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One of my first posts here was about the High Line, an abandoned elevated railway in Manhattan. As such, I would be remiss not to note the continued efforts to save it.
Aug. 3rd, 2003
I’m not the only one writing IC UA journals. The Moody Reviews is by Tim Toner, and it is pretty darned good reading, cause that Tim Toner guy can write.
My name is Darryl (*HI, DARRYL!*), and I used to be a doctor. See, I was finishing my residency, when I ran afoul of a little bureaucratic bullshit. I was kicked to the curb, and just like that, I ended a glorious career as a surgeon before I even began it. Now I’m a telemarketer, but that’s not really relevant to what happened. What’s relevant is that I’m living with a drug dealer.
Oh, no, not the gangsta kind, who wants to put a cap in yo ass and all. E’s the best fucked up father figure a fucked up kid could ask for. He’s a chemist of the old school, who believed you could drop a few tabs of acid, and see through time or whatnot. I can’t really complain about the morality of what he does, because it’s meant food in my belly and a roof over my head ever since I was ten. I try to stay out of his way most of the time, and lend a hand with a few unfortunate OD’s. People live their lives before they come to E’s, and if they’re already fucked up when they pass his threshhold and don’t tell him before stepping into the shooting gallery, then that’s just really unfortunate. I’m not passing judgement in any direction. E provides a service and does it in a fair and honest manner. I can’t fault him for anything.
Randy Barnett gives Den Beste much stroke over at the Volokh Conspiracy. While I think Den Beste is skimming over some issues, I must credit him with linking to someone who refutes him nicely. So no picking on Den Beste today.
Nah. Let’s quote Barnett instead. The emphasis is his.
Funny, how you have to read blogs or websites like NRO to learn ANYTHING about what is or may be really going on. The news media is hopeless. Bias to one side, you simply cannot be informed by reading or listening to the mainstream press.
So, ah, where did Randy think Den Beste got his facts? I mean, Den Beste doesn’t actually have any sources that are denied to the rest of us; he learned what he knows about the current state of North Korean diplomacy by reading the BBC and ABC News, just like you and I. You can tell, because he links to their sites to establish his facts. He then analyzes those facts and presents his conclusions.
Randy, in his enthusiasm, confuses “being informed” with “accepting someone else’s conclusions.” This is dangerous. We have, in this era of the Internet, more sources of information available to us than ever before. Many of them are false. It’s vital that we learn to assess primary sources for ourselves; it’s vital that we learn to reach our own conclusions.
Den Beste is not running a news site, nor does he claim to be. He’s running an opinion site. We shouldn’t confuse the two. Read his opinions, by all means — but then go to the same sources he uses, and others, and decide for yourself if his conclusions match yours. Simply reading an opinion, or even many opinions, does not cause one to be informed.
Daily Kos speculates on Iowa caucus maneuvering, which might make one wonder why anyone cares about the Iowa caucuses at all. He’s outlined a scenario under which Kerry supporters might throw their votes to Gephardt in order to derail a Dean victory. And yep, that’s about the kind of thing that happens in caucuses.
I don’t think it really requires cell phones to happen, though; Kerry’s campaign can make that decision the night before and pre-arrange the votes instead of waiting till the last moment. They’d sacrifice up to the moment decision making, but they’d gain reliability.
Either way, it’s all a game of perceptions.