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POPSFarewell to All That Now that his term is over, officials at the highest levels of government everywhere are coming out about the man whose personality they were forced to indulge and defer to on a regular basis. The portrait they paint is not pretty. Even after all we've come to know about Bush, their disclosures still manage to shock the conscious afresh. This was the person in charge at such a fundamental time? The mind reels.... Given what we do know, it's clear that even worse governmental misdeeds will eventually come to light. To move forward, it's essential to fully and publicly expose this sad point in our nation's history so that those responsible may be finally held accountable. This is how it starts. That sound you hear is of a great dam breaking....
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POPSThe Moral Blindness of Nationalism From George Orwell's 1945 essay, Notes on Nationalism . I was inspired to come out of brief clip retirement by the state of the world we find ourselves in and by Ouyangwulong's inspiring comment . (New clippers, also consider this clip , which, like Orwell's quote, is depressingly apropos yet again.)
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POPSInternal Perceptions / External Perceptions Within a particular cultural system, you always have to entertain second opinions from interested parties. It is not a contraversial statement that Stalin was evil, internationally. However! In Russia there are still many invested in Stalin and Nationalism who will try to rationalize it. Similarly, internationally, it is not a controversial statement that Bush was a monstrous, hostile, and unjust President. But in America there will people that will argue and try to justify torture and persecution that Bush perpetrated. An apologist is an apologist. If we cannot take responsibility for our own moral lapses, how can we possibly find our moral compass? People who refuse to look beyond their narrow world view discredit themselves.
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POPSPolitical Junkies: Why it Feels Good to Be an Extremist In The Political Brain , psychologist Drew Western summarizes fMRI experiments exploring the neuro-psychology of systematic bias and rationalization in the brains of political extremists. Finding ways to dismiss contradictory evidence triggers pleasant emotional releases in partisans' brains, eventually becoming a pleasurable, learned behavior. Once partisans had found a way to reason to false conclusions, not only did neural circuits involved in negative emotions turn off, but circuits involved in positive emotions turned on. The partisan brain didn't seem satisfied in just feeling better. It worked overtime to feel good, activating reward circuits that give partisans a jolt of positive reinforcement for their biased "reasoning." These reward circuits overlap substantially with those activated when drug addicts get their "fix," giving new meaning to the term political junkie.
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POPSThe Bush Tragedy Jacob Weisberg uncovers the twisted, storied (and thoroughly American) histories behind the pedigreed, genteel Bush and the brash, opulent Walker clans, whose 1921 marriage-merger generated unparalleled political fame and fortune, producing an "exploding blob" of successful, well-heeled, multi-named white men—culminating, of course, in the 41st and 43rd presidents of the United States. A product of his Ivy League upbringing, academic and corporate shortcomings, and unseemly familial wranglings, Weisberg traces the root cause of W.'s presidential failings to his life-long jealousy of his father's successes and petulant opposition to everything the reserved, prudent, self-deprecating patriarch represented. It's a fascinating character study as well as a sad tale of hubris, backstabbing, and inescapable downfall, magnified by his position as leader of the free world.
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POPSThe Growing Hunger for Political Shallowness Author Robert Harris has some biting words about the political situation we find ourselves in today. Robert Harris' new novel features a once-popular former British prime minister who becomes fiercely criticized for collaborating with the United States in the war on terror. The character's name is Adam Lang, not Tony Blair, but otherwise the similarities are unmistakable. Full interview here .
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POPSThe Biggest Threat to the West Lies Within Itself, Not with Islam Simon Jenkins on threats to peace and democracy. This defeatism led the American Congress to allow its president to authorise torture and detention without trial in what Senator Robert Byrd called “the slow unravelling of the people’s liberties”. It enabled a British Home Office to curb free speech and habeas corpus. It arms police, fortifies buildings and impedes the free movement of citizens. It makes every Christian suspicious of every Muslim.
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POPS"We're Not Dangerous...We're Persian!" While it's hard to beat the hilarity of his opening bit, Iranian comedian Jobrani's entire politically incorrect routine is online: 1 , 2 . Sometimes you just gotta laugh at the seriousness of the world.... (Via The Daily Dish.)
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POPSIraq: A Game With No Winners They just have to outlast the other player. Following this strategy, the two hapless students usually run the bid up several dollars, turning the apparent shot at easy money into a ghastly battle of spiraling disaster. Theoretically, there is no stable outcome once the dynamic gets going. The only clear limit is the exhaustion of one of the player's total funds. In the classroom, the auction generally ends with the grudging decision of one player to "irrationally" accept the larger loss and get out of the terrible spiral. Economists call the dollar auction pattern an irrational escalation of commitment. We might also call it the war in Iraq. (Via Andrew Sullivan .)
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POPSThe Terror Presidency Excerpts from the much-talked-about book by Jack Goldsmith, recounting his days of advising the White House on the legal boundaries of American executive power. Goldsmith explains how he was made to sign off on the unprecedented orders of presidential authority we know and love today. He famously was present at the dramatic hospital-room showdown on national surveillance between Gonzales, Card and a frail Ashcroft, calling it "the most amazing scene I'd ever witnessed." Goldsmith resigned 10 months in. They believed cooperation and compromise signaled weakness and emboldened the enemies of America and the executive branch. When it came to terrorism, they viewed every encounter outside the innermost core of most trusted advisers as a zero-sum game that if they didn't win they would necessarily lose.
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POPSGonzales's Truthfulness Long Disputed What a sad spectacle it all is. Questions about Gonzales's willingness to shade the truth on Bush's behalf came to prominence in the 1996 episode in which Bush was excused from Texas jury duty in a drunken-driving case. Bush was then the state's governor, and Gonzales was his general counsel. If Bush had served, he probably would have had to disclose his own drunken-driving conviction in Maine two decades earlier.
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POPSZogby Survey Uncovers American Bias, Hypocrisy Detailed results worth viewing at source. Pollster John Zogby said, “Over my years of polling, I’ve learned that Americans tend to offer socially acceptable responses when questioned on their own views about race and prejudice. That’s why in this poll we predominantly asked people about “most Americans’” views on race and prejudice. We believe this provides a far more accurate window into how people really think about these issues. Americans are more forthcoming when discussing the problem in the context of their neighbors’ lives than in the context of their own lives.”
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POPSA Tragic Legacy And the president who vowed to lead the war for freedom and democracy has made torture, rendition, abductions, lawless detentions of even our own citizens, secret "black site" prisons, Abu Ghraib dog leashes, and orange Guantánamo jumpsuits the strange, new symbols of America around the world. New essay by Glenn Greenwald on the future legacy of America's reaction to 9/11.
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POPSTaguba Report: What Did Rumsfeld Know? Army Major General Antonio M. Taguba's delayed admission of the Department's squelching of him and his official investigation into Abu Ghraib (refusing to view the uncovered photos and videos of abuse, forcing Taguba to retire after 34 years of service) is shocking and the implications severe. At least we're at the breaking point now. Rumsfeld then gambled on the public not wanting know as much as he wanted to cover it up. Hence his major concern in that meeting with Taguba: not preventing and exposing appalling war crimes on his own watch - but finding a way to persecute the guy whose duty it was to investigate it.
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POPSRepublicans' Outlook Dims for '08 For the first time in 30 years, Texas may vote for a Democratic president. New surveys in the state show Clinton tying McCain and Giuliani in popular support.
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POPS'Scooter' Libby Sentenced to 2½ Years in Prison Federal Judge Reggie B. Walton also fined Mr. Libby $250,000 after declaring that there had been “overwhelming evidence” of Mr. Libby’s guilt on the four counts — one each of obstruction of justice and giving false statements, and two of perjury. He was convicted on March 6.
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POPSHow Did Soviet-Style Torture Become ‘Interrogation’? A Senate investigation is underway, but many of the details are surfacing already. His question is only underscored by a 1956 article, “Communist Interrogation,” in The Annals of Neurology and Psychiatry, recently turned up by the Intelligence Science Board, which advises the spy agencies.... he article shows that methods embraced after 2001 were once considered torture that would produce false information.
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POPSIraq’s Curse: A Thirst for Final, Crushing Victory A bloodthirsty sectarian war centuries in the making has only just begun. It's going to get much worse before it gets better. Caught in the middle of the civil war are the Americans. To Iraq’s factions, they are the weakest of all the armed groups in one crucial respect: their will is ebbing and their time here is limited. That leaves Iraqis more motivated than ever to cling to their weapons, preparing for what many see as an inevitable plunge into the abyss. “Everyone — the Sunni, the Shia — is playing the waiting game,” an Iraqi leader told me over dinner at his home in the Green Zone. “They’re waiting out the Americans. Everyone is using time against you.”
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POPSWhere Were Vocal Conservatives When It Mattered? Rod Dreher is a conservative writer for Beliefnet. Few of us stood up to Bush when he took us to this disastrous war in Iraq. Few, if any, stood up to him over his foolish support for Rumsfeld, long after it became obvious what a disaster Rumsfeld was. Few, if any, stood up to him over his amassing of power in the executive branch. Few, if any, stood up to him on the spending....
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POPSFor Mary Cheney, It's a Boy! At a New York forum last winter, Mary Cheney said: "This is a baby. This is a blessing from God. It is not a political statement. It is not a prop to be used in a debate by people on either side of an issue. It is my child." But she added that "every piece of remotely responsible research" had shown "no difference between children who are raised by same-sex parents and children raised by opposite-sex parents."
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POPSThe Importance of Self-Deception in Politics Almost nothing is more human and yet more dangerous than the capability for self-deception. When amplified through politics, it has the power to change the course of history. More on this Trivers podcast . "Remember, Jerry: It's not a lie if you believe it" — George Costanza
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POPSFormer Powell Aide: Bush, Cheney Guilty of 'High Crimes' Wow. "I do believe that they would have thought had they been asked by you or whomever at the time of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia 'Do you think this will be exercised?' they would have said 'Of course it will, every generation they'll have to throw some bastard out.'"Wilkerson said. "That's a form of accountability too. It's ultimate accountability."
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POPSBlair Quits as Prime Minister The Labour Party's longest-serving prime minister has finally confirmed his resignation. The latter part of his term was dominated by his support for America's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Blair's successor is all but certain to be Treasury Chief Gordon Brown, Blair's partner in reforming the party as ''New Labour'' but an impatient rival in government.
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POPSRe-Thinking The War Here's looking forward to a time when clips on America's reputation are more fitting for the nation we aspire to be. When the next major terrorist attack comes, the question will simply be how much liberty Americans have left. That is a victory al Qaeda could not have achieved by force of arms. It is something they have achieved with our witting and conscious help.
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POPSLebanon War Probe Accuses Olmert of 'Severe Failure' The first part of the official, government-appointed report is in and already the results are scathing. This is what the face of governmental accountability looks like. Better late than never, America will go through the same process of political introspection and repair as it goes forward. The inevitability of accountability is what allows a true democracy to survive almost anything. "Some of the declared goals of the war were not clear and could not be achieved, and in part were not achievable by the authorized modes of military action," the report said.
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POPS An Easter Sermon on Viral Marketing By the inimitable Robert Wright. The ultimate in viral marketing was Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice. Deemed a threat to the social order, he was crucified under Roman auspices. But the Romans forgot one thing: If you face a small but growing movement that threatens the imperial order, you shouldn’t attack the men in ways that help the memes.
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POPSClosest GOP Insider Yet Comes Out Against Bush, Cheney GOP insider Vic Gold doesn't let his longtime friendship with the Bushes and the Cheneys stop him from cataloging the permanent damage the White House has done to the reputation of the GOP — and America. Under Bush and Cheney, he argues, the GOP has moved away from principles of small government, prudent foreign policy and leaving people alone to live their private lives — all views Gold associates with his hero, Goldwater. I'll add that to read about the distressing political and personal position Bush Jr. has placed his aging father in because of his actions is downright painful. (Via Andrew Sullivan).
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POPSHow to Become President with Clipmarks You heard it here first. In 2008, you just won't get elected without reaching out to the coveted Clipmarks community. And you can bet we'll be checking candidates' sign-up dates. :) The publicity for Clipmarks 2.0 rolls on....
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POPSNegroponte to Resign from Intelligence Chief Role That didn't last long. The administration has had great difficulty filling the State Department position. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has asked several people who have turned down the post, according to senior State Department officials. But administration officials interviewed on Wednesday would not say whether Mr. Negroponte was moving because the White House saw him as uniquely qualified for the diplomatic post, or because President Bush was dissatisfied with his performance as intelligence chief, or whether it was a combination of the two.
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POPSThe Stick Figure Guide to Winning in Iraq As described in the article, the creator of this humorous, optimistic cartoon, a young Captain Travis Patriquin, was killed by an improvised explosive device in Iraq just last Wednesday. His creation has been circulating among the troops and, lately, across the internet. PDF version of the presentation .
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POPS Bush 'happy' for pregnant Mary Cheney White House spokesman Tony Snow said Bush stood by his belief about a mother and father but also believes that "every human life is sacred and that every child that comes into this world deserves love and he believes that Mary Cheney's child will in fact have loving parents."
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POPSLeaked White House Memo Questions Maliki's Competency “We returned from Iraq convinced we need to determine if Prime Minister Maliki is both willing and able to rise above the sectarian agendas being promoted by others,” the memo says. “Do we and Prime Minister Maliki share the same vision for Iraq? If so, is he able to curb those who seek Shia hegemony or the reassertion of Sunni power? The answers to these questions are key in determining whether we have the right strategy in Iraq.”
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POPSTen Ways to Make Sure That Peace Stays Dead Too many people on each side see the other as wholly culpable. Too many people on each side see themselves as wholly innocent, wholly victimized, ill-served by the well-meaning, abandoned by former allies, betrayed by the media, misunderstood by people who should know better, forgotten by the world. Too many people on each side see only the suffering that has been caused them. Too many people have learned to wall themselves off from the suffering that they have caused.
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POPSIs a damaged Administration less likely to attack Iran, or more? Must-read, in-depth article from Seymour Hersh on the lengthy lead-up to Rumsfeld's ouster (he was kept in the dark until the end!), what the new leadership of Secretary of Defense Gates might signal, the dwindling options Rumsfeld's war has left us in Iraq, and the renewed neoconservative clamor to invade Iran to make up for the loss in Iraq. (Double down on Tehran.) The Pentagon consultant said that he and many of his colleagues in the military believe that Iran is intent on developing nuclear-weapons capability. But he added that the Bush Administration’s options for dealing with that threat are diminished, because of a lack of good intelligence and also because "we’ve cried wolf" before.
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