Sen. Chris Dodd on FISA

Readers on Andrew Sullivan’s site talk about the transition the Eastern European countries faced as their regimes fell in the 80s and 90s, and how that transition is incomplete. They then make the obvious connection with the “Arab Spring,” and the fact that we should not expectations of a quick transition there. “The Slow-Grinding, Boring Mill Of Justice” – The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

Interview with Wajahat Ali | FPIF. Basically, the reason they’re taking place now is that this is an unprecedented time in American history for the mainstreaming of Islamophobic sentiment and rhetoric. What was once allowed to operate on the fringes and by fringe actors has been co-opted by mainstream political actors and parties to capitalize on people’s fears, panic, and hysteria. You see this pattern in American history. When there is a moment of panic and fear around an economic downturn, politicians and people in cottage industries turn on minorities. It has happened with Jews and with African Americans in…

My friend Moushumi has a piece up on how immigrants should enter the American discourse on race. I think it’s a good message for the first-generation, but my feeling is that if the second-plus generation doesn’t get it now, they aren’t going to. Election 2008, race