Monthly Archive: June 2011
Labour and the American Middle Class
I’ve been pondering Erik’s post on the difference between pity-charity liberalism and bottom-up liberalism, and I think he’s hit upon a key distinction between traditional liberals and liberaltarianism, and it’s a difference that will...
When did the American political system jump the shark?
That’s the question Andrew Sullivan’s asking his readers in response to an E.J. Dionne article in which the Washington Post columnist says Weinergate was, for him, the point of no return, when he realized our...
Weekend Jukebox and Open Thread
This is my favorite Saturday song. I prefer songs about Saturday to songs about other days of the week, that Cure song notwithstanding. Consider this an open thread. It’s even got it in the...
Selling Prosecutorial Overreach to the Masses (with pre-order bonuses)
Warning: There are some middlin’ spoilers for the game LA Noire that follow. There is also a question about the societal costs and benefits of putting people in prison for crimes they didn’t commit...
Game of Thrones Bookclub: Portents of Things to Come
This is week four of the bookclub. We just read chapters 21 – 28, Eddard IV through Eddard V. At this point in the book things are growing more and more foreboding. Eddard arrives...
Feeling for the Fictional
Brandon Watson and Kyle Cupp both explore possible solutions to the “paradox of fiction”: We human beings read, watch, and listen to a lot of fiction. We know that it is fiction. But we...
On Bottom-Up Liberalism & Pity-Charity Liberalism
I’ve been thinking about bottom-up liberalism and pity-charity liberalism a lot lately, and the whole mess of ideas that swirl around between the two. Essentially, Mike Konczal thinks that growth plus safety nets is...
Our Poisoned Language
Commenter Barry got me to thinking — We’ve all heard that the Constitution is not a suicide pact. It’s strange to me, however, that this phrase when used in political debate actually means precisely...
Game of Thrones Bookclub: A Plan of Books
If my calculations are correct, we should be finished with Chapter 28, the sixth Eddard chapter, by tomorrow when we post a discussion. For a list of all chapters, go here. We will need...
Cyrenaica Conflict Causes Constitutional Crisis
The Speaker of the House yesterday sent a ‘warning letter’ to the President concerning the United States’ participation in NATO’s ongoing military adventure in Libya. The political fight now is about the War Powers...
Loving At 44
Forty-four years ago today*, the U.S. Supreme Court announced its decision in the famous case of Loving v. Virginia (1967) 388 U.S. 1. At the time, sixteen states outlawed interracial marriages. But on June...
The Perils of Writing about Greatness
I’ve wanted to respond to this Yglesias post on Ron Chernow’s Washington: A Life for some time now, but not until I finished the (audio)book. He wrote: Ron Chernow’s Washington: A Life is a...
How the World Works?
Like that post on Haiti, I often put things in Off the Cuff just to ask, “Hey, what do y’all make of this?” So, in that vein, what do y’all make of this Vancouver...
At My Real Job: Targeted Killing and the Rule of Law
This month’s Cato Unbound features a lead essay by Ryan Alford of Ave Maria School of Law. It asks a very important question: When can the executive, acting alone, lawfully kill a citizen? The...
Insufficient evidence
A friend brought this opinion piece in the New York Times to my attention yesterday. Dr. Karen Sibert, a stridently proud full-time anesthesiologist, argues that women who choose to work as part-time physicians are...
No Sex Please, You Live In A Dorm
Seriously? The President of Catholic University thinks that going back to single-sex dorms is going to cut down on the number of undergraduates having sex, and therefore improve academic performance. (Via.) A few thoughts...
Post-GOP debate open thread
Some random thoughts: * Michele Bachmann was woefully under-used. Maybe my expectations were too high, but I was hoping — nay, praying — that tonight would be the taking-off point for Bachmentum 2012. No...
Sub-Blogs, Cross-posting, and format stuff
So there has been a good discussion of the purpose of sub-blogs, the frequency which sub-bloggers should cross-post, etc. in the last thread. I think sub-bloggers should use their good judgment, cross-posting their more...
