I have rediscovered The Editors, courtesy of Lauren. The Editors revealed the true transcript of the Foley IMs. I thank The Editors for this generous public service. [Link: The MSM’s Foley transcript]
Sociology
Aversions
I was reminded tonight, as I often am when we watch cable TV, that my husband cannot stand Tara Moss. Or the blonde Linda Robson on British sitcom Birds of a Feather. He’s not into Julia Roberts, either. Simply cannot… Read More ›
So, it has come to this
There’s been a sense of dispiritedness in most of my favourite blogs this past weekend. I’ve shared it. Despite several times in the past few years pointing out signs of incipient fascist tendencies in the Bush administration, I always wondered… Read More ›
Another just-so story bites the dust
There have been an awful lot of just-so stories postulated by EvPsych (evolutionary psychology) aficionados which mostly purport to show that there’s a strong evolutionary reason for [insert challenged norm here] and thus oh dear how sad we can’t change… Read More ›
Rounding up good stuff
Jill at Feministe has a couple of strong articles on the religious exceptionalists in the US and their increased co-opting of a “warriors for Christ” message for evangelical youth: Where Can I Find Me A Warrior Poet? and her review… Read More ›
Oh, c’mon.
Just listening on the wireless to a promo for a Literary Lunch with the best-named spy ever, Stella Rimington. The announcer described how she had been the first ever female head of MI5, and her prestigious career in counterterrorism intelligence…. Read More ›
How to squander goodwill amongst the liberated
Ties to GOP Trumped Know-How Among Staff Sent to Rebuild Iraq: Rajiv Chandrasekaran, summarising part of his book Imperial Life in the Emerald City, argues that one large contributor to the current distrust and militancy amongst Iraqis is the way that the Bush Administration chose people to oversee the transition from dictatorship to democracy under the aegis of the Coalition Provisional Authority. Jim O’Beirne of the Pentagon vetted who went, and the people he passed as suitable were mostly not qualified experts in the Middle-East or post-conflict reconstruction, but they were known Bush loyalists:
A 24-year-old who had never worked in finance — but had applied for a White House job — was sent to reopen Baghdad’s stock exchange. The daughter of a prominent neoconservative commentator and a recent graduate from an evangelical university for home-schooled children were tapped to manage Iraq’s $13 billion budget, even though they didn’t have a background in accounting.
The decision to send the loyal and the willing instead of the best and the brightest
Underweight mammals
In the first two instances, people look and say “starving” and “cruelty” and “neglect” and someone gets prosecuted.
Tutu on Darfur
Last week Desmond Tutu wrote a piece for the The Sunday Times to mark the International Day of Action for Darfur on the 17th September. I didn’t know about that Day of Action, despite our fundraising for MSF in Darfur on Larvatus Prodeo not long ago: how many of us did?
Tutu’s article, A blind eye to genocide, makes for uncomfortable reading:
In Darfur 2m people have been ethnically cleansed since 2003, women and girls are systematically raped and tortured daily, there is cholera in the refugee camps and the violence is spilling into next door Chad, and all without the attention, or response, it deserves.
Bloggers gone wild! (with Clinton) alleged by idiots
Before reading this article, open this link to this picture and guess what has got conservative bloggers all up in arms about a blatant sexual display for the benefit of Bill Clinton. Can’t see anything obvious? Join the reality-based club.
Background: A group of liberal polibloggers were invited to meet with ex-President Bill Clinton for lunch and a low-key brainstorm on policy and blogging. When first reports and photos were released, a few people noticed there weren’t any bloggers of colour there, and the impression this gave and the reasons why it happened without being corrected were starting to be debated.
Enter Ann Althouse, an “ex-liberal” law professor and blogger, who looked at a picture of the smiling group at the lunch meeting, noticed that a young woman with long dark hair was standing in front of Clinton, and made a sniggering allusion which didn’t actually mention Monica Lewinsky, as she knew damn well that her commentors would pick it up.
Hoyden About Town 