It behooves me to write that I’m chastened – and extremely heartened – by the progress we’re making in Iraq. The elections were obviously the key – and they should have been scheduled at least a year before they were. But it’s equally true that the constancy of our amazing troops, and the magic of democracy, are turning this long hard slog into a long hard slog with an end in sight. The criticisms of the past endure. But the fundamental objective seems to be within sight. The right decision – to remove Saddam – is no longer being stymied by wrong decisions. I feared the worst. I was wrong.
HIPPIES, HAWKS AND THE HOLY: The strange but wonderful geo-green alliance. My take in the Sunday Times.
THEY ARE STALINISTS: The more I read about the recent conference for conservative critics of the judiciary, the scarier it gets. One attendee, according to the Washington Post, had this to say:
[L]awyer-author Edwin Vieira told the gathering that [Justice Anthony] Kennedy should be impeached because his philosophy, evidenced in his opinion striking down an anti-sodomy statute, “upholds Marxist, Leninist, satanic principles drawn from foreign law.”
Ominously, Vieira continued by saying his “bottom line” for dealing with the Supreme Court comes from Joseph Stalin. “He had a slogan, and it worked very well for him, whenever he ran into difficulty: ‘no man, no problem,’ ” Vieira said. The full Stalin quote, for those who don’t recognize it, is “Death solves all problems: no man, no problem.”
Cornyn is beginning to sound mainstream. This was a meeting Tom DeLay promised to attend, before going to the Pope’s funeral. Last week also saw the meeting of something called the Judeo-Christian Council for Constitutional Restoration. Christian reconstructionists play a part in it – they want to abolish the Constitution and put Biblical precepts as the only source of American law. They have an agenda, as cited by the National Journal:
According to [organizer, Don] Feder, the manifesto will call for a plan to begin impeachment proceedings against federal judges; remove judicial jurisdiction over issues key to religious conservatives, including marriage and the separation of church and state; limit courts’ jurisdiction over the establishment clause of the Constitution, which has been used to enforce the firewall between religion and government; initiate a process for defunding courts that defy these new rules and continue to overstep their authority and eliminate the ability of Democrats to filibuster Bush’s judicial nominees.
The manifesto is based in part on legislation introduced early last month by Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., and Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., known as the “Constitution Restoration Act.” Their bill would limit federal courts’ jurisdiction and would enshrine a recognition of God in federal law — a provision the bill would make nonreviewable.
Theocracy? Only hysterics think that’s going on, don’t they?
ATWOOD, KANSAS: The residents of this small town voted 984 to 113 to deny gay couples any protections for their relationships whatever. Even hospital visitation rights. The man who set up the town’s newspaper website, a man who calls Atwood his home, is now one of the undesirables. So he’s taking down the website. And letting his neighbors know what it’s like to be declared an enemy of society, even while you have long been one of its most solid citizens. The attack on gay relationships continues.
EUPHEMISM WATCH: I think I know what the NYT is trying to tell us here:
Prince Albert, meanwhile, has been linked to a long list of high-profile women known for appearing on the arms of middle-aged bachelors. There have been no signs of anything like a romance. “Knowing Rainier, I am convinced he was sorry not to see his son marry a young Catholic princess and have children,” said Claude de Kemoularia, a former chief of staff in the palace and a longtime friend of the prince. “He was always reluctant to give the power to his son too early because he was waiting for his son to marry and have a male heir.” So reticent has Albert remained about marriage throughout the years of public speculation and private pressures that his father sought changes to the Constitution three years ago to allow the crown to pass to one of the princesses or their children if Albert abdicated or died without a child.
Take a wild guess.
The Dish 