Monday, January 19, 2004
What's On Tap
One of the funniest new features on the Internet is the summary of weekend op-ed pieces and Sunday talk shows at Tapped, the blog from The American Prospect. There's nothing like a one-sentence zinger to burst a bubble of pompous punditry. (The summary also includes links to op-eds you actually need to read.) Tapped also has extraordinary posts today on the imminent failure of Howard Dean's plan to win by bringing new Democratic voters to the polls, and how the Republicans have stopped trying to solve national problems and merely use their legislative power to reward their supporters. Good stuff, all of it.
Recommended reading: Disagreeing with Bush has already been equated with treason in the loonier precincts of the right. Should he be reelected (something tonight's festivities in Iowa are being held in hope of preventing), you'd best believe that equating criticism of the administration with giving aid and comfort to the enemy will become pretty common--and more than just talk. The intellectual case for imprisoning or executing those who dissent is already being made in neocon circles, and is summarized in this hair-raising piece from Insight magazine. Insight is published by the same company that publishes the Washington Times, which can be quite loony-right--so be advised that the author of the Insight piece thinks he's onto a very fine idea. He's even got Abe Lincoln to back him up.
One of the funniest new features on the Internet is the summary of weekend op-ed pieces and Sunday talk shows at Tapped, the blog from The American Prospect. There's nothing like a one-sentence zinger to burst a bubble of pompous punditry. (The summary also includes links to op-eds you actually need to read.) Tapped also has extraordinary posts today on the imminent failure of Howard Dean's plan to win by bringing new Democratic voters to the polls, and how the Republicans have stopped trying to solve national problems and merely use their legislative power to reward their supporters. Good stuff, all of it.
Recommended reading: Disagreeing with Bush has already been equated with treason in the loonier precincts of the right. Should he be reelected (something tonight's festivities in Iowa are being held in hope of preventing), you'd best believe that equating criticism of the administration with giving aid and comfort to the enemy will become pretty common--and more than just talk. The intellectual case for imprisoning or executing those who dissent is already being made in neocon circles, and is summarized in this hair-raising piece from Insight magazine. Insight is published by the same company that publishes the Washington Times, which can be quite loony-right--so be advised that the author of the Insight piece thinks he's onto a very fine idea. He's even got Abe Lincoln to back him up.
