Andrew Sullivan's Blog, page 2596

The Pakistani Rubix Cube

by Patrick Appel

Steve Coll fidgets with it:

Economic growth is not a panacea for social ills or political disarray, but policies designed to unleash Pakistan's economy during the next decade are far more likely to reduce the threat of Taliban-inspired revolution than are military operations and drone strikes. Examples of success exist: Indonesia, which, like Pakistan, has a large Muslim population and implausible borders left behind by imperialists, suffered badly a decade ago from...

A Democratic Bloodbath?

by Patrick Appel

Nate Silver parses this Gallup poll, which gives Republicans a 10 point advantage, "higher than any previous midterm Republican advantage in Gallup's history of tracking the generic ballot, which dates to 1942":

Gallup's survey — and some other generic ballot polls — are stillpolling registered rather than likely voters, whereas its polls oflikely voters are generally more reliable in midterm elections. AtFiveThirtyEight, we've found that the gap between registered and...

Protesting Too Much, Ctd

by Chris Bodenner

Kevin Drum struggles with how to deal with the mixed messages sent by what Hitchens calls the "white fright" of Beck followers:

What is the right way to talk about this? I think Bob [Somerby:] has apoint: calling people stupid racists just isn't very bright. For themost part it probably isn't true, and even to the extent it is, it'sbad electoral politics to harp on it. Calling an individual personracist for some particular action is fine if it's justified. Ditto forspecific...

Making a Mockery of Advocating Limited Government

by Conor Friedersdorf

The Heritage Foundation has found a new Vice President for Domestic and Economic Policy Studies: David Addington.

Mr. Addington is a brilliant policy expert with over twenty years of senior experience at all levels and branches of governance. As a trusted advisor to two White Houses, the Defense Department and four congressional committees, Mr. Addington understands Washington and how policy ideas become law.  Most recently, Mr. Addington served in the Office of the Vice...

For Stupid's Sake, Ctd

by Patrick Appel

Christian Lorentzen thinks Judd Apatow movies romanticize stupidity.  Serwer :

Apatow movies always cleverly acknowledge the extent to which American
masculinity is a performance, and how our internalized obligation to
perform it makes us do really stupid things.

Judd Apatow - Movies - Arts - Paul Rudd - People

The Internet's Latest Victim

by Chris Bodenner

The OED? Curt Hopkins starts the grieving process.

Google - Searching - Search Engines - Programming - Tools

Three Years Maternity Leave, Ctd

by Patrick Appel

Rebecca Ray, Research Associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, answers my question via e-mail:

writing to pass on a new report my colleagues and I wrote on
subject: "Who Cares? Assessing generosity and gender equality
parental leave policy designs in 21 countries," in the July edition
the Journal of European Social Policy.

We specifically examinehow a generously-designed parental leave policy is not necessarily agender-equal policy, and vice...

Christianity In America

By Conor Friedersdorf

There are several recent posts on the subject that are worth your while. In The New York Times, Ross Douthat has a column and a blog post about the religious aspects of the Glenn Beck phenomenon. 

Russel D. Moore observes the same rally and doesn't like what he sees. I wonder how the tension between evangelicals and Mormons will play out.

Observing another event with Christian overtones, Tom Junod of Esquire worries that religion is being used by the powerful as a cynical ...

A (partial) Defense Of Diamonds

by Patrick Appel

Conor opposes diamond engagement rings, calling them "the
ultimate sucker's purchase." I've advocated this same position in the past, but here's a passage, from Paul Bloom's excellent How Pleasure Works, that made me think twice:

[Psychologist Geoffrey Miller's first insight about costly signaling is the idea:] that displays of personal quality are only taken seriously if they involve some cost, some level of difficulty or sacrifice. If anyone can easily do the display, then...

About My Job: The Dating Coach

by Conor Friedersdorf

A male reader writes:

I'm a professional dating coach (a la the movie "Hitch). I try not to associate with the "Pick Up Artist" moniker, but some refer to it as that as well.

This is what people don't get about the whole recent men's pick-up-chicks advice going on the last five years or so: it's basically self-help in disguise. Most of the time and effort is dedicated getting socially maladjusted and frustrated men some basic social skills, more in-touch with their...