Andrew Sullivan's Blog, page 2640

Disincentivizing Dissent

Chris Beam makes the case for nixing tenure:

The most common pro-tenure argument is that it protects academic freedom. Once a professor gains tenure, the thinking goes, he or she can say anything without fear of being fired. Academia thrives on the circulation of dangerous ideas.

The problem is, for every tenured professor who's liberated at age 40 to speak his mind, there are dozens of junior professors terrified to say anything the least bit controversial, lest they lose their one shot at...

"I'm In Total Control"

A seasoned writer ditches the publishing industry:

Anyone who is computer savvy can become a publisher these days. I know, because I've just become one. I'mnow Ray Connolly, writer, editor-in-chief and head of marketing ofPlumray Books, and any one of the 2 billion computer-owning people inthe world who wants to read my new novel, The Sandman, can do so at theclick of a mouse. It's being serialised chapter by chapter on my website where, over the next 10 weeks, it will build like a part-work...

Mental Health Break

About time for another tilt-shift timelapse:

Arts - Mental health - Health - Web Design and Development - Sports Related

Busboy vs Whelan

An excellent rebuttal on Frum's site of the hyperventilation of NRO's Ed Whelan.
















Politics - Same-sex marriage - NRO - Law - Gay Lesbian and Bisexual

Anti-Biography

A music critic explains why he doesn't care about the private lives of songwriters:

To trace anybody's work, what they produce, what they put into the world, what you or I respond to, to somebody's life, their biography, is utterly reductionist. It's simply a way of protecting ourselves from the imagination, from the threat of the imagination. Some people are very uncomfortable with the idea they can be moved, they can be threatened, they can be thrilled by something that is just made up.

John...

Face Of The Day

By Carli Davidson (who also appears to have shot Stains).

Hosting - Web Design and Development - Free - Personal - Bank of Japan

Cardinal O'Malley Backs Obama On Religious Freedom

Most encouraging:

"During the interview she also asked me about the plan to build a mosque in New York, very close to Ground Zero. I told her it is a sign of the value we have for freedom in this country, and for religious freedom in particular. We certainly do not want to support groups that promote terrorism, but there are many American citizens who are Muslim, and they have a right to practice their faith. Having a mosque near the site of the attack can be a very important symbol of how...

Yglesias Award Nominee

"An enormously complex and emotional issue -- but ultimately the right thing to do. A president is president for every citizen, including every Muslim citizen. Obama is correct that the way to marginalize radicalism is to respect the best traditions of Islam and protect the religious liberty of Muslim Americans. It is radicals who imagine an American war on Islam. But our conflict is with the radicals alone," - Michael Gerson, former speech-writer for George W. Bush.

Amen to every bit of...

An Insight Into Today's Right, Ctd

Even NRO dissents. A reader writes:

I don't think you really appreciate the magnitude of the insanity of that list of the 25 worst Americans.  Just think, FDR, the man who led us through the Great Depression and to victory over Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan is apparently "worse" than a terrorist who murdered 168 people in cold blood, including children (not to mention FDR apparently is worse than spies who handed nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union and Lincoln's assassin).

I'm beginning to...

Losing It

Prop 8 supporters seem to be having a bit of a meltdown:

In its 73-page appeal, which was filed Thursday, ProtectMarriage repeatedly accused Walker of distorting the evidence from a trial he presided over in January."The district court simply ignored virtually everything — judicial authority, the works of eminent scholars past and present in all relevant academic fields, extensive documentary and historical evidence, and even common sense — opposed to its conclusions," the group...