By Rich Lam/Getty Images Today on the Dish, the GOP finally stepped up to restrict the president's unchecked power with signing statements, and Amy Davidson belittled Obama's vision for one-way war. PM Carpenter compared Andrew's true conservatism to his own conservative progressivism, and Razib Khan analyzed how genetics impacts whether we lean liberal or conservative. … Continue reading The Weekly Wrap
Today on the Dish, Andrew reiterated the truths that conservatism used to stand for, and feared Obama's illegal drone wars. Huntsman paved the way for a Republican isolationist, readers picked on Perry's successful Texas and compared it to Massachusetts, and Nate Silver measured governors' advantage. Romney appealed to voters for being electable, Gore embraced him, … Continue reading The Daily Wrap
A reader writes:
I am a short guy myself, but I can't say it's ever been an issue for me. I grew up in France, where arguably people are somewhat shorter on average than in America. However, this being the US of A, there is a medical diagnosis and a prescription drug for short people. I encountered that when talking to my toddler son's pediatrician. The doctor noticed that my son was comfortably sitting at the bottom of the growth chart and that he would most likely end up a measly 5'5'' (a little more than my wife and myself). He went on to say that this could qualify as "idiopathic short stature syndrom." And that we could potentially get our son on HGH (actually, it's called rGH I think – see here) if we felt that his projected short height could affect his self-confidence and ultimately, his mental health.
Today on the Dish, Qaddafi remained amid ongoing violence, a Libyan prayed for help while trapped in his house, and Alexis explained why technology isn't good, bad or neutral. David Ignatius believed Qaddafi has been high on drugs, Exum played mad-libs with Obama's thoughts, and Larison argued intervention could lead to more slaughter. A reader … Continue reading The Weekly Wrap
Today on the Dish, Mubarak resigned. We tracked the full resignation reax and the celebrations in Cairo. State TV admitted mistakes and joined the protesters, the military moved in, and history was made. Amy Davidson parsed the implications of a figurehead stepping down, Haroon Siddique looked at this day in history, and Larison and Goldblog … Continue reading The Weekly Wrap
Today on the Dish, the uprising slowed, Chris summed up today's atmosphere and political developments, and Patrick picked apart the manufactured safety of the Egyptian army. The Muslim Brotherhood promised not to field a candidate in Egypt, and Reuel Marc Gerecht didn't find them a grave threat. We assessed the mystery of assasination attempt of … Continue reading The Daily Wrap
Today on the Dish, we followed Tunisia as its President dissolved the government, and a state of emergency was declared. Larison stressed the importance of Tunisians deposing an autocrat on their own, without US intervention and Andrew debated Evgeny Morozov on how instrumental Twitter was. We rounded up reax and reports from the ground in … Continue reading The Weekly Wrap
Today on the Dish, we rounded up the web's best reax on Obama's Tucson speech, where he called for a more civil and honest discourse, and Andrew characterized him as the most Christian president in recent memory. Conor proposed a civility pact for the blogosphere, Limbaugh's poster contradicted his defense, and this video evidenced how … Continue reading The Daily Wrap
Today on the Dish, Andrew unravelled the right’s evasions on the assassination. The market for Palin tanked, Andrew wouldn’t let her dismiss the shooting as non-political, and Frum didn’t think Palin demonstrated any larger humanity with her response. Beck calmed Palin down by presaging an assasination attempt on her, and Conor didn’t want to blame … Continue reading The Daily Wrap
A reader writes:
In Phillip S. Smith's
It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that Americans aren't willing to stick their neck out to work against marijuana prohibition, since the consequences for making that preference public are disproportionately harsh. I assume I am not alone in the fear that speaking up about marijuana would mean a risk of losing my job, and of hurting my chances at another job in the future.
Just recently, a Redditor who used to fight for marijuana legalization found that his "past life" of activism was preventing him from getting a job; he had to ask for help scrubbing his name's Google Search results. Certainly, there are ways to remain anonymous, or to advocate quietly enough to avoid notice, but with the traditional avenues of political speech denied to us by threats of financial ruin, it's hard to feel positive about marijuana activism.
Another is a bit harsh on Smith:
Mr. Smith makes two facts overwhelmingly clear. One is that he did not read your foreword to the book, and two is that he does not adequately comprehend the position of the common stoner. You see, when your occupation is a “drug reform activist”, you really don’t have to worry about losing your job by coming out of the cannabis closet. For those of us who have “real jobs” (i.e. doctors, lawyers, truck drivers), we are faced everyday with the very real choice between either providing for our families or cutting off our noses to spite our faces.
