Was going through the comments on 'Rage of a Privileged Class, TNC, Atlantic, and thought this solved something:

There were psychological studies of Nazi war criminals using Rorschach tests and other instruments which don't have obvious face saving answers. The lower level were unimaginative people with a simple view of order and what was proper. Being drug addled would not have been part of that or their behavior. The higher level such as Goering were at least at one time drug addicts but not that simple minded. The fact that Eichmann put on the pose of a banal bureaucrat,

Adolf Eichmann was, of course, in no way a banal bureaucrat: He just portrayed himself as one while on trial for his life. Eichmann was a vicious and loathsome Jew-hater and -hunter who, among other things, personally intervened after the war was effectively lost, to insist on and ensure the mass murder of the last intact Jewish group in Europe, those of Hungary,*

suggests a readily available pose or personality. Perhaps the rebellion inside that personality struggling to get out would find some identification with the Hebrew meaning of Isra el, he fought with God, but not having in some sense survived the fight with the internal imago of their parents, hate Israel and Jews for having done so. I am not familiar with Galbraith's report though.

* Ron Rosenbaum's article in Slate with better picture of Hannah Arendt.

It took 2000 years, but we've finally made the big time.

He said his teacher, Marsha McDonald, gave him an anti-Catholic pamphlet. The eighth-grade teacher handed it to him in his English class at Mineral Wells Junior High, he said. “It said ‘Are Roman Catholics Christian,’ and ‘Catholics only think about money,’” Velazquez said.

Maybe Richelieu was a clue.

Missed the debate.

The Deficiency of Obama

The "Exasperation of the Democratic Billionaire' quotes M. Zuckerman,

It's as if he doesn't like people," says real-estate mogul and New York Daily News owner Mortimer Zuckerman of the president of the United States. Barack Obama doesn't seem to care for individuals, elaborates Mr. Zuckerman, though the president enjoys addressing millions of them on television.

The Boston Properties CEO is trying to understand why Mr. Obama has made little effort to build relationships on Capitol Hill or negotiate a bipartisan economic plan. A longtime supporter of the Democratic Party, Mr. Zuckerman wrote in these pages two months ago that the entire business community was "pleading for some kind of adult supervision" in Washington and "desperate for strong leadership."

This appears in the Oct. 15th WSJ.

The Cain surge

As I commented at Beldar's blog:

I'd have to agree with Colo above though I appreciate your ability to back up on Rick. Maybe he hasn't made you proud of Texas though; he has me. I think you could take the Obama argument and apply it here as well. Obama beat Clinton; so.. And that was his first real race IMHO. So if Cain comes out of nowhere etc... I do think it is mildly amusing that he's got 11 dates open and a book tour this October. You know when you expect one job to be part time and you've got something complementary. Hey, the guy is industrious. That makes me think he can get beyond the 9-9-9 plan when he has a chance to think how he will climb down though the consumption tax aspect being neglected is part of its interest. Anyway, in many ways he is such a naif Archie Bunker I think if he were as president to land the Air Force in Mongolia the Chinese instead of bombing our bases in Japan, the inclination with any other U.S. president, would say 'That stupid --, get him on the phone and tell him to go to Montana.' So apparent stupidity might be to our advantage.

Following reflections on the Cain surge at Althouse, about comment 220.

Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years (See all History of Religious Studies Books) is really a great book. The former NSA chief lawyer gives some positive spin to the new (Amazon) Kindle Fire.