"So what was the G.O.P.'s response? A demand for copies of all e-mails sent to or from Mr. Cronon's university mail account containing any of a wide range of terms, including the word ''Republican'' and the names of a number of Republican politicians.
"If this action strikes you as no big deal, you're missing the point. The hard right -- which these days is more or less synonymous with the Republican Party -- has a modus operandi when it comes to scholars expressing views it dislikes: never mind the substance, go for the smear."
NYT Op Ed piece found at Paul Krugman's Blog, Google Paul Krugman and select Krugman Blog.
Included in the list of key words in his e-mails which they want to see is the word Maddow. I am unfamiliar with this term as a noun. I am familiar with it as a name however.
Do they think that there is some sort of consortium of "subversive" thinkers which they can discover by trolling his e-mails and using one name, that of Rachel Maddow, whose views are widely available to anyone with a cable or satellite.
Now Conservative thinkers do get together and formulate strategy. That's what the Hoover Institute and the Cato Institute and the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation and all the dozens of others are for, but I don't know the names of any Partisan Democrats only Institutes, perhaps someone can enlighten me, but don't quote the Brookings Institution, which hires people from both sides.
What I'm most concerned with here is the assault on academic freedom, and the assault on freedom of thought and discussion. Professor Cronon's public speech is accessible through the public record. His academic record is open. Why this sledgehammer to crack a peanut for his opinions about a controversial governor whose precipitous and heavy handed actions have precipitated a revolt in the State House as expressed on-line?
Rob
Should this be deemed too political, don't post it, but the question remains: There is a coordination, and a hard Right collective opinion among Republican legislators both State and Federal. Who is coordinating this new coalescence. I do not think it is an individual of course, but I do think that it is the product of concerted and planned effort among a relatively small group numbering in the low thousands which has been going on for decades to hijack the democratic process for the benefit of the few, and the income studies in the US bear this out, as does the near lock step of Republican representatives on the State and Federal level. And no, I do not see the same cohesiveness in the Democratic Party.
Reply 1 : American Thought Police by Paul Krugman
A well known extremest, leftist hack.
By any chance, has Cronon used any University resources to "support the nomination of any person for political office or to influence a vote", which would violate the law?
Sheesh.
Quit getting your daily talking points form leftist hate sites.
By any chance, has Cronon used any University resources to "support the nomination of any person for political office or to influence a vote", which would violate the law?
Sheesh.
Quit getting your daily talking points form leftist hate sites.
Reply 2 : American Thought Police by Paul Krugman
Then again Joseph Stiglitz agrees with Krugman on this issue and others, and between them they have 3 Nobel Prizes, so I guess they're not very bright after all.
Reply 3 : American Thought Police by Paul Krugman
They're not what they used to be...
Reply 4 : American Thought Police by Paul Krugman
was no accusation of improper activity, there was only the request for access to his e-mails to see if they could fabricate a charge out of whatever was there. And strangely, a Republican judge agreed to let them troll. Curious coincidence.
Try reading the article. You'll learn more that way, and won't make baseless accusations.
I noticed on The News Hour on PBS that a Republican spokesman now calls the America a Centre-Right country. I thought it was middle of the road, but apparently we're driving through the fences on the Right Hand side, and this for some (the top 1%) is a good thing. For the rest of us it's being bu** surfed by billionaires. Except for Bill Gates Warren Buffet and George Soros, who all support Obama.
Mike, with respect, Quit buying the Bill of Goods the paid functionaries of a tiny minority are selling you.
Rob
Try reading the article. You'll learn more that way, and won't make baseless accusations.
I noticed on The News Hour on PBS that a Republican spokesman now calls the America a Centre-Right country. I thought it was middle of the road, but apparently we're driving through the fences on the Right Hand side, and this for some (the top 1%) is a good thing. For the rest of us it's being bu** surfed by billionaires. Except for Bill Gates Warren Buffet and George Soros, who all support Obama.
Mike, with respect, Quit buying the Bill of Goods the paid functionaries of a tiny minority are selling you.
Rob
Reply 5 : American Thought Police by Paul Krugman
http://www.slate.com/id/2289482/
Reply 6 : American Thought Police by Paul Krugman
ersity policy occurred.
You failed to get the point that there was no evidence to provoke or support the request, it is a fishing expedition. Your author is merely speaking in favour of Freedom of Information requests. It is a shame that the same requests didn't trump Executive Privilege in the case of the Dick Cheney meeting with Big Oil which was a circumstance far more suggestive than the Professor's reputation among Wisconsin Republicans. What is it with Wisconsin? Mad Joe McCarthy was from there too.
And I am more persuaded by Fallows than by your guy.
From your own link: "I take Cronon at his word that his email correspondence did not violate
the university's policies. I also accept his assertion that the release
of his emails will cause him inconvenience, disruption, potential
embarrassment, and worse, and that it will make the lives of professors
at Wisconsin state schools miserable for all of the same reasons."
No gun, no smoke, not even the outline of a cap pistol. A purely partisan act and an assault on academic freedom.
"I say it's broccoli, and I say the he!! with it." from an old New Yorker cartoon.
Rob
You failed to get the point that there was no evidence to provoke or support the request, it is a fishing expedition. Your author is merely speaking in favour of Freedom of Information requests. It is a shame that the same requests didn't trump Executive Privilege in the case of the Dick Cheney meeting with Big Oil which was a circumstance far more suggestive than the Professor's reputation among Wisconsin Republicans. What is it with Wisconsin? Mad Joe McCarthy was from there too.
And I am more persuaded by Fallows than by your guy.
From your own link: "I take Cronon at his word that his email correspondence did not violate
the university's policies. I also accept his assertion that the release
of his emails will cause him inconvenience, disruption, potential
embarrassment, and worse, and that it will make the lives of professors
at Wisconsin state schools miserable for all of the same reasons."
No gun, no smoke, not even the outline of a cap pistol. A purely partisan act and an assault on academic freedom.
"I say it's broccoli, and I say the he!! with it." from an old New Yorker cartoon.
Rob
Reply 7 : American Thought Police by Paul Krugman
It doesn't matter a wit if the article author doesn't think if there was a violiation or not. It's not up to him to decide. How do you know that there is no violation???? YOU DON'T !!!!
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