"It’s an inescapable truth that for some people, the most interesting way to participate in online discourse is to kick holes in the conversation. Others — many of them young, but some, alas, old enough to know better — have a sense of entitlement that leads them to believe that their having an opinion means the rest of us are obliged to listen to it. Still others plainly get off on verbally abusing others, and seek out conversations that will... Read more
Uggabugga directs our attention to this Washington Post article, "Bankruptcy Bill Advances," in which Kathleen Day reports: The Senate Judiciary Committee — propelled by a unified Republican majority and with little public debate — voted 12 to 5 [on Feb. 17] to approve legislation backed by the credit card industry and opposed by consumer groups that would make it harder for consumers to wipe out debt through bankruptcy. The bill, which would be the most significant change in bankruptcy law... Read more
Speaking of things the public "knows" that aren't true … One of my personal bugbears — and one of the first things I posted about — is the vast gulf between perception and reality when it comes to foreign aid. PIPA (Program on International Policy Attitudes) periodically measures Americans' understanding of foreign aid. The chart here is from PIPA's Feb. 2001 report, "Americans on Foreign Aid and World Hunger." Over the past 10 years, polls have consistently shown that Americans... Read more
"Aristotle was not Belgian, the principle of Buddhism is not 'every man for himself,' and the London Underground is not a political movement. Those are all mistakes, Otto. I looked them up." – Jamie Lee Curtis in "A Fish Called Wanda," by John Cleese Via Cursor, I read the latest Harris poll on "Iraq, 9/11, al-Qaida and Weapons of Mass Destruction." Polls like this one serve as a kind of report card for those of us in the news biz.*... Read more
So, OK, speaking of Caribbean islands as emblems of our commitment to promoting democracy … The United States is currently entangled in a years-long — perhaps decades-long — nation-building experiment in Iraq. The theory being tested in this real-life laboratory is that it is possible to liberate a country from tyranny by invading it, overthrowing its government, occupying it militarily and then helping it grow into a self-reliant democracy. Proponents of this theory acknowledge that such an invasion and occupation... Read more
The idea of America has always been to claim freedom and democracy as a right not just for ourselves, but as a universal right. This has been true ever since the founding of our nation, ever since the opening lines of our Declaration of Independence were written and embraced. That Declaration, of course, is not a legally binding document, and America has often failed — often spectacularly — to live up to its lofty assertion that "all men are created... Read more
"Political language … is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind." — George Orwell, in "Politics and the English Language" OK, so I'm a week late to the Gannon/Guckert party. I tend to assume that everyone already reads Eschaton. But for those who don't: A) why on earth not? and B) here's a quick recap. GOPUSA is a conservative, partisan Web site with ties to the Texas Republican... Read more
Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi and Hadi Ghaemi of Human Rights Watch write today in The New York Times offering "The Human Rights Case Against Attacking Iran." Much of their argument regards the particular situation in contemporary Iran, but the essence of their case rests on a core principle that transcends those particularities: Respect for human rights in any country must spring forth through the will of the people and as part of a genuine democratic process. Such respect... Read more
"I ask myself what was it that made me act with such resolution. … It was without a doubt the will to give the people back their dignity. And it was probably just as much the desire to put down the arrogance and expose the duplicity of a basically oppressive and unjust aristocracy." — Belgian Col. Guy Logiest Philip Gourevitch tells us about Col. Logiest in his book We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with... Read more
What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore– and then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over– like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load Or does it just explode? — Langston Hughes Wait 'til next year. Read more
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