By the way, I don't think I've written that Nidal Malik Hasan is a terrorist. But, believe me, it's not because I pondered the aptness of the word. It's enough for me that, having killed 13 people (and wounded 28 others) because of his religious beliefs--yes, his religious beliefs--and surely also his deranged mind, he is a mass murderer.
Perhaps in responding to Jason, I wasn’t clear about why I don’t think we have grounds yet for calling Nidal Hassan’s act an act of terrorism. Let me try once more, and let me make one thing clear: I am not ruling out that it was, and I don’t require that he admit it was.
Jason Zengerle argues that if one calls Scott Roeder’s killing of abortion doctor George Tillman a terrorist act, then one has to call Nidal Hassan, who perpetrated the Fort Hood massacre, a terrorist because his actions were “motivated, in part, by religious and political views.” I don’t think I agree with Jason – at least given the evidence to date about Nidal Hassan’s motives.
Republicans are proclaiming victory after their candidates won statehouses in New Jersey and Virginia. And well they should. These were both states that went for Barack Obama in 2008. But how much do these elections really say about Obama and the prospects of the national Democratic Party? Some network commentators, citing suspiciously high approval ratings for Obama in New Jersey and Virginia, claim the elections say nothing at all about the president and his party.
Democrats habitually tell themselves that Republicans are the ones who forfeit the public trust, perhaps by dint of character. And there are so many cases of members of Congress (and appointees in the executive branch) who want that Grand Old Party to be a grand old party only for themselves that this partisan skewing of the corrupt seems almost plausible.
But it is not. This endemic corruption is, in fact, perhaps the one part of public life that is truly and lastingly bipartisan.
In today's The Wall Street Journal, Tyler Grimm takes a trip to Johnstown, PA, where he reports despondently on the John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport, which services roughly 30 people a day and has received over $130 million in federal assistance over the course of 20 years thanks to earmarking efforts of Representative John Murtha.
I've fallen victim to one of the classic blunders, right after never going in against a Sicilian when death is on the line, which is: don't get into an argument with a libertarian about anything, really, but especially about guns. But, alas I have, so I'll go one more round on this with Megan McArdle (and her tag-team partner Will Wilkinson) and then I promise I'll be done.
McArdle writes:
Check out James Parker's ode to the Orange Line which ran in yesterday's Globe. I agree with all of it. My only quibble: Why no mention of Ruggles? Is there any other subway stop in the U.S. with a name that rolls off the tongue with as much zest as Ruggles?
--Jason Zengerle
Ta-Nehisi Coates, reminiscing about the hours he spent as a kid looking for meaning in the liner notes and cover art of his hip-hop albums, writes:
When the culture of celebrity changed, and hip-hop morphed into that culture, my relationship with it changed--suddenly I knew too much. I miss the old "not knowing," and have gotten some of that feeling back in my time in the museum. There is so much to imagine. So much to wonder about.
