March 2011
“I cleaned for two hours, which was an hour longer than I planned to, but ai...”
– Carolyn
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Obama and the Youth Vote
Passive-aggressive-positivity refers me to a story wherein Tim Pawlentey says that “Obama can’t hold on to the youth vote.”. He writes:
I know that you believe that Pawlenty wouldn’t win anyway, which I agree with, but do you think that ANYONE could beat Obama on the youth vote this time around, since a large reason why he won the last time was because of a fired up youth...
CIA operating in Libya, in consultation with... →
correlationstonone:
squashed:
What could possibly go wrong?
And according to Reuters, we’re arming the rebels.
Am I right yet?
As I recall, your position was that this is an imperial war for oil. I don’t think you’re right there. If this were about resource extraction, we’d be on the other side. To the extent that your point was that this could go horribly, horribly...
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CIA operating in Libya, in consultation with... →
What could possibly go wrong?
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Not-So-Subtle Discrimination
Today, in a move that was Totally Not Racist™, Beavercreek, Ohio’s city council unanimously rejected a proposal by the regional transit authority to put three bus stops near the mall. The city council members “cited problems that they say occur at malls with bus stops.” “Multiple council members brought up safety concerns as a issue.” You can read between the lines as...
zombiecuddle asked: Sounds like things are ripe for a dark horse run by Dan the Conservative.
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kidskiddingkittens asked,
How likely do you think it is that the presidential election will go the way that the mid-term elections went?
Extremely unlikely. In 2008, the Democrats had massive and unsustainable gains with a highly energized base. In 2010 the Republicans voted their frustration and many of the 2008 voters stayed home. In 2012, Obama will be back on the ballot and it will be hard...
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empiricalmediatheory asked: It does seem like it's Obama's election to lose -- though never put that past a Democrat! In any case, who do you think are the G.O.P.'s most viable pair of candidates?
correlationstonone-deactivated2 asked: You diggin' Pawlenty's nomination chances?
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Apparently all the cool kids are answering... →
If anybody has questions regarding the current crop of Republican Presidential candidates and why none of them can win, I’ll answer them today.
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I am no longer a student
I made it through that phase of my life without once eating Ramen noodles made with coffee instead of water. It never occured to me that this would be an easy, albeit absolutely disgusting, way to simultaneously solve the need for food and caffeine. Now I’m an attorney—and Coffee-Ramen isn’t the sort of thing attorneys do. At least, it’s not the sort of thing they would...
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Libyan rebel commander admits his fighters have... →
Well that’s awkward …
… although there’s probably an al-Qaeda commander somewhere who’s absolutely livid about this as well. “Our guys are fighting hand in hand with the lovers of the demon democracy? What is this world coming to?”
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Ignoring the Suffering of Others
Presumably in response to my post on Individual and Civic Responsibility, somebody Anonymous asked:
What if one does not care to take responsibility for either? What if I have the means to buy reasonable access to medical care but decide not to? Can’t society let me suffer the consequences of my own risks?
That last sentence is worded a bit strangely. Of course society can. The question is...
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Anthropomorphizing Foreign Policy
In a post titled, “This Morning’s Libya Fallacy” correlationstonone writes:
“Don’t let best be the enemy of better” does not apply. We aren’t throwing back starfish until our arms get tired, to invoke a parable. We’re cannily choosing areas of intervention based on the presence of significant rare earths (Afghanistan), oil (Iraq and Libya), or strategic interest (Israel). These...
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Individual Responsibility and Civic Responsibility
There is nothing inherently wrong with individual responsibility. If we can’t keep our own house in order, it’s likely that we’re failing to fulfill a whole variety of social duties. Unfortunately calls for “indivual responsibility” tend to simply be an abdication of our responsibility toward others. It is just another way to say, “I’m not my...
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Brief answers to difficult questions
Correlationstonone has raised a bunch of important questions. Like a jerk, I’m going to offer very short answers to all of them. His questions are in bold.
Is Libyan intervention self-interested or a human-rights-positive move? No. Libyan intervention is self-interested and a potentially human-rights-positive move.
Do we face a hard choice between the suffering of the poor and a...
Little known secret:
I have an exceptionally violent side. It only emerges when I’m having printer problems.
gamesareart asked: I just turned 18 and will probably register to vote soon. Now I recently started reading the political blogs here. Partially I used to read the occasional piece online, and partially because of a Government class. Now I used to "be" republican when I was about 13 and pretty much agreed with everything my parents said, but recently I have noticed very convincing arguments. For a short...
“In the case of Bahrain, too, U.S. national interests trump universal values. The...”
– Libya and selective US intervention | Bernd Debusmann | Analysis & Opinion | Reuters.com (via correlationstonone)
I’m a bit puzzled by the common assumption that if we really care about universal values we must either intervene militarily in every case where those values are under attack...
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The Trunk: Uncertainty in Libya →
squashed:
That’s okay? Really? Starting a war without a long-term goal, exit strategy, or sense of who is in charge? That’s all okay?
I don’t expect a President to have every answer before he launches a war. I do expect him to have these answers. I can’t believe that you don’t.
I am 99.99% certain that Squashed would not have been “okay” with these things if John McCain were President. Now,...
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Uncertainty in Libya
There have been quite a bit of anxiety about the uncertainty surrounding the Libya intervention. Some important questions are still open.
What’s the long-term goal?
Who is in charge of the international operation?
What’s the exit strategy?
Obama has been criticized for failing to provide clear answers to the questions. Ninety percent of this criticism is pure political sniping....
“Finally, there’s all the handwringing over why we’re intervening in Libya but...”
– Kevin Drum, who actually doesn’t like the intervention in Libya, also doesn’t like some of the sniping at President Obama over Libya. Read his case in “Griping About Libya.” (via motherjones)
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“The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally...”
– Barack Obama (via azspot, kateoplis, and correlationstonone
This text has been circulating today along, along with the implication that President Obama has abandoned the principles on which he campaigned by authorizing a military attack with out an authorization for the use of force from Congress....
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“The other complaint I’m getting is that my gripe about using the “humanitarian”...”
– Hullabaloo (via azspot)
I don’t find this persuasive at all. I think a lot of things we’re only able to partially achieve are important. Preventing hunger is one of the less controversial ones.
“Just because we can’t feed everybody doesn’t mean that we...
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Some of the debt collection firms appear to have various tiers of attorneys. One person is in charge of filing complaints and getting default judgments. If you answer a complaint, you get to the person whose primary responsibility is beating up on pro se defendants. Once you convince that person that you’re serious, you get to a litigation team whose responsibility seems to be dealing with...
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Is the Libyan intervention Constitutional?
Short Answer: Yes.
Slightly Longer Answer: For the most part. Only sort of. It doesn’t really matter.
The U.S. Constitution is pretty clear that the President is the civilian leader of the Militery.
The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States
In...
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Bombing our way to a better world
Ari has responded to my criticism of his cheerleading for military intervention in Libya. I to raise two issues where I believe Ari and I disagree.
There are several important points of disagreement between us, but I’ll begin with the most obvious. Dan says that he’s “not a very good pacifist.” From that point forward, we run into a serious problem wherein we are likely going to simply talk past...
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Pay attention to what’s happening in Yemen today.
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“The Libyan military on Sunday called an immediate cease-fire after allied forces...”
– CNN
The next seventy-two hours will determine the course of the next few years in Libya. “Cease-fire” could mean one of three things. First, it could mean nothing—like the “cease-fire” the Libyan army proclaimed to give it cover for a mad dash into Benghazi before the...
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The Libya intervention is not repeat of the Iraq...
While the parallels are certainly worth discussing, there are some very significant differences.
The Libya action includes a broad international force and a reasonable compliance with a U.N. mandate. (There will be a fair amount of discussion about whether the action remains within the bounds of that mandate—but I highly doubt that anything will happen outside the bounds of what every...
Anonymous asked: On the topic of pornography, the endorsement, or at least acceptance of (certain types of) adult material seems to be something of a liberal mainstay. But a Christian morality normally opposes such material. What is a Christian liberal or a liberal Christian to do?
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Bombs for Human Rights
I would like to preface this post by mentioning how much I enjoy Ari Kohen’s writing on human rights. If you do not already follow his blog, I would encourage you to do so. He is writing is eloquent and informed. Even in the areas where we disagree, I have learned a lot from his perspective. When—as I am about to do—I take exception to something he has written, please read it in light of...
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ICANN approves .xxx for adult sites →
This is long-overdue.
Incidentally, you might want to register yourname.xxx before somebody else does.
away-abaddon asked: Hey there,
Speaking of "lots of adjectives and latinate words,” how many lawyers know that there is a difference between "lawyer" and "attorney," and how many know what that difference is? It's hyper-common for people to use the latter exclusively, probably because it's one of those "latinate words" and sounds more sophisticated...
Speaking of "lots of adjectives and latinate words,” how many lawyers know that there is a difference between "lawyer" and "attorney," and how many know what that difference is? It's hyper-common for people to use the latter exclusively, probably because it's one of those "latinate words" and sounds more sophisticated...
zachvaughn asked: Writing is a vastly underrated skilled among all professions, and each profession has it's own style. Politics has it's own style, which killed the literary style I had developed during high school and college (something I tremendously regret), and over the past two months I've been working with attorneys and their writing style has effected my blast e-mails, press releases, etc. I...
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Judge Blocks Contentious Wisconsin Union Law -... →
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If you're considering going into law ...
… practice writing.
On television, lawyers talk a lot. The good attorney carries the day with his amazing rhetoric and uncanny insight. In real life, most of legal practice is written. And most attorneys don’t write particularly well. Many don’t even realize that’s a problem. If you can write, you’ll have a huge advantage.
Learn to make your words two or three...
Libya Accepts No-Fly Zone, Declares Cease-Fire →
kohenari:
In declaring a cease-fire a few hours after the UN imposition of a No-Fly Zone, “Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa said Libya is ‘obliged to accept the Security Council resolution that permits the use of force to protect the civilian population.’”
And then here’s the part that simply makes no sense at all, but that is pretty much guaranteed whenever an authoritarian regime has...
samueljoseph asked: Remember the "no-fly zones" instituted in 1991 against Iraq? Feeling some deja-vu here?
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Jumbled Thoughts on a Libya Intervention
I read the news that the U.N. Had authorized airstrikes in Libya with a combination of dread an excitement. The dread was easy to place. This meant NATO intervention in an internal struggle in Libya. I’ll be happy to see Qaddafi go—but it’s not at all clear what comes next. Supplying freedom fighters with Western weapons has not always ended well for us. And let’s not kid...
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“Let’s hope NATO does the right thing, and soon.”
– xxdesmus
Don’t believe for a second that NATO’s probable bombing of Gaddafi’s forces will be done because it’s “the right thing.” Gaddafi’s continued control of Libya has become unacceptable to the West. Now NATO will do what NATO does. It may be...
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“You know why I like Gingrich? He just joined my club in New York.”
– Donald Trump
So … is Trumps supposed Presidential run a serious thing or just a publicity stunt? Nobody makes statements like that without some degree of self-parody … possibly excluding Donald Trump. Is there even a real man behind the image?
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U.S. hints at Libya airstrikes as Gadhafi pounds... →
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“The United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan E. Rice, said late...”
– New York Times.
Last night I speculated that NATO will enter the war in Libya by Friday morning. My thoughts haven’t changed.
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Evidence
Tim O’Brien wrote, “Evidence is not truth, it is merely evident.” It’s up to us to turn reports into a coherent story. If we’re good at it, we can perhaps guess the ending.
Gaddafi’s forces are in the process of choking the Libyan revolution
If Gaddafi is victorious, there will be atrocities.
The West never liked Gaddafi to begin with.
France has been...
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On "Men's Rights"
I feel the same way about “Men’s Rights” or “Father’s Rights” groups that I feel about the “rational inquiry” people who think the government is hiding extraterrestrials. Extraterrestrial life is certainly possible. Even probable. Somewhere. But the UFO people are, nonetheless, chasing fantasies.
The “Men’s Rights” people are the...
On O'Keefe and NPR
In my continued quest to comment on the news a day or two after you’ve stopped caring about it, I want to offer you this critique of James O’Keefe’s editing of the news that cost Ron Schiller his job—and potentially is career. It’s no surprise that O’Keefe’s group would edit video in a particularly deceptive way—but this comparison of the unedited...
