Archive: Dec 2009

Max Boot prescribes a new imperial detentions policy in the Washington Post: Successful counterinsurgency operations require locking up suspects based on a lower level of evidence — often based on…

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I suffer from a motor neuron disorder, in my case a variant of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS): Lou Gehrig’s disease. Motor neuron disorders are far from rare: Parkinson’s disease, multiple…

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The wire master and his puppets, 1875. Voting on Christmas Eve for the first time since 1895, the Senate passed a sweeping health-care bill that does not include a public…

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In New York, many natives fretted about a “Jewish crime wave” that was supposedly plaguing the city during these decades. Young Jews in disturbing numbers, it was said, had joined…

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Hinüber wall ich, Und jede Pein Wird einst ein Stachel Der Wollust seyn. Noch wenig Zeiten, So bin ich los, Und liege trunken Der Lieb’ im Schoos. Unendliches Leben Wogt…

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Hâst dû dich selben liep, sô hâst dû alle menschen liep als dich selben. Die wile dû einen einigen menschen minner liep hâst dan dich selben, dû gewünne dich selben…

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Listen to Puer natus in Bethlehem by Michael Praetorius from the Polyhymnia caduceatrix et Panegyrica (1613-17) and the Musae Sioniae VI (1609) in a performance by the Gabrieli Consort. The…

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Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg recently noted that, although one might assume that the Bill of Rights follows and limits the conduct of American officials wherever they go, “that is not…

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From the Washington Post: When word spread earlier this year that American International Group had paid more than $165 million in retention bonuses at the division that had precipitated the…

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While completing a master’s degree at the University of Michigan, John Scott-Railton helped develop “participatory mapping” projects aimed at protecting the fragile property rights of poor families living in Phnom…

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From The Onion, via Andrew Sullivan: In a sudden and unexpected blow to the Americans working to protect the holiday, liberal U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Stephen Reinhardt…

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The far-left Velvet Revolution has put a $200,000 bounty on the head of Chamber of Commerce CEO Tom Donohoe… Mr. Donohoe’s alleged crime– his outspoken opposition to government run health…

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Farnaz Fassihi of the Wall Street Journal reports on the mysterious death of Ramin Pourandarjani, a heroic young doctor who defied authorities by refusing to sign death certificates to cover…

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My friend Aram Roston’s article in the current Playboy introduces us to the Count Cagliostro of the Bush years. The weeks before Christmas brought no hint of terror. But by…

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The likely location of a CIA black site in Lithuania was first the subject of speculation in a piece that ran at this site, “Inside the World of Dusty Foggo.”…

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Senate Democrats succeeded in producing an “historic” health-care reform bill that will force millions of people to buy insurance and will tax existing benefits if they are too generous, but…

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The twentieth anniversary of Andrei Sakharov’s death was not forgotten in Russia. But it’s distressing to note how it was remembered. A television special ran on Russian state television celebrating…

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From the Washington Post: Foreclosures already pocked Chicago’s poorer neighborhoods but the downtown still was booming as the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago convened its annual conference in May 2007.…

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Wonkette had a funny pre-climate change summit item about members of Congress, even conservative Republicans, fighting to go to Copenhagen. The story was headlined “Not EVERYONE In Congress Can Go…

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Rereading Hermann Hesse’s futuristic novel Das Glasperlenspiel (translated as Magister Ludi or The Glass Bead Game), I am struck by the character of the magister musicæ, the music master. This…

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From Robert Samuelson: Barack Obama’s quest for historic health-care legislation has turned into a parody of leadership. We usually associate presidential leadership with the pursuit of goals that, though initially…

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Improbably, however, a number of foreigners did continue to make the trip. Some wanted to witness the war firsthand. Others, such as a visitor from suburban St. Louis, just “wanted…

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Ach liebste laß vns eilen Wir haben Zeit: Es schadet das verweilen Uns beyderseit. Der Edlen schönheit Gaben Fliehn fuß für fuß: Daß alles was wir haben Verschwinden muß. Der…

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Le monde juge bien des choses, car il est dans l’ignorance naturelle qui est le vrai siège de l’homme. Les sciences ont deux extrémités qui se touchent, la première est…

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The lines most cited in Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize speech were those about evil: “Evil does exist in the world. A non-violent movement could not have halted Hitler’s armies.…

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On Tuesday, Federal Judge Cormac Carney (an All Pac-10 wide receiver for UCLA before George W. Bush appointed him to the bench) dropped a bombshell in the Broadcom case pending…

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