tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81889288608396534712024-03-19T06:47:39.460-06:00Cafe of the Cosmic DanceThis blogger has moved to Sunstone's Cafe.Paul Sunstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462598852553696040noreply@blogger.comBlogger81125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188928860839653471.post-59098618735853416242012-07-03T15:15:00.000-06:002012-07-09T21:59:35.968-06:00I Must Confess My Dark Secret...I have a confession. A Dark confession. I hate the title of this blog. Hate it! And besides that, I don't like it. I keep thinking I'm confusing myself with a dance studio. So I have decided to change the name of this blog.<br />
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Now, in my opinion, one of the most annoying things anyone can do is change their blog's URL. But if you change your blog's name, and not your blog's URL, you sink in the search engine rankings. At least that's what I hear. I don't want to sink in the search engine rankings more than I need to. So I'm going to change both the name of my blog and my blog's URL address. In short, I'm fixing to get a whole new blog.<br />
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The new blog can be <a href="http://www.sunstonescafe.com/" target="_blank">found here</a>. It's already up and running.<br />
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The name of the new blog is "Sunstone's Cafe". Yeah, I suck at names. But I still think "Sunstone's Cafe" is a less confusing name than "Cafe of the Cosmic Dance".<br />
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I apologize for the inconvenience this change may have caused you. To make it up to you a little bit, I plan on never again changing my blog URL or name. So please update your blogrolls with the new title and location in full confidence that, barring a catastrophe, you won't have to update them again. Ever.<br />
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<a href="http://www.sunstonescafe.com/" target="_blank">Sunstone's Cafe</a>.Paul Sunstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462598852553696040noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188928860839653471.post-57958990160762844952012-07-03T06:14:00.001-06:002012-07-03T06:14:31.458-06:00Posting to Start TomorrowSorry for my long absence. I intend to start regular posting to this blog on the usual variety of subjects beginning tomorrow. Paul Sunstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462598852553696040noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188928860839653471.post-49526149270541739232012-04-04T14:04:00.000-06:002012-04-04T14:04:39.486-06:00"Women Don't Care About Contraception"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZEhx1lzls00?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
The Republican governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley, does not seem to think that women care about contraception. If that is a mainstream view among Republican leaders, I am willing to bet they are a bit out of touch with the concerns of American women.Paul Sunstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462598852553696040noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188928860839653471.post-20136562598116086382012-04-03T01:39:00.000-06:002012-04-03T01:39:11.040-06:00Do Freedom and Equality Ever Go Together in Practice?One of the more interesting notions that most of us seem to accept at one or another point in our lives is the notion that freedom and equality are incompatible. <br />
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I have heard that notion advanced in this manner: Jones has many marketable talents, while Smith has few marketable talents. Thus, if Jones is free to make as much money as he can, he will make more money than Smith. So, for Jones and Smith to be financially equal, something must done to limit Jones' earnings. But anything you do to limit Jones' earnings deprives Jones of his freedom. Consequently, you cannot have both freedom and equality at the same time.<br />
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Now, it seems to me the notion you cannot have both freedom and equality at the same time is one of those notions that has just enough truth to it to hoodwink many of us into generalizing from such examples as "Smith and Jones" above to whole societies. However, the more one examines the notion, the less warranted that sort of generalization might seem.<br />
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The problem is history.<br />
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The rarest complex societies in history have been those in which most people were more or less free. But those rare, relatively free societies have also tended at the same time to be more egalitarian.<br />
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Tocqueville, for instance, noticed that white males living in the America of the 1830s were <i>both</i> freer <i>and</i> more equal than white males living in either the England or France of the same period. Again, both male and female citizens of the Roman Republic seem to have been both freer and more equal than their counterparts living in the Roman Empire.<br />
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So the notion that freedom and equality are incompatible, while perhaps seeming to have some reason and logic on its side, does not always pan out in practice. But if that is indeed the case, then why is it the case?<br />
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I think the reason freedom and equality often go together in practice -- if not so often in theory -- is ultimately because of human nature. Plutarch observed 2000 years ago that no republic had ever long withstood a large gap between rich and poor. It seems that whenever such a gap is allowed to exist, some of the rich inevitably use their wealth to gather to themselves the reins of power. And, because they are far richer than most anyone else, there are few if any people who can effectively oppose them. Thus, they subjugate the rest of us.<br />
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If all of that is true enough, then it follows that equality is not the enemy of freedom -- at least not in practice -- but rather its companion. For, if there is a relatively small gap between rich and poor, then comparatively more people will be in a position to effectively oppose the usurping of power by another group of people.<br />
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At least, that's my guess why history seems to show that freedom and equality often enough go together in practice. What's your guess?Paul Sunstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462598852553696040noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188928860839653471.post-55358599449384775742012-03-29T20:39:00.000-06:002012-03-29T20:39:14.654-06:00The Concentration of Wealth in AmericaAccording to the polling, most Americans have no idea how concentrated wealth is in America.<br />
<br />
Apparently, we tend to think it is much more evenly distributed than it in fact is. <a href="http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html" target="_blank">So here's a fun figure: In 2007, one-fifth of Americans owned 85% of the privately held wealth in America</a>.<br />
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In other words, the vast majority of Americans -- eight in every ten of us -- made do with only 15% of the nation's wealth.<br />
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That's quite an interesting fact, methinks.<br />
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I'm no economist, but it seems to me like our policies of shipping most of the well paid jobs off-shore while cutting taxes on the rich might be having consequences.<br />
<br />
But whatever the cause of the concentration of wealth, I doubt what's left of representative democracy in America can long withstand such an unequal distribution of wealth. Paul Sunstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462598852553696040noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188928860839653471.post-19645459881330786872012-03-27T10:01:00.000-06:002012-03-27T10:01:49.057-06:00Free WillLike most of us, I was taught while growing up that humans have free will. That important lesson was <i>not</i> delivered by my school teachers, however, nor even by my parent or relatives, but by my nanny.<br />
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My nanny was an elderly lady with no formal education beyond high school. She was diligent, caring, and tolerant, but she was an uncritical thinker. That is, she simply accepted what had been taught her, without much mulling it over, and passed it on to me.<br />
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One of the things that had been taught her, and which she uncritically passed on to me, was the notion of hell. My mother, an agnostic at the time, was no more concerned with teaching me about hell than she was concerned with teaching me about what some far distant Amazonian tribe wore to weddings. I don't even know if she believed in hell. But my nanny had been taught hell, had never questioned it, and thought it important.<br />
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I was about five or six when my nanny taught me about hell. And it was in teaching me about hell that she introduced me to the concept of free will. I vaguely recall she actually used the term "free will", but that could be my memory adding its frills and laces to the facts. At any rate, I believe it was as my nanny was teaching me about god, afterlife, hell, and salvation, that I formed my first notion of free will -- although I can't be sure whether I learned the term then or later.<br />
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Naturally, all that talk of hell caused tears. When my mother got home from work, she had to comfort me. Which she did -- as was her custom -- in an intellectual way. There were no hugs and kisses and reassurances that I was a good boy and would go to heaven. I probably would not have been satisfied by those things anyway, for I was an intellectual kid. <br />
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Instead, mom verbally asserted -- like the good agnostic that she was -- that the concept of hell was highly questionable, and that I was too young to make a decision about whether there was such a thing. As I recall, her words did not entirely calm me down and comfort me, but they did, I think, steer me in the direction of critical thought -- for one of the most important lessons to learn about critical thinking is the wisdom of suspending judgment.<br />
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Over the years, my sporadic reflections on free will have led me to greater and greater uncertainty about the concept. Today, I only think there is an exceedingly small chance of it. That is, if you define free will as whether, given two absolutely identical situations, your choice of action could vary from one of those situations to the other, then I think the odds are overwhelming that free will does not exist. And if it does exist, then -- for reasons too complex to discuss here -- I suspect it might be negative in nature. That is, you cannot freely will to do something, but in some limited way, you might be able to freely will <i>not</i> to do something.<br />
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In other words, what we call "free will" might not amount to much more than the inhibitory functions of consciousness. I guess it would depend on whether or not those functions are caused. If they are caused, then the will is not free. If they somehow cause themselves (and how could that be!), then the will has a certain measure of freedom.<br />
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What do you think about the notion of free will? Does it have any merit? Why or why not?Paul Sunstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462598852553696040noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188928860839653471.post-15679903651427881262012-03-26T02:50:00.000-06:002012-03-26T02:50:40.603-06:00Observation of New ThingsIt's about 30 minutes before dawn. I hear a wild goose off in the distance, and then my neighbor cough. Now and then a car passing on the distant street. My thoughts come and go. I feel I should grab one of those thoughts, wrestle it into submission, and present it as a blog post.<br />
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But that can wait. For now, I'd rather just watch the night turn into day. The refrigerator comes on. The furnace creaks. I hear wind chimes from across the yard.<br />
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The sky is light enough the trees are silhouetted against it now. The early dawn.<br />
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I think an odd thing about observation is that we so often want to give it a purpose and then guide it. By guide it, I mean we want to weed out some of what's happening because it doesn't fit in with our purpose -- with what we're looking for. Then, too, we want to hold onto other parts of what's happening because those parts actually fit our purpose.<br />
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Yet -- when we observe with a purpose in mind -- we more or less observe what we expect to observe.<br />
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I've lived in this cottage for almost a year now, and this morning was the first time I've noticed how many wind chimes there are in my immediate neighborhood. I wasn't expecting to notice them, though. I was instead having one of those rare moments when you observe without much in the way of expecting anything. <br />
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It seems to me that it can be extraordinarily difficult to observe without any purpose. For the most part, we're looking for something. Often, that "something" is beauty, pleasure, or whatever we expect to find because we've seen it before. But whatever it is, we are actively looking for it.<br />
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Still, it's in those rarer moments when we are not looking for anything -- when we do not seek beauty, pleasure, or this or that thing -- that we are most likely to discover the new.Paul Sunstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462598852553696040noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188928860839653471.post-47527789666361934822012-03-25T23:39:00.000-06:002012-03-25T23:39:19.439-06:00The Occupy MovementIt seems like the Occupy Movement is still going, despite what appears to be little or no mainstream media coverage. <br />
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I do not own a TV and follow the mainstream media mostly via their websites, so I could be very wrong about the lack of mainstream media coverage. Does anyone know whether the major networks have been covering the Occupy Movement?<br />
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On the other hand, I get email updates of some of the things happening in New York City. At times, I am being told that the marchers have filled up the street for four or five city blocks. That could easily be a thousand or more people. But, again, the media seems to be silent on these protests, which are now happening frequently.<br />
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Is it news that the Occupy Movement appears to be coming back after the winter?Paul Sunstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462598852553696040noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188928860839653471.post-45354508179417269932012-03-23T03:44:00.000-06:002012-03-23T03:44:52.032-06:00Are the Republicans Against Obama, or Against a Fiction They Call "Obama"?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/mq7BDGib4Ek?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Bill Maher strikes me as making an interesting point here when he states that "Republicans have created an entirely fictional President [Obama]" that they are running against instead of running against the real Obama. The things the Republican candidates are saying about Obama are simply not true, but are widely believed by the Republican Base. <br />
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According to Maher, this is largely a Republican thing. That is, the Democrats by and large did not make things up about Bush when running against him, but Bush made things up about Kerry when running against him.<br />
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I think Maher might have a point. And, if so, I wonder how much of the situation could be owed to the Republicans having their own media outlets in the Fox News Network and Clearwater Communications. Neither one of those outlets provides a fair and balanced view of the world, but rather puts a conservative spin on things, which could go far in allowing the Republican Base to live in a little bubble, rather than to confront reality.<br />
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But what do you think? Is there any truth to what Maher says?Paul Sunstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462598852553696040noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188928860839653471.post-23862796143838175112012-03-21T12:19:00.001-06:002012-03-21T12:20:15.884-06:00Your Advice, Please?Very recently, I have taken up painting with acrylics. After a little playing around, I've been most pleased with the Golden Open Acrylics because of their longer drying times. As for subject matter, I have been butchering everything I can think of, from still-lifes to landscapes to portraits. The main thing I've found out from my experiments so far is that I have a whole lot to learn.<br />
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So does anyone have any advice for working with acrylic paints -- or with any paints, for that matter?Paul Sunstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462598852553696040noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188928860839653471.post-58037992078385129802012-03-20T03:29:00.000-06:002012-03-20T03:29:02.725-06:00That was Fun (Sarcasm)My computer problems are now solved. I was thinking of writing about the long, tedious string of multiple problems I had (when it rains it pours), but I really don't want to relive the sickening experience. Instead, I'll just get back to blogging as soon as I can think of something to blog about.Paul Sunstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462598852553696040noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188928860839653471.post-30976592642583412062012-02-10T20:17:00.000-07:002012-02-10T20:17:09.338-07:00Computer Problems SuckThese computer problems are beginning to get tedious.Paul Sunstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462598852553696040noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188928860839653471.post-10731975979827585912012-01-24T01:01:00.000-07:002012-01-24T01:01:16.205-07:00Still Trying to Fix ComputerI'm still trying to fix my computer. I've tried about a dozen things without success so far. Consequently, blog posting remains light. Lately, I've been considering fine tuning the thing with a sledge hammer, but I'm just not convinced yet that would actually be helpful. Paul Sunstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462598852553696040noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188928860839653471.post-39746897811801063542012-01-20T15:18:00.003-07:002012-01-20T16:21:44.116-07:00Jiddu Krishnamurti on the Significance of Doubt<div style="background-color: #cfe2f3;">"Why do we accept, why do we follow? We follow another's authority, another's experience and then doubt it; this search for authority and its sequel, disillusionment, is a painful process for most of us. We blame or criticize the once accepted authority, the leader, the teacher, but we do not examine our own craving for an authority who can direct our conduct. Once we understand this craving we shall comprehend the significance of doubt."</div><br />
-- J. Krishnamurti, <a href="http://www.jkrishnamurti.org/krishnamurti-teachings/view-daily-quote/20120120.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JKOnline_DailyQuotes+%28JKOnline+RSS+Daily+Quotes%29" target="_blank"><i>The Book of Life</i></a>Paul Sunstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462598852553696040noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188928860839653471.post-84382376900299743782012-01-19T18:11:00.000-07:002012-01-19T18:11:33.406-07:00Learning that Comes with Age?I turned 55 earlier this month. One of the things I've enjoyed about getting older has been that I don't worry as much about my mistakes as I used to when I was younger.<br />
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I still make as many -- or even more -- mistakes as I ever did, but I just don't worry about them as much. Instead, I let the victims of my mistakes do the worrying, for part of my getting older has been my learning how to properly delegate responsibility.Paul Sunstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462598852553696040noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188928860839653471.post-45970420453469334452012-01-17T19:30:00.000-07:002012-01-17T19:30:48.510-07:00The Modesty of NudityI recently got involved in a discussion of nudity. Someone said that nudity was against Christian principles for women. That is, women should be modest in their apparel.<br />
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Then someone else pointed out there wasn't much that was more modest than nudity. "Hard to put on airs when you ain't got nothing else on."Paul Sunstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462598852553696040noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188928860839653471.post-21003605374601289682012-01-16T11:22:00.000-07:002012-01-16T11:22:54.154-07:00Sporadic PostingI'm having some computer problems that might interfere with my posting to this blog. Hopefully, I'll be able to work around the problems until I can solve them. But if the blogging falls off, that's the reason for it.Paul Sunstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462598852553696040noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188928860839653471.post-68248777445465475902012-01-14T18:36:00.004-07:002012-01-15T09:31:38.047-07:00UPDATED: Cell Phone Numbers Go Public This Month! Truth or Hoax?<span style="background-color: yellow;">UPDATED </span><br />
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I just received this email from a friend, but it could be a hoax:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">REMEMBER: Cell Phone Numbers Go Public this month.<br />
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REMINDER..... all cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies and you will start to receive sales calls.<br />
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YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE CALLS.<br />
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To prevent this, call the following number from your cell phone: <a href="tel:888-382-1222" value="+18883821222">888-382-1222</a><br />
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It is the National DO NOT CALL list. It will only take a minute of your time.. It blocks your number for five (5) years.<br />
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You must call from the cell phone number you want to have blocked. You cannot call from a different phone number.</blockquote><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: yellow;">However, Donna, Exrelayman, and Garnet have all pointed out in the comments on this post that the email is most likely a widespread hoax that was unwittingly passed on by my friend and me. I think they are right.</span> </div><div style="background-color: white;"><br />
</div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: yellow;">I apologize for my blunder, and I hope I have not caused any harm. New New Year's Resolution: Learn to use Google!</span> </span>Paul Sunstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462598852553696040noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188928860839653471.post-19379742043755418402012-01-12T18:12:00.001-07:002012-01-12T18:14:46.694-07:00Do You Get Out of the House Much, Your Excellency?"The Minister for Family of the Papal Government, Cardinal Antonelli, told me a few days ago in Zaragoza that UNESCO has a program for the next 20 years to make half the world population homosexual. To do this they have distinct programs, and will continue to implant the ideology that is already present in our schools." -- <a href="http://www.elpais.com/articulo/english/Abortion/bigger/problem/than/joblessness/says/Catholic/Church/elpepueng/20120101elpeng_3/Ten" target="_blank">Demetrio Fernández, Bishop of Córdoba</a>.<br />
<br />
(H/T: <a href="http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2012/01/12/you-little-rascals-you-didnt-tell-me/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+freethoughtblogs%2Fpharyngula+%28FTB%3A+Pharyngula%29" target="_blank">Pharyngula</a>)Paul Sunstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462598852553696040noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188928860839653471.post-40428572072547761302012-01-12T08:10:00.001-07:002012-01-12T08:12:09.135-07:00The Amazing Success of Trickle Down Economics<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfIDm1tCceAvr8gx9jAjvvwfDyknF5-8p_ycGjAC-S7KXgDzcDHGJ0db3papWNw5srSP5IVQn814P6Ijy-WU5BtilKswUHi0jmS1UEXtbdIMgeLFrne1_-KCudkpaBVKZbN2dlFZhJGXvd/s1600/011212krugman1-blog480.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfIDm1tCceAvr8gx9jAjvvwfDyknF5-8p_ycGjAC-S7KXgDzcDHGJ0db3papWNw5srSP5IVQn814P6Ijy-WU5BtilKswUHi0jmS1UEXtbdIMgeLFrne1_-KCudkpaBVKZbN2dlFZhJGXvd/s400/011212krugman1-blog480.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/12/be-vewy-vewy-quiet/" target="_blank">Source</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Some folks insist that anyone who is for raising taxes on the top 1% is engaging in class warfare. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/26/business/yourmoney/26every.html" target="_blank">But as Warren Buffett said</a>, “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”<br />
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About 2000 years ago, Plutarch observed, "An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics." It will be interesting to see whether America has the political will to save its republic.Paul Sunstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462598852553696040noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188928860839653471.post-81775153656601089752012-01-12T06:23:00.000-07:002012-01-12T06:23:46.198-07:00Four From Voltaire<i>Les habiles tyrans ne sont jamais punis.</i><br />
-- Clever tyrants are never punished.<br />
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<i>C'est une des superstitions de l'esprit humain d'avoir imaginé que la virginité pouvait être une vertu.</i><br />
<i>-- </i>It is one of the superstitions of the human mind to have imagined that virginity could be a virtue.<br />
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<i> </i><i>Nous cherchons tous le bonheur, mais sans savoir où, comme les ivrognes qui cherchent leur maison, sachant confusément qu'ils en ont une.</i><br />
<i>-- </i>We all look for happiness, but without knowing where to find it: like drunkards who look for their house, knowing dimly that they have one.<br />
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<i> </i><i>Il y a eu des gens qui ont dit autrefois: Vous croyez des choses incompréhensibles, contradictoires, impossibles, parce que nous vous l’avons ordonné; faites donc des choses injustes parce que nous vous l’ordonnons. Ces gens-là raisonnaient à merveille. <b>Certainement qui est en droit de vous rendre absurde est en droit de vous rendre injuste.</b> Si vous n’opposez point aux ordres de croire l’impossible l’intelligence que Dieu a mise dans votre esprit, vous ne devez point opposer aux ordres de malfaire la justice que Dieu a mise dans votre coeur. Une faculté de votre âme étant une fois tyrannisée, toutes les autres facultés doivent l’être également. Et c’est là ce qui a produit tous les crimes religieux dont la terre a été inondée.</i><br />
<i>-- </i>Formerly there were those who said: You believe things that are incomprehensible, inconsistent, impossible because we have commanded you to believe them; go then and do what is unjust because we command it. Such people show admirable reasoning. <b>Truly, whoever is able to make you absurd is able to make you unjust.</b> If the God-given understanding of your mind does not resist a demand to believe what is impossible, then you will not resist a demand to do wrong to that God-given sense of justice in your heart. As soon as one faculty of your soul has been dominated, other faculties will follow as well. And from this derives all those crimes of religion which have overrun the world.<br />
<i> </i><br />
(<a href="http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Voltaire" target="_blank">Source</a>)<i><br />
</i>Paul Sunstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462598852553696040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188928860839653471.post-9486788954011125572012-01-12T01:45:00.001-07:002012-01-12T01:47:39.342-07:00Moderate Folks and Fanatics"The mark of a moderate man is freedom from his own ideas." <i>Tao Te Ching</i>, <a href="http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Laozi" target="_blank">Ch. 59, as interpreted by Stephen Mitchell (1992)</a>.<br />
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The first two questions I have about this passage are relatively simple: If it is true that the mark of a moderate man is freedom from his own ideas, then is the mark of a fanatic that he is enslaved to his own ideas?<br />
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If so, how does a fanatic become enslaved to his own ideas?<br />
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The next two questions I have about this passage are perhaps less simple: In so far as most or all of us see the world through the lens of our ideas about the world, are not most or all of us somewhat less than free of our own ideas?<br />
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If so, what would it mean to be free of one's own ideas?Paul Sunstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462598852553696040noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188928860839653471.post-67837903279531327822012-01-10T19:02:00.001-07:002012-01-10T19:04:34.512-07:00Slouching Towards America's "Lost Decade"<blockquote class="tr_bq">I am re-posting the following article by Mark Weisbrot, with permission, because I think it speaks to one of the major issues facing the US -- as well as many other nations.<br />
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As you may know, the focus of the politicians has been on austerity -- cutting the budget -- despite that jobs are what most people want the politicians to focus on. Consequently, some folks are now predicting that, if the current focus continues, full employment will wait <i>years</i> to be achieved.<br />
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Such an outcome would be morally obscene and result in massive suffering.<br />
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The original article was first published on January 10th, in <a href="http://www.guardiannews.com/" target="_blank"><i>The Guardian (UK)</i></a>, under the heading, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/jan/10/economic-illiteracy-of-economists" target="_blank"><i>The Economic Idiocy of Economists</i></a>. <a href="http://www.cepr.net/index.php/biographies/mark-weisbrot/" target="_blank">Mark Weisbrot</a> is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C.</blockquote><div id="article-body-blocks"><br />
The American Economic Association's annual meetings are a scary sight, with thousands of economists all gathered in the same place – a veritable weapon of mass destruction. Chicago was the lucky city for 2012 this past weekend, and I had just finished participating in an interesting <a href="http://www.cepr.net/index.php/events/">panel on "the economics of regime change"</a>, when I stumbled over to see what the big budget experts had to say about "the political economy of the US debt and deficits".<br />
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The session was introduced by UC Berkeley economist Alan Auerbach, who put up a graph of the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/usa">United States</a>' rising debt-to-GDP ratio, and warned of dire consequences if Congress didn't do something about it. Yawn.<br />
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But the panelists got off to a good start, with Alan Blinder of Princeton, former vice-chairman of the US Federal Reserve, describing the public discussion of the US national debt as generally ranging from "ludicrous to horrific". True, that. He asked and answered four questions.<br />
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First, is there any urgency (to reduce the deficit or debt)? No. The government can borrow short term at negative real interest rates, and long-term at about zero. The world is paying us to hold their money. That is anything but a debt crisis. The Fed is out of bullets, he said – referring to the fact that the US Federal Reserve had lowered short-term rates to zero and had used quantitative easing to help keep long-term rates low. So we need more fiscal stimulus, preferably spending that focuses on actually creating jobs. Amen.<br />
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Second, should we focus on the next decade? No, he said, and noted that the Congressional Budget Office's (CBO's) <a href="http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=12039">budget deficit projections over the next decade</a> are about 3.6% of GDP, which is not much to get agitated about. Also true.<br />
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Third, is government spending the problem? No, he said, it's healthcare costs, and mainly <a href="http://www.cepr.net/calculators/hc/hc-calculator.html">the rising price of healthcare</a> (that is, not the ageing of the population). Most important truth yet! (More on this below.)<br />
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Fourth, is the public really up in arms about the deficit? No, actually, they <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/148589/concerns-economy-jobs-outweigh-worries-deficit.aspx">care more about the economy and jobs</a>. As they should.<br />
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Blinder concluded that since this is an election year, we can forget about having any fact-based discussion of these issues in 2012. Happy New Year, he said, and the audience laughed. Well, that was refreshing, I thought – an economist telling the unvarnished truth to hundreds of his people at the annual meetings.<br />
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But a rapid descent into hell was imminent. Former CBO director Douglas Holtz-Eakin was next, talking about the need to "repair" social security and Medicare. The United States has all the characteristics of countries that run into trouble, he said. Then he warned that the US is going to end up like <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/greece">Greece</a>. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/jul/24/kenneth-rogoff-deficit-reduction">This is one of the dumbest things</a> that anyone with an economics degree can say.<br />
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Hello, Mr Holtz-Eakin! Have you ever heard of the US dollar, the world's key reserve currency? <br />
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The United States is not going to end up like Greece, any sooner than it will end up like Haiti or Burkina Faso. A country that can pay its foreign public debt in its own currency and runs its own central bank does not end up like Greece.<br />
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In fact, even <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/japan">Japan</a> is not going to end up like Greece, and Japan has a gross public debt of about 220% of its GDP, more than twice the size of ours and vastly larger – again, relative to its economy – than that of Greece. And the yen is nowhere near the dollar in its importance as an international reserve currency. But the Japanese government is still borrowing at just 1% interest rates for its ten-year <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/bonds">bonds</a>. <br />
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At this point, it was clear that this panel, other than Blinder, was living in a dystopian fantasy world. Next up was Rudy Penner of the Urban Institute, another former CBO director. His perspective was not much different from that of Auerbach or Holtz-Eakin. He complained about the polarisation of the political process, which prevents the two major parties from reaching an agreement. It's not partisanship, he said: House speaker Tip O'Neill and President Ronald Reagan knew how to be partisan, but they were able to reach agreement on the 1983 social security package and the 1986 tax reforms. And yada yada.<br />
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He might have added that we have had 25 years of <a href="http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/035468.html">lying about social security since then</a>, and even Reagan didn't dare try to privatise social security. And, of course, social security <a href="http://www.ssa.gov/oact/tr/2011/">can currently pay all promised benefits for the next 24 years without any changes</a>.<br />
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These arguments about polarisation really pose the key issue: from the viewpoint of the 99%, it's not polarisation, but weakness in defending our interests that is the problem. President Obama compromised much more than he should have last year, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/in-debt-talks-obama-offers-social-security-cuts/2011/07/06/gIQA2sFO1H_story.html">offering cuts to social security and Medicare</a>, in exchange for a long-term budget deal. The 99% are just lucky that the Republicans were too extremist to make this kind of a "grand bargain" with Obama.<br />
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The last panelist was Alice Rivlin of the Brookings Institution, another former CBO budget director and Fed vice-chair, as well as a member of the president's (2010) National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. She agreed with Blinder that we need more stimulus. But we can only get this if we agree to long-run spending cuts – including social security, of course. Yuck. This is a political strategy that is sure to end in disaster, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/02/opinion/krugman-nobody-understands-debt.html?ref=paulkrugman">given the prevailing state of misinformation</a> and disinformation.<br />
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During the discussion, Blinder – who identified himself as a Democrat – expressed his frustration in not being able to convince fellow Democrats to cut social security. Double yuck. The average social security check is about $1,177 a month, and a majority of senior citizens are getting most of their meager income from social security. Why these people insist on creating more poverty among the elderly, especially when the program is solvent for decades to come, is beyond me.<br />
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I got to ask the first question for the panel. I called attention to Blinder's presentation of the long-term budget problem <a href="http://www.cepr.net/calculators/hc/hc-calculator.html">as almost completely a problem</a> of the rising price of healthcare. I pointed out that you could take any country with a life expectancy greater than ours – including the other high-income countries – and put their per capita healthcare costs into our budget, and the long-term budget deficit would turn into a surplus.<br />
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My question was simple: are Americans so inherently different from other nationalities that we can't have similar healthcare costs? And if not, then why are we talking about long-term budget problems – instead of how to fix our healthcare system?<br />
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None of the panelists offered a serious answer to this question. Auerbach, the moderator, said that other countries have rising healthcare costs, too. And some of the others said or implied that healthcare costs were rising at an unsustainable pace worldwide.<br />
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But this is nonsense. The United States <a href="http://www.cepr.net/index.php/op-eds-&-columns/op-eds-&-columns/problems-of-us-health-care-are-rooted-in-the-private-sector-despite-right-wing-claims">pays about twice as much per person for healthcare</a> as other high-income countries – and still leaves 50 million people uninsured. This is a result of a dysfunctional healthcare system that has had healthcare prices rising much faster than those of other high-income countries for decades.<br />
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What the budget hawks are basically telling us is that we must assume that insurance and pharmaceutical companies will have a veto over the provisions of healthcare reform for decades to come. And that, therefore, we must find other ways to make up for these excessive costs, including cutting social security and other government spending, and pushing us into higher rates of poverty and inequality than we already have. <br />
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And even worse in the short run, all this crap about the deficit and the debt will be used to block the necessary stimulus measures – "stimulus" has already become a dirty word that Democratic politicians are afraid to utter. This means high unemployment and a lot of unnecessary misery in the world's richest country for the foreseeable future. <br />
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A dismal performance for the dismal science, on some of the most important issues of the day. Of course, there are other economists, including Nobel Prize winners such as Paul Krugman, Joe Stiglitz and Robert Solow (full disclosure: the latter two are members of CEPR's advisory board), who would offer more sensible views. But this panel was, sadly, representative of economists with the most influence on public policy.<br />
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With a brain trust like this, a lost decade for America looks likely – unless the citizenry can steer a different course. </div>Paul Sunstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462598852553696040noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188928860839653471.post-672162359744168862012-01-09T17:43:00.000-07:002012-01-09T17:43:01.196-07:00An Interview with Twinka<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUnz205l3VvW0uYf7l6R_06zWpmyPSdGoJlbEyUWG4_5618O3nhO-yU2TC6BehDNQE59HBIOsFHOfAF5LKGjdDHKSgpqxqY7Sklucl2pa6vLojuMuOxcmsQWG8JRnaTBwun7DaDY3A-uBV/s1600/TwinkaThibaudHeadshot_P9150187.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUnz205l3VvW0uYf7l6R_06zWpmyPSdGoJlbEyUWG4_5618O3nhO-yU2TC6BehDNQE59HBIOsFHOfAF5LKGjdDHKSgpqxqY7Sklucl2pa6vLojuMuOxcmsQWG8JRnaTBwun7DaDY3A-uBV/s400/TwinkaThibaudHeadshot_P9150187.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
I was recently offered an opportunity to submit a few questions to Twinka Thiebaud in connection with reviewing her new book, <a href="http://cafeofthecosmicdance.blogspot.com/2011/12/book-review-twinka-thiebauds-what.html" target="_blank"><i>What Doncha Know? About Henry Miller</i></a>. Her answers to my questions struck me as quite interesting and I have included them in this post. For those of you who are not familiar with Twinka, this is from the publicist's biography of her:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">Twinka Thiebaud is a former artist's model who collaborated with many notable photographers of the 20th century. </blockquote><blockquote> "Imogen and Twinka," created by Judy Dater in Yosemite National Park became one of the most recognizable and iconic images captured by an American photographer. In it, 92- year-old Imogen Cunningham, a groundbreaking photographer in her own right, confronts and locks gaze with Twinka, who appears as a wood nymph frozen before the camera's lens. The image can been seen in private and major museum collections around the world.<br />
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For three years Twinka lived with the aging novelist Henry Miller in his Pacific Palisades home acting as his cook and caretaker while working as an artist's model, posing for art students and other noted photographers Mary Ellen Mark, Arnold Newman, Lucien Clergue, Eikoh Hosoe, Ralph Gibson and her father American painter Wayne Thiebaud, among others. At home with Miller, Twinka was captivated and delighted along with other dinnertime guests and celebrities by the revered author's nightly tales of his past exploits. Listening, she began to keep a notebook of her version of what he said each evening. Eventually showing him her notes, he expressed immense enthusiasm, encouraging her to write a book. The result is a compilation entitled <a href="http://cafeofthecosmicdance.blogspot.com/2011/12/book-review-twinka-thiebauds-what.html" target="_blank"><i>What Doncha Know? About Henry Miller</i></a> which includes both Miller's intimate conversations and Twinka's memoirs about the years she spent living under his roof and his lasting effect on her. </blockquote><blockquote>Twinka lives in Portland, Oregon and is working on a memoir entitled <i>Twinka From Six to Sixty: Collected Images From the Life of an Artist’s Model.</i></blockquote><br />
And now, on to the questions and answers:<br />
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<b>PAUL</b>: I recently <a href="http://cafeofthecosmicdance.blogspot.com/2011/12/book-review-twinka-thiebauds-what.html">reviewed your book</a>, "What Doncha Know?" Do you have any comment on the review -- anything to correct or add?<br />
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<b>TWINKA</b>: Thanks for the review of <a href="http://cafeofthecosmicdance.blogspot.com/2011/12/book-review-twinka-thiebauds-what.html" target="_blank"><i>What Doncha Know? About Henry Miller</i></a>. I was pleased to see you have a clear picture of what interests and intrigues me most of all: PEOPLE, with a capital P! Henry Miller was one of my greatest subjects of observation along with becoming a great friend and mentor. I think you summed up the book very well and I'm glad it left you wanting more. I would have liked to keep going but circumstances beyond my control created a sudden deadline I needed to honor. Your review captures, beautifully, the spirit in which I penned the book. Thanks again. <br />
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<b>PAUL</b>: How would you characterize Henry Miller's sense of humor? Did the two of you laugh at the same things? Did you frequently get on a roll bouncing jokes off each other? <br />
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<b>TWINKA</b>: I'd like to report I had as great a sense of humor as Henry had at that time but that would be a lie. I was an anxious and uncertain young woman; full of drama and angst, usually looking on the darker side of things and not the humorous aspects of life. Aging has helped me gain a more finely tuned sense of the ridiculous and I laugh and make others laugh quite often.<br />
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Henry's sense of humor was usually based on the stories he'd tell about his failed exploits and adventures and those of his friends. He could make fun of himself brilliantly and his characterizations of the quirky souls he'd run into along the road were positively hilarious. <br />
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<b>PAUL</b>: Henry Miller's influence on you was remarkably positive. Based on that, what advice would you offer to people who find themselves in Henry's position of mentoring a much younger person? <br />
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<b>TWINKA</b>: The first thing would be to remain positive in one's approach. Henry was always incredibly supportive and caring in the way he spoke to me and others when things weren't going so well.<br />
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Focus on the other person entirely; make them feel they matter, that their feelings matter, that they have everything within them needed to find the right answers, the right path.<br />
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Don't tell stories about yourself unless the story relates directly, and in a positive way, to the other person's struggle or dilemma.<br />
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Henry built me up again and again and when I left him I was changed forever. I had no real confidence in myself when I arrived at his doorstep and I was full of ego and false bravado. Henry helped me to feel strong and capable and urged me to believe in myself and my creative endeavors; to live a more genuine life and to let go of the superficial. <br />
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<b>PAUL</b>: What advice would you offer a much younger person who was being mentored? <br />
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<b>TWINKA</b>: 1) Open yourself up to the wisdom and experience of the person whose taken you on as your mentor and show gratitude for the time they're making for you.<br />
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2) Be unendingly curious and ask a lot of questions. <br />
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3)Hang out with your mentor; go to the theater, watch a film, listen to music together and take long walks (with your cell phone turned off). <br />
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<b>PAUL</b>: Please tell me a bit about the direction you're headed with your painting? What do you feel you've accomplished and what more do you hope to accomplish in the immediate future? I'm quite fascinated by what little I've heard of your work, so please feel free to go into any amount of detail you wish. <br />
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<b>TWINKA</b>: This is the hardest question for me to answer. My painting is all about learning to "see". I'm searching, learning and feeling my way along quite slowly.<br />
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I don't show my work publicly and, perhaps, I never will. It's all about the process and the joy of not having to make a career or produce paintings for anyone but myself.<br />
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I have been in a bit of a rut for a few years with my painting so I turned to interior design projects to give myself some new challenges which I find incredibly rewarding. <br />
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Still, I love being alone in my studio with oil paint loaded on my brush, listening to great music and feeling connected to all the artists in the world throughout time.... all of us searching... and all of us learning how to see.Paul Sunstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462598852553696040noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188928860839653471.post-91187633747470416172012-01-09T17:03:00.000-07:002012-01-09T17:03:49.988-07:00And the Lucky Winner is....!The lucky winner of a free copy of Twinka Thiebaud's new book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/What-DONCHA-about-HENRY-MILLER/dp/0975925520" target="_blank"><i>What Doncha Know? About Henry Miller</i></a>, is The Wise Fool!<br />
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To determine the winner, I entered all the people who responded to my call for self-nominations in a random drawing. The drawing was conducted by computer at <a href="http://random.org/">Random.org</a>. And up popped The Wise Fool!<br />
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Congratulations, TWF! Please email me the address you would like your free copy shipped to. paul_sunstone [at] q.com I will pass your shipping address on to Twinka's publicist, Darlene Chan, but it will otherwise remain confidential. She will ship the book to you free of any charges.<br />
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Thank you everyone who entered in the giveaway!Paul Sunstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02462598852553696040noreply@blogger.com0