February 2012
26 posts
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How Repulsive Is Progressive Hypocrisy? →
In a piece on Wednesday, Glenn Greenwald made ample use of a new Washington Post/ABC News poll that highlights how progressives are willing to tolerate (or even support) Barack Obama’s policies that they vehemently protested when they were carried out George W. Bush:
[L]ong before Barack Obama achieved any significance on the political scene, I considered blind leader loyalty one of the...
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Spanish Judge Guilty of Misusing Authority →
The Spanish judge celebrated for pursuing international human rights cases was convicted of overstepping his jurisdiction in a domestic corruption probe Thursday and barred from the bench for 11 years, completing a spectacular fall from grace for one of Spain’s most prominent people.
[…]
He is still awaiting a verdict in a separate trial on the same charge — knowingly...
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When Rights Conflict
In light of the discussion occasioned of yesteday’s post about why it seems Rick Santorum doesn’t understand rights, I thought I might say just a little bit more. In particular, it’s important to note that Santorum isn’t alone when it comes to misunderstanding what the language of rights actually means.
I’m reminded of the beginning of Mary Ann Glendon’s book...
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Federalist #78
After reading my most recent post — Rick Santorum Doesn’t Understand Rights — the Tumblr user corroborate sent the following note:
“Except we all know that the judiciary exists in order to check the excesses that might occur as a result of the democratic process.” I think that if I were you, I’d re-read the Federalist papers.
It might be helpful to provide a brief reply.
I...
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Rick Santorum Doesn't Understand Rights
7M Californians had their rights stripped away today by activist 9th Circuit judges. As president I will work to protect marriage.
— Rick Santorum (@RickSantorum) February 7, 2012
It’s not at all interesting or surprising that Rick Santorum opposes the 9th Circuit ruling.
What’s interesting, at least to me, is that he seems not to understand what rights are or what they do. Say...
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“Why are some people prepared to risk their lives to help a stranger when others...”
– Are We Ready for a ‘Morality Pill’?
This is, of course, one of the questions that most interests me and that is motivating my current research on heroism. It’s also one of the questions that comes up with regularity on The Hero Report podcast. I wonder if Peter Singer, who wrote...
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WatchIf you have any interest whatsoever in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, I recommend watching the entirety of this Bloggingheads episode.
Robert Wright has done a series of really interesting interviews with members of the Israeli Left over the past couple of months and, with each one presenting a different solution or solutions, all of them taken together nicely highlight the myriad ways in...
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Governor Plays Politics With Cancer Research →
Gov. Dave Heineman compared the University of Nebraska to a wealthy “special interest group” with its hand out for taxpayer dollars while the state’s citizens want tax relief.
Heineman, in an interview Friday, said that his top priority remains passage of his proposed tax-cut package and that the university needs to reprioritize its spending or use private dollars from its...
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Watch
No habrá paz para los malvados. ”No rest for the wicked”. That’s the biblically inspired title of a recently released Spanish thriller about crime and revenge. But in the real Spain, the wicked may be having some rest after all. While prominent corruption trials come to nothing, star judge Baltasar Garzón, seen all over the world as an embodiment of the principle of universal...
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Intervention in Syria?
In vetoing a Security Council resolution calling for Bashar al-Assad to step down in Syria, Russia and China have provided cover for the regime’s on-going brutal crackdown and, as such, criticism from the U.S., France, and a host of other countries and organizations was immediate and forceful.
So now what?
If the Security Council can’t even call for Assad to step down, it’s...
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NCAA fines, places NU Athletic Department under... →
If you already don’t like the way the NCAA deals with the whole concept of paying student-athletes, then you’re really not going to like this right here:
The NCAA has placed the University of Nebraska Athletic Department under two years’ probation and enforced a $38,000 fine, which has gone to local charities, after what the department committed what the NCAA called...
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“The world is more prepared to act to stop atrocities than it was just a short...”
– The Cynics at the Gates - By James Traub
There has been a great deal of debate over the question of military intervention in Syria. An English think tank focused on Syria has even produced an assessment, mostly positive, of the case for establishing a “safe haven,” like Benghazi in...
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The Hero Report Broadcasts
Since it’s Friday morning, I wanted to remind RC readers that The Hero Report podcast will be broadcast live on Google+ this afternoon at 4pm Eastern. Our guest this week will be Mike Dilbeck, whose Every | Day Hero Campaign got under way recently.
We’ve only done one live broadcast — last week — and we’re hoping to use this feature in as many interesting ways as...
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Zizek and Sustainable Seafood: What Would Slavoj... →
The best part about this article on Slavoj Žižek and eating sustainable food is the headline that Nigel Warburton used on Twitter to get me to click on the link:
When the seagulls follow ‘Slovenian Socrates’ Zizek it is usually because there is something fishy about his arguments ideas.time.com/2012/02/01/eat…
— Nigel Warburton (@philosophybites) February 2, 2012
Also, here is my...
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Censorship and Corporate Heroism
In response to yesterday’s post about Twitter and censorship, Jake Wobig offers the following critique:
In doing this, Twitter agrees to stifle the voices of its users and to be complicit in the “The Big Lie” described by Vaclav Havel in Power of the Powerless. The Big Lie is that everyone supports the government’s view of what is right and proper and beneficial to harmonious relations,...
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January 2012
93 posts
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Homeric Heroism and Tennis →
Over at Grantland yesterday, Brian Phillips went all in on the sports figures as heroes trope, comparing the Big Three in contemporary men’s tennis to some of the warriors in Homer’s Iliad:
One of the great things about this era of the game, though — it goes along with the cruelty we were just talking about — is that it feels almost epic. That’s a word that gets thrown around a lot...
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Twitter and Censorship
Last week, the internet was abuzz with anger and frustration over Twitter’s announcement that it could block content in specific countries in response to governmental requests. The majority of that buzz has quieted down, either because there are always more things about which we can get frustrated and angry or because people forgot about the whole thing pretty quickly.
At least I’m...
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Thidwick Goes to Washington →
I was wondering what my day was missing and then I saw that Joe Lieberman referenced Dr. Seuss today in the Senate:
Sen. Lieberman did not want his bill to become like Thidwick’s antlers.
I wholeheartedly support more Dr. Seuss references in politics.
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Israel First?
I debated with myself about whether or not to wade into the shark-infested waters of the on-going “Israel Firster” debate that’s been raging online for more than a month now. For those who haven’t been following it on the blogs and on Twitter, Spencer Ackerman provided a helpful recap a couple of days ago. Since I teach a class on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, since...
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From Today's Torah Reading
In Parashat Bo, read on January 28, 2012, Pharaoh continues in his refusal to heed God’s command, conveyed by Moses and Aaron, to free his Israelite slaves. Pharaoh’s self-destructive intransigence dismays even his own courtiers, who warn him: “Are you not yet aware that Egypt is lost?” (10:7). On January 28, 2011 – one year ago today – Egypt responded to anti-government protests by cutting off...
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“Why not aspire to build a real Jurassic Park?”
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Newt Gingrich in 1996.
It’s in his book, To Renew America.
So … if you’re interested in dinosaurs living on American moon base, remember: Only a Gingrich administration can promise you this.
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“By the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon...”
– Newt Gingrich, in Florida, to applause.
“Does that mean I’m visionary? You betcha,” he said.
You know, if he doesn’t win the nomination, he could always be Space Czar in a Romney or Santorum administration. You know whose administration definitely wouldn’t have a...
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For the record: Story overreached in calling... →
Quite. A. Retraction.
From the Boston Globe:
Editor’s note: A front-page story on Jan. 17 drew unsupported conclusions and significantly overstepped available evidence when it described former Liberia president Charles Taylor as having worked with US spy agencies as a “sought-after source.’’ The story, based on a response by the US Defense Intelligence Agency to a long-pending records...
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“I am rooting for you, Merrill Garbus. I like your record, and I hope you make...”
– Chuck Klosterman on tUnE-yArDs
I really like what Chuck Klosterman writes, I’ve been baffled by the number of times that people have told me I should give tUnE-yArDs a listen, and I’m puzzled by what exactly people like about this music every time I listen to Merrill Garbus.
So,...
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WatchIn today’s news, Nebraska considers repealing Prohibition.
A few quick thoughts:
Who really wants to drink at 9:30 in the morning?
How much does anyone think this bill really matters, given that every city can make its own laws that would continue the prohibition of alcohol sales on Sunday mornings?
Can I claim, as a member of a minority religious group, that my rights are being unduly...
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The Hero Report
I’m excited to announce a new venture on which I’m about to embark: A weekly video podcast on heroism with my friend Matt Langdon, an educator and blogger from Michigan (via Australia) with whom I’ve been in conversation for a few years now. Our first episode — which features a discussion on the Costa Concordia shipwreck, the captain’s dereliction of duty, and whether...
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“If any case properly should be described as extraordinary, it is this one. For...”
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In breaking news, Joe D’Ambrosio has been exonerated and becomes the 140th inmate released from death row in the United States since 1973.
The above quote, from Judge Kate O’Malley provides some insight into D’Ambrosio’s exoneration.
More here (via NCADP).
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On Joe Paterno's Passing
When I read about Joe Paterno’s passing this weekend — on two separate occasions, strangely — I found it impossible to separate the coaching legend of so many decades from the sexual abuse scandal of recent memory. For good or ill, one event or choice can fundamentally alter public perception of a person’s life and legacy.
Indeed, this is a central element of the book...