Month: April 2009

The GOP’s Satire Detectors Go Haywire

Irony, thy name is Stephen:

…there was no significant difference between the groups in thinking Colbert was funny, but conservatives were more likely to report that Colbert only pretends to be joking and genuinely meant what he said while liberals were more likely to report that Colbert used satire and was not serious when offering political statements.

(hat tip: Kottke)

Can Maliki Pull It Off?

Nir Rosen believes so:

The prevailing order in Iraq today is a Shiite-dominated one, but the balance of power is not divided along exclusively sectarian lines: it is between those close to the state and those without its backing – as some wags put it, between the “powers that be” and the “powers that aren’t”. Maliki has pursued a divide-and-conquer strategy among Sunnis, rewarding some local leaders with prestige and privileges while arresting or crushing others. Many Sunnis are more than willing to accept an authoritarian prime minister in exchange for a reduction in violence.

Why Is Torture Worse Than Warfare?, Ctd.

David Schaengold responds to Manzi:

The central moral evil in interrogating someone by means of torture is that it overrides the victim’s moral agency. That is, the whole point of the exercise is to render the victim incapable of moral self-governance, so that your will, the will of the torturer, becomes entirely sovereign. This is intrinsically wrong both in Aristotelian/Thomist thought and the various moral philosophies derived from Kant.

Why Is Torture Worse Than Warfare, Ctd.

Christopher Orr makes an important point:

…when a group of combatants are badly outnumbered, or surrounded, or otherwise very, very unlikely to win a conflict, they have a considerable incentive to surrender–but only if they believe they will subsequently be treated with mercy. That is why individuals, and nations, surrender. If, by contrast, a group of combatants believes that, by surrendering, they are only making themselves vulnerable to further harm–specifically torture and/or death–they have no incentive at all to stop fighting.

Just In Case You Were Feeling Chipper

The 1970s return:

But it didn't pan out. Macy Halford recalls the episode:

The story goes like this: in February 1976, a soldier at Fort Dix died of the virus, and the Ford Administration, fearful of an outbreak, ordered immunization of the entire American population (only the United States chose this course of action, rather than “watching and waiting”). The Centers for Disease Control got to work immediately, manufacturing enough vaccine to begin inoculation by the end of the year, but, essentially, no one showed up. Fears arose as to possible debilitating side effects of the vaccine (some claimed that it caused a neurological condition called Guillain-Barré syndrome), and the government proved unable to offer reassurance (you can watch amazingly propagandist public-service commercials—from both camps—on YouTube). The affair ended ironically—swine flu never materialized in the general population.

Confidence Is Up

But will it last?:

I would like to see consumer confidence survive the test of some really bad news (like a major corporate bankruptcy) before I was confident that the bottom had been reached. After all, from here, rates can't be cut any further, wages won't go up much, unemployment has further to rise and taxes will eventually have to go up. Not the sort of environment to make most people rush out and buy a flat screen TV.

The Daily Wrap

Today on the Dish we learned that a solid majority of Americans believe we tortured, and the debate raged on: but what if they don't care?  Also: what if we had raped Zubaydah?  On the bloggy right, a paleocon, a theocon, and even a Corner-con joined the fight back against torture. On the political bombshell of the week – Specter's defection – here's a reax post and my two cents here and here. In marriage news, the Maine legislature quickened the pace while Marion Barry played the moral card.  Also, Ross penned his first NYT column and I apologized again to Whelan. We ran a Recession View here and a Cannabis Closet here. To vote on trying Bush for war crimes, click here.