Via “Sadly, No!”:http://sadlyno.com/archives/4076.html, amidst “a description of waterboarding”:http://hereswhatsleft.typepad.com/home/2005/01/waterboarding.html we get the best response to the idea that torture is necessary because the stakes are so high:
bq. The issue is not, as the conservacons likes to pretend it is, some sort of fictitious, academic _reductio ad absurdum_ scenario in which Osama has the code to [...] Read more »

Posted in Politics No Comments »

Two questions I have been asking recently.
Why is the Gop party morally outraged when their malfeasance is exposed prior to elections? See Mark Foley, of course, but “also Curt Weldon”:http://tinyurl.com/yg86s5. It seems to me criminal and ethics questions are pretty much _responsible_ issues for someone to consider before voting.
Also:
Why is it suddenly inappropriate to make [...] Read more »

Posted in Politics, Speaking Very Slowly 6 Comments »

I’m stealing “Rachel Maddow’s”:http://www.maddowonline.com/ “underbelly tactic” bit. Every show she describes a sneaky political propaganda trick used to distract and persuade.
The underbelly tactic I want to talk about I call *being deeply wrong*. If you want to control how the debate looks to outside observers — an important part of political persuasion — *being [...] Read more »

Posted in Speaking Very Slowly 1 Comment »

I wonder if all of the discontent tuned-out folks have recently discovered with Republican anti-terrorism strategy is really related to the war in Iraq, which is the current news line. I think it’s possible that part of the concern comes from having to deal with airline security. Airline security does not make me feel safe, [...] Read more »

Posted in Diary, Politics 3 Comments »

A sentence from the Washington Post:
bq. Republicans in Washington Post-ABC News polls are unified behind GOP House candidates, but somewhat less so than Democrats are behind theirs. [ "The GOP Leans on A Proven Strategy":http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/24/AR2006102401563.html?nav=rss_email/components ] Read more »

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