Desire and Deviance, again
A few weeks (months?) ago, David kicked off an interesting discussion on gay culture and sexual orientation. From The Utne Reader, here’s a smart take on the political logic of presenting sexual preferences as...
Author: Will
Would-be terrorists suck at life
From Foreign Policy: There seems to be a pattern of mediocre sons from elite families becoming terrorists.
Disch, the Tea Parties, and the City
Here’s a good essay on Thomas Disch, the acclaimed (and slightly crazed) science fiction author. Disch is was an interesting character for all sorts of reasons, but his disdain for rural populism and cosmopolitan...
I remember this gimmick
Conor Friedersdorf’s valiant attempt to convert Levin fans irresistibly recalls The Guardian’s 2004 letter writing campaign to American voters. The American reaction (short version: “Suck it, Limeys!”) – and some pretty solid research on...
Blond on Blond
As a counterpoint to Jonathan Raban’s negative review of Red Tory, here’s Philip Blond in The American Conservative (hat tip: commenter Schofield).
Nudged
If I’m not mistaken, legislation in New York that would automatically enroll people as organ donors with the option of opting-out later is an example of “libertarian paternalist” choice architecture. One of the authors...
A Golden Age of American Poetry?
From the NYRBlog: In a country in which schools seem to teach less literature every year, where fewer people read books and ignorance reigns supreme regarding most issues, poetry is read and written more...
Our debased political discourse
The annoying tendency of opposition parties to pick really dumb nits is exacerbated by the fact that they did the exact same shit when they were in power. Witness Marc Thiessen, whose concern for...
Free Speech and Killing Kittens
Here’s a provocative post from Stanley Fish: To anyone who has been following First Amendment jurisprudence in the past 40 or 50 years, the recent Supreme Court decision (United States v. Stevens, April 20)...
The Great State of Jefferson
Strange Maps posts a picture of what was nearly our 49th state, carved out of the California hinterlands and Oregon’s southern counties. For more on Jefferson’s abbreviated history, check out John Schwenkler’s great article...
“The Hierarchy of Contempt”
After watching his excellent Bloggingheads dialogue, I stumbled across the website of Canadian science fiction author Peter Watts, which also happens to include free digital copies of his novels (so far, I’ve only gotten...
Berlusconi!
Anyone frustrated by our government can at least take comfort in the fact that Silvio Berlusconi isn’t running the show:
The neighborhood
For would-be architects: The Washington Post ran an article on my parents’ lovely modernist neighborhood.
No epistemic closure here!
One response to the debate over conservatism and “epistemic closure” has been to argue that, well, conservatism is ailed by no such disease. I highlighted Jim Manzi’s excellent takedown of Mark Levin’s Liberty and...
The “epistemic closure” debate, continued
Well, this is a must-read. Jim Manzi takes a baseball bat to Mark Levin’s Liberty and Tyranny:
“We are out of the eradication business”
Jason’s 4/20 cri de coeur is well taken, but here’s a bit of hopeful news on the drug war front from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: Danger Room: I’m also mystified...
Kaus Oppo Research Project makes me want to donate to Mickey Kaus
My favorite highlight from Gawker’s incredibly thorough (and kind of creepy) oppo dump on Mickey Kaus’s senate campaign:
