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A Terror Trials Pep Talk

There are two reasons I am utterly baffled by the possible reversal of the decision to try terrorists in federal court. First, it comes at a time when efforts to find, kill, and capture terrorists are having significant success. The key, it turns out, is to be dogged and professional, rather than going to “the dark side.” And that’s the other puzzling thing — that arguments based on fear-mongering and emphasizing the appearance of toughness still carry weight long after they were shown to do more harm than good. … We’ve got this totally backwards; this is a chance for…

More on the open letter

In May I had posted an open letter to the two well-known presidential candidates, and actually sent it to both campaigns. I recently received a follow-up from the Kerry camp that someone has read the letter and will be forwarding it up to campaign management. It doesn’t read like a canned letter, nor does it end with a request for money. Will keep you posted on further follow-ups.

What Is Conservatism and What Is Wrong with It?

Phil Agre at UCLA is one heck of an intellectual. In this essay he takes on Conservatism and deconstructs it for us. Here is the opening graf: Liberals in the United States have been losing political debates to conservatives for a quarter century. In order to start winning again, liberals must answer two simple questions: what is conservatism, and what is wrong with it? As it happens, the answers to these questions are also simple: Q: What is conservatism? A: Conservatism is the domination of society by an aristocracy. Q: What is wrong with conservatism? A: Conservatism is incompatible with…