A beginning is a very delicate time
Douthat’s first column for the Times is up. Pretty darn good for my money.
Author: Will
Why They Fight
Jim Manzi has written a provocative post on the moral distinction between battlefield killing and torturing unarmed POWs: So apparently it’s OK to inflict (the most extreme imaginable) violence when the guy is totally...
The Tudors, Tradition and Tyranny
The Tudors is a bad show. I’m a sucker for historical drama, but after slogging through the first three episodes, of this much I can be sure. I don’t need the show’s writers to...
Torture (II)
Torture is a difficult subject. I think that for Americans of a certain disposition – particularly those of us who grew up abroad – the idea of torture really cuts to the bone; a...
“Give me disorderly hinterland rebels any day”
Bill Kauffman on former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson is a real treat.
(Don’t) Stop the ACLU!
Say what you will about the ACLU, but they’re pretty darn consistent when it comes to opposing unwarranted government surveillance.
On the Bounce
As far as columns designed to provoke go, Tom Ricks’ latest effort has succeeded admirably: Want to trim the federal budget and improve the military at the same time? Shut down West Point, Annapolis...
Intellectual Insecurity
To follow-up briefly on the recent discussion regarding intramural conservative debate, there’s an odd tendency among certain mainstream conservatives to unduly concern themselves with enforcing intellectual orthodoxy. Case in point is this hysterical blog...
The NBA: Where a pretty predictable post-season happens
I’ve got Kobe’s Lakers over Lebron’s Cavs in five games. If the series goes to six or seven games, though, I see the Cavaliers winning it all. With Garnett out, the Magic choking, and...
A Plea for Engagement
Via the American Conservative, I see that Sean Scallon’s challenging article on Jimmy Carter is getting some well-deserved attention. And for that, I’m glad – it’s an interesting take on a fascinating historical figure. ...
Call to Arms
I think conservatives are justifiably upset by the Department of Homeland Security’s recent report on right-wing domestic terrorism. It’s not that I find the idea of violent extremism totally implausible (I don’t!), I just...
Fragmentation
Esteemed co-blogger Chris Dierkes has a challenging post on the democratic process. Here’s a decent summary: In our late modern (or postmodern if you like) world, with the proliferation of many interests and sub-interests,...
Catholicism as a Diploma
I’m late to this, I know, but I just caught Christopher Buckley’s post on Newt Gingrich’s recent conversion to Catholicism: Mr. Gingrich’s brain is a 24/7 phenomenon: Half the time, you sit there just...
Mario Loyola is making sense
Here’s a sober response to North Korea’s latest provocation: Because we are not willing to starve the poor North Koreans, and because Kim Jong-Il is even less willing to give up his nuclear weapons...
SI’s Peter King Comes Out of the Cannabis Closet
Well, not quite. But this is a heartening statement:
Plain Wrong
Governor Mark Sanford in The American Conservative, March 2009 (emphasis mine): He also deviates from the Republican line on foreign policy. In Congress, he opposed Clinton’s intervention in Kosovo. And he was one of...
Goldberg Variations
Down-blog, Freddie takes a few shots at Jeffrey Goldberg: This is like an awful lot of other things that Goldberg is perpetually aggrieved about. The way that he threads the needle between holding views...
Friday Night Jukebox, DIY Edition
As a fellow part-time hipster, I found a lot to like in William Brafford’s meditation on DIY indie rock and localism: Here’s the application to politics. DIY never sought to replace the major labels;...
