Unqualified Offerings

Richard Holbrooke wants a job! The good news is, he seems to think that the way to get it is to identify “enduring faith in the value of military force” and lack of belief in negotiations as constituting a “tragic failure,” and to declare that “the lessons of Vietnam are still relevant.” My not merely [...]

Joseph Epstein has been a successful academic and a respected essayist, which makes him just the person to shit all over his own milieu in the name of the conservative assault on intellectual achievement. Western conservatives have long been obsessed with what they call the "treason of the intellectuals," the tendency for academics, artists and [...]

Matt Yglesias makes the essential point about Bill Kristol’s desire to send the Marines pirate-hunting:
One might further note that the whole situation is a big unintended consequence of the Christmas 2006 Ethiopian invasion of Somalia. Something that was done with full US support and loudly cheered by The Weekly Standard. But thought he consequence was [...]

By Thoreau
Jon Swift makes a compelling case for why George Bush should pardon the people who trampled a WalMart employee to death: If going shopping is the only way to defeat the terrorists, how can we justify imprisoning those who made the maximum effort in their patriotic duty? It is always a tragedy [...]

By Thoreau
This post is intended as an intellectual exploration of libertarianism and regulation of commerce. It is not intended as an apology for any sort of malfeasance by anybody in the public sector, private sector, think-tank sector, etc. If you wish to interpret it as such and get up in my face about [...]

Pretty amusing memoir of the 1950s intelligence world from John LeCarre. Via War and Piece.

By Thoreau
It’s often been said that the government will be less simplistic in its approach to the internet once power is held by people who not only know it isn’t just a series of tubes but also are comfortable with it as a social phenomenon.
Well, via Kung Fu Monkey I learn that the head of [...]

Unlike most of you, I enhanced American productivity today by working. Job working. Plus, our furnace died and we had to get it repaired. Plus, Mrs. Offering turned out not to be aware of all internet traditions, which meant I had to explain Rickrolling to her. Point is, it’s only now that I can answer [...]

By Thoreau
Until we know more about who’s behind it, there’s only so much analysis that can be offered. Two thoughts, however:
1) If it should turn out that Pakistan had a hand in this, in keeping with the precedents of the past several years, I think India should respond by invading Nepal and rattling [...]

As you know, it’s been a contentious week filled with controversy. Yglesias kicked it off by declaring that "Turkey Sucks." That led to rejoinders from Ezra Klein and Atrios, some parsing of words by Matt, and clueless sniping by Jonathan Chait, later updated. Note: While instinctively anti-Chait, I think it’s possible that Patrick Nielsen Hayden [...]