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The Bell Curve
Stephen Metcalf raps Andrew Sullivan for defending the racist pseudo-science of The Bell Curve, still. Sullivan deserves it. He’s an incredibly important voice in today’s political debate, but he’s curiously blind on this, and frankly, an embarrassment.
Chomsky pro and con
The excellent Prospect magazine (not to be confused with American Prospect) conducted a poll on the world’s top public intellectuals. Noam Chomsky took top honors. Prospect‘s November edition includes these pro and con arguments from Robin Blackburn and Oliver Kamm, respectively. I’m with Kamm. Chomsky’s victory, according to Blackburn, “shows that thinking people are still attracted by the critical impulse….”
Not enough aid; racism rears its head
There has been an underwhelming charitable response to the Pakistan/Kashmir/India earthquake. I know it’s soon after Katrina but dig in your pockets and give, folks. The UN World Food Program is a good place to start. At this point I will link to an anti-Hitchens site I don’t much care for—I disagree with Hitchens on plenty but “Christopher Hitchens Watch”
Not rocket science
In this week’s New Yorker, George Packer lays out what every Democratic candidate should be saying in the run-up to 2006: A Democratic manifesto that unites the Party’s own diverse factions would begin as a referendum on the ruling party: the White House and Congress have handed government over to corrupt interests, and, in so doing, the Republicans have betrayed
Jihad and the left
Interesting piece by Steven Erlanger in today’s NY Times about the power struggle in post-withdrawal Gaza between clans (or hamullas) and the Palestinian political factions, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah (or the PA). Money quote is the final graf: Both Fatah and even the leftist parties, like the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, are reverting to Islamist
Mugabe on Hitler/Mugabe as Hitler
Oh, this is rich. Robert Mugabe at a UN meeting in Rome, referring to Bush and Blair: Must we allow these men, the two unholy men of our millennium, who in the same way as Hitler and Mussolini formed their unholy alliance, formed an alliance to attack an innocent country? But what’s so bad about Hitler? Here’s Mugabe on March
Hirsh on the “academic intifada”
Read his take in Dissent magazine here.
Where Wings Take Dream
My friend Andee just sent this around. It must be seen and heard. Come to think of it, this too must be heard. (Via David Bloom.)