"This was the voice of moderation until 13 Sept, 2025"
von by von So I'm reading John McWhorter's reaction to Professor Gates' recent run-in with the Cambridge Police Department, and it occurs to me: Are we missing a salient piece of this puzzle? (H/t Chris Bodenner at The Dish.) No doubt, Professor Gates' race played a role in the zealous stupidity* of some of Cambridge's finest a few … Read more
by von I have to disagree with my co-blogger, Publius, regarding the various (and varied) tax provisions in HR 3200 — that is, the House Democrats' take on Health Care reform. It's not that the proposed surtax on high earners is ipso facto wrong; it's that the surtax is a red herring. Indeed, if you listen … Read more
by von A couple commentators to my recent post on health care reform are citing a study by Melinda Beeuwkes Buntin and David Cutler at the Center for American Progress, a liberal advocacy group: The Buntin-Cutler report is being used as push back against the CBO's claim that the current Democratic proposals are going to add to … Read more
by von We will hear a lot more on the healthcare debate in the coming days. Consider three matters while you're listening to it. The Heel First, the central weakness of the blogosphere will be on full display throughout this debate. What is this Achilles' heel of our Army of Davids, you ask? Laziness, pure and simple. Most bloggers don't … Read more
by von I haven't posted in a while — for various boring professional reasons — but I wanted to comment on Hilzoy's decision to leave the blog. I am last remaining original member of ObWi (Moe Lane and Katherine were the other original members, and have since departed). I write "original member", not "founding member", for a reason. … Read more
by von We now have the opening salvos in the healthcare debate. The current Democratic proposal — the Health Choices Act — is a relatively modest expansion in care. Yet, even Health Choices Act is projected to add an estimated $1 trillion to the U.S. budget deficit over the next ten years. As the CBO notes, the cost is likely … Read more
by von Ayatollah Khamenei — Iran's Supreme leader and, possibly, the most beautifully-named despot in the world* — has apparently changed course. There will now be some investigation into the allegations of fraud surrounding Ahmedinejad's election. A good start, but a far cry from the full probe of election procedures and results urged by the EU. Until … Read more
by von A Friday afternoon interlude: I'm a bet it all and win I'm a set it off and run I'm a kill it till it's dead I'm a do it till it ain't fun and the words don't come then I'm a find another hobby probably find love probably find trust '81 young with a little … Read more
Or, A Stimulus for Tomorrow, Part 8 by von Let's check in on our Stimulus for Tomorrow, shall we? (Parts 1, 2, Hilzoy's response, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.) As discussed in my prior posts, very little of President Obama's stimulus package has entered the economy at the moment: the stimulus doesn't really kick in until 2010 and … Read more
by von A few words in light of recent events: 1. I blog pseudonymously for a variety of selfishly-good reasons. I would rather keep it that way for the time being. Thanks in advance. 2. If you can't figure out the connection between a title of my post and the post itself, be assured that no one else can either. … Read more
(Updated: 2:37 p.m. EDT.) by von More on President Obama's deficit crisis: Alan Auerbach, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley, and an author of a widely cited study on the dangers of the current deficits, describes the situation like so: “Bush behaved incredibly irresponsibly for eight years. On the one hand, it might … Read more
by von BANQUO: It will be rain to-night. FIRST MURDERER: Let it come down. [They all set upon BANQUO.] Possibly the baddest few lines of script and stage direction in Shakespeare's plays, and here I've gone and appropriated it for a boring post on President Obama's looming budget deficits.* This is reason no. 502 why the internet sucks.** Anyhow: … Read more
by von Well, they got Hilzoy and they got Publius. But they haven't got me yet. Ha! My clever strategy of almost never posting and avoiding Ed Whelan worked! More seriously, we risk being a bit poorer from this latest outing. Those of us who blog pseudonymously tend to have good reasons to do so. Sure, they're … Read more
by von Scoop! Scoop! Jan Crawford Greenburg reportsthat there is a short list of six prospects to fill Justice Souter's shoes, but she only names three. I know a fourth! It's Publius! Publius is a shoo-in for the nomination. Pseudonymous bloggers are sorely underrepresented on the Supreme Court: Even though they make up more than 65% of the population, … Read more
by von Joshua Treviño offers a characteristically nuanced look at the defection of Arlen Specter, and suggests the following: This said, Specter’s party switch is the latest in a long trend of ideological party-sorting, in which the Republicans get the conservatives, and the Democrats get the leftists. It’s arguable which of the two actually offers more … Read more
by von Purity. That has been the response by a number of Republicans to Sen. McCain's defeat by President Obama: focus on ideological purity. And how is it going? Well, it has cost us the Senate. We spend a lot of time defending a failed Vice Presidential candidate. Sen. DeMint proclaims "I would rather have 30 … Read more
by von Ezra Klein tries to push back on the notion that American top quintile pays a disproportionate share of federal taxes, particularly when compared to most European countries. (See My prior post & Clive Crook.) Klein doesn't wholly join the argument, which involves, among other things, a comparative analysis between the US and relevant EU … Read more
by von I intended to post this note after some misinterpreted my brief comments congratulating Vermont for passing gay marriage "the right way" (my words). It's safe to say that I'm a little slow. Still, here goes. By praising Vermont for passing gay marriage the "right way," I implied that there was a "wrong way" to make gay … Read more
by von Having a bad day? Just keep in mind that it could be worse. (Mild NSFW.)
So, everyone is thinking about Roland Burris. Me? I’m thinking about Rolando Cruz. … [S]ix years ago, when Burris had the opportunity to be very careful when faced with a flimsy death penalty case, he failed [the test]. And it was not so much that he failed–everyone makes mistakes–but how he failed and how he … Read more
by von Yes, back again, with a reminder. This is a blog. Ernest G. Gygax died on March 4. There was no entry. Frankly, that’s unacceptable. Why? Well, how about, "Moe said so." Or, if you’re a purist, "Gary sent us." (To which the orc responds, "Huh?") (You got the references, right?) Here’s your open … Read more
by G’Kar I hate to ask for money, but I am willing to make an exception for particularly good causes. And I think that Pretty Bird Woman House, a women’s shelter on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, qualifies. Some fine example of humanity burned down the shelter, and they need some $70,000 to buy a … Read more
by G’Kar
Does the intent of those who create a law effect the constitutionality of that law? As always, below the fold to minimize the disruption of the front page.
by G’Kar
A few thoughts on an interesting piece in the Washington Post, below the fold for those who prefer to skip on past.
by G’Kar
Inspired by some recent reading, both here and elsewhere, I wanted to address some matters military. Since this post is somewhat meandering and since I’m just a guest here, I’ll put the post below the fold so readers can skip past to the more important stuff.
by G’Kar With Obama highlighting his living overseas as a child, NRO’s Mark Steyn has once again taken the opportunity to tar the Senator with the ‘madrassah’ smear. I’d like to kill this once and for all, but that is probably too much to ask. Every kid in the Arabic-speaking goes to a madrassah. Madrassah … Read more
by G’Kar I stayed away from the entire Beauchamp affair. I was aware of it, and I had my own opinion, but since I had no way of proving anything one way or the other, I saw no real value to jumping into the fray. However, an experience I had the other day has left … Read more
by G’Kar A brief post, as I’m not somewhere with a dedicated internet connection at the moment. But I couldn’t read this comment without (after letting my blood pressure abate) making at least a brief response. I will note that, of course, I do not speak for all soldiers, or even necessarily any subset of … Read more
by G’Kar If there is a Rosetta Stone to American politics, then it is the ongoing fascination with the need for ‘tough’ politicians. Some people are worried about the ascension of Hillary Clinton because she might not be ‘tough enough’ to hold the office of President of the United States, with Tom Smith at The … Read more
by G’Kar
Let me begin with the standard disclaimers, despite which I am certain that at least one commenter will complain that I am in some way attempting to justify the Iraq War, the surge, the presidency of George Bush, tooth decay, world hunger, dogs and cats living together or worse. In fact, I think the war was a mistake, I suspect that the surge is going to be insufficient to turn the tide in Iraq, and I have precisely zero brief for George W. Bush, let alone tooth decay, or worse. [Update: I will confess to being agnostic about dogs and cats living together.] I don’t intend to support any of those things. I just want to try to explain a little about what can drive soldiers.
Several weeks ago I spent a few hours helping to offload 40 tons of flour from two flatbed trucks into storage containers. Our civil military guys brought it in to give to local villages to help them when they run short on food. Those guys spend most days on the road, delivering water and other necessities of life to the numerous tiny villages that dot the countryside in this part of Iraq. In a city east of here there’s a new textile factory that will provide jobs to 50 townspeople, built by Iraqis using American dollars. I suppose a cynic would argue that the people wouldn’t require this assistance had the U.S. not invaded, and maybe that’s true. But that damage is done, and there are a lot of Iraqis that are living better lives because the civil military guys go out and try to learn what needs to be done to help these people.
My team is only tangentially related to that kind of operation. Our brief is trying to help the Iraqi Army learn to do a better job protecting the people. While reports from Iraq sometimes seem to suggest that every member of the Iraqi Security Forces is only looking to advance their particular faction, the fact is that, like people everywhere, you get all kinds. Some of them are doubtless just infiltrators. But we also work with men who want to see their country be more than just a hotbed of factionalism. While the idea that inside every Iraqi is an American trying to get out is asinine, the idea that every Iraqi is devoted to nothing but endless killing of everyone like him is equally so. There are a lot of Iraqis here who are risking their lives to make their country a better place. If we can help even one of them do so, there’s something to be said for that.
I don’t expect that we will make any big differences in Iraq. The government doesn’t appear to be interested in doing anything but preserve its power base, and I don’t know if that will change even if the U.S. does decide to actually pull out, which seems implausible in any case. I can’t make the Iraqi government work any better. I may not even be able to do much to make the Iraqi Army work any better. But I can try to help those Iraqis who want to make their country better succeed in their own small ways, and I can take advantage of my own position to directly aid Iraqis it is in my power to help. It doesn’t sound like much. It probably isn’t much. But few of us are destined to make a big difference in life; if I can make a little difference, that has to count for something.
by G’Kar "We aren’t no thin red ‘eroes, nor we aren’t no blackguards too, But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you; An’ if sometimes our conduck isn’t all your fancy paints: Why, single men in barricks don’t grow into plaster saints;" Tommy, Rudyard Kipling "Their’s not to make replyTheir’s not … Read more
by G’Kar Via hilzoy I spotted this article discussing the ongoing ethnic segregation of Baghdad. For those who haven’t been following the story, and I’ll admit I was not aware of how widespread the problem is, Shiites have been securing large portions of Baghdad for themselves, displacing and murdering Sunnis in wholesale lots. In fact, … Read more
by G’Kar I just wanted to express a quick note regarding my location (occupied Narn) and how it affects my assessment of the situation on the ground there. While I see a lot here, I hardly see everything even in my relatively small slice of the pie. Therefore, while I can provide some useful on-site … Read more
by G’Kar Can you be right even when you’re wrong? How about wrong even though you’re right? That question sprang to my mind reading Matt Yglesias’ explanation of what has happened with the current move of some Sunni insurgent groups towards the U.S. and the Iraqi government: “Iraq’s Sunni Arabs are the insurgency“. Anyone with … Read more