hell’s handmaiden

I’ve already noticed several links to Cole’s response to Hitchens’ Slate piece, but because I like Juan Cole rather a lot, I am going to post a link too. Besides, much of what he has to say is applicable to topics that go far beyond Hitchens.

Informed Comment

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As much as anything else, Bush defenders are characterized by an increasingly absolutist refusal to recognize any facts which conflict with their political desires, and conversely, by a borderline-religious embrace of any assertions which bolster those desires. It’s a world-view which conflates desire with reality, disregards all facts and evidence that conflict with the decreed beliefs, and faithfully embraces any assertions and fantasies, no matter how baseless and flagrantly false, provided that they bolster the mythology.

Unclaimed Territory - by Glenn Greenwald: Anatomy of the “thought” process of Bush defenders

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Worth reading.

Dispatches from the Culture Wars: More on George Sim Johnston

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I’ve been following this ‘crunchy conservatism’ idea for only a few weeks now, but it is worth a lookin’ into. RightReason has an interesting piece up right now.

Right Reason: Prosperity as a conservative value

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Iraqi politicians said on Wednesday that the visit to Iraq of Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and UK Foreign Minister Jack Straw had proved counter-productive. Positions actually hardened with the visit. Haider al-Abadi said, “All it’s doing is hardening the position of people who are supporting Jaafari . . . They shouldn’t have come to Baghdad.” Someone let Niall Ferguson know that this revival of empire business isn’t going very well; the “natives” appear remarkably lacking in deference, and the viceroys remarkably ineffectual.

Informed Comment

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