Month: February 2006

A reader provides some background:

"A word about the current "Chief Rabbi" of Moscow:  he is a representative of the Chabad-Lubavitch hasidic sect.  They are a curious beast indeed. Many – probably most–of them believe that their late leader, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (now dead about 10 years) was the messiah, and expect him to "return".  This is not, let us say, a mainstream Jewish belief.

Anyhow, they have insinuated themselves into Russian Jewry through a combination of vigorous outreach and getting into bed with Putin, which is how an American-born rabbi like Berl Lazar ended up as the "chief rabbi" of Moscow.  Not that there aren’t also plenty of conventional Orthodox Jews who share their basic attitudes towards homosexuality and homosexuals. But by and large, the Chabad folks are really way out there on just about every issue. They also are hard core creationists, for instance, which is not the case with mainstream Orthodox Judaism (or at least it didn’t used to be–the "mainstream" seems to move rightward every day). Oh, and at the risk of greatly simplifying some very obscure kabalistic concepts, they also believe that non-Jews have "souls" that are basically Satanic in character. Nice, huh?"

This sounds not unlike what has happened to Christianity in parts of America – hijacked by the most extreme and intolerant.

Gays were included in a church blessing on St Valentine’s Day in Vienna’s Catholic cathedral. Cardinal Schonborn appears to have given tacit consent. (A blogger dissents here. He argues that gay individuals were blessed, not gay couples.)

The devil is everywhere. Even in that dolce cinnamon latte.

"Bishop Robinson will now be a recovering alcoholic. Good. If only he were also a recovering gay," – Richard John Neuhaus, First Things.

But it was done by a Muslim gang in France, so no anti-Semitism was involved.

The p.c. left on the faculty may despise Larry Summers, but a new poll shows that the students are fine with him.

Josh Marshall gets personal and nasty with Dick Cheney.

It’s one of the most important documents yet released in the battle against detainee torture and abuse by the United States. It’s the memo written by then-Navy general counsel, Alberto J. Mora,
desperately trying to stop the moral and strategic disaster of the decision by the president to endorse abuse and torture in the war on terror. It’s contained in this must-read Jane Mayer piece that contains some of the best reporting yet on how a cabal within the Pentagon highjacked America’s honor and circumvented regular procedures to enable torture. Read both the piece and the memo, and then recall Rumsfeld’s testimony to the Congress after Abu Ghraib and the president’s repeated insistence that "we do not torture." Ponder. And repeat. I’m still absorbing the material before further comment. More later. Marty Lederman has a brief reaction to some of what we have just learned here. One note of thanks: Mayer’s work on this subject, along with Dana Priest’s at the Washington Post, are examples of impassioned, dogged journalism at its best. The truth will out in the end – thanks to reporting like theirs’.

A reader writes:

"I’m curious to hear your thoughts on the electability of Rice among Republicans. Is she pro-life enough (especially if she were teamed with Rudy)? Are Republicans really ready for a woman, let alone a black woman? And a single woman, as well? How would a Rudy-Condi ticket play with the "family values" crowd? He’s divorced, an adulterer, and pro gay rights; she doesn’t have children or a husband and has expressed an interest in being NFL commissioner (I am not at all implying she’s gay, but others will likely infer that). Lots of twists and turns with this combo."

Yes, yes, and yes. But both now poll extremely well with Republican voters, despite all these things. I tend to believe that the actual voters in the Republican base aren’t nearly as closed-minded as their leaders. The polling of evangelicals on gay marriage showed them to be largely uninterested in the topic, until Karl Rove and James Dobson organized a massive campaign to scare and mobilize them. Still, I’m not predicting anything. And I’m not endorsing anyone. But Rudy and Condi do seem to be emerging as candidates with formidable potential. (I should add that I forgot Rudy’s first, annulled, marriage. Between the two of them, Giuliani and Rice have three marriages. Maybe that would satisfy the "family values crowd".)