February 22, 2005
The Profit Motive
Business owners do not normally work for money either. They work for the enjoyment of their competitive skill, in the context of a life where competing skillfully makes sense. The money they earn supports this way of life. The same is true of their businesses. One might think that they view their businesses as nothing more than machines to produce profits, since they do closely monitor their accounts to keep tabs on those profits.But this way of thinking replaces the point of the machine's activity
with a diagnostic test of how well it is performing. Normally, one
senses whether one is performing skillfully. A basketball player does
not need to count baskets to know whether the team as a whole is in
flow. Saying that the point of business is to produce profit is like
saying that the whole point of playing basketball is to make as many
baskets as possible. One could make many more baskets by having no
opponent.The game and styles of playing the game are what matter because they
produce identities people care about. Likewise, a business develops an
identity by providing a product or a service to people. To do that it
needs capital, and it needs to make a profit, but no more than it
needs to have competent employees or customers or any other thing that
enables production to take place. None of this is the goal of the
activity.
Disclosing New Worlds: Entrepreneurship, Democratic Action and the Cultivation of Solidarity by Charles Spinosa, Fernando Flores & Hubert Dreyfus (MIT Press 1997)
February 18, 2005
Soldiers Xing
Not sure if this is what the Administration had in mind when they asked for more veteran's benefits:
The US food and drug administration has given the go-ahead for the soldiers to be included in an experiment to see if MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy, can treat post-traumatic stress disorder.
Can We Stop Torturing People, Please?
An Iraqi whose corpse was photographed with grinning U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib died under CIA interrogation while in a position condemned by human rights groups as torture -- suspended by his wrists, with his hands cuffed behind his back, according to reports reviewed by The Associated Press.AP
Negroponte, Iran-Contra
Negroponte was the U.S. Ambassador to Honduras during the illegal war we backed in Nicaragua, when Honduras was being used as a base for the Contra rebels. His complicity in that scandal is now being used as a credential in his new position as intelligence czar.
Great Moments in Press Obstruction
Q. Why -- if you're suggesting that people will debate the numbers, that's kind of a backhanded way to say, oh, who cares about the numbers. Well, apparently, the President's top economic advisors do, because that's why they wrote a very large report and sent it to Congress. So why was the prediction made in the first place, if the President and you and his Treasury Secretary were going to just back away from it?MR. McCLELLAN: Well, one, I disagree with the premise of the way you stated that. This is the annual Economic Report of the President and the economic modeling is done this way every year. It's been done this way for 20-some years.
Q. So why not -- why aren't you standing behind it?
MR. McCLELLAN: I think what the President stands behind is the policies that he is implementing, the policies that he is advocating. That's what's important.
Q. That's not in dispute. The number is the question.
MR. McCLELLAN: I know, but the President's concern is on the number of jobs being created --
Q. My question is, why was the prediction made --
MR. McCLELLAN: -- and the President's focus is on making sure that people who are hurting because they cannot find work have a job. That's where the President's focus is.
Q. Then why predict a number? Why was the number predicted? Why was the number predicted? You can't get away with not -- just answer the question. Why was that number predicted?
MR. McCLELLAN: I've been asked this, and I've asked -- I've been asked, and I've answered.
Q. No, you have not answered. And everybody watching knows you haven't answered.
MR. McCLELLAN: I disagree.
Press Gaggle
February 17, 2005
Not A Front, More Like A Regular Poker Game
"Today we do not want to form a front against anybody, particularly not against the United States," Imad Moustapha said.
I can't imagine why anyone would have thought that...
