Sunday, December 23, 2007

Recent Links, End of the Year Edition

Let's clear out the "hey this was good, I should link to it on my blog" folder before the year's out....

Politics

• I think this Mark Schmitt piece about the "theory of change" primary is the most interesting analysis of the Democratic field I've read.

• Commentary from some of the best political bloggers out there on the telecoms and illegal wiretapping: Scott Horton on illegal wiretapping; Glenn Greenwald on the same; and Greenwald again on the crucial by temporary victory that was won.

• Also from Scott Horton, an essay on the squandering of our posterity's possibilities.

Darius Rejali writes about the role that democracies have played in developing & spreading torture in the last century. Important historical context for our times.

Michael Pollan in the NY Times on our unsustainable food industry. Chilling.

Mitt Romney wrestles the facts, & looses. Not all that significant, but funny.

Comics

You're a Good Man, John Stewart Mill. This one is awesome. (Source.)

Harvey Pekar & Nick Bertozzi on politics.

Other

Caleb Crain writes in the New Yorker about what life would (will?) be like in the post-literate age.

• Your BoingBoing-Did-You-Click-Through?™ link of the week: Kim Stanley Robinson is one of my very favorite authors; this interview with him about the climate (in both the environmental & political) was quite good.

John Scalzi wants your head to explode.

(Update) Christmas Links:

Ezra Klein posts a classic Christmas wish from Steve Martin. Hilarious.

• On a more serious note, Glenn Greenwald has some thoughts on the use and abuse of Christmas wishes.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

You might know this already but "You're a Good Man, John Stuart Mill" is from an issue of the comic Action Philosophers, which is really really good. Just wanted to get the word out, in case you didn't know about it.

Stephen said...

I did know, although it's good to point out for those who don't. I was a philosophy major in college, and am a bit reluctant to read the series, afraid it's pitched too far down and/or will be too off... but that one strip is really good, so maybe I'll check it out some time.

Unknown said...

I think it's a great series, although I haven't read the various philosophers, so I'm pretty much a newbie to a lot of the concepts. A friend of mine that has read many of them does like it quite a bit though, so there's a bit of anecdotal evidence for you. He liked the earlier issues better than the more recent ones though, for whatever that's worth.