Josh Marshall is on vacation for a few days, but he leaves us with this tantalizing claim:
I’m going to be taking a breather from TPM for a few days. I’ll be away tucked away on some island somewhere far, far away. If something truly earth-shattering happens I may pop my head up. But I’m going to try mightily to resist (and you’ll be in good hands while I’m away.)
A few points before signing off, though. You may have noticed a slight down-tick in the frequency of posts of late. And that’s for a few different reasons. But a principal one is that I and several colleagues have been working on a story that, if and when it comes to fruition — and I’m confident it shall — should shuffle the tectonic plates under that capital city where I normally hang my hat. So that’s something to look forward to in the not too distant future. And that’s taken some of my time away from TPM and prevented me from sharing with you some delectable tidbits which otherwise I would have loved to have done.
Shuffling tectonic plates in DC can only be a good thing and we can always hope some of the rotten structures there fall into rubble. Meanwhile, Spencer Ackerman of TNR’s Iraq’d is filling in so TPM is still a good read while we wait for Marshall’s revelations.
In an effort to lighten the gloomy atmosphere created by the rafts of bad news from Saudi Arabia, Alhamedi of The Religious Policeman treats us to this amusing bit of Saudi Arabian Camel trivia. Did you know that there were camel overpasses in KSA?
Here’s tristero on the debacle at Berkeley triggered by Berkeley Hillel having the infamous intellectual zero and logic-impaired Daniel Pipes to speak.
In short, you wanna prevent the sheer awfulness of what happened at Berkeley from happening again? First, remove from power the kinds of people who think Danny’s a legitimate voice. And be sure to keep Danny and his ilk from having any kind of influence over American foreign policy (note to rightwingers: by “Danny and his ilk,” I’m not talking about Jews, you schmucks! I’m talking about ignorant rightwing ideologues. There’s a helluva difference, y’know.).
Next, increase funding and provide more attention to legitimate scholars of Islam and the Middle East who will, as a matter of course, rapidly displace Danny’s Islamist doppelgangers, the pricks who are presently teaching the Protocols of the Elders of Zion as a genuine Jewish text. (Oh yes, indeed: there are some major league slimebags in Islamic Studies right now. But Danny’s not the boy to be casting stones at ’em.)
After that, I dunno what to do. But hey, that’s a pretty good start.
Jim Henley, softy: “Hey, you know me, Loyal Reader – I just can’t stay mad at people. Heck, if Glenn Reynolds himself suddenly slapped himself on the forehead and said, ‘Hey! How did I, a libertarian, succumb to a freaking cult of personality for a politician? And George W. Bush, yet?’ I’d want to drive to Tennessee and give him a big ol’ hug. That’s just the kind of sweet guy I am.” And who has Jim gone soft on? Christopher Hitchens, of all people. “I have hopes for this guy.” Read all about it.
Jim also points out an excellent (as always) Arthur Silber post:
Arthur Silber puts our present pass down to worship of the State. He’s close, but there’s one further level. Our real god is Perfect Safety, whom we have elevated in our pantheon above its divine siblings Freedom and Dignity. The State is Perfect Safety’s high priest. It preaches from the altar and whispers in the agora that it will bring the blessings of the god if we but bend the knee now and do the spastic dance of the flails when the oracles are propitious. The high priest is not innocent in this, but unless we remove the god to a humbler altar we shall remain under his sway.
There is much wisdom here, though I would say reject the god and his High Priest and smash the altar entirely. I’m for pulling evil weeds out by the roots.
Micah Holmquist on Horowitzwatch: “Moral equivalence,” a term that is basically just a more subtle way of saying DO NOT COMPARE US, THE GOOD GUYS, TO THE BAD GUYS.
The Libertarian Jackass has hired an intern, “Efficient E.” His duties are described as “….making LibertarianJackass.com a dynamic, entertaining, radical, and highly informative Internet experience.” One might wonder why an intern would be expected to achieve what LJ himself h…..well, never mind. Anyway, LJ is soliciting ideas for how poor Efficient E should attack this monumental task. Help him out. Participate in the “WHAT SHOULD MY INTERN DO NEXT?” CONTEST. I’m sure that not posting the prize list is simply an oversight, soon to be corrected.
Great post by Brian Hunter at Common Prejudice on Bush’s Bizarro World. Of course, the Medium Lobster dissents because he believes, along with GDuhbya, “Where there is desire for smoke, there is conceptual fire.”