Scientists need to better understand framing, MIT professor says; new photos of Heath Ledger in last role; Obama's "Lucifer problem"; problems in rebuilding a broken Iraq. 

Inquiry: What's Going On?
MIT Professor: Even our brightest minds often lack the required mental frameworks and models to accurately interpret science. ... Alan Greenspan shows humility and remorse: "Yes, I've found a flaw. I don't know how significant or permanent it is. But I've been very distressed by that fact." ... Hugo Schwyzer: "Our faith must permeate sex." ... Examines the idea of "Jesus as Lover".	New photos of Heath Ledger, acting in his final role for film "The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus." ... He's wearing a mask. ... Researchers: The eye and its connections to the brain are surprisingly open to evolutionary change. ... With electroretinography, mice have even been changed to allow them to see in new colors. ... How plants learn to defend themselves against their insect enemies.
America's Brand: Foreigners prefer Obama 4:1. ... Europe: "Across the Continent, Bush hatred has been replaced by Obama-mania." ... Obama's associations now include Lucifer. ... FOX blogger wants McCain to press the satanic connection: "Do you think that admiring a Lucifer-admirer would make a difference to some voters?" ... Andrew Sullivan: "The closet leads many closeted gay men to adopt far right politics."	Survey: 50 percent of doctors give placebo treatments. ... Institutional pressures in time-constrainted environment partially responsible. ... Reconstructing Iraq: Money isn't a problem for development agencies working to rebuild. ... But advisors face massive structural problems: paper-based accounting systems, violence against government employees, the blackmarket, etc.
Holon of the Day: The Telescope

"Every Quadrant Under a Lense (EQUAL Views)" is a Web column written by Joe Perez, published most weekdays at Joe-Perez.com.

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Oliver Stone's "W" movie reviewed in all four quadrants: Bush's motives, his behaviors, the cultural reference points, and the damage inflicted on the world by a failed presidency.

Inquiry: What Does Oliver Stone's "W" Tell Us About George W. Bush?
Entertainment Weekly: "The fascinating, clumsy rhythms of blind men trying to describe an elephant (a Republican pachyderm), bravely fronted by one intrepid explorer with his eyes wide open, looking for nuance" ... Roger Ebert: "If there is a saving grace, it may be that Bush will never fully realize how badly he did. How can he blame himself? He was only following God's will." ... Me: Bush's motivations seem surprisingly easy to read; low hanging fruit for a biopic.	Roger Ebert: "In his presence, Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice tend to defer, to use tact as a shield from his ego and defensiveness. But Cheney's soft-spoken, absolutely confident opinions are generally taken as truth." ... Marc Ambinder: "Powell, in a meeting at Bush's ranch, warning Bush that if he 'breaks' Iraq, he'll have to buy it." ... Me: Bush's actions are bumbling, incompetent, and have grave consequences.
Entertainment Weekly: "The director fixes on the Freudian through-line in a Greek tragedy/SNL comedy." ... Marc Ambinder: "The story Stone presents has been told over and over, creating grooves in the brains of Bush-haters... Bush's religious conversion is treated sensitively and believably" ... Me: Bush rose to power on the basis of his everyman, frat-boy personality, religious conversion, and privilege.	Roger Ebert: "One might feel sorry for George W. at the end of this film, were it not for his legacy of a fraudulent war and a collapsed economy." ... Me: The monumental failures of the Bush legacy--the war debacles, worsening climate change, the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression, the collapse of the GOP--are brushed over. Stone's omission gives the film a certain lightweight, SNL skit quality that feels tragically inappropriate.
Holon of the Day: The Pencil

"Every Quadrant Under a Lense (EQUAL Views)" is a Web column written by Joe Perez, published most weekdays at Joe-Perez.com.

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Beer in all four quadrants ... plus "let Joe Lieberman stay", questioning green jobs, and cancer's last hurrah.

Inquiry: What's Going On?
What to call "this feeling in our gut ... our internal compass is broken ... cancer's last hurrah." ... The "Sufi call": to choose the higher destiny in each moment. ... "God" calls a customer service center in India when "fragile lives come undone" . ... Which "God"? ...Drunkenness: "anger, sadness, depression, euphoria, lightheartedness, joviality, and sexual disinhibition."	Cost to dress a vice presidential nominee and her family: $150,000. ... Obama Beer: "The flavors are individually unique but gain their solidarity from their indivisibility." ... Which is what Ken Wilber would call Matera Unitas Multiplex. ... New B&B was old B&B in Groundhog Day. ... Find your polling place, Toto.  ... New York Times: can we stop DAC? Drunken Asynchronous Communication.
Glenn Greenwald: If Democrats don't punish Joe Lieberman, they "care about nothing beyond perpetuation of their own power." ... Me: Joe's judgment has been poor, infuriating, but not unforgivable. Let Joe stay. ... Ross Douthat: conservatism means making taxation more redistributive rather than less. ... Beer Hunter: Is beer the cause of civilization?	Brian Beutler wonders if green jobs are a hoax. ... He notes: Nobody knows if new green jobs will really offset the jobs lost by getting greener. ... What does GOTV look like? 250,000 volunteers sent to 20 states. ... And that's just the AFL-CIO. ... Jonathan Alter: Here comes "Neo-Keynesian economics." ... Radley Balko: How'd the beer industry get so rich? Big government.
Holon of the Day: The Toilet

"Every Quadrant Under a Lense (EQUAL Views)" is a Web column written by Joe Perez, published most weekdays at Joe-Perez.com.

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Mountain climbing shrinks the brain, the smell of space, addressing the "credibility gap" for pseudonymous bloggers, overseeing the largest pool of wealth in America, and why passion in the workplace is overrated.

Inquiry: What's Going On?
Robert Sutton: In work life, passion is overrated and indifference underrated. Save your passion for truly worth jobs; if you feel oppressed or humiliated, it's better to cultivate an ethic of detachment. ... That's one of four bits of advice for "working with assholes". ... David Van Biema asks: "Is it OK to pray for your 401(k)?" ... "Yes" say clerics: "the very act of prayer transfers some anxiety onto the divinity."	New York Times: Mountain climbing is bad for you. Climbers' brains reduced in both white and gray matter. ... Behavior study: men take more risks when they're in an angry state; women take fewer risks when they're feeling disgusted. Their evolutionary take: such behaviors are evolutionarily-selected traits. ... Kevin Gianni offers a 7-day free online educational seminar (now happening) on living the raw foods lifestyle.
People don't trust pseudonymous bloggers as much as those who give their real names. Could certification improve the credibility of the anonymous? ... Chris Dierkes: George Will is wrong about the secessionists in the Episcopal Church. ... Also, Dierkes takes the "down on Palin" side in the Republican civil war. ... Me: The Episcopal Church isn't a "cautionary tale", but a crucible of spiritual evolution. ... And, with Dierkes, hope the GOP finds a younger, more tolerant, less wingnut vision.	Washington Post: Competing visions on how to regulate the $55 trillion credit default swap market as SEC, CFTC, and FRB-NY gear up. ... Conservative forces want a private clearinghouse, but some Democrats favor a heavy hand at the SEC. ... Light Rail is Good: It creates neighborhoods in ways that buses don't and can't. ... NASA astronauts: space smells like fried steak and hot metal. Mmmm... Mmmm...
Holon of the Day: The Printing Press

"Every Quadrant Under a Lense (EQUAL Views)" is a Web column written by Joe Perez, published most weekdays at Joe-Perez.com.

"What are the four quadrants?" (See Holons.)	"What do the colors mean?" (See Joe-Perez.com sidebar.)
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The significance of Shuka's greeting, study says men like Facebook more, Proposition 8 ahead in the polls, and the sad case of the dope-addicted elephant.

Inquiry: What's Going On?
Priya Devi R tells the Vedantic story of how Shuka's greeting at the palace of Janaka taught him everything he needed to know about truth: the non-identification with the body. ... John McCain's foul mood. A friend tells the New Yorker: "John's personal comfort level is low with everyone right now. He's angry. But it [Palin's pick] was his choice." ... Barack Obama's equanimity. ... David Brooks: No "rage, resentment, fear, anxiety, bitterness, tears, ecstasy, self-pity or impulsiveness."	In China: Animal smugglers got an elephant addicted to heroin, rendering it unable to return to the wild. After three years of rehab, the elephant makes "continuous trumpeting noises", his eyes "streamed with tears". ... Gay sex produces offspring. In beetles. ... First-ever mating photos: gorillas never before seen in face-to-face copulation. Have they been getting ideas by watching us?
Another sex difference: men are 13% more likely to value their online communities as much as their off-line ones. ... Chevy Chase: Saturday Night Live's brilliance? They let Sarah Palin go live without a script. Palin's fatal flaw? She can't improvise. ... Terry Mattingly: Affirmative action for evangelical journalists to fight newsroom bias? That will help "only if those evangelicals are real journalists."	Prop. 8: Californians are narrowly pro-bigotry. ... Many gays (including Andrew Sullivan) think Obama should cut an anti-8 ad. ... Me: I'd be happily surprised if he did, but that's just too much to ask. Obama is progressive in many areas, but just "more of the same" on civil rights. ... GOP complains about Obama's "secret $300 million". Silly. Finance laws should focus, as they do, on the big fish. I thought the GOP was for sensible limits on intrusive government regulations?
Holon of the Day: The Clock

"Every Quadrant Under a Lense" or "EQUAL Views" is a Web column written by Joe Perez, published most weekdays at Joe-Perez.com.

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Every Quadrant Under a Lense. A look at self, culture, nature, and spirit...

Inquiry: What's Going On?
Lynn takes on the "Obama is an Alpha Male" meme. She says Obama's self-control and maturity appeal to women, though men--especially those who compete with Alpha Males in the dating market--might see "jerk". ... Michael Hussein Gregory sings snark, predicts McCain will win the state of desperation. ... Stanton Peele via WH: Nobody is a slave to addiction. "The most successful treatments are nonconfrontational approaches that allow self-propelled change."	The Caveman Diet: Ray Mears discusses the "Paleo" diet. Returns to hunter-gatherer fare: meat, seafood, fruit, vegetables, roots, nuts, and seeds; rejects agricultural-era and industrial-era innovations. ... The Oxytocin Factor: Psychologist says: "Which [candidate] makes you more comfortable? Comfortableness is a sign that oxytocin is being released, and that's the person you should vote for."
Sarah Palin has only been on the national scene for weeks, but she's already the most Orwellian speaker I can recall. ... Virginia GOP gives "Evil" a face. How the GOP probably Photoshopped an image. GOP leaders, especially McCain, must repudiate this indecency. But will they? ... Joe Klein on the most frightening eight words in the English language (it's the last sentence of his column).	Sign of the Times: You can buy a "TV Guide" at the supermarket for $2.99. But the magazine business itself just sold to a private equity fund for $1.00. ... The Economist: Paul Krugman the theorist still recognizable in Krugman the polemicist. ... Old Krugman: Economic gains from trade arise not from specialization, but from scale, competition and choice. His real achievement was in communicating more effectively than anyone else.
Holon of the Day: The Mirror

"EQUAL Views" is a Web column written by Joe Perez, usually published most weekdays at Joe-Perez.com.

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Self, culture, nature, and spirit considered in individual and collective dimensions, subjective and objective perspectives...

Inquiry: Who Won the Third Presidential Debate?
McCain: Opens the debate with: "Americans are hurting and they're angry," but it sounds like he's projecting. Frequently doesn't sound convinced by his own talking points. ... Obama: Could he possibly come across as more earnest? Even people who disagree with him on the issues must be impressed with his sheer seriousness. ... Edge: Obama wins by conveying a believable, sincere self. ... McCain loses by conveying un-self-aware, calculating self.	McCain: On the plus side, he's energetic, spunky. On the down side, somewhat angry, sarcastic, condescending, frowns, sticks out his tongue, rolls his eyes. As usual, his face is noticably pale. ... Obama: he's cool as a cucumber, unflustered, presidential in tone. On the down side, somewhat dull, repetitive, gives weak delivery. Edge: Obama wins by his reassuring, confidence-inspiring behavior. ... McCain loses with his grumpy, condescending behavior.
Obama: On the defensive, especially over whether voters can trust him and identify with him. Linked to terrorists, radicals, and negative ads? Linked to race-baiting? Linked to baby killing? It's gotta be confusing to low-information voters. ... McCain: Stresses his concern with average Americans, his years of experience and military service. Seems "mainstream." ... Edge: McCain wins by playing offense well. ... Obama loses by playing defense on unfriendly territory.	McCain: Distracted by too-little, too-late character attacks on his opponent, he fails to convince that he would be a stronger steward of the economy, fails to distinguish himself from Bush's policies. ... Obama: Focused like a laser beam on driving home his populist approach to economic policy--"trickle up" economics--and rebutting false charges on taxes, healthcare, etc. ... Edge: Obama wins on points.
Holon of the Day: The Eyeglasses

"EQUAL Views" is a Web column written by Joe Perez, usually published most weekdays at Joe-Perez.com.

"What are the four quadrants?" (See Holons.)	"What do the colors mean?" (See Joe-Perez.com sidebar.)
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A daily look at self, culture, nature, and spirit...

Inquiry: What's the Root of the Financial Crisis?
Lack of consciousness to recognize the moral imperative to realize the economic well-being of all beings (worldcentric), in healthy relationship to Nature, not the furtherance of mere national self-interest or pure self-interest. ... Lack of self-understanding to grasp the fully social dimensions of the self, producing distorted emphasis on individual rights and responsibilities. ... Greed and corruption by "very bad people".	Consumer borrowing run amuck, undisciplined. ... Impusive buying based on false beliefs that housing prices always go up, stock market valuations reflect reality, and other illusions. ... Bigger McMansions, more highly leveraged real estate investments, exploding CEO salaries without no correlation to performance. ... Less job security (adjusted for inflation), declining real wages, impacting consumer confidence.
Lack of a reigning global philosophy that can effectively call for institutional solutions to address the failures of globalized capitalism. Failed anti-regulation ideologies, reflexively biased against democratic socialism, which couldn't forsee the limits of market forces. ... Poor  political and religious leadership that failed to challenge Americans' debt culture. ... The Prosperity Gospel and all other justifications for materialism.	Fiscal policies of privitization of public resources, allowing irresponsible use of bizarrely complex financial instruments (derivatives, credit default swaps, etc.), the consolidation of the financial industry into institutions "too big to fail". ... Energy policies that failed to direct precious capital into renewable energy resources rather than the housing bubble. ... Business management polices that incentivized sales of risky, highly leveraged securities products.
Holon of the Day: The Windmill

"EQUAL Views" is a Web column written by Joe Perez, usually published most weekdays at Joe-Perez.com.

"What are the four quadrants?" (See Holons.)	"What do the colors mean?" (See Joe-Perez.com sidebar.)
Learn more about Joe Perez's books...	Subscribe to EQUAL Views in an RSS feed or get this column delivered daily by e-mail.

A daily look at self, culture, nature, and spirit...

Inquiry: What's Going On?
Bruce Alderman looks at Body-Mind-Thought Interplay. He reports: "I did sense - or, perhaps, enact - a fuller, more layered, but also more open field of experience..." The two components of the soul's matrix, according to Valdas Slabada. W's dreams, cut. ... Colin Farrell: "There is something incredibly internally vivacious about feeling pain or mourning..."	Michael Beringer makes and installs fake palm trees, sometimes using real palm bark hollowed out to accept a cell phone tower and bolted to concrete. It makes him feel happy. But somehow it makes me feel sad. Meet a text-messaging elephant (not really). ... The Savanna Principle explains why men's brains have trouble with silicone breast implants and hair dye.
Chris Dierkes discusses John Caputo's "Weak Theology". Is God a be-ing? Or is God an event? Or is God a verb? ... ~c4Chaos recommends "In Debt We Trust", saying: "One way to get out of this credit mess is through collective awareness." ... Obama Ad Sighting on an X-Box game. ... The worst headline Jay Leno has ever seen: "Her Orifice Was Her Office".	Crisis fallout: there's reason to worry about the rise of far right parties in Europe. ... Thomas R. Cusack: US has reached a "political and economic leadership nadir" in the ratio of cognitive capabilities to destructive capabilities. Republican National Committee: "We're not giving up on McCain." ... But they may be bailing out their vulnerable Senators.
Holon of the Day: The Gunpowder

"EQUAL Views" is a Web column written by Joe Perez, usually published most weekdays at Joe-Perez.com.

"What are the four quadrants?" (See Holons.)	"What do the colors mean?" (See Joe-Perez.com sidebar.)
Learn more about Joe Perez's books...	Subscribe to EQUAL Views in an RSS feed or get this column delivered daily by e-mail.

A daily look at self, culture, nature, and spirit from four perspectives: the individual interior, the individual exterior, the collective interior, and the collective exterior.

Inquiry: What's Going On?
Bill Harryman: Why study the brain? Because doing so can help us to have more "compassion for ourselves". ... Displaying humility, Nagarjuna asks: What lessons can be learned from being "lost in confusion"? ... Wit: Who said "I guess, maybe I'm just, I don't know, a maverick"? ... What feeling arises with the financial crisis? Gary Stamper says it's "Cognitive Dissonance: an uncomfortable feeling or stress caused by holding two contradictory ideas simultaneously."	Recipie for Happiness: "Go shop for something new, then have lots of food for dinner, then go to an interesting place on a Saturday. If all this happens on your birthday, even better." Based on a major behavioral study of Weblogs. I hope to try this prescription next weekend and see how it works. ... An icon in memory of Matthew Shephard. ... A ballot used to be a bean, a bullet, or a pea.
An Episcopal priest in Seattle "falls in love" with Islam, following her calling to an interspiritual path, but sadly she can't do so as a priest. I wonder whether her appropriation of Islam is an acceptance of a radically fragmented inner life or a step down a more integrated path. Hard to say. ... Harvey Cox: The Market is "like one of the devouring gods of old,"... Too early to predict Obama v. Jindal in 2012?	On Healthcare: The key difference between Obama and McCain on healthcare policy: Obama prizes solidarity; McCain prizes autonomy. The feminine approach encourages sharing of risk across a society and across an individual's lifespan; the more masculine approach will save young and healthy people money in the short-term, but endanger all of society and even themselves in old age.
Holon of the Day: The Plow

"EQUAL Views" is a Web column written by Joe Perez, usually published most weekdays at Joe-Perez.com.

"What are the four quadrants?" (See Holons.)	"What do the colors mean?" (See Joe-Perez.com sidebar.)
Learn more about Joe Perez's books...	Subscribe to EQUAL Views in an RSS feed or get this column delivered daily by e-mail.