Andrew Sullivan's Blog, page 2597

Yglesias Award Nominee

by Chris Bodenner

"If the Muslims own that property, that private property, and they want to build a mosque there, they should have the right to do so. ... There's a question of whether it's too close to the 9/11 area, but it's a few blocks away, it isn't right there. … And there's a huge, I think, lack of support throughout the country for Islam to build that mosque there, but that should not make a difference if they decide to do it. I'd be the first to stand up for their rights," - Orrin...

Police, Firefighters, And Their Salaries, Ctd

by Patrick Appel

A reader writes:

I happened to be looking at the US Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment Statistics Survey just now on an unrelated topic, and found some national data on firefighters and police officers.  According to BLS, the 305,500 firefighters in the country earned an average of $47,270 (this is from a May 2009 survey, so it probably refers to 2008 wages).  The 641,590 "police and sheriff's patrol officers" earned an average of $55,180, and the 110,380...

Liberaltarianism Watch, Ctd

by Patrick Appel

Tim Lee seconds Massie:

Multi-party electoral systems like those in the UK and Germany leaveroom for parties that are (relative to the altnernatives, at least)socially liberal and fiscally conservative. And what ends up happeningis exactly what Brink Lindsey describes in his excellent book The Age of Abundance:libertarians (or liberals, as they're known in Europe) occupy a kind of"centrist" position, acting as junior coalition partners and moderatingthe big-government...

The Daily Wrap

Today on the Dish, we had reactions to the Glenn Beck rally here, here, and here. We examined the profit bias behind Beck, analyzed his reach, and awarded him our Hewitt award. We had more Mosque fear-mongering here while Conor condemned recent incitements to violence.

We measured Obama's record on torture and the lack of progress on trying detainees in the US. We compared liberalism in Europe and the US and a very generous maternity leave in Germany; and the expat travelogue got an infusion o...

How Our Professional Elites Are Hired

by Conor Friedersdorf

The details of how elite law and business consulting firms recruit astonish me every time I hear them. Even getting an interview often requires attending an Ivy League professional school or a very few top tier equivalents. Folks who succeed in that round are invited to spend a summer working at the firm, the most sane aspect of the process.

But subsequently, they participate in sell events where they're plied with food and alcohol in the most lavish settings imaginable: ...

Plastic Bermuda Triange

by Zoe Pollock

The graveyard for plastic bags in the Pacific, which may the "size of Texas to the size of the United States" seems to be getting smaller, despite all evidence that should point to the contrary:

The amount of plastic produced around the world increased fivefold between 1976 and 2008, and the amount thrown away by Americans went up fourfold between 1980 and 2008. It is a reasonable assumption that, as the amount of discarded plastic increases, so will the problem of oceanic...

"Progress Is Being Made"

by Patrick Appel

Col. Lawrence Sellin was made to leave Afghanistan for speaking plainly about military bureaucracy. He has a follow-up guest post over at Tom Ricks's place:

I think it is time for the American people to hold the seniormilitary leaderships' (colonels and up) feet to the fire. When theymake their reports to Congress, one can be sure that it is the bestpossible scenario that they can justify without lying. The phrase"progress is being made" should not be accepted as an answer. It...

Small-Town Pros

by Patrick Appel

Jonah Lehrer finds a correlation:

While approximately 52 percent of the United States population resides
in metropolitan areas with more than 500,000 people, such cities only
produce 13% of the players in the NHL, 29% of the players in the NBA,
15% of the players in MLB, and 13% of players in the PGA.

He provides several theories for why this is the case.

United States - National Hockey League - Major League Baseball - National Basketball Association - Population
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Lengthy Collaboration

by Conor Friedersdorf

Lorin Stein explains how the Paris Review conducts its interviews.

Paris Review - Arts - Rugrats Movies - Movies - Animation

The Annals of Long Form Journalism

by Conor Friedersdorf

Another great one from The Atlantic archives: "The Real War: 1939 to 1945" by Paul Fussell. He writes that for World War II veterans, "optimistic publicity and euphemism had rendered their
experience so falsely that it would never be readily communicable."

The piece is an effort to communicate it.

World War II - Paul Fussell - History - Twentieth Century - Wars and Conflicts