Month: December 2008

By Patrick Appel
Juan Cole discusses the Senate report on torture:

According to a bipartisan Senate report, then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and President George W. Bush bear responsibility for the torture and abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, Bagram and Guantanamo and the tossing aside of the Geneva Conventions, which are part of US law.

It mystifies me as to why this report is being announced now, at the end of the week and at a time of the year in the political calendar when it will not get much play.

by Chris Bodenner
Check out this footage from 1905 (!) shot from the front of a moving NYC subway car.  (It doesn’t get really cool until the 5:00 mark, so you may wanna skip ahead.)

(Hat tip: Kottke)

by Chris Bodenner
Stuart Taylor highlights a pending Supreme Court petition that may become Obama’s first big test on affirmative action.  The case:

[New Haven firefighter Frank] Ricci studied for eight to 13 hours a day to prepare for the combined written and oral exam in 2003 that he hoped would win him a promotion. He spent more than $1,000 buying the books that the city had suggested as homework and paying an acquaintance to read them onto audiotapes. (Ricci is dyslexic and learns better by listening.) And he got one of the highest scores.

But Ricci and other would-be lieutenants and captains with high scores did not get the promotions they expected. The reason was that — because not enough black firefighters had done well enough to be eligible — New Haven decided to discard the test results and make no promotions at all.

Taylor argues:

The city’s other reasons for wanting to give more promotions to minority firefighters — diversifying the upper ranks, and providing role models for younger black and Hispanic firefighters — are entirely laudable. But at what cost to those who work hard and play by the rules only to be turned aside for being the wrong color?

"Most working- and middle-class white Americans don’t feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race," Obama said in his much-acclaimed March 18 speech about race. "So when they … hear that an African-American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed … resentment builds over time."

Instead of promoting none of the firefighters, couldn’t the city have provided free or subsidized tutoring for minority test-takers?  That seems like a reasonable middle ground between ignoring an achievement gap and punishing qualified people. But I guess it’s easier for affirmative-action officials to just cook the books and condescend to lower expectations.

By Patrick Appel
Ruffini analyzes the David Plouffe interview:

Obama decided to something radical in the context of traditional campaigns. They decided to construct their entire budget around field. This proved to be a wise investment, as it was the nose-to-the-grindstone focus on caucus states that won them the primary and their massive investment in field in the general that shifted the electorate 3-4 points in their direction. That turnout wasn’t dramatically up from 2004 misses the point. Every serious person who’s looked at this agrees that their turnout was way, way up, and ours was down. So: a relative wash in overall vote count but a sea change beneath the surface.

By Patrick Appel
The transcript from an interview with Powell yesterday:

Gov. Palin, to some extent, pushed the party more to the right, and I think she had something of a polarizing effect when she talked about how small town values are good. Well, most of us don’t live in small towns. And I was raised in the South Bronx, and there’s nothing wrong with my value system from the South Bronx.

And when they came to Virginia and said the southern part of Virginia is good and the northern part of Virginia is bad. The only problem with that is there are more votes in the northern part of Virginia than there are in the southern part of Virginia, so that doesn’t work.

By Patrick Appel
Elizabeth Dickinson rounds up the news from Somalia. Her bottom line:

In short, the world’s most failed state is about to fall below its exceedingly low expectations.

By Patrick Appel
The Pulitzer Prize Board allows online journalism entries for the first time.

By Patrick Appel
Kerry Howley was irked by the Thomas Frank column that set Chris off:

People find this transaction so unappealling in part because women are not supposed to acknowledge that pregnancy can be a burden; rather, it’s “what we’re made for,” “deeply fulfilling.” “You’re glowing!” men say, patting you on the back for a job well done, an evolutionary purpose fulfilled. Surrogacy exposes pregnancy for what it is: work.

By Patrick Appel
The White House suggests it will bailout the big three, even if congress won’t. Dana Perino:

Under normal economic conditions we would prefer that markets determine the ultimate fate of private firms. However, given the current weakened state of the U.S. economy, we will consider other options if necessary – including use of the TARP program — to prevent a collapse of troubled automakers. A precipitous collapse of this industry would have a severe impact on our economy, and it would be irresponsible to further weaken and destabilize our economy at this time.

By Patrick Appel

Ryan Avent thinks so.