War Is Peace. Slavery Is Freedom. Authorizing Torture is Freeing The Slaves. John Yoo‘s self-defense:
Would we have wanted President Abraham Lincoln to worry about his personal liability for issuing the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves (done on his sole authority as commander-in-chief)?
A must-read from Julian Sanchez and Dave Weigel on who actually wrote the Ron Paul Newsletters. Those unversed in libertarian history get a thorough briefing. It seems clear to me that Paul is not a racist, and wrote none of the offensive material, but he relied on a racist newsletter for funds in the past, and at best turned a blind eye. Money quote:
Ron Paul may not be a racist, but he became complicit in a strategy of pandering to racists—and taking "moral responsibility" for that now means more than just uttering the phrase. It means openly grappling with his own past—acknowledging who said what, and why. Otherwise he risks damaging not only his own reputation, but that of the philosophy to which he has committed his life.
In the wake of Michigan, John Heilemann looks again at Giuliani’s strategy. Not entirely persuasive, but we’re all guessing at this point, aren’t we?
Jeff Jacoby listens closely to Condi Rice. I have a feeling that when history is finally written, the realism of Bush’s second term will be re-evaluated.
An idea whose time has almost come?
It sounds gross, but it’s potentially ground-breaking:
Decellularization is the process of removing all of the cells from an organ — in this case an animal cadaver heart — leaving only the extracellular matrix, the framework between the cells, intact.
After successfully removing all of the cells from both rat and pig hearts, researchers injected them with a mixture of progenitor cells that came from neonatal or newborn rat hearts and placed the structure in a sterile setting in the lab to grow.
A science blogger responds:
I wonder about whether the new organ actually works. They say that it starts pumping, but does it really function?
Their idea is predicated on the premise that the cells differentiate on the new scaffold into a relatively functional state. They mention in the abstract that the cardiac function of the new heart is reduced: "equivalent to about 2% of adult or 25% of 16-week fetal heart function." Thus, whether a fully functional organ can be created is still speculation.
That being said, if this works out the applications are essentially limitless. All solid organs have an ECM scaffold of some kind. If this technology could be paired with embryonic or adult stem cells, we could create a nearly limitless supply of replacement human organs using the scaffolds of some related species like pigs. For that reason, this is some brilliant work.
A reader writes:
You wrote:
"I don’t think she’s more experienced in any relevant way; I do think she is more emotionally and psychologically tested for the presidency."
Some of us think this is *the* most relevant strength of Clinton’s candidacy, given what the next (presumably Democratic) president is going to face in office from the anti-change forces. We aren’t convinced Obama has the stamina to overcome these forces; we don’t think he realizes how powerful their assault is going to be. We don’t think he’s prepared to do what will be required, and we doubt he has what it takes to summon from within himself the ability to do it.
In a sense, these may be admirable facets of his character. The question is whether we can afford to put him in the lions’ den.
The campaign is putting that to the test, as it should.
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 3.35 pm.
Ezra thinks so.
The Dish 