War Crimes, Then and Now
In the course of a very thorough fisking of Michael Goldfarb’s latest attempt to justify torture, Julian Sanchez makes the rather banal observation that failure to prosecute war crimes in World War II doesn’t...
Monthly Archive: April 2009
thoughts on a truth commission
Briefly, I think it’s fair that a lot of different opinions are being floated by various anti-torture types regarding prosecutions, truth commissions, etc….
republican security thinking for the republic
Deeper minds than mine are taking on the imperialism question around the b’sphere–Freddie provides not only a deft human touch to the question but also all the links you’ll need on the subject. This...
Time to Pretend
One thing I like about the blogosphere is that everyone ignores the rituals and forms of establishment politics. To take a recent example, no one bothered to pretend that Arlen Specter switched parties for...
revert to principle
There’s been quite a conversation on imperialism abrewing. This is Louise-Joseph de Montcalm-Gozon, Marquis de Saint-Veran. A French war hero, he was the most successful of their generals fighting in the French and Indian...
Thursday Art Walk
Seven Spirits of God, by William Blake __________________________________________ and, from The Everlasting Gospel The vision of Christ that thou dost see Is my vision’s greatest enemy. Thine has a great hook nose like thine;...
You’re a Grand Old Flag
Everyone should go read this take on the Confederate Battle Flag over at Ta-Nehisi Coates’ place.
“blindingly stupid”
“So, the latest New York Times OP/ED page conservative affirmative action case has his debut editorial for the paper, and what is his trenchant analysis? It’s that the Republicans should have nominated Richard Milhaus...
Hate Crimes
The House is considering new legislation that, as best I can tell, provides state governments with grants for combating hate crimes and mandates additional penalties for criminal acts motivated by racial, religious or sexual...
An Anti-Torture Voice at the Corner
Jim Manzi has a first-rate must-read post on waterboarding at both the Corner and the American Scene. It is precisely the type of approach I have argued should be made by those of us on...
The Right to Exist
Upon returning from her visit to the West Bank last month, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton remarked, ““For Israel to get the kind of strong support it is looking for vis-à-vis Iran, it can’t...
Barre None
In the middle of a phone conversation with a local Wilkes-Barre reporter, I noticed that her pronunciation of Barre comes out sounding like “burra,” not “bar.” A co-worker with family in Pennsylvania confirms that...
difference/disorder
Many critics of this post insist that I am wrong, which I may be. Some further that I am uncaring, which I’m not. And a few that I am interested in pursuing eugenics against...
How to Redefine a Word
How does the number 183 become 5? Easy – redefine the verb “to waterboard” as meaning only “sessions of waterboarding.” Similarly, how does the number 83 become “8 to 10”? Easy – redefine the verb...
From Intolerance to Tolerance to Acceptance
Freddie has made a strong argument against viewing autism as a positive thing to be celebrated. In so doing – and keeping in mind that he is our resident liberal – Freddie argues that...
Taking Leave of Our Senses
“But the argument isn’t going away. It will be with us as long as the threat of terrorism endures. And where the Bush administration’s interrogation programs are concerned, we’ve heard too much to just...
Not to beat a dead horse…
…but I hope all our regular commenters will at some point sign up for a free gravatar…
What Are These “Protests” You Are Talking About?
by Jason Arvak League members Scott Payne and Mark Thomspon have recently engaged in a debate over the value of protests. In one sense, I agree with each of them. Like Mark, I am...
