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The following books by Robert Paul Wolff are available on Amazon.com as e-books: KANT'S THEORY OF MENTAL ACTIVITY, THE AUTONOMY OF REASON, UNDERSTANDING MARX, UNDERSTANDING RAWLS, THE POVERTY OF LIBERALISM, A LIFE IN THE ACADEMY, MONEYBAGS MUST BE SO LUCKY, AN INTRODUCTION TO THE USE OF FORMAL METHODS IN POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY.
Now Available: Volumes I, II, III, and IV of the Collected Published and Unpublished Papers.

NOW AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE: LECTURES ON KANT'S CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON. To view the lectures, go to YouTube and search for "Robert Paul Wolff Kant." There they will be.

NOW AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE: LECTURES ON THE THOUGHT OF KARL MARX. To view the lectures, go to YouTube and search for Robert Paul Wolff Marx."





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Tuesday, August 31, 2010

THE DOG DAYS OF SUMMER

Now that I have completed work on the eleventh edition of the textbook ABOUT PHILOSOPHY, perhaps I can turn my attention more fully to blogging. We are now in the last week of the dog days of Summer. We have had the absurdity of the Glenn Beck religious revival [on which the best commentary, not surprisingly, is that of Christopher Hitchens, on Slate.com], and the disastrous poll news showing the widest generic Republican-Democratic voter gap ever recorded, which suggests that the Republicans will in fact capture the House in November. The New York Mosque - Community Center hysteria seems to have died down slightly. Which leaves us looking at a truly ugly moment in American history.

I have been a faithful supporter of President Obama despite the disaster of his Afghanistan policy and many other things besides. he has one last chance to redeem himself in the present situation, it seems to me. It may well be that the White House politicos have sized up the situation and decided that it is pointless to mount an all-out political campaign until Labor Day has passed. If Obama comes out in full fighting mode after labor Day, and spends two solid months campaigning, then my faith will be restored. But if he continues in the present feckless mode, I am afraid we are in for a very bad, very ugly, time. I thought I would have the pleasure of seeing American turn to the left in my declining years, but that may be a forlorn hope.

I shall do my best to find rays of sunshine in the gloom, as befits my optimistic nature. And I shall certainly report in full on my forthcoming trip to South Africa.

Thank you for bearing with me.

3 comments:

Chris said...

You know, this is exactly what irks me Obama supporters - who occupy the radical left. Every last thing he does, you continue to say: "he has one more chance!" His health care disaster, his implicit backing of the Honduras coup, his failure to change relations with Cuba, his massive appointing of Goldman Sachs to numerous layers of Government, his approval of off shore oil drilling, his abysmal handling of the economy, his Afghan war, his assassination program without oversight or trial, his expansion of states secrets, his approval of bush wire taps, his bagram prison center, his failure to close Guantanamo, his appointing and retaining of Larry Summers and Timothy Geithner, his handling of Wikileaks, his increase in the Defense Budget, his decrease in social spending for next year, his failure to make good on Katrina relief...etc. Seriously I could double or triple this list. Yet no, the Leftist Obama supporters still choose to hang on to him! Why!? For godsake man!

Professor, please, return to the light! This man is not the lefts ally. He's not even an ally to Progressives. He was funded by and fully supports, the major financial institutions of America. Hell, just look at his campaign backers!

http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=N00009638

Chris said...

Oh and let's not forget Israel, his residual mercenary contractors in Iraq indefinitely, failing to even consider 'meeting' with someone from Iran, his blocking of Brazil and Turkeys compromise with Iran, his increased funding to disperse more CIA recruiting in college campuses...yawn.

Chris said...

So here's the less ranting question; I apologize, I'm just so far to the left, when I see a good Marxist falling under Obama's swift-boat campaign, I cringe.

If, after Obama's country-wide, tumultuous campaign, that literally set a new precedent for American politics, the result is what I wrote in my rant. Why would you desire more campaigning as a saving grace? All we have learned from Obama's campaign is that it told us next to nothing about whose interest he'd serve, and what policy he'd ultimately favor.

As I hear many Liberals says "Where did campaign Obama go." Of course, some of us of the far left knew his campaign was a sham, but regardless, why desire more? I'm quite glad that Orwellian charade is over, and people are waking up to reality.