Month: April 2006

The retiring editor of the Economist makes one of the best defenses of having backed the Iraq war that I have yet read. Money quote:

"This will outrage some readers, but I still think the decision was correct‚Äîbased on the situation at that time, which is all it could have been based on. The risk of leaving Saddam in power was too high. Outside intervention in other countries’ affairs is difficult, practically, legally and morally. It should be done only in exceptional circumstances, and backed by exceptional efforts. Iraq qualified on the former. George Bush let us‚Äîand America‚Äîdown on the latter. So, however, did other rich countries: whatever they thought of the invasion, they had a powerful interest in sorting out the aftermath. Most shirked it.
The only argument against our decision that seems to me to have force is that a paper whose scepticism about government drips from every issue should have been sceptical about Mr Bush’s government and its ability to do things properly in Iraq. This is correct: we should have been, and we were. But when the choice is between bad options and worse ones, a choice must still be made. Great enterprises can fail‚Äîbut they fail twice over if they take away our moral courage and prevent us from rising to the next challenge."

Wise, honest, serious words. I second every one.

President Bush’s predicament – and his party’s. My take in the Times of London.

Yes, he reiterates the official doctrine about the exclusivity of heterosexuality for the God-given state of matrimony. But the logic of "Deus Caritas Est" can be read to include gay love as well, and lose none of its power. A Catholic blogger elaborates:

"I believe you will find that reading this encyclical letter through a series of substitutions, essentially by substituting homosexual love for heterosexual love, does nothing to alter the truths under discussion. And I go further: Deus Caritas Est carries as a mustard seed the implication that it is the unitive dimension of human sexuality and marital love, not the procreative dimension, that is fundamental to their sacramentality."

My own view is that those of us who hold that homosexual orientation is far from an "objective disorder" have nothing to fear from all and any inquiry into the subject. The truth is on our side. And in so far as the Pope speaks the truth, and approaches the truth through reason, he advances the cause of gay equality. Because we are human too. And God loves us as God made us. One day, the Church will proclaim that loudly as well.

"[Bill Clinton] is the most gifted politician of, certainly my time. He generates a kind of a vibrant goodwill with a capacity for mischief which is very, very American," – William F. Buckley Jr. Here’s my rash prediction. In future generations, Bill Clinton will be regarded as a talented conservative president, and a complete scoundrel.

A tentative piece of good news here. Deeply troubling trends here. Greg Dejerejian ponders U.S. strategy here.

They’ve held a contest to protest the Danish cartoons – which is a lot better than rioting or killing. Above is one of them. The inability of many of the cartoonists to comment on this subject without drawing on anti-Semitic themes is striking.

Jeff Jarvis has, as always, an insightful take on Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger’s recent speech on newspapers and the new media.

Maybe the April 1 date gave them an out, but the Los Angeles Times is actually reporting a decline in HIV rates in San Francisco. The data is hard to refute:

New cases of HIV in San Francisco dipped nearly 10% in the last five years, marking the first drop in infections since the late 1980s, according to preliminary estimates from the city’s Department of Public Health.

During that period the gay male population increased 25 percent. And five years ago, San Francisco’s health department was predicting a huge increase in HIV infection rates among gay men to "sub-Saharan" rates – predictions given front page billing on the New York Times. The reason for the actual decline? A large amount of it is not "safer sex" but "sero-sorting": only dating and having sex with men who have the same HIV status as you do. You’ll also notice two passages in the article that tell you a lot:

"This is great news; we’re making progress," said Mark Cloutier, executive director of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. "But I think it is both bad planning and bad public policy to look toward the future based on a [short-term] trend. We don’t know how long this will last." … One possible downside to the apparent drop in HIV cases: If cases dip below certain thresholds, San Francisco could lose federal dollars for prevention and treatment, and city funds could be shifted elsewhere.

Draw your own conclusions about the relationship between city health departments and HIV infection data. Let’s just say a healthy dose of skepticism is always in order.

She had three guns pointed at her back as she gave her pre-release statement. Now she is free, she can tell the truth. I hope those who jumped to swift condemnatory conclusions will now apologize.