A life in words

  • Standing Against the Tide

    [I’m not going to cite sources. I’m just going to give my thoughts.] Many people believe that the United States should execute a precipitous withdrawal from Iraq. I disagree. Indeed, I think that’s one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard! The Wrong Time to Withdraw There’s little debate about whether our reasons for going…

  • A Return to Blogism

    My good friend Michelle pointed out with disappointment that I hadn’t posted anything to my blog for months. I made her what I hoped wouldn’t become a hollow promise: to post, or, in other words, to return to blogism. Well, Michelle, here it is. The Past I’ve been spending a lot of time lately transcribing…

  • Followup Links

    These links seem relevant to my previous post: Myths and Realities of the George Bush Presidency Incumbent Politicians vs. The Long Tail [Very interesting initial analysis, though he goes a bit weird with the Virtual Federalism thing] The World Has Changed, Why Won’t the Fund and the Bank? [On the relevance of the World Bank…

He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them. But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side; if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion…. Nor is it enough that he should hear the arguments of adversaries from his own teachers, presented as they state them, and accompanied by what they offer as refutations…. He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them; who defend them in earnest, and do their very utmost for them. He must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form….John Stuart Mill, On LIberty