Bacevich: Get beyond ‘American exceptionalism’

At The Nation, Andrew Bacevich says that, until we get past American exceptionalism, our foreign policy will largely be more of the same, no matter which half of the two-party duopoly is in the saddle.

That would starts, he said, by junking the mythic patina of American exceptionalism that’s accumulated in the telling of the noble American non-imperial empire for the last 60 years.

Read the whole essay.

Beam my cell phone up, Scotty?

A Windows-based cell phone with an add-on that will let it work at least a little bit like Spock's or Bones' tricorder? Yes, Philip Radford worries he’ll pretend to walk fast say it is so, James Tiberius Kirk.

No Child Left Behind failing on minority gap

That’s one big problem with NCLB, but not the only one.

The biggest, IMO, is that the federal government didn’t use NCLB to force states to adopt a longer school year, closer to other developed nations.

Buffett - Don't buy that newspaper

Multibillionaire Warren Buffett said not only are newspapers not a good business now, bt

So do many others, they won't be in the future, either.

A no-duh statement, perhaps. But, by being made for the future as well as today, it's going to be chilling for the future of my profession.

Debate over Flores hobbits continues

I’m definitely not an evolutionary biologist or paleontologist, but it seems to me, the claim that the Flores hobbit fossils of Indonesia are a new species is, at the least, sounding more reasonable than before. With both teeth and wrist structure representing a lineage that did not come from Homo sapiens, it would seem, and dwarfism from island isolation looking less likely, it seems the “anti-species” side has more water to carry.

Sonia Sotomayor to replace Souter? Maybe

I think Sotomayor, as a woman and potentially the first Hispanic, is the odds-on favorite to replace David Souter on the Supreme Court.

So do many others, like the New York Daily News.

But, at the New Republic, Jeffrey Rosen says that, other than making a female and Hispanic quota, she doesn't have a lot to recommend herself.

Obama status quo with military, empire

Andrew Bacevich says that is highly unlikely the challenge “the Sacred Trinity of global power projection, global military presence, and global activism.” It’s called “presidentialism,” as Bacevich and other writers have recently reminded.

Cedar Hill councilman nearer to DalCo judge run?

Cedar Hill (Texas) City Councilman Wade Emmert told me recently he’s getting closer to making a decision on whether or not to run in the Republican primary for Dallas County Judge next year.

He added that, while State Rep. Helen Giddings would be a formidable general election opponent should she enter the Democratic primary and get the nomination, that wouldn’t sway his decision.

The Obama online coup vs. real online activism

That’s a subhead, and a great one, about halfway down John Stauber’s column about moving beyond MoveOn, aka Team Obama Cheerleaders, and using the Internet for real progressive change.

The “coup”?

Arguably the most important key to the success of President Barack Obama was his use of the Internet and his ability to harness it for publicizing his campaign, among young voters especially.

Wouldn’t disagree a bit.

Of course, MoveOn co-founder Joan Blades did, and does, plenty of Obama flacking over at Kos, another reason not to read the Orange Monster, though you do get some Obama critiquing there on occasion.

Stauber looks at both MoveOn and Kos and has suggestions for REAL online progressive activism, the next stage.

Polish pianist gets political

In the middle of a U.S. tour, Polish classical pianist Krystian Zimerman said he would no longer tour the U.S. until President Barack Obama stopped following in President Bush’s footsteps on a U.S. missile defense shield in Poland.

Read the full story for more about his past and present political stances and more.

Raise revenue AND fund finance-sector regulation

How? A financial transaction tax, Dean Baker says. Just consider it a small federal sales tax. Of course, if the finance sector is like Big Pharma, it will then insist on the right to name federal policemen itself.

Norway: Share the wealth in Arctic

Norway is calling for its fellow Arctic-bordering countries to increase cooperation on oil and gas exploration work and other natural resources development issues.