Pop quiz: If someone narrated your life, what would his or her voice sound like? Like the hipster kid from those Apple computer ads? Like a spiky-haired designer on Project Runway? Like David Lee Roth or Cindy Lauper or Gene Hackman or Wilford Brimley? Is it high-pitched and caffeinated, or low and slow? Does it rise and fall like a …
Professor Obama
In the latest battle in what has become a full blown tit-for-tat fact check war, it turns out Obama really was a professor at the University of Chicago’s law school. The Clinton campaign had noted that he’s listed as a senior lecturer, not a professor. “There’s an important distinction in the academic world,” Phil Singer, a …
In the ArenaUncategorized
Maliki’s War
Friday Morning Update: This is a pretty comprehensive update from the Washington Post, although I have my doubts about the top of the story–Sadr City is a vast place and four stryker vehicles hardly represent a major assault.
The really worrisome part about this is that the U.S. is getting sucked into a potentially massive intramural …
In the ArenaUncategorized
Today in Iraq
Seems to me that absolutely no one is really sure what’s going on in Basra right now, although it does appear that the Mahdi Army is holding its own against the Maliki/Badr forces (or, if you prefer, the Dawa/ISCI alliance). At such times, it’s best to go with those who keep closest touch with the region…
Here’s Juan Cole’s summary of …
In the ArenaUncategorized
Latest Column
A crazy idea. Discuss.
Money Changes Everything
Obama adviser Daniel Tarullo, in response to a question from an AP reporter on today’s conference call, took an usual route to an answer: He agreed with the premise of the question. The reporter noted that Obama’s much-ballyhooed speech on the economy today didn’t contain any specific proposals. Hmmm, I thought to myself, that sounds
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