It should be clear but some of what I have written is sarcasm, abusing bombast and taking right wing positions I do not believe to highlight their absurdity. Unfortunately, this does not work well for people who do not actually know me or my positions and so I just sound like a confused, puddle-deep jerk. Jerk and confused, I could live with but I do want this writing to be useful for people who are not my close friends and family as well, so I am going to knock it off. Mostly.
The site has changed to reflect that and also because I screwed up the old design somehow. From now on, I will be posting a weekly bit from my national security class with David Cole. He is a good thinker and I like where his values lie.
Right now, I am reading The Terror Presidency by Jack Goldsmith and while there is nothing out-and-out wrong with the book, I cannot really recommend that you read it unless you are in law school, are interested in law school-ish thing, or are a huge geek for insider political structures. It is very interesting to me to hear Goldsmith's political and legal philosophies and how those played out in the decisions he made but a lot of the reasons those fights are interesting are pretty obscure legal arguments. I cannot imagine, say, my brothers who are both very intelligent people pursuing advanced degrees, getting a lot out of this book.
I have at least two issues from the book that merit writing about, though. Expect those in the coming days. They really illustrate a lot of what has been problematic about the Bush administration, at least to my mind. That is, I am sure, the point that Jack Goldsmith is making though I still have about forty pages to get through.
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