this is one of the principle reasons I loath Hillary-- she's such a panderer on this issue. I think it's at the core of why she became such an apologist for the Iraq war. She was willing to saber rattle along with Lieberman and others just to titillate an NY state constituency.

grrrrrrrrrrrrr

Posted at September 14, 2007 3:04 PM in response to Clinton vs. Clinton on Israel

Never underestimate the ability of the left to tear itself apart.

And never underestimate the power of hope and commonality as mobilized in courageous people, and even occasionally, by nimble philosophers.

Rorty made a difference, and from all accounts dealt with unspeakable suffering with the grace and generosity he did his many generations of stimulated students.

(not that students and pancreatic cancer are generally comparable).

Hats off to the man.

Posted at June 11, 2007 2:34 PM in response to An Addendum to Todd's Euology for Richard Rorty

I caught Rorty at UVa. He was so accessible and stimulating, it almost felt like we were at a university, an active community of learning and thinking. I remember his classes overflowing with kids who might otherwise have been overflowing themselves in some other capacity. He made learning real for a lot of people. On that alone he should be remembered fondly.

I minored in phil but double-majored in other stuff, so my contact with him was limited, but I remember one story well. Our Indo-Tibetan epistemology prof was a swiss genius and first westerner to earn the status of Geshe. Tibetan scholasticism is rooted in live debate, which this guy had been steeped in for many years. One of the things this guy did shortly after arriving from his Tibetan community was to call Rorty out to debate, in the immediate and public way that was common to his education. I missed the encounter, but word had it that Rorty responded openly and enthusiastically. Another testament to an inquisitive mind and open spirit (for whatever it's worth, I always assumed Rorty got his arse handed to him, given who he was up against. All the better that he played at all).

He will be missed.

Posted at June 11, 2007 2:22 PM in response to Richard Rorty, 1931-2007

Interesting that you invoke William James in the same passage that you open with the rather rude dismissal of the death of an individual, as if being a philosopher made him inherently less of a person.

The comment above instantiates the voyeuristic self-loathing of a failed semi-intellectual, and is a sad distraction from this real loss.

Posted at June 11, 2007 1:53 PM in response to Richard Rorty, 1931-2007

GWB: Failed conservative, failed president, failing America and the world. 

Posted at January 31, 2006 2:01 PM in response to All Bush Job Growth due to Government Spending

I have long hoped for the day when exposing the corruption and counterproductive policies of Republicans everywhere crossed a tipping point where it would keep people watching ads on MSM news shows.  I think we are darn near there.  In short, loathing Republicans is starting to sell, and that is key, and has momentum.  The pretense and illusion keeping people thinking that the Republican movement is in the hands of decent people is blowing apart like New Orleans’ levees did while under their care.  Now, it is time to ruthlessly press the advantage, because there is a gawd awful amount of rollback to take care of. Think fiscal resopnsibility, human rights, civil liberties, security, rule of law, separation of church and state (for the good of both), multilateralism, the environment, energy policy, education, health care, poverty, justice, peace...

Posted at November 8, 2005 9:21 PM in response to What Do You Think?

If you are poor and black and taking food from a store you are looting.  If you have any connection to authority and you are doing the same thing you are commandeering.

So while the Bushies might view themselves as commandeering the national treasury in the run up to this disaster, other folks might see it as looting. 

Posted at September 1, 2005 12:03 PM in response to Coudn't Pay the Price of Admission

Excellent post once again.  The range of exit strategies must be contemplated in terms of a persuasive definition of victory.  We either pursue real victory or we get out.  Real victory has been a phantasm for some time given the calamatous cascade of bad decisions from going into Iraq in the first place through the entirety of our efforts there.  So there is only one choice: expedited departure.

The reason this isn't happening?  Domestic US politics, pure and simple.  American soldiers and Iraqis are dying to cover Bush's ass, to help him look tough and not admit a mistake.  He and his type can't afford a split second of self reflection for fear that the black chasm within will consume the thin mantle of hyposcrisy that protects them from its full force.  As it is within the person, so too with the body politic.  One blink and they are afraid the Big Lie will unravel along with their political power, their plundering of America's treasury, and G_d willing, their liberty.

The Hague is too good for them. 

Thanks again Larry for your cold eye, and courageous voice. 

Posted at August 25, 2005 6:48 AM in response to Why We Must Leave Iraq

1. A full accounting should be made of the cost of the investigation into Taft's ethics violations, and there should be broad campaign in Ohio to make him pay for the cost of the investigation.  Since he say's "I am very disappointed in myself," this is the least he can do to make it up to the people of Ohio if he plans to stay in office.

2. It should be consistently stressed by opponents of the Ohio corruption machine that the governor knowingly falsified ethics statements, because:

3.  There is a massive, corrupt, illegal patronage network for Republicans in Ohio that is emblematic of the national one, and:

4.  Given the overlap between the corrupt patronage network, GOP donors, election officials, and providers of election technology, international, professional, election monitors should be mandatory and given full access to monitor statewide elections in Ohio and national elections in the U.S. 

Posted at August 19, 2005 7:09 AM in response to Bob Taft hits one into the Rough

Good post about Sheehan and the vitriol of disgraceful right wingnuts, but this is absurd:

"It seems to me the American people never really forgave the Democrats for being right about Vietnam." 

Kennedy started the war, Johnson escalated it.  Nixon nurtured it, but Democrats as a whole were certainly not right.  It is fair to say "The left was right, of course, about Vietnam," but even that statement is probably too broad.  There is no question that the left on balance was way more right than the right, but if you want to make an accurate generalization, keep it narrow: 

Let's say the Mennonites were right about Vietnam.

Go Cindy! 

Texans with a tendency to drag things behind their trucks make me ill.  Appropriate mass outrage has been squelched by the MSM. 

Posted at August 18, 2005 9:04 AM in response to Anti-War Imagery and the Iconography of Hate