SOMETIMES ETYMOLOGY CAN TELL US ABOUT SOCIETY

In this case, I was wondering when the phrase "caveat emptor" became part of the English lexicon and according to the OED, it goes back centuries:

b. caveat emptor  [lit., let the purchaser beware] , let the purchaser examine the article he is buying before the bargain is completed, so that in case of disappointment after purchase he may not blame the seller.

?1523   J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandrie f. xxxvi,   He [sc. the horse] is no chapmans ware yf he be wylde: but and he be tame and haue ben rydden vpon than caueat emptor be ware thou byer.

1616   T. Adams Sacrifice of Thankefulnesse 75   Wee compell none to buy our Wares; Caueat emptor.

I conclude that the morality of the marketplace has been mediocre for a LONG time, even before Adam Smith.

POOR MICHELE BACHMANN :-)

As far as I can tell, Mark "Foamer" Levin is the only prominent wingnut to defend Bachmann over her wacko accusations about radical Muslims in the Federal government.

In addition to McCain, Boehner,  Lindsay Graham and Ed Rollins, USA Today has an article that shows the Republican chairman of the House Intel committee has also called her out:

Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., a former FBI agent, said Bachmann's assertions about the Muslim Brotherhood's infiltration efforts are false.

"That kind of assertion certainly doesn't comport with the Intelligence Committee, and I can say that on the record," he told USA TODAY, aligning himself with party leaders who have defended Abedin. "I have no information in my committee that would indicate that Huma is anything other than an American patriot."

THE SELF, SOCIETY AND CONSERVATIVES

I've been trudging through a very interesting book by Philip MIrowski, Machine Dreams, that lays out some fatal problems with the neo-classical (e.g., Chicago) school of economics, one of them being its inability to account for any structures higher than the individual.  In passing, Mirowski mentioned a statement by Margaret Thatcher which I had completely forgotten about though I now remember that at the time I thought her remark was absurd.

There's a site devoted to Thatcher which has many of her dicta and this is the background for her society remark:

1987 Sep 23 We
Margaret Thatcher
Interview for Woman's Own ("no such thing as society")
Document type: speeches
Document kind: Interview
Venue: No.10 Downing Street
Source: Thatcher Archive: COI transcript
Journalist: Douglas Keay, Woman's Own
Editorial comments: 1600-1720. An edited version of the interview was published on 31 October 1987 (under the title "Aids, education and the year 2000!"), pp8-10. Douglas Keay faithfully reproduced MT's reflections on society, although in the transcript the phrase "There is no such thing as society" occurs a few paragraphs below its position in the published text. Most unusually a statement elucidating the remark was issued by No.10, at the request of the Sunday Times and published on 10 July 1988 in the "Atticus" column: it follows the interview transcript.
Importance ranking: Key
Word count: 9686

Here's the relevant excerpt:

Douglas Keay, Woman's Own

[Question paraphrased for reason of copyright] ... in deterioration … . [mistranscription?]

Prime Minister

What is wrong with the deterioration? [mistranscription?] I think we have gone through a period when too many children and people have been given to understand “I have a problem, it is the Government's job to cope with it!” or “I have a problem, I will go and get a grant to cope with it!” “I am homeless, the Government must house me!” and so they are casting their problems on society and who is society? There is no such thing! There are individual men and women and[fo 29] there are families and no government can do anything except through people and people look to themselves first.

This part was put in the Sunday Times, presumably at Thatcher's request:

[+Appendix: statement issued to Sunday Times, published 10 July 1988:][fo 45]

All too often the ills of this country are passed off as those of society. Similarly, when action is required, society is called upon to act. But society as such does not exist except as a concept. Society is made up of people. It is people who have duties and beliefs and resolve. It is people who get thing, s done. [ Margaret Thatcher] She prefers to think in terms of the acts of individuals and families as the real sinews of society rather than of society as an abstract concept. Her approach to society reflects her fundamental belief in personal responsibility and choice. To leave things to ‘society’ is to run away from the real decisions, practical responsibility and effective action.”

BEST GOHMERT REPLY SO FAR

  From the Wonkette thread:

StealthMuslin 107p · 5 hours ago

The Douchebag Olympics are off to a great start.

FUCK YOU, LANNIE

(h/t Wonkette)

I'm really fed up with these corporatist DLC folks.

THE FUNDIE WACKOS RARELY DISAPPOINT

I listened today to a few minutes of Mark Steyn (subbing for Fats) today and he bemoaned the politicization of the Aurora, Colorado killings by the Leftists.   Pot, meet Kettle:

Rep. Louie Gohmert links Colorado shooting to attack on Judeo-Christians
By Rachel Rose Hartman, Yahoo! News | The Ticket

This is getting some attention on Memeorandum.

QUEEN ANN SPEAKS

So much for her being Mittens' secret weapon:

Ann Romney On Tax Returns: ‘We’ve Given All You People Need To Know’

YA GOTTA LOVE SUNUNU

He's so wacked out that he stepped on a MAJOR conservative meme: Canada is a socialist hell-hole because it has nationalized health care. (h/t readingisforsnobs)

Williams: I see the rich fleeing America! The rich are fleeing by the minute! We've gotta stop it. Oh come on.

Sununu: They are! Canada had more Americans except for one year, more Americans look for permits to move into Canada to do business.

BEFORE PRES. OBAMA, THERE WAS BERNARD OF CHARTRES (d. 1130 AD)

According to Wikipedia, Pres. Obama's point that we owe some of our success to our predecessors has been a truism for centuries in the West:

Dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants (Latin: nani gigantum humeris insidentes) is a Western metaphor meaning "One who develops future intellectual pursuits by understanding and building on the research and works created by notable thinkers of the past," a contemporary interpretation. However, the metaphor was first recorded in the twelfth century and attributed to Bernard of Chartres.[1] It was famously uttered by seventeenth-century scientist Isaac Newton (see below), as the statement "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants".[1]

The attribution to Bernard is due to John of Salisbury. In 1159, John wrote in his Metalogicon:[2]

"Bernard of Chartres used to say that we are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a greater distance, not by virtue of any sharpness of sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised up by their giant size."

("Dicebat Bernardus Carnotensis nos esse quasi nanos, gigantium humeris insidentes, ut possimus plura eis et remotiora videre, non utique proprii visus acumine, aut eminentia corporis, sed quia in altum subvenimur et extollimur magnitudine gigantea.")

ANOTHER SYMPTOM OF THE DECLINE OF THE TEA PARTY

Rep. Michele "The Eyes" Bachmann has been saying krazy things for years with nary a peep from GOP leadership but the times have changed.

Top Republicans denounce attack on Clinton aide
By Thomas Ferraro
Thu Jul 19, 2012 3:35pm EDT

(Reuters) - The top Republican in the Congress on Thursday criticized Representative Michele Bachmann and four other fellow House Republicans for making "pretty dangerous" accusations when they questioned the security clearance of a Muslim aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The comments of House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner came after Senator John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, blasted the five lawmakers for seeking an investigation into whether Huma Abedin, Clinton's deputy chief of staff, had connections to the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist political organization.

Boehner, speaking at a regular news briefing, said "accusations like this being thrown around are pretty dangerous." He said he did not know Abedin, but "from everything I know of her, she has a sterling character."

McCain was supported on Wednesday by Edward Rollins, a prominent Republican strategist who worked on Bachmann's primary campaign.

On the Fox News website, Rollins wrote that he was "fully aware that she sometimes has difficulty with her facts," but said "this is downright vicious and reaches the late Senator Joe McCarthy level," a reference to the U.S. senator from Wisconsin who rose and then fell accusing government officials and others of being communists in the 1950s.

I don't think Reuters is correct on this claim:

She has long been criticized by fellow Republicans, among others, for controversial comments and factual errors.

BUT SEAN HANNITY TOLD US THE GOP WON THE BUDGET BATTLE

He also said Pres. Obama was to blame for the S&P downgrade, not the House Baggers.

GOP fears shutdown showdown
By JAKE SHERMAN and MANU RAJU | 7/17/12 7:51 PM EDT
POLITICO

Top congressional Republicans are plotting ways to avoid a government shutdown fight when the fiscal year ends Sept. 30, believing the partisan brinkmanship that defined last year’s budget battles would be devastating to their party heading into the November elections.

And in a sign that the politics of the upcoming round of spending are shifting, GOP leaders now have a key ally on their side: Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), the tea party leader who has been a frequent critic of his party’s budget dealings.

“I believe unless the Republicans in the House send us a [continuing resolution] that goes past the lame duck at the budget control levels, then we got a problem with leadership in the House,” DeMint told POLITICO. “In September, we’ve got three weeks before the government shuts down. And I’m tired being up here and they put our backs against the wall or the government will shut down. Republicans need to make clear that we don’t want anything to do with a government shutdown. We are going to fund the government at the Budget Control Act levels, even though I think they’re too high.”

THE FREE MARKET, MOTU VERSION

In theory, the free market relies on factual information to establish prices but this requirement doesn't apply to MOTU like Mittens:

Romney’s risk-free deal with Bain

Posted by Ezra Klein on July 17, 2012 at 11:16 am
WaPo

Still, Romney worried about the impact on his reputation if he proved unable to do the job. Again the pot was sweetened. Bain promised that, if necessary, he would craft a cover story saying that Romney’s return to Bain & Co. was needed because of his value as a consultant. ‘So,’ Bain explained, ‘there was no professional or financial risk.’ This time Romney said yes.”

MEAN PEOPLE SUCK

That's my bumper sticker take on conservatives in America.  Whether its an NRO columnist referring to Hispanics as wetbacks or House Republicans seeking to block funding for the prevention of black lung disease, it all comes down to them telling other people to fuck-off and die.

THIS IS A BIGGER HIT THAN THE TAX RETURNS, OUTSOURCING OR DRESSAGE

Sen. John McCain said that Sarah Palin was the "better candidate" for VP over Mitt Romney.

HARRY REID NAILS IT!

He said that "angry old white men" are the major backers of the GOP and the ever-youthful John Sununu...

provided more evidence for Reid's claim:

Sununu apologizes for Obama remarks
By DYLAN BYERS |
7/17/12 5:52 PM EDT
POLITICO

Romney surrogate John Sununu apologized Tuesday afternoon for suggesting that President Obama is un-American.

WHY DID IT TAKE MITTENS ALMOST 3 YEARS TO EXIT BAIN?

(h/t Cannonfire)

Felix Salmon passes on one possible explanation:

Romney legally remained the CEO and sole owner of Bain Capital until 2002, Conard added, because he was intensively negotiating his exit deal with the partners at the firm. Conard summed up Romney’s position this way: “‘I created an incredibly valuable firm that’s making all you guys rich. You owe me.’ That’s the negotiation”.

IT TOOK A WHILE...

but I've finally learned there is no point in replying to conservative distractions from the real issue.  In this case, the issue is Mittens' mendacity and Solyndra, Fast & Furious, college transcripts, past drug use, etcetera are all irrelevant.

DOES CAPITALISM NEED A MULLIGAN?

The LIBOR scandal is in essence the MOTU faking numbers for their own advantage and the same may have happened with other benchmark numbers for oil and gas prices.

Oil prices could be rigged by traders warns G20 report
16 July 2012 Last updated at 12:40 ET
BBC News

Both the Libor inter-bank lending rate at the heart of a global rate-rigging scandal and spot oil prices are based on a system of trust. They are, effectively, unregulated.

Traders at various banks voluntarily report the prices they pay for oil contracts to Platts, Argus or one of their competitors. The price reporting agency use a number of trades to decide what the benchmark price, quoted to the outside world, should be.

IOSCO said that "this creates opportunity for a trader to submit a partial picture, i.e. an incomplete set of its trades in order to influence the assessment to the trader's advantage."

THE MITTENS STORY AS OF MONDAY

First, I now know that Fats and Hannity will carry as much water as necessary for Mittens and this can only hurt their ratings.

Second, has George Will turned commie?

George Will: Romney Must Think Costs Of Releasing Tax Returns Outweigh Not Releasing Them

Third, has Bloomberg News turned commie?

Romney’s Bain Yielded Private Gains, Socialized Losses

ARE THE RADIO GASBAGS WILLING TO GO DOWN WITH MITTENS?

When two prominent conservatives bail on Mittens, is it hard to imagine that the radio gasbags will also?

Bill Kristol: Romney ‘crazy’ not to release tax returns

George Will: Romney ‘losing at this point in a big way’

THIS CLOWN IS A SPOKESMAN FOR MITTENS?

Ed Gillespie tries to weasel out of the fact that Mittens worked for Bain after 1999 by claiming Mittens retired "retroactively" despite the fact that Mittens himself swore that he was employed by Bain in 2002.

OTOH, maybe Mittens is the clown and Gillespie was just trying to make the best of a very bad situation.

MICHELLE MALKIN, OUR NEWEST CLASS WARRIOR

I noted before that liberals won the "99% vs. 1%" meme war and the final piece of evidence for that claim is provided by Michelle Malkin:

Malkin Slams Obama’s Supporters: Romney Supporters Sign Front Of Paychecks, Obama’s Sign The Back
by Noah Rothman | 1:20 pm, July 14th, 2012
MEDIAITE

Later in the interview, Malkin slammed President Obama’s supporters. “Romney types, of course, are the ones who sign the front of the paycheck, and the Obama types are the one who have spent their entire lives signing the back of them,” she said.

NEWS MEDIA ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM

When I searched FAUX News on July 4th for mentions of the Barclays Bank-LIBOR scandal, I noticed that the other networks weren't exactly shouting the news from the rooftops.

Media Matters finds that the so-called serious news networks are still paying scant attention:

REPORT: News Networks Give Massive Banking Scandal Only 12 Minutes Of Primetime Coverage
Blog ››› July 13, 2012 11:18 AM EDT ››› BEN DIMIERO & ROB SAVILLO

Despite the massive scope of the controversy -- LIBOR is "used as a benchmark to set payments on about $800 trillion worth of financial instruments" -- CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, and NBC have only spent about 12 minutes combined covering the story during their evening newscasts and opinion programming.

Notably, flagship nightly news programs like ABC's World News with Diane Sawyer, NBC's Nightly News with Brian Williams and Fox News' Special Report with Bret Baier have never mentioned the rate-fixing scandal. Sunday morning standards including ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, CBS' Face the Nation, CNN's State of the Union with Candy Crowley, and Fox's Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace have also been silent on the story.

ARE MITTENS' ACCOUNTANTS SCRUBBING HIS 2011 TAX RETURN?

Mittens asked for and received an extension to filing his 2011 Federal tax statement and now I'm wondering if he's gotten his accountants to agree to misrepresenting Mittens' income sources.