Is It Still Paranoia If You’re Right?
Of course, the whole article is worth a read, but a line from the beginning caught my eye in particular,
Bureau officials said agents were working quickly under the stress of trying to thwart the next terrorist attack and were not violating the law deliberately.
I believe that that is true and, in fact, I believe that under the vast majority of recent cases involving improper to illegal behaviour, those involved were not intending to do wrong and were labouring under the sincere belief that their actions were designed specifically to avoid a greater potential wrongdoing. The sincerity of that belief is why I find it so dangerous and, in no small part, why I think a healthy skepticism about the actions of government, especially in those recesses of those dark corners of gray, isn’t just warranted — it is mandatory. [Read more →]
January 19, 2010 20 Comments
“The 700 billion dollar man”
December 10, 2009 3 Comments
America’s Next Top Pundit
And I didn’t win. As Kevin Drum notes,
By the way, the ten winners include a Nobel Prize winner, a Bush 43 assistant secretary of commerce (guess which one), a senior correspondent for the American Prospect, an analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations, a former researcher at the Kennedy School of Government, an Atlantic Media fellow, and a small-town newspaper editor. Not exactly a crowd of just plain folks. It might have been more fun to read the other 4,790 entries.
I guess the odds were against me. I was under the impression this would be a battle between relative amateurs and unknowns, not Nobel Prize winners and Atlantic Media fellows. I stand corrected.
In any case, here’s what I submitted, in case you’re interested: [Read more →]
November 2, 2009 6 Comments
Dear Washington Post,
But I can’t hate on you for experimenting. Times are tough, and a new business environment probably demands a new approach to news gathering. And I wish you all the best. Really, I do. Unlike some folks, I have a lot of respect for the good work you put out on a regular basis. I shudder to think what life in the District and Northern Virginia would be like without Post beat reporters. Other than the occasional beef with your op-ed page, I honestly think you put out a fine product.
But this latest gimmick is just . . . silly. After a year or two in the blogosphere, I’ve belatedly realized that the last thing we need is another jack-of-all-trades commentator. I mean, we’re dealing with an embarrassment of riches in that department. Everyone and their mother seems to have an opinion, a Wordpress account, and access to Google. It’s been fun, but I think amateur punditry is rapidly reaching the point of diminishing returns. Except for my co-bloggers, that is. They’re still money.
But aside from all the wannabe pundits and amateur conspiracy theorists, the Internet has also managed to draw a bunch of experts out of the woodwork. Think tankers, economists, and lawyers – you name it, they all have blogs now. And they write. All. The. Time. It’s almost as if they enjoy sharing their expertise with the rest of us in an open, unmediated forum. These days, I don’t have to rely on a Post beat writer to pull a few quotes from expert X on crisis Y – I can just fire up my RSS feed and check out expert X’s (frequently updated) blog for his or her totally comprehensive opinion.
So here’s my proposal. Instead of giving away valuable column space to some schmuck who can plausibly construct an opinion on every imaginable topic in one week or less, why not try giving one of these quirky expert types a shot? Wouldn’t it be nice to have a few financial analysts on-hand the next time a global financial crisis hits? What about a military guy to explain this whole War on Terrorism business? (Wait, you just canned Tom Ricks?) Or a lawyer, to parse the latest torture memos?
If I was running the show, I’d probably draft Jim Manzi. Or that bald dude from Rortybomb. I think you’re better off with either of those guys than a pale George Will imitator. But maybe that’s just me.
Love,
Will
September 29, 2009 16 Comments
I take it all back
July 2, 2009 4 Comments
