Month: November 2003

Another awful day in Iraq. Watching scenes of people celebrating the killing of soldiers, soliders who just liberated them from one of the worst tyrannies on the planet, is enough to make anyone want to leave the place in disgust. But that’s the point. Saddam always relied on the Somalia strategy. He believed – and probably still does – that the U.S. does not have the guts to stick this out and wear down the Sunni dead-enders now combined with Islamist terrorists. He planned on this kind of war of attrition from the minute he knew he was militarily finished. That makes our endurance all the more necessary. The slow collapse of American credibility in the 1990s will take time to reverse. And moments like yesterday are classic attempts to test our determination. Saddam and what he still represents must fail in full view of the world. And we have an irreplaceable opportunity to see it happen.

The Washington Post’s latest poll is striking for two things, it seems to me. First, what happened to the gender gap? On the basic approval question, the differences between men and women are within the margin of error. Ditto on the war on terror. That strikes me as a big deal. If the Dems have lost their big advantage with women, they’re in trouble. (On the other hand, the gap re-appears when it comes to handling Iraq and the economy, with men still supportive and women now disapproving. But the gap is still much smaller than in the past.) This suggests to me that the war on terror has indeed reversed the usual gender gap on military matters – because women understand the threat at home. The other remarkable thing to me is that Bush’s strongest ratings come among the younger generation. Even on Iraq, the 18 – 30 year olds give him a big vote of support – more than any other age group and the reverse of the over 60s. Bush has a 66 percent general approval rating among the young, compared to 51 percent among the old. How to explain it? My theory is that we’re witnessing the emergence of the 9/11 generation – a demographic cohort bigger than the boomers whose defining experience was the terrorist attack of two years ago. They are also immune to the Vietnam fixation of the boomer editors and reporters of the mainstream media. South Park Republicans? We may have a genuine phenomenon here. (One other note: Dick Gephardt does surprisingly well, in comparison with the other Dems in this poll. I’m buying Gephardt stock myself.)

THE BREAK-THROUGH: There’s no question that Gene Robinson’s elevation to become Episcopalian bishop of New Hampshire will divide the Anglican communion. That is distressing. At the same time, it’s an extraordinary moment for gay Christians. For centuries, they have kept so many churches afloat – but at the cost of their emotional dignity and personal integrity. Those days are now over. The notion that bringing previously excluded people into the life of the church is somehow antithetical to the message of Jesus strikes me as deeply misguided. Although Jesus said nothing that we know of about homosexuality, his ministry is emphatically about welcoming – not excluding – the marginalized, the stigmatized, the condemned, the pariahs. There are no Biblical verses that condemn faithful, loving gay relationships as such. And the natural law arguments against gay love are about as strained as any theological arguments I have ever tried to understand. One day, I’m convinced, those last two sentences will come to seem completely ordinary and obvious. And we’ll look back on yesterday as a milestone in the ever-growing circle of Christian fellowship. I only hope we can withstand the backlash, panic and fear that will spike in the meantime.

I don’t know much about the guy who’s writing the blog from Iraq called “Just Another Soldier,” but he sure can write. Maybe the true journalistic innovation of this war will not be embedded journalists but embedded soldier-bloggers. The hard reporting on what the hell is going on over there is invaluable. And then there are these classic insights into army life:

The first and second squads of my platoon share the bottom floor of a two-floor barracks. It’s an open bay and we do most of our squad-level classroom type training here. If you are wondering what an open bay barracks is like, watch the beginning of Full Metal Jacket. It’s just one big room with a bunch of wall lockers and bunks, except ours is seriously run down. A few days ago we’re all working on disassembling and assembling the M249 machine gun (aka “SAW” for squad automatic weapon). Once again, I had the best time behind Dan. I think I could have beat him, but I believe that the politically intelligent thing to do was to just let him win. I think there is more value in him feeling superior than there is for me in the gratification of beating him. Or I could just be full of shit and this is my elaborate excuse for not beating him. :) It’s probably a little of both. Anyways, after the guys got tired of this, we started working on taking it apart and putting it back together while blindfolded. This can be really tricky, by the way. While James (another city cop in real life) was taking it apart, he was having trouble with one of the parts and asked, “Does anyone have a Gerber? [multi-tool]” and he puts out his hand. Without missing a beat, M______ says, “Yeah, here.”, whips out his dick and puts it in James’s open hand. Everyone was on the floor in tears. For about a good ten seconds, James didn’t seem to know how to handle this unprecedented violation, and continued to work on the weapon before finally taking the blindfold off and making an attempt at trying to find some sort of physical retribution for the affront. This incident has become a source of much discussion and the jury is still out on who is more gay: the guy that touched a dick or the guy that let a guy touch his dick. One could literally write volumes about the homophobically homoerotic undercurrents in the infantry.

Maybe that guy should write the volumes.

ONE LIBERAL FOR BUSH: Roger Simon joins disgruntled Democrat Zell Miller and opts for Bush in 2004.

TWO IRAQ FIBS: Just little ones. From MoDo, to begin with, as usual. Then there’s this classic from the BBC:

More US troops have been killed since “peace” was declared than died in hostilities during the invasion of Iraq itself.

Who exactly declared “peace”? Er, no one. But it gives the guy a nice mock-the-Yanks sneer line.

I don’t know where this originated, and maybe it’s old hat to most of you, but I thought this was worth passing along:

A major research institution has recently announced the discovery of the heaviest chemical element yet known to science. The new element has been tentatively named “Governmentium”. Governmentium has one neutron, 12 assistant neutrons, 75 deputy neutrons, and 11 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons. Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected as it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A minute amount of Governmentium causes one reaction to take over four days to complete when it would normally take less than a second. Governmentium has a normal half-life of three years; it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, Governmentium’s mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes. This characteristic of moron-promotion leads some scientists to speculate that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a certain quantity in concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as “Critical Morass”. You will know it when you see it.

Elemental, when you come to think about it.

SUMMING IT UP: From a recent letter to the editor in Tennessee:

The actions taken by the New Hampshire Episcopalians are an affront to Christians everywhere. I am just thankful that the church’s founder, Henry VIII, and his wife Catherine of Aragon, and his wife Anne Boleyn, and his wife Jane Seymour, and his wife Anne of Cleves, and his wife Katherine Howard, and his wife Catherine Parr are no longer here to suffer through this assault on traditional Christian marriage.

About being sued by Fox News. D’oh!

THE WAPO OVER-REACHES: After a devastating letter from David Kay, the Washington Post amends its story on the search for nuclear programs in post-Saddam Iraq.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: “Stupidity combined with arrogance and a huge ego will get you a long way.” “Well, if it’s combined with knowing what you like. Because then you’re an unstoppable force. It’s easier when you’re stupid, because you don’t doubt as much. Also, when you’re not doing things intellectually, you’re doing them instinctively, which is much better. In many ways, you don’t need an intellect for pop music.” – Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant, respectively, peerless philosophers of pop. And what’s true for pop music isn’t far off for politics either.

I saw “Shattered Glass” last night in Manhattan. I went with one TNR alum and bumped into another. The beginnings of the movie were so freakish I kept squirming in my seat. It’s extremely, extremely odd to see your own tiny part of the world – complete with all the right names, all the right locations, all the specific contours of human character you know and recall, even magazine covers you commissioned and designed – splayed out on a movie screen. Of course, I was lucky enough to miss all the events described. But still … My basic verdict is that it’s a very effective movie. It’s most effective because it forces someone like me to realize that Steve was and probably still is a sociopath. I know it’s strange for me to say, but I was so fond of him, so grateful to him for the year he spent as my personal assistant (before the drama starts in the movie), so charmed by him that even after the events took place, I couldn’t believe he was that irresponsible. His genius was far deeper than Hayden Chistensen manages to convey (but he does a great job, nonetheless). I still don’t have a clue why Steve did it; he probably doesn’t either. The smartest move in the movie is to avoid that subject. My main criticism? The Mike Kelly character is unrecognizable as Mike Kelly. Hank Azaria gives a good performance, but it’s already been put through the sieve of Mike’s tragic death, and so the character seems almost holy. Whatever he was, Mike wasn’t holy. Marty would also never call Chuck at home and introduce himself as “Hi, it’s Marty Per-ETZ.” He’d pronounce his last name right or just say “Marty.” Actually, he wouldn’t introduce himself at all. He’d just launch into whatever it was he wanted to say. But these are quibbles. What’s astonishing is how much the movie got dead right (although it minimizes Chuck’s ambition). It also elevated the story into a tale of ambition and deceit that gives perspective to a lot of Washington lives and careers. It was chastening, because it was so close to the bone. And remarkably, it didn’t glamorize Steve. It made him seem like the self-centered traitor he was. I got mad at him all over again.

“HIPOCRISY”: It’s the liberal’s curse, argues Julie Burchill in the Guardian:

It seems to me that far too many liberals believe that once you’ve ticked the Brotherhood Of Man box on your spiritual census, this gives you the right to be as big a bastard as you choose to be in your private life. The sexual duplicity of “enlightened” men is legend; be it the liberal lawyer Michael Mansfield with his wife and mistress installed in the same hotel or the Tory-hypocrisy-slaying Angus Deayton snorting cocaine off the bodies of hookers in seven-star bunk-ups when his partner was pregnant with their child. And the Alpha Male role model of these awful males is, of course, good ol’ Bill Clinton, sticking cigars up the help between bleating on about human decency.
It is partly my suspicion that if you scratch a member of the Brotherhood Of Man, you’re likely to find a woman-hater, which makes me suspicious of the current alliance between socialism and extreme Islam. Being anti-racist is admirable, but if one is not equally anti-sexist, then it makes a nonsense of the argument, and leaves one woefully wide open to accusations of hipocrisy of the silliest, sleaziest kind.

Yes – the alliance between socialism and extreme Islam. Things are getting weirder and weirder.