On not drinking one's own poison

There has been quite a bit of commentary lately about the failures of right wing polling and intelligence in the 2012 elections. All this has reminded me of something I read years ago in Peter Berger's 1963 classic An Invitation to Sociology. 

Early on in the book, he talked about how good intelligence means getting accurate information, whether you like it or not, rather than simply reinforcing the propaganda of the side one happens to be on. Holy Fox News, Batman!  In Berger's words, 

“…good intelligence consists of information free of bias. If a spy does his reporting in terms of the ideology and ambitions of his superiors, his reports are useless not only to the enemy, if the latter should capture them, but also to the spy’s own side.”

Again, one should never take one's own propaganda too seriously.

MORE ON THE RAPE BOYS. In yesterday's post, I briefly discussed the political failures of right wing gynecology in the recent election. Here's Mother Jones for a more complete look at the political scoreboard.

NOTE: El Cabrero is on the road a good part of the week. Posts may be irregular. Stay tuned...

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Errors in pairs

"A Christian must not be either a Totalitarian or and Individualist"--C.S. Lewis


THE PATRON SAINT OF GREED. Here's another look at Ayn Rand.

SPEAKING OF BAD IDEAS, the Republican plan to gut Medicare doesn't seem to be playing all that well.

AND THEN THERE'S THIS about taxes, the federal budget and the deficit.

MINIMUM WAGE. In many parts of the world, it's going up. Here, not so much.

PESTICIDES may be bad for a child's intelligence.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED