Month: July 2008

By Patrick Appel
A new study answers the question.

(Image by Flickr user nick_russill)

By Patrick Appel
A new specialty dating service:

by Chris Bodenner
Highlighting a horrifying account of anti-gay brutality, this report paints a bleak picture for homosexuals in Iraq:

Coming out as gay is not easy in any country, but to do so in Iraq could mean a death sentence or torture. … Since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, the situation for gays and lesbians in Iraq has deteriorated. Ridiculed under Hussein, many now find themselves the targets of violence, according to humanitarian officials. … When CNN asked Iraqis in Baghdad how they felt about homosexuals, we found intolerance to be widespread. One man said he considers gays no different from "criminals and terrorists." Another claimed that homosexuality was "illegal under Islamic law, and [gays] should be punished by law like criminals."

By Patrick Appel

Via Kottke, a post on population density:

In case you’re wondering, the most densely populated block group is one in New York County, New York — 3,240 people in 0.0097 square miles, for about 330,000 per square mile. The least dense is in the North Slope Borough of Alaska — 3 people in 3,246 square miles, or one per 1,082 square miles. The Manhattan block group I mention here is 360 million times more dense than the Alaska one…

By Patrick Appel
Eric Alva, a former marine who lost his leg to a landmine, discusses his experience with DADT:

Even under the military’s "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy, I was out to a lot of my fellow Marines. The typical reaction from my straight, often married friends was "so what?" I was the same person, I did my job well, and that’s all they cared about. Today I’m godfather to three of those men’s children.

Normally, I was cautious about whom I divulged my secret to — I felt I had to be. Then one evening, out with some guys from our unit, I let my guard down. One of the guys commented on some women in the bar; when my response was less than enthusiastic he asked me, jokingly, if I was gay. "As a matter of fact, I am," I responded. He swore to keep my secret, but I suppose he thought it was just too good a piece of gossip to pass up. He was wrong. No one he told cared. The response from everyone was the same as it had been from the friends in whom I’d confided: "so what?" I was still Eric, still one of them, still a Marine; I was still trusted.[…]

As a former Marine and patriotic American, I am deeply disturbed that "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" is discouraging young patriots from joining the Military at a time when our country needs their service. I am horrified that "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" forces trained and ready troops to choose between serving their country and living openly — a choice I myself would have been faced with, had a landmine not made it for me. I am appalled at the involuntary separation of thousands of skilled service members during a time of war — threatening our country’s military readiness for no good reason. I am also thankful for the acceptance of my unit members, whose support protected me from a similar fate.

My experiences serving in the military demonstrate that "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" is a solution looking for a problem. Since leaving the military, the opportunities I’ve had to speak with Americans across the country, both gay and straight, have showed time and again that the American people support open service by gay, lesbian and bisexual troops.

Looking back on my years in the military, I am proud. I’m proud, not only of my service and my sacrifice, but of the way my unit members accepted me. I’m proud, not only of how American culture is becoming more accepting, but of how the American military is evolving, too. Now is the time to revisit this ill-considered law. It is costing us far too much, and purchasing us nothing in return.

By Jessie Roberts

McCain repeats his “rather lose a war” charge in today’s Columbus Dispatch:

Q: Does that mean it’s the same as putting politics ahead of country?

A: It means … I said, I will repeat my statement again, that he would rather lose a war than lose a campaign. Because anyone who fails to acknowledge that the surge has worked, who has consistently opposed it, consistently never sat down and had a briefing with General Petraeus, our commander there, would rather lose a war than a political campaign.

Nate Silver comments:

This is not wholly different from what McCain told voters in New Hampshire, or told Katie Couric. But after taking some heat for his remarks, McCain is not backing down. In fact, he has broadened his criticsm: now anybody who fails to acknowledge the success of the surge — and probably anyone who opposed it in the first place — is apparently branded as something just short of a traitor.

By Patrick Appel

Dave Weigel and  Philip Klein don’t think that’s such a good idea. I don’t see it happening. 

By Patrick Appel
Slate has an interactive map on the alleged crimes of the Bush administration.

by Chris Bodenner
An AP reporter asks: "If you vote by mail, but die before Election Day, does your vote count?"

By Patrick Appel
The Economist takes Noam Scheiber to task:

It has been a bad eight years for Atlanticists, when many out there now assume European and American distaste for each other, and that European affection for an American must be zero-sum—that it will cost him an equal amount of affection at home. Or that an American’s pride in his country is similarly zero-sum, costing him among Europeans. I don’t think this image costs Mr Obama, on net. It is truly a churlish, and in my opinion rare, American who actually takes pride when an American president is protested, jeered and hissed at abroad.

Noam responds here.