Gene Doughty, 83, of the Bronx borough of New York City, a combat veteran from the battle of Iwo Jima, attends the Combat Veterans of Iwo Jima Symposium and Reunion February 16, 2007 in Arlington, Virginia. Doughty served as a squad leader in the 36th Depot Company, 5th Marine Division during the battle of Iwo Jima. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty.)
Some headlines just write themselves, don’t they? Peter Berkowitz has a must-read on Alan Wolfe in the Weekly Standard. The piece is not a defense of Dinesh D’Souza but an attempt to apply Wolfe’s censorious logic with respect to D’Souza on Wolfe himself. Since I’m in the midst of writing a real piece on this issue, I won’t comment further. Except to say that Berkowitz seems to me to get the better of Wolfe on the issue of Carl Schmitt; but that Peter under-estimates the authoritarian strains among elements of the American right.
Let me give one example from only recently. Hugh Hewitt’s blog once had the slogan: "The Power of the Democrats Must Be Destroyed." Not countered; out-argued; or debated. But destroyed. I agree with Peter that this kind of rhetoric is not strictly Schmittian; but I don’t agree that it isn’t corrosive to the spirit of liberal democracy as conservatives have long understood it. I do believe that the conservative endorsement of torture, contempt for constitutional processes, indifference to habeas corpus, and naked hatred of the opposition represent real and dark developments. Peter is too sanguine about them, in my view. Yes, the left has its counterparts. In fact, there are strains of intolerance and illiberalism on the left that are just as dark. But the left hasn’t been in power for so long; and hasn’t been turbo-charged with war-powers. Wolfe over-reached. But Peter has under-reached.
Jon Rauch notices the signs of a looming foreign policy consensus.
A reader corrects:
The Koranic reference to "slaves not attracted to women" is not meant to be interpreted as gay people, but rather to eunuchs. Just another traditional practice from the folks who brought us 9/11.
A Londoner laments.
It says everything you need to know about the state of the Republican Party: that they would knowingly lie about the words of the greatest Republican president in American history.
Remember habeas corpus, that pesky constitutional detail that Dick Cheney found so impertinent and Alberto Gonzales might deem "quaint"? It’s still in indefinite suspension, subject to presidential whim. But there’s a chance now to restore it by legislation and a petition to sign.
New word; new reality.
Jerusalem, Israel, 8 am.
My link to the anonymous nun’s appreciation for "The Vagina Monologues" prompted a huge reader response, and the nun has written a new post addressing many reader points. She restates her own belief in the virgin birth. Money quote:
Lumen Gentium stated that "the birth of our Lord … did not diminish his mother’s virginal integrity but sanctified it."
We can see that the word ‘integrity’ is used when describing Mary’s virginal state during the birth of Jesus. This word is defined as: an undivided or unbroken completeness or totality with nothing wanting; from Latin integritatem (nom. integritas) ‘soundness, wholeness;’ the state of being whole, entire, or undiminished. None of the Conciliar texts conclusively states how Mary remained a virgin during the birth of Jesus. This, then, opens up a variety of possibilities, just as the dogma regarding Mary’s Assumption leaves open both the possibility that she did or did not die. These unknown details are not essential to our eternal salvation, are not central to our Faith as Catholics, and allow the mystery to unfold within the context of a deeply personal relationship with Christ. This room for interpretation is beautiful and empowering to women on their journey toward physical, intellectual, psychological, emotional, sexual and spiritual integration, which is what The Vagina Monologues is trying to accomplish, albeit in a much more imperfect way.
The Dish 