Booman Tribune ~ Comments ~ Markos, Jan Hamsher, Caroline Kennedy and us

Gift Cards * New Arrivals

NOTE: Overstock bests Amazon's prices and is "blue."

THE BOOKS WITH "BUZZ":
______________

Senator Edward M. Kennedy tells his extraordinary personal story:

True Compass: A Memoir
by Edward M. Kennedy.

Read Barack Obama's vision for America:

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
by Barack Obama

Boran2 and maryb2004 recommend:

The Big Over Easy: A Nursery Crime
by Jasper Fforde

Must-have information for all presidents-and citizens-of the twenty-first century?

Physics for Future Presidents: The Science behind the Headlines
Richard A. Muller

rae recommends:

Dark Ages America: The Final Phase of Empire
by Morris Berman.

On BooMan’s shelf:

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
by Doris Kearns Goodwin

This looks interesting:

Adventure Divas
by Holly Morris

Here’s a good one from
Elizabeth Gilbert:

Eat Pray Love
by Elizabeth Gilbert

"Crash" * Best Motion Picture, Academy Awards * Only $11.79 at Overstock * 2006 SAG Winner, Best Ensemble

Check out
Powell's new section:
NEW FAVORITES
Selected new arrivals at 30% off

Recommended by Indianadem and ejmw:
The Conscience of a Liberal
by Paul Wellstone

From northcountry’s bookshelf:

The New Golden Age:
The Coming Revolution Against
Political Corruption and Economic Chaos by Ravi Batra

A novel about contractors in Iraq from the woman that runs The Spy That Billed Me:

Outsourced: A Novel
from RJ Hillhouse.

Great Deals
----- * ^ * -----

Find mystery novels by Nancy Pickard ("Kansas")

Challenging Empire: How People, Governments, and the UN Defy US Power by Phyllis Bennis (interviewed on DN!)

Featured by Keith Olbermann, New (Powell's Sale): Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower by William Blum (whose other books merit serious consideration)

"Explosive" State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration
by James Risen

The book the CIA doesn't want you to read: Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA's Key Field Commander
Larry Johnson's review

BT's all-time best seller:

PERMACULTURE:
A Designers' Manual
$79.95 * Sale: $59.95

Unequal Sisters: A Multicultural Reader in U.S. Women's History (Third Edition)

The Undercover Economist: Exposing Why the Rich Are Rich, the Poor Are Poor And Why You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car!

The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl
by Timothy Egan

Green Press Initiative
----- * ^ * -----

Journalistas: 100 Years of the Best Writing and Reporting by Women Journalists by Eleanor Mills * NYT review

Bury Me Standing: the Gypsies & Their Journey

1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus

Brokeback Mountain
by Annie Proulx
----- * ^ * -----
Check out Powell's
"At The Movies"

Imperial Ambitions: Conversations on the Post-9/11 World by Noam Chomsky (Power & Terror: Post 9-11 Talks)

The Price of Privilege:

How Parental Pressure and
Material Advantage Are Creating a Generation of
Disconnected and Unhappy Kids
by Madeline Levine

Save 35-70% on
name brand clothing,
footwear, and outdoor gear
at SierraTradingPost.com
:

We listened to PEN American Center's "State of Emergency" and found 1940s books by Curzio Malaparte only at Alibris. (Selection (MP3) excerpted from "The Skin.")

Banned Books * Are you a fan of Film Noir, Art House, Documentaries or Hong Kong Action? * Searching for a long-lost children's book or a first printing of Miles Davis' Kind of Blue on vinyl? Find it at Alibris!

:
:

Markos, Jan Hamsher, Caroline Kennedy and us | 24 comments (24 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Markos, Jan Hamsher, Caroline Kennedy and us (none / 0)

Where were the torches and pitchforks in that North Carolina Senate race in 98? No where.

Nowhere. Because Edwards was actually willing to run for the office and get it by being elected. Or not get it if he wasn't elected.

Same story about Biden.

These are bad, bad comparisons. I'm sure there are better ones -- ones more advantageous to your position. But it's your job to look for them.

Actually being willing to run for the office -- or at least SOME office -- is one of the qualifications.

by no3reed on Wed Jan 28th, 2009 at 03:39:43 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Markos, Jan Hamsher, Caroline Kennedy and us (none / 0)

"Actually being willing to run for the office -- or at least SOME office -- is one of the qualifications."

Do you apply that standard across the board? If you do, that means anyone who files to run for office is de facto qualified. I can see the interviews now:

Reporter: "Sir, what are your qualifications?"
Candidate: "Well, I'm running aren't I madam?"
(Candidate walks away. Reporter jaw drops.)

It sounds like a Groucho Marx routine.

Now, if you're NOT willing to apply that standard across the board, you made it up just for Caroline, which proves my point.

by liberaljournal on Wed Jan 28th, 2009 at 01:06:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Markos, Jan Hamsher, Caroline Kennedy and us (none / 0)

To say that a person possesses one qualification for something is not to say that that person is qualified for it. There might be several other qualifications that the person lacks, which the person would have to have in order to be qualified.

This is elementary logic (and I stress "elementary") -- the difference between necessary and sufficient conditions.

Knowing the basic rules of thought can be a great asset. I recommend you learn them.

by no3reed on Wed Jan 28th, 2009 at 01:34:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Markos, Jan Hamsher, Caroline Kennedy and us (none / 0)

I used the terms "qualified" and "qualifications" because both terms were used interchangeably by Kennedy critics. If the line in my response with "qualified" in it bothers you, simply omit that sentence and read my response over. As a master of the rules of thought, you should quickly realize attacking my singular use of "qualified" doesn't help YOUR assertion that "being willing to run for office" is a "qualification" (Which is your central criticism of what I wrote). Again, my illustration:

Reporter: "Sir, what are your qualifications?"
Candidate: "Well, I'm running aren't I madam?"

Who in their right mind would say, "oh yeah, that's a qualification"?

Seriously, how long do you plan on continuing this charade?

by liberaljournal on Wed Jan 28th, 2009 at 03:16:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Markos, Jan Hamsher, Caroline Kennedy and us (none / 0)

Well, consider this:

Reporter: "Sir, what are your qualifications?"
Candidate: "Well, I can read."

Here too it would seem odd to respond, "Yes, that's a qualification." That doesn't mean that it isn't one; it clearly is, insofar as someone who lacked it would for that reason be unqualified. It's just a relatively trivial and commonplace one, one that we ordinarily take for granted. To point it out is to assert what should, as the saying goes, go without saying. I think "I'm running" sounds odd as an answer to that question for the same reason; we expect the speaker to tell us about the ones that aren't so easy to come by.

I still maintain that willingness to engage in politics (of the electoral variety) -- not to mention the ability to do so skillfully (something else we now know she utterly lacks) -- is one of the traits we ought to expect in somebody aspiring to political office (of the electoral variety). There may be very unusual circumstances in which this expectation should be dropped, but I do not see these to be such.

The brief answer to your initial question is this: Edwards and Biden skipped some steps, to be sure. Kennedy tried to skip all of them.

by no3reed on Wed Jan 28th, 2009 at 04:20:35 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Markos, Jan Hamsher, Caroline Kennedy and us (none / 0)

I don't accept that "willingness to run for office" is as fundamental as reading. It is simply your belief that it is so. You attempt to justify it, but I have to question the sincerity of your justification when you simultaneously shortchange her resume by saying she "tried to skip" "all the steps", and more steps than Biden or Edwards. She has as much formal education as they do. Her familiarity with education and civil liberties issues has more direct relevance to being a Senator than what Edwards did. And Kennedy helped choose Biden as Vice President. Making such an easily refuted assertion evidences a certain level of irrationality.

by liberaljournal on Wed Jan 28th, 2009 at 05:56:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Markos, Jan Hamsher, Caroline Kennedy and us (none / 0)

Nothing that I wrote suggested that it was as fundamental as reading. Do you understand how analogies work?

You love to use the jargon of critical argumentation in the process of getting off what you clearly think are devastating ripostes, but really ... you're so hopelessly confused a reader/arguer that this truly has become, as you said, a charade. Bye.

by no3reed on Wed Jan 28th, 2009 at 06:05:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Markos, Jan Hamsher, Caroline Kennedy and us (none / 0)

You bailed this time around because you proved my point. By totally shortchanging her resume you've demonstrated, again, that Kennedy critics are not using a fair measuring stick. As for the jargon of critical argumentation, let's not forget who began speaking of "rules of thought."

Of course, it was very classy of you to leave with yet veiled insult of my intelligence. I, for one, will leave it up to others to measure yours.

by liberaljournal on Wed Jan 28th, 2009 at 06:42:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Markos, Jan Hamsher, Caroline Kennedy and us | 24 comments (24 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

. Home
. About
. Contact
. Advertise
. FAQ
. Search

Username:
Password:

. Make a new account
. Reset password

Recommended Diaries

The Teabaggers and The Truth Of The Matter
by Arthur Gilroy - Mar 21
3 comments

Saturday Painting Palooza Vol.241
by boran2 - Mar 20
4 comments

Will Bloggers Rescue the Lehman Story?
by danps - Mar 20
1 comment

US General: Dutch Gays in Military to Blame for Massacre...
by Oui - Mar 19
7 comments

Thursday Dog Bog (with Toy Box)
by keres - Mar 18
16 comments

Saturday Sports: Basketball? No... The House of...
by btchakir - Mar 20

Friday Foto Flogging
by AndiF - Mar 19
83 comments

Israel thumbs its nose at Obama, again
by shergald - Mar 18
14 comments

Recommended World Diaries

US General: Dutch Gays in Military to Blame for Massacre...
by Oui (NL) - Mar 19
7 comments

Thursday Dog Bog (with Toy Box)
by keres (AU) - Mar 18
16 comments

"Sic Semper Tyrannis"
by Oui (NL) - Mar 18
1 comment

Recent Diaries

Keep Calling Congress So We Can Seal This Victory!
by Moses2317 - Mar 21

The Teabaggers and The Truth Of The Matter
by Arthur Gilroy - Mar 21
3 comments

Call Congress on Sunday for Health Care Reform
by Moses2317 - Mar 21

Saturday Sports: Basketball? No... The House of...
by btchakir - Mar 20

Will Bloggers Rescue the Lehman Story?
by danps - Mar 20
1 comment

Meet Shayna Bailey, Slow Food International
by borderjumpers - Mar 20

Saturday Painting Palooza Vol.241
by boran2 - Mar 20
4 comments

Getting Water to Crops
by borderjumpers - Mar 19

Friday Foto Flogging
by AndiF - Mar 19
83 comments

US General: Dutch Gays in Military to Blame for Massacre...
by Oui - Mar 19
7 comments

"Sic Semper Tyrannis"
by Oui - Mar 18
1 comment

Israel thumbs its nose at Obama, again
by shergald - Mar 18
14 comments

Innovation of the Week: Providing an Agricultural Answer to...
by borderjumpers - Mar 18

Thursday Dog Bog (with Toy Box)
by keres - Mar 18
16 comments

Juan Cole avenges former IDF Corporal Jeffrey Goldberg
by shergald - Mar 17
2 comments

1,000 Words About Uganda
by borderjumpers - Mar 17

It's Just A Kiss
by Forgiven - Mar 16

Senate Races Without a Democratic Candidate Yet
by Senate Guru - Mar 16

Creating Game Plans for Investment and Policy to Improve Food ...
by borderjumpers - Mar 16

1,000 Words About Zimbabwe
by borderjumpers - Mar 15
2 comments

More Diaries...

Booman Tribune Homepage
admin@boomantribune.com
powered by Scoop

More blogs about Blogs at Technorati.

Technorati Profile