Intellectual Integrity: A Concept The Bush Administration Cannot Spell, Much Less Appreciate

*** [Ed. note: Others on that original list included Media Whores Online (long since gone), Skippy The Bush Kangaroo, MaxSpeak, Corrente Wire, Atrios, Pandagon, Democracy for California, Jesus' General, TalkLeft, and Talking Points Memo.]

It's been waaa-aaaa-aaay too long since I last visited one of the blogs that was on a very short roster *** of those I read daily when I first discovered political blogs during my three lovely weeks in ICU in the summer of 2003: Ruminate This. [See editorial note *** above.] So when I happened over there a short while ago, I was delighted to see them in full operation and with a piece entitled, "Intellectual Integrity", so good I want to share. Here's a snip, but visit Ruminate This for the entire thing:

For a time, as the toxic dust settled, I drank nothing but that Kool-Aid poured by the Bush administration and its post-9/11 media helpers. But when this here New Yorker began to substitute critical thinking for emotion and knee-jerk, something disturbing happened: questions, questions, and more questions about the official story began to percolate within, and the Kool-Aid just wouldn’t slip down as it had before. Since that time, I’ve noticed that the number of people who have made a similar transition has gone from a trickle to a stream. May that stream flow into a rapid river of truth.

George Kenney is editor of the Electric Politics weblog, and the host of its namesake podcast. His is an invariably interesting program that is focused on US policy and its impact on the domestic and global community. Kenney is a former State Department foreign service officer, and a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace alum. His guests are reflective of connections made during what he calls his “salad days.” In this week’s episode, The Case for Intellectual Integrity, Kenney interviews Bill Christison, on how this essayist and retired prominent CIA analyst went from unyielding allegiance to the official narrative of September 11th, to considering the alternatives.

It’s an eye-opener, for sure, and especially recommended for those among us whose hearts, minds and political strategems make it difficult or impolitic to catch the looming and fetid elephant in the room.

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