- Thai coup: Earlier this year Joshua Kurlantzick wrote a piece which provides background for what’s happening in Thailand. He notes how the (past?) prime minister’s strong-arm tactics have apparently backfired:
Terrorism and insurgencies provide elected officials with an opportunity to exploit an inherent weakness of democracies–the willingness, even eagerness, of their citizens to hand near-authoritarian powers to strong leaders in return for the promise of security. But the lesson of the last five years is that authoritarian tactics tend not to quell insurgencies, but to make them worse. And when that happens, democracies exhibit an inherent strength: their tendency to demand accountability.
Apparently, that’s what we saw yesterday, though not in the most democratic of processes.
Billmon wonders how the Bush administration will respond to the coup:Either way, though, I’m guessing the “principles of democracy” will be plenty flexible enough to allow Shrub to give the new military government his tacit blessing.
That is, assuming the generals don’t support Roe v. Wade or stem cell research or anything Satanic like that. I mean, Thailand may be important, but you gotta draw the line somewhere.Funny how the world usually doesn’t work out to be as black and white as “freedom” versus “the evildoers.”
- Filibuster for torture: Senator Frist threatens a filibuster against an anti-torture bill. Makes one proud to be a Tennessean, doesn’t it?
- Housing starts: Professor Hamilton examines the data and concludes that it’s been 40 years since housing has taken a comparable slide to our current one without producing a corresponding recession.
- Double standard: Female substitute teacher who had sex with a minor isn’t sentenced to jail time. During sentencing, the judge noted that a male defendant would probably have been incarcerated.
- Bluegrass State turning orange: Amid much fanfare, Maysville, KY, gives Coach Bruce Pearl the keys to the city and makes him an honorary Kentucky Colonel.