Link Mess
Here is your daily link mess. Don’t know what ‘link mess’ is? Well, scroll down:
‘Unlike the other Bush administration officials who provided the justification for torture policies, Jay Bybee currently enjoys a lifetime appointment on a federal appeals court. The nomination was an insult, his confirmation was absurd, and as amn NYT recently noted, “These memos make it clear that Mr. Bybee is unfit for a job that requires legal judgment and a respect for the Constitution. Congress should impeach him”,’ Steve Benen writes for the Washington Monthly. Blood, more blood!
I recently ordered Mark R. Levin’s best seller “Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Movement” (the #1 best seller on Amazon). It will take a few days to get here, I am afraid. Luckily Donald Douglas sent me his review of Levin’s latest book; that way, I could read at least some quotes from and an analysis of it. Donald’s review gives me the impression that Levin may very well be one of the new “modern Hayeks” I called for in this piece published right here at PoliGazette yesterday. When I’ve read L&T, I’ll also write a review of it: let’s see whether I agree with Donald or not.
Robert Reich isn’t impressed with President Obama’s performance thus far. Jennifer Rubin comments on Reich’s analysis.
‘Shorter David Broder: Illegal and immoral acts by public officials shouldn’t be subjected to prosecution as long as said officials really thought they were a good idea. Besides, it would be scapegoating — why should the people who conceived and carried out illegal torture bear any more responsibility than anyone else for these policies?,’ Scott Lemieux wonders sarcastically.
Is it time to worry about the swine flu? More at JustOneMinute.
Pejman Yousefzadeh writes for The New Ledger – bookmark it now – since the ANC did not get 2/3 of the votes during the last elections, it ‘cannot willy-nilly change the South African constitution or institute roadblocks against any prosecution of ANC leader Jacob Zuma, who will be the next president of South Africa.’ As Yousefzadeh explains, this is a good thing for South Africa, ‘which has not seen any major benefits emerge from the ANC’s monopoly on political power.’
Should Republicans call Barack Obama and other Democrats ’socialists’? No, no, no. They are Social Democrats – introduce this new term, explain why it’s a bad thing, and make the pro-liberty and pro-free markets case to the best of your abilities.
How Hugo Chavez is bitch slapping Barack Obama.
Blood, more… ah well, you get the point.
Go to New York. April 30. CATO organizes, what seems to be, a fantastic seminar. Speakers include ‘Nat Hentoff, our new senior fellow and perhaps the leading First Amendment advocate of the past generation. Top climate scientist Pat Michaels. Peter Schiff, the financial guru who spent 2006 and 2007 failing to persuade people that the U.S. housing and financial markets were on the verge of collapse. And Freeman Dyson, one of the world’s top scientists and the subject of a recent New York Times Magazine profile for his “heretical” views on global warming.’
““These memos make it clear that Mr. Bybee is unfit for a job that requires legal judgment and a respect for the Constitution. Congress should impeach him”,’ Steve Benen writes for the Washington Monthly. Blood, more blood!”
You’d have to be extremely biased against people who desire proceedings to go forward if you can sort of derive an impression of bloodlust from that kind of language. Pure smearing.
“Blood, more blood!”
I can’t take these sort of warnings about blood-lusty mobs seriously – it’s crying wolf again and again.
“Blood, more… ah well, you get the point.”
Start crying werewolf, maybe? The proceedings are going to happen whether you approve or not. You should focus on argumenting for how to prevent any undue skewing (or skewering) of said proceeding rather than to whip up fear about the whipping up of bloodlust.