Conservatives have a point...

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Friday November 30, 2007 · 9:39 AM PST

2007/11/30 · 09:39

Conservatives make a reasonable argument when they say that liberals fail to show sufficient outrage at excesses in the Muslim world. In the spirit of multiculturalism, we are insufficiently critical of cultural practices that oppress women, allow the domination of reactionary religious authorities in society, and of groups that would replace dialog with violence.

bfinel

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Friday November 16, 2007 · 8:01 AM PST

2007/11/16 · 08:01

Corporations do not always act in the public interest. This is not because they are run by evil men and women, but rather because their incentive structure does not often reward good citizenship. At one level, one could argue that corporate leaders ought to act in the public interest regardless, but that is a actually more problematic than in seems. Do we really want corporate leaders using the power of their industries to act in whatever way they think is the public interest? Consider the problems that arise already with the relatively small number of companies that put partisanship over profits. How many more News Corps do we really need? No, for the sake of democracy, it is best if corporations focus on one thing, and one thing only, making money.

bfinel

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Wednesday November 07, 2007 · 10:47 AM PST

2007/11/07 · 10:47

From today's Washington Post ((Don't) Meet the Press), Ruth Marcus argues:

It's not as if this president has been Mr. Openness. But by some important measures, George W. Bush is more accessible to the reporters who cover him than are some of the leading candidates to succeed him -- most notably Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

It is obvious that both Clinton and Obama are running tightly controlled campaigns. But Marcus' arguments misses a key point that helps explain why the Clinton and Obama camps are leery of the press. For whatever reason, over the past decade, the press on the whole has held Democratic candidates and elected officials to higher standards than Republicans. You see this on issue after issue, where Democrats get their answers parsed to death and analyzed for any internal contradictions, while Republicans are allowed to pass off glib evasions and outright lies as adequate responses.

bfinel

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Tuesday November 06, 2007 · 7:13 AM PST

2007/11/06 · 07:13

Shouldn't a requirement of being a nationally recognized columnist be the ability to exercise some degree of skepticism?

From David Brooks (Present at the Creation)

You can go to Jerusalem or to some Arab capitals and the diagnosis of the situation is the same: Iran is gaining hegemonic strength over the region and is spreading tentacles of instability all around.

bfinel

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Monday November 05, 2007 · 9:00 AM PST

2007/11/05 · 09:00

With Karen Hughes leaving her post as Public Diplomacy czar at the State Department, we have a good opportunity to consider what direction we should take in this important area. The conventional wisdom is that the President ought to name a strong, credible individual to replace Hughes in order to ensure that our effort to win the "hearts and minds" of people around the world does not stagnate.

bfinel

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Wednesday October 31, 2007 · 8:27 AM PDT

2007/10/31 · 08:27

Waterboarding is not about "discomfort," it is about causing pain and terror. Discomfort is a hard chair and a bright light. Simulating drowning is torture. If al Qaeda captured one of our soldiers and waterboarded him, we’d have no qualms about considering it torture. So, let’s not mince words.

If we accept this proposition, we must accept that in waging the "war on terrror" the United States has engaged in the widespread use of torture. So what are we going to do about it?

bfinel

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Tuesday October 30, 2007 · 7:00 AM PDT

2007/10/30 · 07:00

Realistically, there is very little possibility of avoiding a war with Iran. The President and Vice-President have almost certainly made up their minds, and they have shown themselves impervious to public pressure and rational arguments. Protests will not work and neither will any number of letters to the editor of local papers.

bfinel

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Monday October 29, 2007 · 7:01 AM PDT

2007/10/29 · 07:01

Senator Chuck Grassley has argued about the AMT: "This tax was never meant to tax the middle class, so why should we count it as a revenue loss when we make sure they don’t have to pay it?" Um, because it would be a revenue loss? GOP incoherence on tax issues has opened up a window of opportunity for progressives. Let's seize it.

bfinel

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Thursday October 25, 2007 · 8:37 AM PDT

2007/10/25 · 08:37

Many progressives are angry with Congressional Democrats for their failure to end the war in Iraq. This anger fails to take into account the durable foreign policy conventional wisdom that holds sway among many foreign policy professionals and large segments of the American public.

bfinel

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Wednesday October 24, 2007 · 12:13 PM PDT

2007/10/24 · 12:13

$200 billion is a lot of money. A LOT. And there are many ways to spend it. In light of President Bush's request for even more money for Iraq next year, here are few hopefully provocative comparisons:

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Conservatives have a point...

Stop Calling it "Corporate Welfare"

Media Responsibilities and Press Access

Check your skepticism at the door

Time to Just Shut Up

Waterboarding is Torture... Okay, Now What?

Preventing War With Iran

Winning the Tax issue

Conventional Wisdom and the Democratic Response to Iraq

Spending Money in Iraq Creatively