Quote of the Day
Feb 17, 2010 Quote of the Day, elitism, political framing, progressives, words
“The Science of Liberty.” How’s that for a definition of political science? Timothy Ferris at HuffPo:
Science is inherently antiauthoritarian: If a theory fails experimental test it doesn’t matter how smart or powerful its proponents may be. Science is also highly social: No one scientist knows enough to go it alone for long. Hence science thrives under liberalism, which protects freedom of property, speech, travel, and association. Their alliance has already freed more people from poverty, ignorance, and an early grave than every other approach in all recorded history combined. (Emphasis mine)
Ferris’s book sounds interesting:
In his most important book to date, award-winning author Timothy Ferris—”the best popular science writer in the English language today” (Christian Science Monitor)—makes a passionate case for science as the inspiration behind the rise of liberalism and democracy. Ferris argues that just as the scientific revolution rescued billions from poverty, fear, hunger, and disease, the Enlightenment values it inspired has swelled the number of persons living in free and democratic societies from less than 1 percent of the world population four centuries ago to more than a third today.
Ferris deftly investigates the evolution of these scientific and political revolutions, demonstrating that they are inextricably bound. He shows how science was integral to the American Revolution but misinterpreted in the French Revolution; reflects on the history of liberalism, stressing its widely underestimated and mutually beneficial relationship with science; and surveys the forces that have opposed science and liberalism—from communism and fascism to postmodernism and Islamic fundamentalism.
A sweeping intellectual history, The Science of Liberty is a stunningly original work that transcends the antiquated concepts of left and right.
Oooh! Sounds delightfully intellectual-elitist! And possibly even factually correct! There’s a diagram and everything…
Quote of the Day
Nov 12, 2009 Quote of the Day
Following Paul Krugman on Twitter so you can, too, I caught his blog post on Faux business Channel:
I gather that Fox Biz has managed to push up its morning ratings by hiring that great financial guru Don Imus. But that sort of proves the point; Fox Business can get viewers, but only by turning itself into … Fox News.
Quot erat demonstratum.
Quote of the Day
Sep 18, 2009 Glenn Beck, Quote of the Day
Deus Ex Malcontent on TIME Magazine writer David Von Drehle’s fawning comparison of Glenn Beck to Howard Beale:
“Beale raged against the artificial; Beck is the artificial.”
Meanwhile, dday has found a remarkably prescient video from Kids In The Hall that could easily serve as stand-in for Beck’s doom-bunker program:
Quote of the Day
Aug 9, 2009 Quote of the Day, sarah palin, sarah palin's speechwriter
Zandar Versus the Stupid on Sarah Palin:
It’s indicative of just how far the conservative brand has fallen. There are folks out there that will believe anything at this point just to keep from coming to grips with Barack Obama as President. Their elected GOP leaders have failed them: McConnell, McCain, Cantor, Boehner. Now the non-beltway types are running the show: Limbaugh, Gingrich, Beck and Palin. They control the narrative of the party. The elected leaders react to them now, not the other way around.
Adding:
Quote of the Day
Aug 8, 2009 Quote of the Day
Blogger Yves at Naked Capitalism:
“Consulting my Divine Comedy, I find lobbyists are relegated to the eighth circle of hell no matter how you cut and slice it, as either flatterers (second bolgia) or false advisors (bolgia
or falsifiers (bolgia 10, along with alchemists and perjurers). This puts them on the same general level as corrupt politicians (bolgia 5), although one could make a case they belong in the ninth circle, traitors.”
Quote of the Day
Jul 15, 2009 Quote of the Day
“I love the folks who helped get us in this mess and then suddenly say, ‘Well, this is Obama’s economy,’” the president told an outdoor crowd at Macomb Community College, veering off his scripted words. “That’s fine. Give it to me. My job is to solve problems, not to stand on the sidelines and harp and gripe.”
–Barack Obama, responding to criticism of his economic policy yesterday. (link)
