Peter Beinart seconds Schwarzenegger’s idea that redistricting should be taken out of the grimy hands of people like Tom DeLay. Amen.
DERBYSHIRE AWARD NOMINEE: “It’s time to ask, bluntly, whether self-government can work for people not operating within a Judeo-Christian worldview.” – Joseph Farah, WorldNet Daily, a far right website. One word: India.
QUOTE OF THE DAY I: “Freedom of thought, community and faith, civil equality, and the rights of due process, are meaningless unless they are universally valid. They are also non-negotiable. As Salman Rushdie himself said shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, the things that the jihadists are against — ‘freedom of speech, a multi-party political system, universal adult suffrage, accountable government, Jews, homosexuals, women’s rights, pluralism, secularism, short skirts, dancing, beardlessness, evolution theory, sex … even the short skirts and dancing … are worth dying for.’ Rushdie’s maxim holds true all the more in light of Theo van Gogh’s murder. The viciousness of our enemies — and they are our enemies — remains undiminished. We liberals had better find the courage not to be intimidated.” – Daniel Koffler, a junior at Yale.
QUOTE OF THE DAY II: “Normally you can’t shut her up but she went very silent and I just heard this little voice say ‘Dad, I think I’ve glued my eyes shut’,” – the husband of a somewhat foolish grandmother.
AN OPEN LETTER: To my mother. What happens when you write a racy, sexy blog … and your mom reads it. Just make sure she’s not on BigMuscle.com that’s all. I liked this entry too.
THE HIGH GROUND: No, we shouldn’t take seriously everything that Human Rights Watch says. But it is simply fact that the revelations of widespread use of torture by the U.S., which extend far beyond Abu Ghraib, have made the defense of the U.S. far harder in the rest of the world. I know that when I get into fights with my European friends about U.S. policy (and I have broken up many a London dinner party with my pro-Americanism), this will get thrown back in my face. And I will have little substantive to rebut it. Yes, I still think we clearly have the moral edge over our enemies. But less now. Much less. Speaking of which …
The Dish 