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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
I found this article thoughtful. While I agree that the author's enthusiasm for Bush in 2000 gave me pause, his essay forced me to consider my own partisanship. That's a good thing. (I do sort of get his "soft spot" for O'Reilly, though, but I mean that in kind of a superior way. He's an earnest, blustering fool.)
I'm often the one questioning conventional wisdom, whether I'm in a liberal or conservative crowd. For example, I think the very notion of hate crimes is unconstitutional (amounting to making thoughts criminal), but this doesn't play well among liberals. In my wealthy conservative suburb, on the other hand, questioning whether DARE (the drug abuse prevention program) actually works to keep kids off drugs is tantamount to advocating for pot for Kindergartners. In other words, depending on the context (the "conventional wisdom" of the particular crowd), questioning the common view can be seen as radical even if it's merely thoughtful.
One of the very best benefits of being in a book club, I've discovered, is being told to read a book I might not otherwise have selected--and getting something out of it. We meet once a month, and the host selects the book. Sometimes it's nonfiction, sometimes it's fiction; sometimes it's the trendy new thing; sometimes it's a classic. We've read the Hilary biography and Why Terrorism Works and some kind of cooking memoir (which I wouldn't have DREAMED of picking up on my own but found delightful)and a couple of crappy Christmas schmaltzy novels that frankly revealed more to me about those who picked them than anything else. Valuable information, nonetheless.
And I love Obama's nuance.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
