Sully finds a great passage describing modern conservative rhetoric.
Archives for September 2009
On the Road Again
I’m on a business trip until Sunday, so I’ll try to pop in an throw up an open thread every now and then. Lily is off to Aunt Tammy’s, and His Tunchness will have the run of the domain (like that is any different from any other day). Try to behave.
Also, vote for Bitsy:
She is over 1300.
Props To Our Law Enforcement
They seem to be getting it done:
Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, senior government officials have announced dozens of terrorism cases that on closer examination seemed to diminish as legitimate threats. The accumulating evidence against a Denver airport shuttle driver suggests he may be different, with some investigators calling his case the most serious in years.
Documents filed in Brooklyn against the driver, Najibullah Zazi, contend he bought chemicals needed to build a bomb — hydrogen peroxide, acetone and hydrochloric acid — and in doing so, Mr. Zazi took a critical step made by few other terrorism suspects.
If government allegations are to be believed, Mr. Zazi, a legal immigrant from Afghanistan, had carefully prepared for a terrorist attack. He attended a Qaeda training camp in Pakistan, received training in explosives and stored in his laptop computer nine pages of instructions for making bombs from the same kind of chemicals he had bought.
And then there is this:
A 19-year-old Jordanian citizen is expected to make an appearance before a federal magistrate in Dallas this morning after authorities accused him of attempting to blow up a downtown Dallas skyscraper.
Hosam Maher Husein Smadi was arrested Thursday after he parked a vehicle laden with government-supplied fake explosives in the underground parking garage of Fountain Place, a 60-story tower in the 1400 block of Ross Avenue at North Field Street, authorities said.
These seem to me to be success stories, and real threats (unlike that one group of clowns in Queens a couple months ago). I also like how they are sort of taking it in stride and not having big, showy press conferences with Eric Holder trying to scare the shit out of us.
Grumpy old men
Joe Klein has a very good take down of David Broder’s recent column:
David Broder has a very strange column today, praising a paper by the conservative scholar William Schambra in which the author criticizes Barack Obama for being interested in…policy. This is something I’ve noticed over the past twenty years: the Republicans–some of whom used to give a good faith effort to figuring out how best to govern–have lost all interest in policy. They care about power, and are willing to do just about anything to retain or gain it.
The argument against policy is that it’s…just…too…hard. Presidents like Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama believe in the possibility of rational public responses to chronic problems like health care or climate change. Their dreams are led astray by the realities of politics–lobbyists and craven pols who impose the fatally flawed as the enemy of the good. This is an argument neither new nor coherent.
I hadn’t thought of this angle, that Broder’s point is completely ridiculous because….what the fuck is the alternative to enacting policy?
My reaction to the column was different: it heralds the official Village recognition of National Affairs, a new high-brow winger publication that we’re likely to hear a lot about over the next couple years. Bobo drooled all over the thing a few weeks ago too. Be afraid, be very afraid.
Broder tells us that the “advisory board is made up of noted conservative academics from James W. Ceaser to James Q. Wilson”. The focus seems to be on policy and social science rather than wanking about Burke and Hayek. So let me ask you this: is there anything to conservative social science research beyond pro-voucher propaganda, pseudo-scientific attempts to justify white supremacism (Murray, Sailer, Saletan), and concern trolling liberal programs?
Bleg
I need the original reference for ‘blogger ethics panel’. As I remember it involved a discussion group convened by the Washington Post to fret about bloggers with undisclosed ties to political campaigns. It focused, ironically, on Markos Moulitsas, who had in fact disclosed his work for the Dean campaign on his site. However, I could be wrong on any or all of these points. Muchas gracias to whoever can link me with a contemporary press report.
***Update***
Thanks, Armando.
Thursday Night Open Thread
I’ve been informed that I should post the Thursday night open thread early because all the geeks are going to rush off to watch Flash Forward. Duly noted.
Here is the Thursday Night recipe:
1. Greek Pasta w/Shrimp
2. Salad – add some black olives, feta and Greek dressing to continue the theme
3. Greek Style Green Beans
4. Honey of a Pie
Keep the dictionary entries coming.
We’re Doing It Live!
Looks like we are back. I hope you all enjoyed WordPress Error as much as I did today, but the blogmistress informs me we are moving to a new server soon. And there was rejoicing.
Consider this an open thread, but please point out any glaring omissions, typos, factual errors, or formatting problems in the dictionary.