Month: April 2007

Bob Wright talks live with Eli Lake in the Green Zone. Some fresh insights, including the assertion that my new colleague, Matt Yglesias, is now touting Ahmed Chalabi’s talking points. I had no idea that Peruvians were frontline security forces there.

A short clip about a young, secular dentist in training in Baghdad. It’s part of a series of short online movies – "Hometown Baghdad" – made by an all-Iraqi crew about three young Iraqis trying to survive the Hobbesian nightmare they have been plunged into.

The latest results from a British scientific survey. Bio-engineering more THC in marijuana and reducing a counter-vailing substance within it, called cannabidiol (CBD), may be affecting mental health in a small minority of pot-smokers.

Some helpful advice:

Divide your day into online and offline. Studies have consistently shown that people with more screens open get less done. Multitasking slows down productivity. As long as you read your e-mail and respond once every twenty-four hours, nobody is likely to notice. Dedicate at least half of your day to handling non-Internet tasks exclusively.

But check the Daily Dish every five minutes, please.

A humorous preview of a Romney presidency. A reader tells me his Mormon family loves it. So there.

Brett White swims at a pool session during the Country Origin team assembly at Aussie Stadium on April 30, 2007 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

The latest attempt at moral uplift and, of course, dieting – in an online game! Meanwhile, the scientific formula for the perfect bacon sandwich. From Britain, of course. Snide comments here.

A few days ago, I linked to Riverbend, the English blog of an Iraqi woman that has been a staple of the Iraqi blogosphere these past few years. She related her disillusionment with the removal of Saddam and her loathing of the new "government" and occupation and her decision to leave Baghdad. She is, however, a member of the formerly privileged Sunni middle class, as longtime readers know. Jeff Weintraub helps provide some important context for her despair.

From the Wall Street Journal today:

"WSJ.COM: What did you learn during the making of this film, "Taxi To The Dark Side"? Did your goals change as the film evolved?

ALEX GIBNEY: I was first consumed with the question of "why?" Expert literature says torture will always get people to talk, it’s very effective that way. But by and large, what people say isn’t reliable. So why use it? I kept asking that question to everyone I met. And they told me, "Well, it’s political. You get exactly what you want to hear." Over time, it becomes a very useful thing: a means to hear what you want to hear, and also to get others to say what you want them to say.

The point of torture is torture. And it is the nemesis of freedom, which is why George Washington pioneered and insisted upon its abolition. George W. Bush will go down in history as the man who betrayed the founder of this country – in order to lose a war.

A reader writes:

You wrote:

"Bush and Gerson are big-government liberals under their skin, men who hijacked conservatism for Christianist socialism."

Look, I loathe Bush as much as you do. But (1) Bush isn’t a liberal (he wanted to privatize Social Security!) and (2) liberalism isn’t socialism (I must’ve missed the plank in the Democratic platform about nationalizing the means of production).

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:  there are two Andrew Sullivans.  One Andrew is the intellectual who penned "The Conservative Soul."  The other Andrew is a late-night AM radio talkshow host, ranting about the gold standard and how FDR was a communist.

You’ve got a Ph.D. for Christ’s sake! Can’t you see some daylight between Truman and Atlee?