NPCT

My PhD supervisor has just finished his new book entitled Power. I don’t know much about it, to be honest, but here is an intro: Seven internationally renowned writers address the theme of Power from the perspective of their own disciplines. Energy expert Mary Archer begins with an exploration of the power sources of our [...]

A professor at the University of Kansas who has derided Intelligent Design received a roadside beating by people who have obviously embraced Jesus’ teachings of peace and forgiveness. She said Mirecki reported he was attacked around 6:40 a.m. in rural Douglas County south of Lawrence. Mirecki told the Lawrence Journal-World that he was driving to [...]

The ever-insightful Slate has an article on the Jose Padilla case: Had Padilla been charged and tried back in the summer of 2002, rather than touted as some Bond villain—the Prince of Radiological Dispersion—his case would have stood for a simple legal proposition: that if you are a terrorist, a supporter of terrorism, or a [...]

I’m not one to tout “diversity” as an end in itself, but come on people. Pending confirmation of the latest conservative white male to the Supreme Court of the United States, our civil liberties will be in the hands of seven lily-white men, one African American, and one lone woman. Although we clearly cannot expect [...]

Slate discusses comments from a former Bush administration insider. Here’s a quote from him: [T]he case that I saw for four-plus years was a case that I have never seen in my study of aberrations, bastardizations, perturbations, changes to the national security decision-making process. What I saw was a cabal between the vice-president of the [...]

Haven’t written in a while, but here is a fantastic nonpartisan discussion of the Valerie Plame case: There is an explicit and implicit contract between the United States and its NOCs. It has many parts, but there is one fundamental part: A NOC will never reveal that he is or was a NOC without special [...]

This article discusses how price gouging might actually be beneficial during crises – ensuring that supplies get to those who truly need them. It places a firm belief in the capitalist market ideal, and I’m not sure if I agree with the argument, but it’s an interesting read. But offering goods for sale is per [...]

Slate has a scathing critique of the Bush administration and the Department of Homeland Security. The Bush administration has been staggeringly ineffectual in its response to the rapidly deteriorating situation in New Orleans. Its failures are painful evidence of how far we have to go in developing the capability to respond rapidly to a mass-casualty [...]

When Congress meddled in the Terry Schiavo case, President Bush rushed back to Washington from his vacation in Crawford. He wanted to sign the bill Congress had just passed as soon as possible. The president cut short a visit to his ranch in Crawford, Texas and returned to the White House for a chance to [...]

Here is an article pointing out that this eventuality was well-known and that the levees had not been repaired because of the Bush Administration’s other priorities: Iraq and tax cuts. New Orleans had long known it was highly vulnerable to flooding and a direct hit from a hurricane. In fact, the federal government has been [...]

If only I could see what Jon Stewart has to say about this on the Daily Show… Robert Novak walked off a live CNN set after sparring with James Carville. From the New York Times: The heated exchange occurred in a minidebate between Mr. Carville and Mr. Novak over the possibility that Representative Katherine Harris [...]

In an interesting turn of events, The New York Times is reporting that President Bush’s Supreme Court Nominee John G. Roberts Jr. performed pro bono work for gay rights advocates and helped them win Romer vs. Evans, a landmark 1996 case to prevent discriminatory state laws. Judge Roberts, at the time an appellate lawyer for [...]

There is an interesting article here entitled “Ten Recurring Economic Fallacies, 1774–2004″ that discusses an interesting range of topics from the classic “Broken Window Fallacy” to deficit spending and mercantilism. Here’s an example to give you an idea: Myth #7: The Late Nineteenth Century was an Era of Laissez-Faire Capitalism Certainly, the late nineteenth century [...]

Along the lines of my post here, Slate has an article with a rundown of Hillary Clinton’s chances in a 2008 presidential bid. Political insiders seem to think she’s too polarizing. I’m not sure what that means in the modern era of hyper-partisianship. “It would be a brutal, bruising fight. It would make this year’s [...]

This book examines the 1968 transition of US leadership in Vietnam between two generals, William Westmoreland and Creighton Abrams, the change of strategy associated with it and the impact on the remainder of the war. Sorley really beats you to death with the idea that Abrams’ tactics caused the US to start winning the war. [...]

Hey, support our troops – put a little ribbon on your SUV and vote for Bush. After all, he’s just eliminated Perkins Loan forgiveness for military enlistees (and teachers and Peace Corps volunteers, too, but we didn’t have any qualms about Bush being strong on education, or, you know, peace). His 2006 budget completely eliminates [...]

If the product ain’t selling, just change the slogan. Hey, it worked for Pepsi, why not an ill-conceived military operation? In case you hadn’t heard about the latest brainchild of the White House propaganda agency, this one’s a winner. I don’t think I could sum things up any better than Fred Kaplan does in this [...]

If World War Two had been an online Real Time Strategy game, the chat room traffic would have gone something like this.

The American Civil Liberties Union gets a lot of criticism for the various people whose speech they defend. It is a tribute to their integrity of purpose that they defend the most unpopular speech, even as they are faced with criticism across the board, and more recently FBI investigations. The ACLU’s criticism most often comes [...]

If Central Ohio is too liberal for you, it might be time to rethink your political leanings: the NRA is moving its 2007 convention after Columbus passed an assault weapons ban. “The party is canceled because last week your city council unanimously voted to revoke the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens in Columbus by banning [...]