Month: May 2009

The Perils of Ignoring the “Real World”

by

by publius Like many others, I was horrified to read about the murder of Dr. Tiller in Kansas today.  It was of course more than murder — it was an act of political terrorism.  It simply cannot be dismissed as random violence.[*] Anyway, this violent act also bears quite directly on the whole "empathy" debate.  … Read more

Subsidizing American Conservatism

by

by publius In today’s Outlook, Alec MacGillis argues that national health care reform would be a significant redistribution of resources from “blue” states to “red” ones.  The reason why is that health coverage numbers are far grimmer in Republican states, particularly in the South – shocking, I know. While I tend to agree with MacGillis’s … Read more

Ugly

by

by hilzoy Matt Yglesias: "As anyone who knows me can attest, I don't have what you'd call a strong "Hispanic" identity. (…) But for all that, I have to say that I am really truly deeply and personally pissed off my the tenor of a lot of the commentary on Sonia Sotomayor. The idea that any … Read more

Shameful

by

by hilzoy From the Washington Post: "The Obama administration, picking up the argument of its predecessor, is opposing the release of Chinese Muslim detainees at Guantanamo Bay into the United States. In papers filed with the Supreme Court late Friday, the administration says a group of Uighurs (pronounced WEE'-gurz) are being lawfully held at the … Read more

Barbarians At The Gate, Barbarians In Your Heart

by

by hilzoy A couple of weeks ago, Rod Dreher wrote an article about what he calls our "astonishing, and astonishingly rapid, cultural collapse" in the face of "a barbaric mainstream culture that has grown hostile to our fundamental values": "Conservatives have worked so hard over the past few decades to fight for civilized standards against … Read more

Sotomayor: Actual Facts!

by

by hilzoy As more or less everyone has already noted, a lot of people have been claiming that Sonia Sotomayor is a racist, would decide cases based on racial solidarity rather than on the law, and so forth. One natural way to check this would be to examine her actual record. She has, after all, … Read more

They Can’t Help Themselves

by

by hilzoy Even by Republican standards, the Sotomayor meltdown is pretty impressive. Tom Tancredo calls La Raza, which is a pretty ordinary advocacy group, "a Latino KKK without the hoods or the nooses." Newt Gingrich writes that we cannot accept Sotomayor's rather anodyne remarks about experience being helpful in judging "if Civil War, suffrage, and … Read more

Smooth Operator

by

by publius I'll be honest — I'm a bit frightened of David Petraeus's political and media savvy.  This guy is good.  I just watched him on Fox News and was very impressed with his answers on everything from Gitmo to torture to the ability of our legal system to try detainees.  The video is here, … Read more

Encouraging Signals on Settlements

by

by publius I must say that I've been encouraged by the Obama administration's public stance on Israeli settlements.  Obama has made it a point to emphasize that settlement growth must stop.  And Clinton used even stronger language: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said, “He wants to see a stop to settlements — not some … Read more

Eat Your Spinach!

by

by hilzoy This is one of those dull bills that really matters: "The nation's complex food supply chain would become more transparent, inspections of food facilities would become more frequent and manufacturers would be required to take steps aimed at preventing food-borne illnesses under legislation proposed yesterday by key House leaders who have pledged to … Read more

I Know What You’re Thinking

by

by Eric Martin Commenting on Banning Garrett's critique of a Dan Blumenthal and Robert Kagan Op-Ed, in which the authors claim definitive knowledge of China's intentions vis-a-vis North Korea (ed note: those divined "intentions" would naturally lead us to a confrontational stance opposite China), Judah Grunstein* takes note of a similar extrapolation that pushes us closer to confrontation with Iran:  … Read more

Historical Amnesia

by

by hilzoy This is a very silly thing to say: "Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court is a historic milestone for Latinos, but it resonates well beyond Hispanic pride. It is perhaps the most potent symbol yet of a 21st century rapprochement between the U.S.'s two largest minorities, Latino Americans and African … Read more

Men Feared Witches and Burnt Women

by

by Eric Martin Yet another distinguished general, this time retired Marine Gen. James Jones, attempts to correct Vice President Cheney's misinformation on the impact of Guantanamo on terrorist recruitment efforts: Jones, however, insisted, "The United States is safer because we have rejected the false choice between safety and our ideals."  More boldly, he declared, "Guantanamo probably … Read more

The Ricci Case

by

by hilzoy One of the criticisms of Sonia Sotomayor is that she was part of a panel that affirmed a district court ruling in Ricci v. DeStefano. Here are the basics of the case: "In 2003, the New Haven Fire Department decided to base promotions to the positions of captain and lieutenant primarily on a … Read more

Signer for Virginia Lieutenant Governor

by

by publius I don't really do official endorsements and appeals for funds in elections (not sure I ever have).  But for those interested in the Virginia Lieutenant Governor's race (especially Virginians), I wanted to take a moment and urge you to support Michael Signer. He's just an all-around impressive guy — and is a solid … Read more

Sotomayor: Reactions

by

by hilzoy Sen. James Inhofe on Sotomayor (h/t): "In the months ahead, it will be important for those of us in the U.S. Senate to weigh her qualifications and character as well as her ability to rule fairly without undue influence from her own personal race, gender, or political preferences." Strange to say, Senator Inhofe … Read more

The Benefits of Perspective

by

by publius There are several things about the 1970s that I regretfully missed out on – some of which were legal.  I am grateful, though, that I never had to endure the whining about “identity politics” in its heyday.  I assume people who still use the term today mean something more than “minorities are being … Read more

Sotomayor: The Record

by

by hilzoy This is one of the things I love most about blogs: Barack Obama nominates Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court; I, a non-lawyer, wonder what her record is like, and find the summaries in newspapers much too shallow and focussed on the politics of her appointment rather than her record; but voila! SCOTUSBlog … Read more

Won’t Somebody Listen to the Generals (and Admirals and Majors)?

by

by Eric Martin To reiterate the Bush-era Republican Party line on defense issues, it would be highly irresponsible for US leaders to ignore the advice of the generals.  Especially, someone like, say General Petraeus: General David Petraeus said this past weekend that President Obama's decision to close down Gitmo and end harsh interrogation techniques would benefit the United States in … Read more

Eric Martin: Safeguarding Female Sexuality, One Vagina at a Time

by

by Eric Martin The Greater Western World should rejoice at the news that, by virtue of my engagement to be married which was made official* this past Friday, I will be doing my part in, as Sam Schulman so eloquently put it, "protecting and controlling the sexuality of the child-bearing sex."  That is, I will be The Decider in terms of "who may and … Read more

Memorial Day

by

by hilzoy To all those who died in combat operations — the 4300 reported dead in Iraq, the 687 reported dead in Afghanistan, those who killed themselves during or because of their service, or whose deaths are in some other way attributable to their service in combat: we honor you, and we will not forget. … Read more

Helene Cooper Needs To Discover Google, Lexis

by

by publius

So let's say I'm Helene Cooper of the NYT.  And let's say I have a great idea for an article — the premise is that Obama knocks down pretend strawmen in his speeches just like Bush used to do (e.g., "Some have said…"). 

It would be a good idea for an article — if it were true.  But it's not, as about 15 minutes of Google and Lexis would show.  But Cooper went ahead and wrote it anyway.

The difference between Bush and Obama's arguments is fairly simple — Bush just made stuff up, while Obama's critics are actually making the critiques that Obama attributes to them.  Somewhat hilariously, Cooper herself concedes this on several of the supposed examples of Obama's "strawman" arguments.  She notes, for instance, that the criticisms Obama cites were made by real, living, breathing, non-straw-filled people like John Kyl, Anne Applebaum, Bill Kristol, and Jeffrey Kuhner.

There's a more detailed breakdown of the article below the fold:

Read more

New EFCA Blog and Open Thread

by

by publius Public service announcement on the labor front — a new blog devoted to the latest news on the EFCA went online this week.  It's aptly named the "EFCA Blog."  The intro post is here — check it out. Otherwise, open thread.  Hope your weekend is going well.

Let’s Hope For Lying

by

by publius Like everyone else, I've been disturbed by the political posturing surrounding Gitmo.  The criticisms of closing Gitmo, in particular, seem completely insincere given that (1) our prisons can and do hold dangerous people; and (2) Gitmo is essentially the United States for habeas purposes after Boumediene.  But there's actually one thing even more … Read more

Speaking Truth to the Glower

by

by Eric Martin The artists formerly known as Knight Ridder continue to perform journalistic feats with a maestro's touch.  However, at the risk of detracting from McClatchy's exemplary work, this really isn't all that difficult.  It requires some basic fact checking, a willingness to let the facts speak for themselves and, where applicable, pointing out when government officials are, you know, lying based on those … Read more

Just Shoot Me Now

by

by hilzoy I liked most of Obama's speech. If it weren't for that one little bit about preventive detention, I'd be as happy as a clam. But there it was: "But even when this process is complete, there may be a number of people who cannot be prosecuted for past crimes, in some cases because … Read more

The Contrast

by

by publius Cheney’s “I ♥ Torture” speech was, if nothing else, a clarifying moment.  Like a painting that captures the essence of a historical age in a single image, today’s split screen of Obama and Cheney reflected the very essence of the torture debate.  And the contrast couldn’t have been clearer – the men, the … Read more

I’ll See Your “Promising Democracy” and Raise You a “Moderate Regime”

by

by Eric Martin Matt Yglesias rightfully complains about the tendency of the media to buy-in to the then-current administration's designation of some regimes as "promising democracies" and others as dictatorships or creeping "authoritarian" regimes based, not on the quality of the underlying democratic institutions, but rather on the predisposition of the regime in question toward the … Read more

We’re Doomed!

by

by hilzoy From the New York Times: "Four men from upstate New York were arrested Wednesday night in what the authorities said was a plot to bomb two synagogues in the Bronx and shoot down military planes at Stewart Air National Guard base in Newburgh, N.Y. The men were arrested around 9 p.m. after planting … Read more

Walking with Your Head in a Sling

by

by Eric Martin To our collective and deep shame, the richest nation on the planet treats its wounded veterans with a callous indifference: A tremendously important story has gone virtually untold by the media, ignored by our political leaders and unknown to the American public. Despite the extraordinarily high price they have paid, America's severely … Read more

We Dodged A Bullet!

by

by hilzoy From CNN: "A top Mexican drug cartel suspect has been arrested along with 12 accomplices, including five women, federal authorities said. (…) Rodolfo Lopez Ibarra, known as El Nito and believed to be a top lieutenant in the Beltran Leyva cartel, was arrested Monday at an airport in Nuevo Leon state, said the … Read more

Coward

by

by hilzoy Oh, and Harry Reid? Try showing some courage. Try leadership. You never know; it just might suit you. This certainly doesn't: "QUESTION: If the United States — if the United States thinks that these people should be held, why shouldn’t they be held in the United States? Why shouldn’t the U.S. take those … Read more

The Uighurs: Coda

by

by hilzoy Newt Gingrich talking to Chris Wallace on Fox News (h/t): "WALLACE: Well, let me get — let' take one example, the Chinese Uighurs, Chinese Muslims… GINGRICH: Right. WALLACE: … who were arrested in Afghanistan, brought to this country. The Pentagon says they're not enemy combatants. At least one federal judge has said they're not … Read more