Content by TheSophist
Posted at 7:12pm on Jul. 9, 2008 The Ideological Offensive (VERY LONG)
By TheSophist
In his meticulously documented memoir, War and Decision, former Assistant Secretary of Defense Doug Feith laid out several themes that serious-minded Americans must consider in depth.
One of the themes he kept hammering on over and over again was the need for the United States (as the leader of the free world) to undertake an ideological offensive against what he called, following Norman Podhoretz, "Islamofascism". He basically condemned the State Department under Powell, and the White House itself, for failing this critical task.
Posted in National Security — Comments (1) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 2:47pm on Jul. 8, 2008 Oh Maureen Dowd - Find Ye the Ideal Husband
By TheSophist
It is good from time to time to emerge from the seriousness of the threat against civilization posed by radical irhabis, or the continuing slide towards socialism, to take on topics of utter frivolity.
Maureen Dowd is herself such a topic, but it never gets more frivolous than when she -- the author of the book Are Men Necessary? -- takes on marriage. She did so in a recent Op-Ed in the NY Times. Most of the column is devoted to the advice of one Father Pat Connor, a "79-year old Catholic priest born in Australia" who has been giving lectures to young women entitled "Whom Not to Marry". Some pearls of wisdom are:
Posted in Culture — Comments (22) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 7:57pm on Jul. 3, 2008 Existential Struggle: Thoughts On the Eve of Independence Day
By TheSophist
In a recent post of mine, I have had the pleasure to engage in civil, reasoned discourse about the propriety of using or not using torture in our War against Irhabis. In that discussion, it struck me that there is an unspoken assumption that underlies all of our thoughts about the War, about what's right and wrong, and about our policies.
Posted in War — Comments (9) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 11:51am on Jul. 2, 2008 A Policy for Torture: Responding to Christopher Hitchens
By TheSophist
The 59-year old chain-smoking auteur Christopher Hitchens has undergone waterboarding in order to experience it first hand. His conclusion? "Believe Me, It's Torture." That is the title of his article.
His conclusion is that we, the United States, should cease the practice of waterboarding. In all honesty, I can get behind that, but the reasoning that Mr. Hitchens uses to get to his conclusion strikes me as equal parts all-wet and civilized fantasy.
Posted in War — Comments (83) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 6:43pm on Jul. 1, 2008 Why the Rich Donate to Obama
By TheSophist
We all knew this, deep in our hearts, but finally, some evidence emerges that Obama's support comes primarily from the moneyed class: investment bankers, lawyers, doctors, and so forth. David Brooks has done the research, and writes in his latest NYT column:
Posted in 2008 — Comments (29) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 10:56am on Jun. 30, 2008 What We Are Up Against: Economic Illiteracy Destroys Democracy
By TheSophist
Recently, a number of conversations I've had with colleagues, neighbors, and friends had me extremely concerned that Americans simply do not know the most basic facts about economics. Conversations about rent control, about "windfall profits tax", about supply and demand, about incentives, about topics that an adult simply must understand in order to participate meaningfully in a modern democracy all led to my wondering just how the Republic is to survive.
Posted in Economy — Comments (100) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 10:45am on Jun. 25, 2008 Seeking Redstaters to Rise in Defense of State & the CIA
By TheSophist
Last night, I finally managed to finish Doug Feith's massive, and massively documented, War and Decision. It may have been the most illuminating book I have ever read about how our government actually functions, and it has the benefit of extensive documentation. Dough Feith tries hard to be fair, although given his central role as a player in the dramas (instead of just an observer), his biases are extremely evident.
Posted in War — Comments (24) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 11:06am on Jun. 13, 2008 The Progeny of Miscommunication -- How McCain Must Move Us Forward
By TheSophist
By now, we all know that the Supreme Court decided on a 5-4 vote to side with America's enemies in the Boumediene case. It is a spectacular usurpation of power by the unelected judiciary, and I'm sure we all will dissect the decision in days and weeks to come, and have occasion to regret it for years and years to come.
As I'm working through the marvelous War and Decision by Douglas Feith, I am coming to realize more and more how we are in danger of losing this war due to a fundamental lack of communication by the Bush White House. They made the right decisions, but failed to communicate it, failed to "frame it" in the right way, and as a result we have abominations like the Boumediene ruling.
Posted in War — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 9:52am on Jun. 9, 2008 McCain's "Go*k" Problem (?)
By TheSophist
I put the title with a question mark, because it isn't clear just yet how big a problem this is/will be for McCain.
But I got sent this link by a leftist friend (well, so far anyhow -- we'll see after 2008 elections) who asked me how I could possibly support McCain:
Posted in 2008 — Comments (17) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 11:18am on Jun. 6, 2008 On the Need for a Change in Our Lexicon
By TheSophist
In one of the best blog posts I've read recently, Dafydd over at Big Lizards continues the conversation about our need to start engaging in ideological warfare with the Islamists. That is a fantastic discussion in and of itself. I strongly recommend reading not just that post, but the posts before it that engendered the discussion.