Yet another reminder that when you apply parsimony and create the simplest theory possible, you can still end up with a very complicated god-awful mess. Just because something's so complex it makes your head spin, full of little exceptional cases and long long lists, doesn't mean it isn't the simplest theory possible.

I recently calculated that if you wanted to take 1 second each to shake hands with everyone on the planet, you would need 209.36 years. In order to make sense of such a world, it is of course necessary to make simplifying assumptions and generalizations. My theory is simply this. The fewer assumtions you are willing to make and the more coarsely you catagorize the world, the more likely you are to be a member of the Republican base (assuming you're an American.)

This is the point where I'm forced to confess that I haven't read Glenns book yet, but I assume it talks about people who take this tendency to sufficient extreme that they divide the world precisely in two.

McCain's problem is of course, that when he divided the world in two, he failed to cut a big enough piece to label "evil".

Human intuition is a notoriously unreliable way to arrive at truth. That's why we need science in the first place. Especially when the results we arive at are - dare I say it? - counterintuitive!

Yes, something is quite wrong here. But the establishment media will never change its behavior. Why not? Because they do not think there is a problem at all.

I'm afraid that one of the reasons the establishment media won't change their behavior is because this stuff sells. Keeping track of who holds what position on troop withdrawals or interrogation techniques is hard work and involves thinking about depressing reality. Comparing notes on who feels a greater need to primp before going on TeeVee is MUCH more entertaining and requires no soul searching or moral doubt.

It's easy to blame the networks who serve up this crap but the viewing public bears a significant portion of the responsiblity and improving the market for hard news is going to take a lot of effort and more than one election cycle to accomplish.

Needless to say.....in the meantime, keep up the good work.

A slogan of mine:

Religion is simply politics seasoned with the extra confidence that comes from thinking that the Creator of the Universe has your back.

If Muslims ever become a majority in this country. Fortunately we have a Constitution with a bill of rights to protect us which our government respects and defends with......oh wait...

Thank you for this post. One of the tactical mistakes that far-left types frequently make is that they write off people with strong religious convictions as being unreachable or unreasonable. What they fail to realize is that one of the reasons that Christianity is so popular is that many of its moral precepts make perfect sense whether you happen to beleive in magic or not.

When Jefferson wrote "we hold these truths to be self-evident" he of course meant that certain things are so obvious that they don't need to be defended. One of these self-evident truths is that if you're of the opinion that human life is sacred then you should oppose war with at least the same degree of fervor that you spend opposing abortion.

If on the other hand, your theology is based on the premise that pleasure is sinful but that pain is desirable, then it makes perfect sense to cheerlead warfare. Such thinking should be exposed at every opportunity.

what the Catholic Church actually teaches.

What "bishops say" is by definition what the Church teaches.

To pretend otherwise strikes me as dishonest.

They are to the very foundation opposed to the ideas on which this country was founded on- egalitarianism, mostly local/decentralized control and rule by, of and for 'the people.

The Straussian approach utilizes the "noble lie" in order to keep the public in check. Exposing the lie can only be a good thing.

The last time I checked, the public was thoroughly unamused....

But the idea that Catholics have some sort of theological mandate to spurn the war party for the abortion party is nonsense.

that no one but YOU suggested such a thing.

Would you care to make a point or are you here to misrepresents Glenn's arguments just for sport?

that Mr clownsense has again tired of his handle.

Welcome Mr GoodCelery

I'd like to take a moment to point out that the "random" cruise passengers were all there specifically because they were NRO fans. They also felt free to speak because they assumed that they were among other NRO fans. Needless to say, in polite company they probably would have hedged their eliminationist attitudes with more polite phrasing like the professional politicians our current troll insists are the only ones allowed to represent Republican attitudes.

That the current troll feels compelled to disavow eliminationist rhetoric is heartening. That it is necessary is frightening.

Well said. But don't forget that your dealing with someone who just the other day was salivating at the prospect of the US actually becoming a military dictatorship.

http://letters.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/07/14/tillman/permalink/dbf9f15d7d756160e4de78e8025efa4c.html