Month: July 2009

Waiting Too Long

Julian Sanchez makes a decent point:

Mainstream outlets may want to reconsider the point at which it’s worth taking up and debunking these sorts of fringe ideas, even at the risk of giving them undeserved exposure. The pattern we’re seeing in the new media environment is that these conspiracy theories end up getting pretty wide exposure anyway, but only taken up by real journalists once there’s a core group who can’t be disabused of their false beliefs without fairly serious threat to their self images, which is the worst of both worlds. The kooky ideas don’t end up being contained by major media’s refusal to take note of them, and the debunking is less effective when they do.

Amen. My view remains that the MSM's job is not to police the discourse for what is unsayable, but to investigate issues like the birth certificate or Palin's obviously bizarre stories about her pregnancy and debunk or confirm them with reporting. Instead they sit around pontificating about what is appropriate to discuss. It's 2009, dudes. Everything is discussable and being discussed. Get off your high horse and instead of flacking for campaigns and administrations, demand actual answers and real evidence from them.

Grow some, guys. And get over yourselves.

(Hat tip: Massie)

Watchful Waiting, Ctd

Larison disagrees with Parsi:

Delaying talks is not going to determine “which Iran America and the region will be dealing with for the next few decades.” It will ensure that the diplomatic track stalls, the idea of engagement becomes a joke in Washington, and it will strengthen the hand of hawks who favor harsh sanctions and eventually want to see military action against Iran…Someone might object at this point that Parsi has even more credibility to call for a “tactical pause” because he has been such an outspoken advocate of pursuing a diplomatic course, but I think Parsi was right in 2007 that deliberate and persistent pursuit of diplomacy is the only way to ensure its success. A “tactical pause” makes sure that this pursuit is not persistent and may never be resumed once it is halted. Parsi’s objective remains the same, which is laudable, but it seems to me that he has erred in forgetting his own advice on how diplomacy with Iran can succeed.

It's a prudential decision, and it's very hard to make a judgment on it from this far away. I tend to agree with Parsi that now is a good time to wait and see if Khamenei needs to reach out to the US, or whether the Iranian polity is just too unstable to talk to. But at some point, countries have interests; and Iran and America have enough to discuss re: Iraq, Pakistan, and Palestine to move forward. I leave the timing to those in charge of these things. All sorts of communications – formal, informal – are unknown to us. And we seem to have subtler practitioners of the art of diplomacy than we did only recently.

Bolton’s Bombs

NIAC posts John Bolton's interview with Jon Stewart and writes:

With all the unrest in Iran over the last few weeks, and the disturbing images that have been coming out of the country, at least we can find some comfort in the fact that no one but the most fringe elements in the neoconservative camp take any of these arguments seriously. Small comfort.

Creeping Police State Watch

A camera captures cops planting drugs on a compliant suspect in Cookeville, Tennessee. Meanwhile, in Idaho:

Murphy said the officer who used the Taser -— described as Officer #3 in the report — also coarsely threatened to use the Taser in the man's anus and genitals. Murphy's report says that use of Taser on a man's buttock's does not violate policy in and of itself; the question is whether it was "reasonable and necessary."

My favorite quote from the land of the free in this case:

Officer #3: Okay, I’m gonna take this Taser out of your asshole now. Are you going to fight with me?

Complainant: No, not at all, sir.

The officer who did this is still on the force. Tasing someone's genitals is within the procedures allowed if "reasonable and necessary."

NPR’s “Torture” Mention

Not so fast. The public radio show, "Here and Now" is from WBUR, not NPR. So NPR's continued insistence on reproducing propaganda via Dick Cheney – and refusing to use plain English – remains intact. Meanwhile, they are discussing vital questions such as whether it's "ethical" for NPR reporters to attend gay pride parades. Is it ethical for Puerto Rican NPR reporters to attend the Puerto Rican Day Parade?

When You’ve Lost The News Addicts…

Josh Marshall argues that the health care reformers are coming into August wrong-footed:

I don't feel like I'm hearing from the White House any clear narrative, any clear and digestible argument for why this is necessary. I hear the phrase 'public plan'. But it's such a blah-blah gobbledegook phrase that even though I'm fairly deep into the policy details of this debate, half the time even I find myself forgetting exactly what that even means.