans -- 3,000 of them -- died unnecessarily?"

Well, Diane (may I call you Diane?), unlike George Bush, Al Gore can speak English.  So I think it's safe to say that, if Al Gore had wanted to say that 3,000 3,500 Americans died unnecessarily he would probably have written something like "3,500 Americans died unnecessarily. 

I know, I know. It's all so very complicated. 

More tea? 

Nightline -
'Moran, who like so many journalists was determined to portray The Assault on Reason as a bitter, anti-Bush screed, asked Gore if it was "the book you wanted to write after the 2000 election?"'

Or at least that was Moran's favorite comment on his brother's right-wing blog.  Seeing, however, that the book concerns things that happened after 2000, this seems highly unlikely, even with the kind of time-traveling skills that conservatives seem to have, whereby Nixon's energy crisis becomes Carter's fault, Bush shutting down American counter-terrorism for eight months makes 9/11 Clinton's fault, Carter's Afghan policy becomes Reagan's accomplishment, etc. 

I haven't even read the thing and even I know that. 

ABC -
"Tapper theorized that, although there is no mention of it in the book, Gore would probably support impeaching Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Gore, in fact, does not support impeachment, which, of course, is why Gore did not write about impeaching Bush or Cheney in his book."

I would refer Mr. Tapper to my comments to the diaphanous Diane Sawyer, above.  (note to Mr. Ferguson:  you will observe that that was a citation)   He did not write that and so you would do well to deal with what he did write, which you can't, presumably, because you didn't. 

The New York Times -
"At The New York Times, conservative columnist David Brooks ridiculed Gore for writing a book that Gore did not actually write."

You know, there seems to be a lot of that going around.  I wonder why conservative men seem to run and hide behind the nearest strawman these days? 

Oh, and speaking of conservative manliness, here comes that connoiseuse of all emissions manly and ravishing, Maureen Dowd: 

Maureen Dowd -
"Like clockwork, she typed up a derisive, trivia-based column to greet Gore's new book. Believe it or not, she thought the most telling facts about The Assault on Reason were that A) Gore's image does not appear on the cover; and B) Gore's author photo on the jacket dates from the 1990s. And neither reflected well on Gore."

Well I could have told you that because I've read every column Maureen Dowd has ever written.  That was easy to do because they're all only five words long:  "Democrats don't make me wet."  I say five words with the contraction because all strong verbs seem to whither and contract around Maureen Dowd.  It is her curse and sentence. 

Dowd's fellow sufferer follows hotly behind.  The far right's most cherished HIV+ barebacker could hardly bring himself to open the book at all.  In fact, he didn't: 

Sunday Times -
"Ridiculing The Assault on Reason in the Sunday Times of London, Andrew Sullivan also stressed very high up in his review that Gore's face does not appear on the book cover."

It seems that Dowd and Sullivan will be addressing their shower-nozzle and Churchill bobble-head doll, respectively, by names other than "Al" for the foreseeable future, the requisite stroke-material being either to hard to find with sticky fingers or being of a vintage, the 90's, that conservatives find ... distasteful. 

The Washington Post ... again -
"Alan Ehrenhalt, whom the Post described as an 'intellectual,' leveled a personal attack on Gore in the review's second sentence, complaining that he 'annoy the maximum possible number of people.' (Ehrenhalt offered no proof for that attack.)"

Tsk, tsk, Mr. Boehlert.  Conservatives don't need evidence (ask Iraq) and they don't like evidence (ask Charles Darwin). 

The Washington Post ... again -
"Three days later, while covering a local speech and book signing, the Post's Dana Milbank literally made fun of Gore for even discussing topics of historical importance, such as the Enlightenment and the Information Age."

This attitude, embodied by Mr. Milbank, explains why Republican voter identity no longer trends with education, why overall Republican voter identity is trending down (falling below Democratic voter identity some time in 2002), and why FOX News viewers are the dumbest people on earth. 

This is how ignorant, flip, and intellectually cowardly you would have to be in a day and age ruined by the failure of conservatism.  They can't help themselves:  they just proved Al Gore right (or at least his title). 

I appreciate Eric Boehlert doing yeoman's work here, digging through the trash and finding all these "intellectuals" showing how clever they are by being complete morons.  I say that I appreciate it because this is why I stopped reading them and I would never have found these quotes otherwise. 

You people really just aren't very bright, are you? 

And so, if you will excuse me, I have a book to read.  Something written by someone with a brain. 

Shocking, I know.   
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« Reply #9 on: June 16, 2007, 04:24:49 am »

Gore's critics (as usual) don't know what they are talking about. Conservatives are soooo filled with guilt and frustration that they not only stole the 2000 election from Gore, but that thay finally got to enact most of the plans they had for American society, and those plane not only failed (benefiting only the rich), but that they screwed up pretty much everything they touched.

How much better would thing be if Gore had been Prez the last six years instead of Bush?  I imagine pretty much like the 1990's were, which was much better to the Middle Class.

The book is about how the media is a sham, America's image has fallen under Bush, and how the Bushies have forsaken pretty much everything that America used to stand for.  It's also about torture, the Patriot Act, the War in Iraq and all the other garbage that Bush (who can't even chew with his mouth closed) has done the last few years. 
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« Reply #10 on: June 16, 2007, 03:45:46 pm »

The Illuminati at work.   Angry Angry Angry
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« Reply #11 on: June 24, 2007, 10:24:36 am »

lost

all that once seeds of liberty were growing
lost the ideals that our nation was sowing

all that once we held so eternally dear
lost -- voices kept silent, by whispers of fear

all that once kept us noble, so very whole
lost by playing the grim conquerer's role

all that once our flag in honor proclaimed
lost -- tainted, molested, naked and shamed

all that once truth's light would unveil
lost by forgetting our once holy grail
« Last Edit: June 24, 2007, 01:50:52 pm by unknown » Report Spam   Logged

"There exists an agent, which is natural and divine, material and spiritual, a universal plastic mediator, a common receptical of the fluid vibrations of motion and the images of forms, a fluid, and a force, which can be called the Imagination of Nature..."
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Bianca
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« Reply #12 on: June 24, 2007, 10:40:00 am »




Unk,

YOU ARE PRICELESS!!!


Now, enough time has been lost on <amoanin' and agroanin'>.

What we need from you NOW  is a RALLYING song......

Love and hugs,
b
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rockessence
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« Reply #13 on: June 24, 2007, 12:03:35 pm »

May I submit:

Randy Newman's newest song......

A Few Words in Defense of Our Country

I’d like to say a few words
In defense of our country
Whose people aren’t bad nor are they mean
Now the leaders we have
While they’re the worst that we’ve had
Are hardly the worst this poor world has seen

Let’s turn history’s pages, shall we?

Take the Caesars for example
Why within the first few of them
They were sleeping with their sister
Stashing little boys in swimming pools
And burning down the City
And one of ‘em, one of ‘em
Appointed his own horse Consul of the Empire
That’s like vice president or something
That’s not a very good example, is it?
But wait, here’s one, the Spanish Inquisition
They put people in a terrible position
I don’t even like to think about it
Well, sometimes I like to think about it

Just a few words in defense of our country
Whose time at the top
Could be coming to an end
Now we don’t want their love
And respect at this point is pretty much out of the question
But in times like these
We sure could use a friend

Hitler. Stalin.
Men who need no introduction
King Leopold of Belgium. That’s right.
Everyone thinks he’s so great
Well he owned The Congo
He tore it up too
He took the diamonds, he took the gold
He took the silver
Know what he left them with?
Malaria

A President once said,
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”
Now it seems like we’re supposed to be afraid
It’s patriotic in fact and color coded
And what are we supposed to be afraid of?
Why, of being afraid
That’s what terror means, doesn’t it?
That’s what it used to mean

[To the first eight bars of “Columbia The Gem Of The Ocean”]

You know it pisses me off a little
That this Supreme Court is gonna outlive me
A couple of young Italian fellas and a brother on the Court now too
But I defy you, anywhere in the world
To find me two Italians as tightass as the two Italians we got
And as for the brother
Well, Pluto’s not a planet anymore either

The end of an empire is messy at best
And this empire is ending
Like all the rest
Like the Spanish Armada adrift on the sea
We’re adrift in the land of the brave
And the home of the free

Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye.

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ILLIGITIMI NON CARBORUNDUM

Thus ye may find in thy mental and spiritual self, ye can make thyself just as happy or just as miserable as ye like. How miserable do ye want to be?......For you GROW to heaven, you don't GO to heaven. It is within thine own conscience that ye grow there.

Edgar Cayce
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« Reply #14 on: June 24, 2007, 01:51:33 pm »

Hi Bianca

Thanks, your right
We need a rallying song...
« Last Edit: June 24, 2007, 04:53:21 pm by unknown » Report Spam   Logged

"There exists an agent, which is natural and divine, material and spiritual, a universal plastic mediator, a common receptical of the fluid vibrations of motion and the images of forms, a fluid, and a force, which can be called the Imagination of Nature..."
Elphias Levi
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