Ignorance is Bliss
16 May 2008 2:29pm GMT This is absolute genius: Conservative radio host Kevin James is on Hardball to call Barack Obama and appeaser, and Chris Matthews hits upon the nice idea of asking James to explain what it was that Chamberlain did wrong at Munich. As becomes apparent, James has no idea! He just likes to say "appeasement" a lot, but doesn't know what it means, what the context was, what was wrong with it, or how it might possibly apply today. Basically, he's an idiot, which is no surprise, but it is rare to...
Money Talks
16 May 2008 2:04pm GMT Bush loved farm subsidies when the Republicans controlled congress, but now that the Democrats are running the show he's gotten religion and is sensibly proposing that we change the current rule which says you can't get subsidies if you earn more than $2.6 million a year (in income, not in gross revenue) to a more parsimonious $200,000. Congress is trying to hold the line at $950,000 which prompts Megan McArdle to wonder "Of all possible reforms, this would seem to be a no-brainer. How many...
Obama and Israel
16 May 2008 1:25pm GMT Gershom Gorenberg makes the case that Barack Obama would be the best candidate for Israel, from the point of view of someone with different ideas about what would be best for Israel than what some of the "pro-Israel" dogma in the U.S. demands. That said, at this point in time I think you'd have to say that most Obama fans who care about U.S. policy toward Israel are basically seeing what they want to see and hearing what they want to hear. I hope that folks like Gershom who have sound views...
Prestige
15 May 2008 10:34pm GMT Yesterday, not only did George W. Bush decide to take the basically unprecedented step of lashing out at his domestic political opponents in a speech to a foreign parliament, but John McCain chimed in to say he agrees with Bush. He busted out the frequently heard idea that "serious negotiations" that are "done in a face to face fashion as Senator Obama wants to do" is a step that "enhances the prestige of a nation that's a sponsor of terrorists" and sundry other evils. This is such a common...
Our Buddhist Future?
15 May 2008 10:31pm GMT David Brooks says cutting edge neuroscience will pose a new kind of challenge to the traditionally religious: "The real challenge is going to come from people who feel the existence of the sacred, but who think that particular religions are just cultural artifacts built on top of universal human traits. It’s going to come from scientists whose beliefs overlap a bit with Buddhism." You can see Ross, who thinks this is more like a kind of pantheism, for a theological take on this but...
Mowser