Matthew Yglesias distills some of the discussion on the torture memo. Obviously, this is troubling for two reasons. First, the administration is apparently doing its darndest to figure out how to legally torture people. Just handing suspects over to authoritarian regimes like we've been doing apparently isn't...
The general makes a plea re: CNN's "news" coverage.
Jesse Taylor links to Bill O'Reilly's interview of Ann Coulter. I actually read it, exposing myself to Coulter's drivel for the first time in years. It reads like a parody of RNC spin; even.
Well, not really. Not all of them. Not all the time. I refer to recent flare-up of a discussion about the positive/negative rights distinction. This was started by the esteemed Professor Volokh (who, unlike some of his co-bloggers, is far too sophisticated and non-dogmatic to be...
In late 2003, the Colorado Supreme Court struck down the partisan redistricting passed by the Republican legislature, as this redistricting plainly violated the state constitution's mandate that redistricting be performed.
Jesse Taylor on Christopher Snitchens: Chris Hitchens isn't a useful idiot - he's a useful asshole. He fills a slightly brainier niche than Dennis Miller does, although he's featured the same.
NYT fronts an article regarding nine Iraqi militia groups that have agreed to disband and help form new Iraqi security forces. Juan Cole is properly skeptical, noting the number of deals already struck to eliminate the Iraqi militias. What does this mean? First, the militias that have been actively opposing...
One strange thing about Stoller's argument about centrist bloggers is that it strikes me as no longer true. Drum, Yglesias, and Marshall have all become much more aggressive and partisan.
I'm making my weekly check of Senate race wagers over at tradesports, and I make an odd discovery--David Vitter (R)'s chances of taking Breaux's seat have gone from 35 to 70%.
Through See the Forest, I find a link to Matt Stoller's excellent post on different forms of partisanship. I don't think he's entirely fair in his critique of league of wonkish centrist bloggers (Yglesias/Drum/Kleiman/Marshall), although he's certainly on to something there. That part of the argument (that for a...
Needless to say, Michael Massing's NYRB response to the New York Times's pre-war "journalism" is a (depressing) must-read. It's doubly depressing that this opinion wouldn't be written today--not only because there's no Black on.
A friend once noted that the most unnecessary liner note in history was Lou Reed writing on The Blue Mask that "my guitar is on the right stereo channel." The one on.