Our New Civil Masters
Once they were called civil servants, but after the barrage of taxpayer-funded bailouts, they may be more properly seen as “civil masters.” David Brooks, writing today in the New York Times, aptly describes the phenomenon without–in typically Brooksian fashion–making any harsh judgments about it: For those who don’t know, Ward Three is a section of [...]
Juan Cole competes for Best Blogger
Yes, its true, Juan Cole wants to win 2008 Weblog Awards competition–and he is currently in the lead. Best of luck to him. Martin Kramer has a different take. He cites simple factual problems that undo Cole’s analysis. My two favorites deal with confused chronologies and dramatic assertions based on faulty data: Cole claimed that [...]
Leon Panetta for CIA?
Leon Panetta, a former congressman with no intelligence experience, has been tapped to run the CIA in the Obama Administration. It is hard to know what is worse: the rampant Washington insiderdom or the shocking lack of experience. Panetta did not even serve on the Intelligence Committee in his years in the House. His only [...]
Its NOT the “third-hand smoke” that stinks
The New York Times dropped a new term into our language–”third-hand smoke”–and another large dollop of politicized science. Second-hand smoke is exhaled by smokers. Third-hard smoke is the microscopic particles left behind when smoke makes contact with curtains, couches and human hair. This is why smokers stink when they are not smoking, the article helpfully [...]
Bail Out Newspapers?
Banks, airlines, auto makers–everyone wants a bail out these days. Now one Connecticut lawmaker wants to add newspapers to the list. Frank Nicastro, who represents the state’s 79th Assembly district, wants to bail out two newspapers in his constituency: the Bristol Press (circulation: 10,704) and Herald Press, which boasts 26,299 readers. While it might seem [...]
Is Caroline Kennedy Qualified? What about Palin?
Peter Roff, a conservative writing in U.S. News and World Report, thinks that Caroline Kennedy, a socialite who has been so concerned with New York’s political future that she has voted in almost 40% of its elections, is qualified. Well, yes, she meets the mere constitutional standards: she is over 35 and has a pulse. [...]
Why do they always look for sadness on Christmas?
After tonight’s showing of “Casablanca” and just before the airing of “The Big Sleep,” Turner Movie Classics presented a short memorial to the famous and the notable. By itself, not so notable. At the end of the year, lots of outlets do these kinds of things. Modern life is suffused with the impulse of turning [...]
New Evidence: Obama, Blago and the memory hole
Why does any evidence linking President-Elect Obama’s connection to the Senate seat-selling scam always seem to vanish? Many in the media are taking Obama’s denials at face value. He is a bona fide historic figure and, yes, he could be a miracle man who walked through the sewers of Illinois politics without getting a spot [...]
Other Wars on Terror
American media can be amazingly myopic. Since the September 11 attacks, the media has pretended that the U.S. is the only democracy that had to ask itself fundamental questions about fighting terrorists. In reality, European, Anti-Podean and Asian democracies have been asking hard questions about freedom and safety since the 1970s. Can a non-citizen (or [...]
