Unqualified Offerings

By Thoreau
I notice that a Hit and Run thread has gotten sidetracked onto the “republic, not a democracy!” tangent.  I find this tangent particularly annoying but sadly common, so I will repost my response here, and then bookmark it for the next time it comes up.
I’ve seen multiple definitions for “republic” and “democracy.” If [...]

By Thoreau
We have left DC.  The movers were incredibly efficient on Wednesday, and we were able to leave in the evening.  We are taking it easy on this trip, and are spending the evening just outside St. Louis, MO.  Tomorrow I’ll be visiting a colleague in Columbia, and then on Saturday we’ll drive to Boulder, [...]

As a follow-up to tonight’s bloggy radio discussion, a compendium from the National Security Network highlighting just how unreliable are claims that violence is dropping in Iraq.

By Mona

You know how when you’re sitting on the pot in a public restroom, and your feet are just a slippin’ and slidin’, swingin’ this way and that and making all comfy with the footsies to the left of you and on the right? And you know how you really aren’t paying [...]

Me on OTB Radio right now talking Larry Craig, animal rights and the GAO report.

By Mona
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Via James Randi, we learn that China’s notions of government power and purview are truly extraordinary:

In one of history’s more absurd acts of totalitarianism, China has banned Buddhist monks in Tibet from reincarnating without government permission. According to a statement issued by the State Administration for Religious Affairs, the law, [...]

By Mona
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Since childhood, man’s inhumanity to man — of the most heinous and depraved sort — has simultaneously repelled and fascinated me, and been the object of far too much depressed rumination. Filed away in my mind are myriad instances of hideous atrocities I’ve encountered in books and film [...]

At HenleyWatch they’re laughing about last night’s post about the pending war with Iran. Hey, bonus points for the attempted jiu-jitsu on the “bedwetter” meme!
The thing is, I’ve seen this movie before. TFG grumbles that I only included two links. Well, there’s a lot more than two stories out on the net about preparations for [...]

Alan Bock has fantasies about Larry Craig. I think he underestimates the extent to which evangelicalism has become American conservatism. There just isn’t a “constitutionalist” tendency worthy of the name within the GOP any more. Some of what used to pass for “limited government conservatism” was a cynical ploy to oppose specifically cosmopolitan social reforms [...]

Bo Diddley has suffered a heart attack. This seems pointless given that Bo Diddley will never die. There’s a great moment early in the PBS history of rock&roll series that starts with an aged Diddley playing the violin in church. During the course of the interview, he gropes for ways to describe the “Bo Diddley [...]