Well, Algeria really isn’t my subject area - and I should defer much - but I owe a lot to some of Camus work (not in Leftist sense. To me he was more about plurality and hybridity. Though, some would say these ideas are Left’s asset. But in my sense, it’s not about idea, it’s about - stance, attitude.) 

Last time I googled around re: Identity, Hybridity, and Identity and Edward Said, his name might have shown up few times but I failed to pay attention. 

But now here it is. 

Though again, even if you focus on Hybridity or Plurality - it’s just ideas - and your attitude, stance, aggressiveness, approaches - etc could remain just as same (as people touting ‘Identity’ thing.)

I don’t know it’s something about Algeria. Or it’s something probably about 60s or Post-Marxist types, very limited ‘few’ among them probably. American Left’s translate and import industry, I think, basically erased entirely about this Plurality and Hybridity perspective or its tone too. (And boy, it sells like hotcakes.) 

Though, Benjamin Stora is Trotskyist. (I really don’t buy Marxists. I dread people who read Karl Marx and doesn’t come off being outraged about how he set up the entire con-game on humanity.) 

frightened:

Dear Mr. Hutchinson, Mr. Keene and Mr. LaPierre (of the NRA),

As a proud mother and homemaker, I wish to commend and thank you for your vigilant protection our helpless American children.

But I’m concerned that your efforts may fall short. An armed officer was on site at Columbine the day of the shooting; even he couldn’t help. We clearly need to take a stronger stand. 

We need to arm all of our children. Preschoolers through post graduates.
We have all heard that guns don’t kill. Only people with mental health problems do. Our little ones, bless them, are too innocent, sweet and decent to kill indiscriminately. Surely, those guns will be in safe, albeit small hands.

Some parents may be anxious about more guns in our schools, but no worries, we can all feel at ease with these simple safeguards in place:

• All ammunition is to be safely stored in teachers’ locked art cabinets or coat closets
• All students must learn to use guns safely and with accuracy
• For the young set (preschool through 3rd grade) NRA’s safety mascot, Eddie Eagle, can play a vital role in not only teaching our kids gun safety, but proper gun usage as well
• Eddie Eagle should be placed in every American school to cheer kids on in their marksmanship efforts and provide a comfy and safe feel
• Occasional visits by Eddie Eagle should be made to our middle and high schools 

We probably have enough guns circulating in American homes to arm most of our children. Perhaps some kind folks will be generous and donate to our local schools. Bake sales can take care of the rest.

And when not being shot, guns can provide hours of fun and use. Here are some ideas:

- Baby teethers
- Nut crackers
- Tampon dispensers
- Meat tenderizers
- Curling irons (just heat up!)
- Sex toys
- Rifles can make cheerful curtain rods
- Candy dispensers
- Art projects (wind chimes, coat hangers, lamps…)

With our brainpower and might, we Americans can think of more creative and therapeutic uses for our guns. Just imagine the good they can do for our elderly, infirm and special needs family and friends.

It’s time to use our guns for good. For our safety, health and well-being.

God Bless America.

To add your ideas for new, better uses for guns, like the facebook page: 

http://www.facebook.com/supportguncontrol

Thank you!

Much better than the #NRA. Quote of the day : “I suggest putting a teacher in every gun store” Jef Johnson

— karim lebhour (@KarimLebhour) December 21, 2012

truth-has-a-liberal-bias:

The Emerging Democratic Majority has arrived: women, minorities, and professionals

underthemountainbunker:

Calling all 50 states the day before the election as Nate Silver did is one thing — predicting President Obama’s winning majority 10 years in advance is hard to top.

But that’s what Ruy Teixeira did. Since 2002, when Democrats were at a low point and sinking lower, Teixeira has consistently argued that long-term demographic trends pointed to brighter days ahead for the party. He and John Judis published a book that year, “The Emerging Democratic Majority,” that envisioned a governing majority in the next decade consisting of three rapidly growing voting blocs — women, minorities, and professionals.

Along with young voters, these three groups are credited with powering Obama’s 2008 and 2012 victories. Latinos were critical in contests across the country on Tuesday, especially in Western states like New Mexico (no longer even a swing state), Nevada, and Colorado. African American turnout helped put Obama over the top in states like Ohio. Huge advantages with women helped secure states like Iowa (28% gender gap). And a growing professional class in Virginia and North Carolina — solid red states when Teixeira published his book — put the former in Obama’s camp for a second straight election and kept the latter competitive until the end.

It’s easy to forget now, but after President Bush won re-election in 2004, there was a popular school of thought that America was entering an extended period in which Republicans would hold an unshakable majority. Karl Rove claimed the results as a “realignment” in which evangelical and suburban turnout would destroy the Democrats’ viability as a national party. Other observers like  Michael Barone backed him up. Perhaps not coincidentally, both of them predicted a Romney landslide last week.

Teixeira stuck by his theory, however, and now one of the big post-election questions is whether Obama’s majority is the new political reality in America or a passing phase. TPM talked to Teixeira, now a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a liberal DC think tank, on Thursday about what his research tells him about the future of the party…

Sounds like Tumblr’s investment in having its support unit based in Virginia - wise decision helping the trend?

It is true that tech companies can sure have influence - in so called red states. 

Was the topic of one segment of Brian Lehrer show (WNYC, NYC’s public radio station) this morning, but somehow WNYC website didn’t set up the discussion area - but anyway.

Jodi Kantor of The New York Times on the President’s second term; and a close look at how design and engineering could provide solutions for rising tides and storm surges in the future.

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/2012/nov/12/

and

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/2012/nov/12/obama-ii/

I’d say (without much thinking or checking) 2 thing.

Education (overhaul, reform), but not Lefty push but more focused on 

1. Real great international comparison (create a team to run this comparison to report back, with website setup which is accessible for public and discussion)
2. Securing America’s Sci/Tech/Entrepreneurism (with good number crunch) 
3. With attention to the issue of red states and some wicked social conservative elements, and post-industrial America situations
4. So that America creates education system which ‘updates itself’ and - also secure good job/career prospects for (all?) Americans 
5. (Could have also like what went so wrong? kind of checks too.)

On this, he could push ‘manic’ for 2-3 years and see how it’s going. If it looks like failure, correct on what needs to be corrected. 

Then 2nd is: 

1. Financial regulation (Splitting retail and investment banking - ‘Too big to fail’ issue - UK’s Sir Mervyn King, and Gordon Brown and others. ) 
2. I don’t know how this’d look really in USA. But some number crunching may be possible to see how it’d affect - whether it’d improve the situation for middle class or otherwise. 

Something about the way American economy esp financial sector is going - though that may require more global take - (EU taking too long to really come out from its crisis - why? How are these relevant or irrelevant?: Separating retail and investment banking, and austerity policy). 

Doesn’t take much Googling. Though data is taken in early October - from Oct 3rd to 7th,

hope Obama team is *keenly* aware of this. 

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – October 19, 2012 –Voters in the pivotal battleground states of Ohio and Florida show strong interest in global security issues, and want to hear the candidates’ views on defense, Iran and terrorism in the final presidential debate, according to a new poll conducted jointly by leading Democratic and Republican pollsters for Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

While the poll confirms conventional wisdom about the economy as the number one issue in this race, the survey finds that national security is a key issue for many voters in both states – almost as decisive a factor as the federal deficit and more important than taxes.

Read more»

October 19 2012, 

New Poll Shows Voters Have Strong Interest in Global Affairs: Voters Split on Isolationism, Concerned about Terrorism and Arab Spring

http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/22418/new_poll_shows_voters_have_strong_interest_in_global_affairs.html

The same poll is also covered in Ohio’s local news - cincinnati.com

• Poll: Ohio voters interested in foreign policy - and worried