Andrew Sullivan's Blog, page 2844

Solar Panels Don't Run Your Car, Yet

Keith Hennesy isn't a fan of the term "fossil fuels":

Someday when battery technologies improve, the fuel and power worldswill blend in the U.S., and there will be strong and direct economicrelationships between the production of electric power and the use ofoil.  Until that day, from an energy perspective,"fossil fuels" conflates oil with coal and natural gas in a way that isat best confusing and at worst misleading.  Substituting biofuels foroil or making vehicles more fuel efficient has...

The Office, RIP

Seth Godin gives the last rites:

If we were starting this whole office thing today, it's
inconceivable we'd pay the rent/time/commuting cost to get what we get.
I think in ten years the TV show 'the Office' will be seen as a quaint
antique.

When you need to have a meeting, have a meeting. When
you need to collaborate, collaborate. The rest of the time, do the
work, wherever you like.

The gain in speed, productivity and happiness is massive.

Seth Godin - Office - Television...

The Daily Wrap

Today on the Dish, Andrew took a long look at Obama's competence in the face of the media and partisan critics on both sides. Amen from a reader. Boehner distanced himself from Barton's "shakedown" comments while NRO backed the charge. The employment forecast didn't look good. More on Britain's war crimes here. Palin blurred the truth again, Julian Sanchez addressed her views on pot, readers piled on her O'Reilly appearance, and E.D. cheered the Dish's efforts.

In other coverage, Tom Gross

Palin And Pot, Ctd

 

Julian Sanchez is "surprised and pleased to discover that Sarah Palin is willing to publicly declare recreational marijuana use a 'minimal problem' that ought to be low on police priority lists," but he challenges her rationale for keeping marijuana illegal. She thinks "that [legalization:] would just encourage our young people to think that it was OK to go ahead and use it." Julian:

There are all sorts of things that are legal for adults but notchildren, and it seems perverse to suggest...

NRO Repeats Barton's Point

Their reporter at the BP hearings agrees with the substance of Barton's remarks, just not the way he said it:

Oh, and for the record, I agree in part with Rep. Barton that the establishment of the escrow fund — over and above the claims process that is already in place, and run by an Obama administration hack sold as an "independent third party" — is, if not illegal, than at least extra-legal, and another example of Democrats' selective disdain for the rule of law when it gets in the way of a...

If Obama Kills Bin Laden The Terrorists Win

Jonathan Bernstein is in awe of Andy McCarthy's reasoning skills.
















Osama bin Laden - Terrorism - Terrorist Organizations - al-Qaida - United States

Getting Shit Done, Ctd

A reader writes:

Bless their hearts, many of my closest friends are hardcore lefties (and -- dare I say it? -- former humanities majors, *sigh*), and I love them with all my heart, but omg, they are getting on my last nerve.  I'm an old yellow dog Democrat, like my daddy and his daddy before him, and God knows I don't like watching the Gulf of Mexico fill up with crude oil any more than they do, but they need to (a) grow up and stop living out of the emotional, lizard part of their brain all...

Guns Or Butter?

Josh Green asks the President to consider cutting defense:

Bringing the deficit under control is a zero-sum game. Eventually, we'll have to raise taxes and cut spending. As budget pressure grows, the nearly $1 trillion in military cuts proposed by the [The Sustainable Defense Task Force:] could look appealing. One way of getting this done is through the president's Deficit Reduction Commission, which will recommend a package of cuts to Congress in December for an up-or-down vote. The...

Face Of The Day

A character from Killzone 3 menaces players in the Sony Playstation 2 exhibit in the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) at the Los Angeles Convention Center on June 16, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. The Entertainment Software Association expects 45,000 people to attend the E3 expo featuring more than 250 gaming industry publishers and developers such as Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony. By David McNew/Getty Images.

Los Angeles - Electronic Entertainment Expo - Los...

Why Palin Matters

E.D. Kain defends my vigilance toward Palin:

Regardless of her electoral chances, Palin is nonetheless a bellwether
of sorts – a bizarre prophet of the right – a John the Baptist for
American conservatism. Sharron Angle
is proof of that. I worry more about her successor than the
once-and-sort-of-former Governor of Alaska. Someone who is just as
crazy but a better salesman – a well spoken, intelligent lunatic, at
once charismatic and fiercely 'merican.

List of Governors of Alaska ...