Month: July 2008

JibJab’s latest – and their best yet, I’d say:

Taipa, Macau, 5.30 pm.

K-Lo sees an anti-gay opening for Romney:

Romney was an advocate for the religious freedom of Catholic Charities not to place children with gay couples.

Dale Carpenter parses McCain’s clarification:

While the new statement could have been clearer in repudiating McCain’s earlier answer on the issue, it does accomplish a couple of important things. It makes it clear that McCain is not opposed to adoption by gay individuals. That was in any event a politically untenable stand since only Florida prohibits adoptions by all homosexual individuals. And McCain’s new statement suggests that adoption by homosexual couples is preferable to leaving children in foster care. If so, that’s a more ambitious stand in favor of gay parenting, since such "second parent" adoptions are now permitted in only some jurisdictions in about half the states. On the whole, unlike the seemingly hard line he took against gay adoption on Sunday, today’s statement is more nuanced and is defensible given the current state of the social science on gay parenting.

Dan Savage isn’t appeased.

From the psychology professor cited in Jane Mayer’s new book:

The allegation that I “provided assistance in the process” of torture is completely false.

I gave a three hour lecture sponsored by SERE (the Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape branch of the American armed forces) at the San Diego Naval Base in May 2002. My topic was how American troops and American personnel could use what is known about learned helplessness and related findings to resist torture and evade successful interrogation by their captors. I was told then that since I was (and am) a civilian with no security clearance that they could not discuss American methods of interrogation with me. I have not had contact with SERE since that meeting.

I have not worked under government contract (or any other contract) on any aspect of interrogation or any aspect of torture. Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Jessen were present in the audience of about 50 others at my speech, and that was, to the best of my knowledge, the sum total of my "assisting them in the process."

I have had no contact at all with the American Psychological Association about their relevant policies. Most importantly, I strongly disapprove of torture and have never and would never provide assistance in its process.

Martin Seligman

Well, at least he’s reading them:

OBAMA: So the broader point, Gwen, is if you compare sort of my shift in emphasis on issues that I’ve been proposing for years, like say, faith-based initiatives, which have raised questions in the press, if you compare that to John McCain –

MS. IFILL: And raised hackles among some of your supporters.

SEN. OBAMA: Well, raised hackles amongst some in the blogosphere…

Bush refuses even to urge Americans to conserve gas:

"It’s a little presumptuous on my part to dictate how consumers live their own lives," the president added. "I’ve got faith in the American people."

But in the past he has spoken of oil addiction. Did he mean that non-judgmentally?

Obama picks Dennis Ross as his adviser on the Middle East.

She wants others to pay her 2008 debts but is asking some contributors to move their 2008 donations into her 2012 kitty.

The coalition against marriage equality in California is showing signs of cracking up.