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CIRCULAR_FILE


                                 October    3, 2007
                                 November   5, 2007

Studying the usage of a phrase:



         "The circular firing squad of the
         left strikes again. Have a public
         policy debate without resorting to
         attacks for a change."                 [ref]



         "I am a liberal, and I am used to a good old
         fashion circular firing squad and
         incompetent, internally directed undercutting
         attacks against nominal allies. I see it
         often enough on my side of the aisle, so when
         I see it on the Right, I have to sit back and
         enjoy my schradenfreude."

                                                    [ref]





         "Enough of the circular
         firing squad already!"
         Sep 07, 2007, [ref]:

         "What is wrong with us?!
         The top recommended diary is one
         that smacks Nancy Pelosi around
         because she refuses to come and         Um... but our petulant
         listen to our petulent demands."        demands are fully
                                                 in-line with the
                                                 desires majority of
                                                 the American people
                                                 and certainly of
                                                 Pelosi's constituents.
                           There really
                           is a problem          Pelosi's pose of
                           when your             powerlessness is
                           "representative       clearly bogus --
                           government"           she won't even
                           doesn't.              threaten to block
                                                 funding.

                                                 Playing politics
                                                 to keep from seeming
                                                 like she's playing
                                                 politics?

                                                    Keeping her head
                                                    down, hoping the
                                                    Republicans will
                                                    continue to screw
                                                    up... no matter
                                                    how many die in the
                                                    meantime.  No matter
                                                    the damage to US
                                                    finances.



    "On occasion, denizens of the green movement
    have been known to slip into 'holier than
    thou' mode, behaviors that Think Tank
    experts unfailingly generalize from - to the
    universe of all greens past present and to
    come. The non-sequitor attacks do begin from
    a valid a point, however, as anybody can can
    over-blow a problem, or waste time going
    after convenient targets while missing the
    *real* bad actors. (Favorite recent example:
    Greenpeace attacking Apple mainly for using
    a few cm of vinyl wire in each PC.)

    "With the risk of climate catastrophe
    looming, and nascent activist and
    communications strategies being tested,
    contemporary green movements are, like the
    heritage green activists of the 1960's, at
    risk of facing circular firing squads of
    their own making - pivoting towards
    political self destruction by playing into
    the hands of a wide range of opponents. Just
    one small example: recently the climate
    restoration services company Planktos took
    some hits from green NGO's."

                                                      [ref]

Here we have the same pattern repeated...
The scream of "circular firing squad!"
to try to block any internal criticism,
valid or not.

                                Planktos may indeed be a fine
                                company engaged in interesting
                                work -- I'm not opposed to
                                "amelioration" strategies
                                myself -- but it could also
                                turn out that one of Planktos
                                restoration strategies could
                                go astray, and cause more harm
                                than good.


                                Environmentalists may be knee-jerk
                                with their "don't mess with mother
                                nature" attitude, but it really
                                *is* a at least a valid concern.





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