tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43820424535506127242011-11-27T16:22:04.714-08:00dispatches from inside the world's superpowerChris Livingston Jr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14545854771087260180noreply@blogger.comBlogger211100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382042453550612724.post-43097732783675167152010-07-21T11:42:00.000-07:002010-07-21T14:10:18.463-07:00

As I write this article, I am sitting five minutes from the Focus on the Family headquarters. I find myself so close to the belly of the American Evangelical Christian beast, by virtue of a brief portion of my self-imposed "sabbatical" in Colorado Springs-- and I must say that the location for Jim Dobson's Christian empire is fitting. In this state, Colorado Springs plays the part of the state's

Chris Livingston Jr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14545854771087260180noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382042453550612724.post-70442986741105036082010-07-13T13:02:00.000-07:002010-07-13T13:21:18.058-07:00

[This open letter to Mr. Fareed Zakaria is in reference to an interview he did with a radical Muslim on CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS". The videos of that interview are included at the bottom of the post]Mr. Zakaria,I would like to thank you for your interview with Anjem Choudary. It was an enlightening exchange, and a valuable window into the psyche of an Islamic extremist. Your show has a record of

Chris Livingston Jr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14545854771087260180noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382042453550612724.post-12207195035883946842010-07-09T18:12:00.000-07:002010-07-09T18:54:54.356-07:00

A few weeks ago I took a spur-of-the-moment trip with my friend Dan down to Panama City Beach. While the only items on our agenda consisted of relaxation and light boozing, the timing was a matter of necessity—we were determined to enjoy the beach one last time before the oil washed ashore. At this time Panama City Beach was one of the only beaches left in Florida that hadn’t been tarnished by

Chris Livingston Jr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14545854771087260180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382042453550612724.post-56911217483375926832010-07-04T08:37:00.000-07:002010-07-04T09:01:53.829-07:00

Just a few days ago I took a long drive from Alabama to Colorado. Sometimes, on long drives like this, I’ll quit listening to my CD’s and begin cycling through the local radio stations. When I do listen to the radio, I have this habit, some might call it unhealthy, of listening to right wing talk radio. These programs, by the way, are broadcast nationally, and I could manage to pick them up even

Chris Livingston Jr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14545854771087260180noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382042453550612724.post-30674358135080703312010-06-18T12:23:00.000-07:002010-06-18T12:35:30.889-07:00

American Commentary readers, be prepared to take another trip into the rabbit hole. If you haven’t heard of the Franklin Scandal, the story is so bizarre it will seem impossible to be true. But if you do a little looking into the background of this case, it immediately becomes clear that at the very least, something fishy has transpired. Wikipedia actually has a pretty good summary of the

Chris Livingston Jr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14545854771087260180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382042453550612724.post-6629838480234646702010-06-10T23:23:00.000-07:002010-06-11T08:38:10.567-07:00

American Commentary readers, get ready to go down the rabbit hole. Today I interviewed Hank Albarelli on his new book, “A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA’s Secret Cold War Experiments”. It covers a broad range of shocking CIA activities, from drug testing, to assassination. This book is a work of serious scholarship, that came out of 10 years of tireless research. Mr.

Chris Livingston Jr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14545854771087260180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382042453550612724.post-60184805647287971002010-06-03T00:10:00.000-07:002010-06-03T13:30:19.890-07:00

“Do not go back on base again!”I was just on my way to the gym to get my afternoon workout in when I had received a frantic phone call from Phil, a friend of mine who works in Maxwell Air Force Base’s Air University.“Do you have any reason to go back to the base?”“No”, I responded, “I’ve already done all my outprocessing”“Good, so like I said before, don’t go back to the base.”Phil’s trepidation

Chris Livingston Jr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14545854771087260180noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382042453550612724.post-37234363726546750622010-05-26T21:23:00.000-07:002010-05-26T21:49:28.823-07:00

During my time in the American South I’ve heard a number of things come out of peoples’ mouths that shocked and disappointed me. I’ve gotten so used to the typical prejudices in Alabama, that most of the various forms of bigotry cease to surprise me anymore, but every once in awhile I will still hear something that will strike me and linger with me.This story transpires on a Saturday, probably

Chris Livingston Jr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14545854771087260180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382042453550612724.post-39941514270461121322010-05-17T21:08:00.000-07:002010-06-03T01:15:00.038-07:00

[Update: writing this blog post drew the ire of senior officers on the Air University faculty, who were fully postured punish me under the military's disciplinary system. You can read all about these events in my follow up to this post, "Under the Guise of Academic Freedom"]The first time I saw Mikey Weinstein speak to a military crowd I left feeling very hopeful. Several months ago, Lt General

Chris Livingston Jr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14545854771087260180noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382042453550612724.post-1151299927815245412010-05-13T00:03:00.000-07:002010-05-13T00:36:44.829-07:00

Much of the public rhetoric regarding the War on Terror is framed in such a way that any debate, on the rare occasion there is one, focuses on whether or not the war efforts are worth the fight against terrorism. Does it cost too much? Are too many American lives lost? A larger and more central question seems to go routinely unaddressed: is the war on terrorism even accomplishing its mission?

Chris Livingston Jr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14545854771087260180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382042453550612724.post-66585246402907241692010-05-03T12:14:00.000-07:002010-05-03T12:33:41.569-07:00

Almost since its inception, the country George Washington proudly referred to as the “infant empire” has been deploying military forces to the farthest reaches of the globe. From the Barbary Coast, to the Philippines, to Nicaragua, to Haiti, to Vietnam, to ongoing operations in Iraq, a thorough study of American foreign policy yields a long and unbroken record of foreign military interventions

Chris Livingston Jr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14545854771087260180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382042453550612724.post-47631945074106584262010-04-26T17:20:00.000-07:002010-05-07T21:27:49.492-07:00

“Get out. Out! Ok, thanks, nice knowing you, I got work to do.” Mikey Weinstein is huddled over his computer in his den, typing feverishly as he orders us away. His girls scurry out of his office and I follow close behind. We mill around in the living room of the Weinstein house, which sits at the foot of the Sandia Mountains in Albuquerque, New Mexico.A minute passes. “Hey come here guys! Come

Chris Livingston Jr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14545854771087260180noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382042453550612724.post-82774589539208481292010-04-20T23:54:00.000-07:002010-04-22T07:00:06.046-07:00

All the posts you can find below are imports from my old blog, thetea-party.com. I've reposted them all with their original publishing date. With all the rage that is the current "tea party" movement these days, I thought it would be best to scrap the entire domain name. After all, in my writing I have always tried to avoid the hallmarks of the current tea party movement- lots of screaming and

Chris Livingston Jr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14545854771087260180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382042453550612724.post-41360810332289441772010-04-20T23:35:00.000-07:002010-04-20T23:50:24.012-07:00

July 26, 2009So Mark Sanford, Republican governor of South Carolina, literally gets up and leaves town for a week to visit his Argentine mistress. An accomplished career politician is somehow compelled to completely abandon his post and the constituency who elected him to fly down to Argentina for a sex romp?! If nothing else, this episode is a testament to the beauty of Argentina’s women!I

Chris Livingston Jr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14545854771087260180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382042453550612724.post-23201674973434826462010-04-20T23:27:00.000-07:002010-04-20T23:31:57.225-07:00

July 26, 2009Torture is a complicated subject, and I’m not going to pretend that it isn’t. In order to begin talking about torture it’s important to put the issue into context, and that means setting the historical record straight. The proclamations that the United States does not torture, or that we only started torturing during the Bush presidency are misleading at best. For a long time now the

Chris Livingston Jr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14545854771087260180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382042453550612724.post-76802135441683829032010-04-20T22:29:00.000-07:002010-04-20T22:42:18.699-07:00

Apr 29, 2009I’m pretty sure I’ve been consigned to some circle of hell by being forced to spend years of my life in Alabama. I know that sounds extreme, but I didn’t come to this conclusion on a whim. I’ve long suspected that I may be living in some sort of redneck twilight zone, but last week my suspicions were confirmed when I heard that the Alabama state legislature passed a resolution

Chris Livingston Jr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14545854771087260180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382042453550612724.post-50516639874986207422010-04-20T22:22:00.001-07:002010-04-20T22:27:24.845-07:00

Feb 19, 2009It looks like we may be in luck as Americans—the views which I am about to espouse, and the tactics that I will make appeals for appear to be in vogue with the new administration. That which I am arguing for can essentially be boiled down into one word: diplomacy. US foreign policy in the last decade was beginning to resemble the oft-cited parable of the man with a great big hammer (

Chris Livingston Jr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14545854771087260180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382042453550612724.post-35824509719225631482010-04-20T14:14:00.000-07:002010-04-20T14:26:20.740-07:00

Dec 28, 2008This story I’m presenting isn’t exactly news. That is, it’s not new information at all—though it may be very new to you. This information has been available to anyone curious enough to google it. And it has been out there for a number for years. This news is merely the answer to an obvious question: how many Iraqis have died as a direct result of the U.S. invasion, and occupation of

Chris Livingston Jr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14545854771087260180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382042453550612724.post-79070264132930582692010-04-20T14:08:00.000-07:002010-04-20T14:14:03.624-07:00

Oct 29, 2008I know I’m not going to be the first one to criticize Sarah Palin. I certainly won’t be the first to accuse her of being completely unfit for the office of the presidency. But I worry that the critical dialogue on Sarah Palin has degraded into a tone of cutesy teasing. The jokes on SNL and the Daily Show are funny, no doubt, but I fear that amidst all the light-hearted ribbing the

Chris Livingston Jr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14545854771087260180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382042453550612724.post-47108823944758668312010-04-19T23:22:00.000-07:002010-04-19T23:29:48.176-07:00

May 24, 2008When you live in Las Vegas you don’t live in the same city that attracts millions of visitors each year. There is an entire city outside that one shiny little section of road called “The Strip” and, as cities go, it is a bit of a disappointment. For millions of visitors Las Vegas is a chance to get away from real life, real responsibilities, and (for the many who are conflicted over

Chris Livingston Jr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14545854771087260180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4382042453550612724.post-40713587558471466802010-04-19T22:41:00.000-07:002010-04-19T22:47:49.765-07:00

May 17, 2008President Bush had this to say on thoughts of diplomacy with Iran: “Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: ‘Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all

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