association Archives - Where Is The Outrage?

The Errington Thompson Show 2-14-09

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I start by talking about peanuts… not Charlie Brown, but that plant in Georgia. The association of this plant and salmonella is the result of a government that loves business more than it loves it people. This didn’t start with George W. Bush, but with Ronald Reagan. Remember James Watt? Think about the last eight years. Bush put people in charge of departments they hated. Remember when he nominated John Bolten, who hated the UN, to be the UN ambassador? This is why we have toys from China that have been dipped in lead. We had a government that cut regulations or simply didn’t enforce them. Such is the case with the peanut. There have been no inspections and no fines. They had a plant in Plainview, Texas open four years ago. It has NEVER been inspected. It is this kind of craziness which has caused over 800 people to get sick and nine people to die. This is the result not just of careless and uncaring CEOs, but of people who hate government being placed in responsible positions within the very government they hate. It’s just a bad plan.

Today, I talk with Melissa Harris-Lacewell, a great friend of the show, along with Yolanda Pierce. These professors from Princeton University have started a blog called The Kitchen Table. We talk about the blog, the inauguration and discuss whether Lincoln’s job was easier or harder than Obama’s. We also cover Obama’s first press conference. It’s an outstanding conversation.

Enjoy this show!

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By ecthompsonmd|2012-05-07T17:11:54-04:00February 14th, 2009|Domestic Issues, Obama administration, Party Politics, Podcasts|Comments Off

Who We Spend Time With

The National Audubon Society Guide To Marine Mammals Of The World uses the word “aggregation” to describe dolphins that come together only for purposes of feeding. These dolphins are linked in this case by a practical purpose and will break back down into more stable and normal social groupings once they eat enough fish.

In Jean-Jacques Rosseau’s The Social Contract, Rosseau uses the word “association” to describe people in political union or unified in some way transcendent of immediate needs.

I was reading both books around the same time. Seeing both words used in these ways got me to thinking about why we spend time with the people we spend time with.

For example, on a city bus you have an aggregation. The people are on the bus only until they reach the right stop.

At work, you might have of mix. At core it’s an aggregation because you are the there to get a job done and earn a living. But with time, as relationships form and the common purpose, possibly, takes on more meaning, an association may exist.

When I hung out at punk rock bars, I always felt that many of us had something in common—If only various types and degrees of alienation. That would be an association.

At a hotel bar you would have more of an aggregation. People just passing through.

How about school? For some it is an association with real meaning and substance. For others it is an aggregation as the days are counted down to summer vacation, graduation or dropping out.

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By admin|2013-11-03T18:45:10-04:00November 10th, 2007|General|Comments Off