Unqualified Offerings

Dave Schuler points out that there’s no perfect safety from terrorism, even with a declared foreign policy of non-interventionism. But there’s little perfect safety available in the world. If America’s actual terrorism exposure were on the same scale as the problems China has faced this decade in Pakistan, it would be the next best thing [...]

Bitching about Kwanzaa is so 1990s. Hey, I remember having much more “right wing” sensitivities than I do now, and Kwanzaa bugged the shit out of me back then. Separatist! Marxist! Anti-Christian! And there was a time when you could argue that Kwanzaa had the potential to be dire for African-Americans and for American race [...]

Having “written” a novel now, I made a New Year’s Resolution to read more of them in 2008. Spurred by the praise for Frank Norris’ classic of naturalism, McTeague, in Stephen King’s book on writing, I picked it up in the store today and started the first chapter. Soon I was onto the second chapter [...]

Downblog, TGGP recommended “The Two-Party Swindle,” by Eliezer Yudkowsky. Much of it is pretty good, a deeper variation on what you’ve read before about the dangers of identifying with politicians. But Yudkowsky doesn’t get it quite right. First:
And so the fans of Favorite-Football-Team all praise their favorite players to the stars, and derogate the players [...]

By Thoreau
Apparently, the TSA has decided to ramp up its insanity:
1) They are cracking down on batteries, with no lithium batteries allowed in checked luggage (fire hazard) and regulations on lithium batteries in carry-ons. Bad enough that we have to already empty the pockets, have the toiletries in a clear plastic bag that’s [...]

Just a solution, not necessarily the solution.
People ask, in tones from genuine wonder to smug certainty, “Why haven’t we been hit again?” How come there have been no major al-Qaeda atrocities on US soil since September 11, 2001? (The brief flurry of anthrax-by-mail attacks shortly after that date may have been al Qaeda, or may [...]

At OTB, Chris Lawrence endorses GWU political-science professor John Sides’ contention that there may be Ron Paul, but there is no “Ron Paul Revolution.” Their second point seems especially telling:
His ideas and electoral support are not causing the other Republican candidates to change their strategy. Independent candidates and third parties can sometimes force the two [...]

I just saw Bill Kristol dancing around a Maypole.