Andrew Sullivan's Blog, page 2636

Oy

by Patrick Appel

Reid shamelessly comes out against the Cordoba community center. Sargent:

Reid basically threw the whole Dem caucus under the bus: With the
Senate leader at odds with the president, the media will press every
Senate Dem to declare which side they're on.

Weigel pulls his hair out:

There are a few things more pathetic than a Senate majority leader weighing in on an issue he would have power to affect if he repealed a law he helped pass.

Senate - Party leaders of the U...

A Mindblowing Magazine Story

by Conor Friedersdorf

I'm a long form journalism junkie.

My favorite practitioner is the peerless John McPhee, though some days I'd swear it's Lawrence Weschler or Ian Frazier or James Fallows or Gay Talese or Mark Bowden or Gene Weingarten, or whoever last wowed me. In 2008 and 2009 I offered roundups of my favorite stories, and I make frequent use of Instapaper, Readability, and LongForm.org.

In the spirit of Slow Journalism, I want to tell you about one of the more amazing stories I've ever ...

Mental Health Break

by Chris Bodenner

The Jackson 5 goes grunge:

Web Design and Development - Sports Related - Chris Bodenner - United States - Lisa Graham Keegan

Disincentivizing Dissent, Ctd

by Chris Bodenner

A reader writes:

Chris Beam misses a key point. 
Faculty without tenure don't just keep silent out of fear of losing
their chance at tenure. They keep silent out of fear of losing the
employment they already have. Take away tenure, and that fear not only
persists, but becomes permanent; there is no safe haven for any academics
to speak freely from, without fear of reprisal.

Another writes:

As someone in academia, I don't think Beam has much an idea of what tenure really is or...

Chain Reaction

by Conor Friedersdorf

Mark Halperin:

Yes, Republicans, you can take advantage of this heated circumstance,
backed by the families of the 9/11 victims, in their most emotional
return to the public stage since 2001.

But please don't do it. There are a handful of good reasons to oppose allowing the Islamic center to be built so close to Ground Zero, particularly the family opposition and the availability of other, less raw locations. But what is happening now — the misinformation about the...

"To Go Nuclear"

by Patrick Appel

Joshua Pollack asks Goldblog to clarify what he, and the officials he spoke to, meant by the term.

Middle East - Iran - Goldblog - Warfare and Conflict - United States

Running Towards America

by Patrick Appel

Douthat contends that America Muslims need extra help assimilating. Jamelle Bouie . Bernstein moderates:

I think both of them are missing the main actors here: the immigrantsthemselves, who in almost all cases have been pretty desperate toassimilate as quickly as possible.  That was true of the greatimmigration waves in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and it'strue of the great immigration wave now.  Of course, each group has hadvarious cultural bits and...

Sarah Owns Levi

by Chris Bodenner

Gryphen highlights this passage in the Bristol-Levi custody agreement:

The parties agree that they shall not allow the child to visit with, or interact with, any family member who publicly ... or in front of the child, criticizes the other parent or the other parent's family.

Italics mine. So it appears Palin has officially codified her blackmail of Levi. Mercede reacts to the agreement:

For awhile now I have been trying to get a copy of the deposition thatI gave in...

The Cultural Imperialism Of Poking

by Chris Bodenner

Alexia Tsotsis likes this music video:

It used to be that folks overseas would get their mass pop culture fix from old episodes of "Baywatch" and "Friends". Now that the Internet has replaced television as culture's primary modeof discourse, our currently most prevalent cultural artifacts (the"Like" button, LOLcats, @oldspice) have also permeated the arts on a global scale, most recently in the shockingly slick "N'Importe Comment" music video from French rappers Orelsan and

How Is Everyone Middle-Class?

by Patrick Appel

Last week John Avalon sympathized with families making $250,000 a year. Derek Thompson needled him in response:

I don't doubt it can be challenging to put two kids through privateschool and pay a mortgage on $250,000 a year in an expensive urbanarea, but I'm not convinced that those families' experience shouldguide our tax policy. Six million tax filers, or four percent of thecountry, bring home between $200,000 and $500,000 in cash income,according to the Tax Policy Center...