by Brian Rathbun | 27 Aug 2012 |
THE CANARD "All the fake news that's fit to print." --New Orleans The god of tolerance struck down with fury yesterday, unleashing a mighty hurricane headed for New Orleans that forced the American Political Science Association to cancel the first day of its annual conference. The organization had thumbed its nose at the god, choosing to convene their enormous meeting in a city that is in a state that discriminates against gays and lesbians by...
by Dan Nexon | 27 Aug 2012 |
Heather Hurlburt parses the RNC foreign-policy platform: "Politico found what seems to be a close-to-final draft on the RNC's website. The national security section, titled "American Exceptionalism" is here. Below I have gone through and blogged some of the more mendacious and ridiculous content. But what's the short take: the Middle East, Israel and Iran sections are more reasonable than an observer of recent rhetoric from the Romney camp...
by Steve Saideman | 27 Aug 2012 |
As the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association may face cancellation due to Hurricane Isaac, there is only one thing to do: wildly speculate how APSAHungerGames would play out in 2012.* Spawned on twitter by @whinecough, an ABD (all but dissertation) on the job market, the idea is that in a hurricane-swept New Orleans, the APSA convention-goers must compete to survive.* We honestly hope that all folks make it to and from...
by Patrick Thaddeus Jackson | 26 Aug 2012 |
Because not everyone reads comment threads, in part because of the way that people engage with The Duck via RSS readers, and because think the questions involved are really important ones, I'm going to post my reaction to PM's "Yes, I do envy physicists"as a separate post of its own:Man, I was right with you until your advance response to commenters. Making "data and its analysis central to the undergraduate experience" -- a.k.a. emphasizing...
by PM | 26 Aug 2012 | Featured
Even the Evil League of Evil has peer review.One of the laziest sneers directed at us social scientists who use math and statistics in our research is that we suffer from "physics envy."Ha! It sounds like penis envy! It's a quip that will slay them dead around the seminar table!Well, I do use math in some of my work (to my great surprise). I also have a couple of working papers (soon, inshallah, to be articles) that have lots and lots of tables...
by Laura Sjoberg | 26 Aug 2012 |
If you order from Cafe Press on Amazon, tshirts can get delivered by Tuesday - in time to tell APSA that, even if you're going to the conference, you haven't forgotten that APSA is wrong on this issue. Sorry for the late announcement - my to-do list got a little backed up ...
by Laura Sjoberg | 25 Aug 2012 |
The left (and even the semi-left) has been legitimately stewed in the past week or so about Todd Akin's remarks about rape. Akin is apparently under the impression that women can't get pregnant from "legitimate rape," thus simplifying the whole ugly and complicated abortion-as-a-result-of-rape debate. Others have showed what an asshole this guy is - I have no need to repeat that here. What I liked about the responses to the...
by Dan Nexon | 25 Aug 2012 |
From Jeffrey C. Isaac, the editor of Perspectives on Politics:I am very happy to report that Melissa Harris-Perry just held up a copy of the new Perspectives on Politics on her MSNBC show and quoted me (!!) about "Post-Katrina New Orleans and the Politics of Reconstruction," the theme of our new 10th anniversary issue!! The "play" she gave our journal on the air was greatly appreciated....I believe that the current issue of Perspectives is the...
by Dan Nexon | 25 Aug 2012 |
The emergence of Ahn Cheol Soo as a contender in the upcoming South Korean election (via B&T).Chris Clary on Pakistan's nuclear program. Zenpundit reflects on the precarious position of the National Defense University. A knowledgable and connected friend sends me a link to Foreign Policy's "silly" list of Top 50 Republican international-affairs experts. Friend's comment: "there are only 2-3 non-crazy people on this list."This Charlie Cook piece...
by Dan Nexon | 25 Aug 2012 |
Love this song. Not sure about the video.
by Patrick Thaddeus Jackson | 25 Aug 2012 |
Steve Walt opines that "would-be foreign policy wonks" should basically get a classical liberal-arts education, and he uses a traditional justification for this: "In world that is both diverse and changing rapidly, a broad portfolio of knowledge is almost certainly the best preparation for a long career in the field." I'd amend that somewhat, and say that a broad liberal-arts education -- which isn't about gaining a portfolio of knowledge or...
by Dan Nexon | 24 Aug 2012 |
Indonesia's foreign minister warns of "deeper divisions" between China and ASEAN over South China Sea.Taylor Favrel and Dennis J. Blasko assess the new PLA South China Sea garrison Mark Hibbs writes about the risks IAEA inspectors face in Iran. Justin Gengler discusses even yet more depressing developments in Bahrain. Dan Trombly: "No-Fly Zones and Dangerous Labels."Marc Lynch plugs "Morsi's Egypt."I think it would make Cliff Bob happy if I...