THE DEPROLIFERATOR — Whether from the mouths of foreign-policy professionals or members of the public, we’re all familiar with this refrain: “Sure, it would be nice to get rid of nuclear weapons. But deterrence has kept us safe for 50 years. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”

Or as the authors of a recent article in Strategic Studies Quarterly write (quoting another author): “The web of social and political life is spun out of inclinations and incentives, deterrent threats and punishments.” Take away the latter two and international society depends entirely on the former — a utopian thought impractical “this side of Eden.” Full story »

When we were kids, one of the things we looked forward to every Easter was the chicken wire pen in the basement of Kuhn’s Five and Dime. For a quarter, you could buy a blue, red or purple baby chicken. Easter Chicks was stenciled above the cage, and we were suckers for them every year. My older sisters would give the Easter Chicks grandiose names pulled from great literature they were supposed to be reading in high school, and we’d sneak them into the house after supper. Those were happy times. Not for us or the Easter Chicks, but for the neighborhood cats. Full story »

America’s First Family, Boomer parents’ edition

The Boomers are the first TV generation. We’ve been intimates of television since its infancy as the mass medium of choice for Americans.

Because of television’s limited options in those days, most Boomers, at least as children, lived with fewer than 6 channels and only 3 networks (although there were nascent public television systems, many viewers were unable to receive their signals).  There was also the old Code of Practices for Television Broadcasters. This set limits on the material presented on TV – and also served, good or ill, as a unifier of messages.

We Boomers learned a lot from television. TV was  quasi parent/sibling/best friend during the maturation of the majority of Boomers.  Families watched TV together – and the messages of television programming were designed with families both as subject – and as message.  The early years of Boomer television watching were dominated by shows with wise (if often exasperated)  fathers, nurturing ( if occasionally scatter-brained) mothers, and children who learned lessons. Boy Boomers and Girl Boomers received different lessons – both from the shows’ texts and from their subtexts. But lessons there always were.

Gee, Wally…. Full story »

The O2 squats on the banks of the Thames on the Greenwich peninsula in south east London. Within it is the 23,000 seater O2 Arena. On 28 March it was not full.

It should have been.

“It has become normal to break apart albums and perform individual songs. Tonight we are going to reverse that.” And, with that, Peter Gabriel performed his entire new album, each song in its album order and without pause. Full story »

As anyone who remembers The 5th Estate, which was the Scholars & Rogues precursor, will recall, this community is founded on a strong sense of bipartisanship and the belief that much can be accomplished when the neo-conservative and staunch liberal talk honestly across the table.

We’ve gotten away from this ideal over the past couple of years, but we’ve taken note of the bipartisan successes driven by President Obama since he took office. So today we’re pleased to announce that S&R has entered into a strategic agreement with The Drudge Report, a site that literally defined the conservative alternative news industry when it was launched in 1996. Full story »

Hi everyone! Sorry for posting two days early last week. Now back to your regularly scheduled program.