Bear with me. The sociogenesis of this post takes some strange twists.Scott Lemieux (of LGM fame) regularly points his readers to the latest idiocies of "political" film reviews. Today I followed his link-chain to alicublog's discussion of the par-for-the-course Mallard Fillmore "humor" about Brokeback Mountain (good film? bad film? you tell me; we have a toddler and a single income. I'm not even sure I remember what the inside of a movie...

While there is a great deal I would like to post about right now I am constrained by a paper deadline that is fast approaching (forget for the moment that it might be the worst paper I have written in years). So, until my plate is clear (approx. next Tuesday) I simply want to point out some developing stories to watch. Once the dust settles I will have lots to say about these stories. So for now....Sharon Undergoes Emergency SurgeryThe Israeli...

On September 15, 2002, when it was becoming increasingly probable that the US was gearing up to "liberate" Iraq, The Washington Post ran a front page story about the future of that state's oil. Reporters Dan Morgan and David B. Ottaway noted that Iraq had the world's second largest supply of proven oil reserves (112 billion barrels), which meant that toppling Saddam Hussein "could open a bonanza for American oil companies long banished from...

ALex Motyl summarizes the answer to the debate on Crooked Timber both eloquently and effectively:The United States expanded westward in a variety of distinctly imperial ways. But by eliminating local Spanish and Indian elites, extending U.S. military, legal, and administrative organizations into the acquired territories, and populating them with nonnative settlers, American built a state and not an empire. - Revolutions, Nations, Empires, p....

A new year brings new revelations. Erich Lichtblau and James Risen of the New York Times reports:WASHINGTON, Dec. 31 - A top Justice Department official objected in 2004 to aspects of the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program and refused to sign on to its continued use amid concerns about its legality and oversight, according to officials with knowledge of the tense internal debate. The concerns appear to have played a part...

Oh, goody! Another round of "is America an Empire?" in the academic blogsphere. Our path begins with Adloyda's criticism of Linda Colley's appearance on the BBC and her essay in the Guardian called "The US is now rediscovering the pitfalls of aspirational imperialism." Colley, whose book Captives : Britain, Empire, and the World, 1600-1850 is a great read, makes the standard arguments about the existence of a US informal empire created by its...

Interesting little flare up on the IR Rumor Mill "job-market discussion" thread over whether or not qualitative security scholars are "wasting their time" studying the British Emprie instead of doing work on "interesting" and "relevant" topics:I was really nonplusssed by the offerings of qualitative research in the international security pool. For God's sake, stop studying the British empire!And later:Rubbish, the post is not at all about...

Over at my blog, I've just published a followup to Bill's post last month on the William and Mary survey about the field of IR.After examining the list of the 25 most influential IR scholars in some detail, I've invited readers to answer these questions: What are the most influential IR books and articles published in the past 15 years (since 1990)? Who are the field's most important thinkers under age 50?Feel free to put answers in comments,...

Courtesy of Jenny, an interesting advice column from salon.com entitled "Should I leave grad school to be an activist?" [subscription, or watch a short ad to get access]. In a nutshell, what we have here is a philosophy grad student coming to grips with what most of us realize at some point in the course of our Ph.D. programs: academia is not some idyll within which people sit around in smoky cafes airily debating Revolution (or Being or Truth...

US District Court Judge John Jones ruled today that the policies passed by the old Dover PA school board forcing the teaching of Intelligent Design are unconstitutional. (For the full-text of the judgment click here.) Halleluiah. The best part about the ruling is that it is written by a Bush appointed judge who personally advocates Intelligent Design, so hopefully that little tidbit of information will help head off the inevitable call that the...

A hypothetical conversation between Kristol and Schmitt.Kristol: Gary, this is bad. What can we come up with in a few days?Schmitt: Well, Bill, I've got some arguments sitting around about how the President actually has unlimited powers in times of crisis...Kristol: Is it the old "Commander-in-Chief" argument? Everyone's making that one.Schmitt: Sort of. You know the President's oath?Kristol: I think I can remember. How does it go again?Scmitt:...

I have very little to add to the just hues and cries of outrage after Bush's press conference. Kieran Healy nails the narrative. Ezra Klein overviews the deceit:So Bush's only justification for his program is speed. Fine. Which is why this can't be said enough: FISA allows for immediate wiretapping without the consent of a judge. All you need to do is, three days later, go get a warrant.Let's put this another way. Say Bush gets word of a...