Afternoon News Roundup

Election Doubts In advance of its January 8 elections, Pakistan is facing further claims from opposition groups that President (no longer General) Musharraf is taking advantage of the fact that he has placed the country in a state of emergency. They allege he is using his power to assist politicians sympathetic to his cause. In Russia, Putin critic Gary Kasparov ends his candidacy for the Russian Presidency citing the structural barriers placed upon opposition parties by the current government. SoCon and Clintonian Overextension? While questions are being raised about the ability for Senator Clinton to win her party’s nomination for President, it seems that conservative stalwarts are starting to realize the consequences of their over-reliance upon the religious right. Peggy Noonan, former speechwriter for President Reagan, laments the emphasis social conservatives are placing on particular forms of religiosity as a sufficient criterion for meriting a vote in the primary. And, straight from the bosom of National Review, Rich Lowry is starting to panic about the prospect that SoCons may, indeed, opt for Huckacide. Try Anorexia Portfolio warns of the impending “meltdown” of the Food and Drug Administration. Over at the Economist, a fascinating story declares that food prices are rising (“agflation”) as a “self-inflicted result of America's reckless ethanol subsidies.” Postmodernism and Modern Warfare Even though "post-Continental" is all the rage, there are some still dedicated to exploring good, old-fashioned “postmodernist” ideas of power and the nation-state. Lévy on French Culture French theorist, and Tocqueville modernizer, Bernard-Henri Lévy confronts the recent Time article that proclaims the death of French culture. Founder and Fanatic The Boston Review features two extensive essays about two very relevant figures in American life. One essay examines Alexander Hamilton (perhaps, along with James Madison and Thomas Jefferson the most influential US Founder). The other is an introduction to Iran’s “pious populist,” Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Best of 2007 Pitchfork asks some of today's best bands and songwriters for recommendations about what they’ve been digging in 2007. And, the usually controversial and anachronistic, Armond White picks some very safe and essential releases for the best DVDs of 2007. Like Being-There (Sort Of) The New York Times features a story on one of the developing subgenres of Analytic Philosophy. Will Saletan has a few reactions. And for those few, dedicated American Continentals, the University of California, Berkeley has posted the complete Fall 2007 lecture series by Hubert Dreyfus on Division I of Heidegger’s Being and Time. Finally, Telos has published Jürgen Habermas’ academic eulogy of Richard Rorty.