Month: July 2008

Ed Morrissey comments on a recent study that advocates the repeal of "Don’t Ask Don’t Tell":

DADT could be considered a necessary bridging step between the outright ban on gays in the military and full acceptance.  Congress needs to ask whether the policy has outlived its usefulness and — importantly — whether this moment will serve best as a launching point for a more reasonable policy.  The military has spent 15 years admitting, at least tacitly, that gays can serve their nation with honor and distinction.

The public has long since gotten over this. I note that in Ross’ and Reihan’s book, they refer to allowing gay people to serve their country openly as a "lifestyle liberal pet cause." Tell that to the many gay working class patriots who just want to serve their country with dignity and privacy.

Peter Staley remembers a milestone in AIDS activism:

Sean Strub and I were the roof guys. The condom was made of parachute material, so when carefully rolled up, it fit into a large duffle bag, which I pulled and he pushed up the 28 foot extension ladder. We unfurled it on the roof, connected it to the blower, and prayed the cops took at least five minutes to get there.

As it began to rise, all the guy wires were quickly staked into the lawn on our four sides of the house, while Mark and others used the other ladder to guide the front section past electrical wires and the front door awning.

The first cop car arrived just as the reservoir nipple was beginning to rise, a little over seven minutes after we had arrived. We had done it!

Peter reveals that David Geffen paid for the material: $3,000, passed hand to hand on Fire Island. Ah, the revolution.

A novel critique, I suppose.

Ta-Nehisi Coates proposes:

I noticed that Marvin’s politics were marked by a strong aversion to taxes ("natural fact is/Honey, that I can’t pay my taxes" and "There’s only three things that’s for sure, taxes, death and trouble"), a disdain for foreign occupation ("Father, father we don’t need to escalate."),  and a strong belief in the right to privacy ("I want to get it on/You don’t have to worry that it’s wrong." or "There’s nothing wrong with love/If you want good loving, just let yourself go.")

From 2004 at the CFR:

Question: "What would or should we do if, in the post-June 30th period, a so-called sovereign Iraqi government asks us to leave, even if we are unhappy about the security situation there?"

McCain: "Well, if that scenario evolves then I think it’s obvious that we would have to leave because — if it was an elected government of Iraq, and we’ve been asked to leave other places in the world. If it were an extremist government then I think we would have other challenges, but I don’t see how we could stay when our whole emphasis and policy has been based on turning the Iraqi government over to the Iraqi people."

Here’s McCain today. Not so clear. But the Maliki government is getting clearer. C’mon, Nouri. Make our day. Tell us when to leave.

McCain is now running ads – arm in arm with Liberman – in the Jerusalem Post.

That’s McCain’s new slogan. It’s directly plagiarized from an early Tory party ad in the 1970s created by Saatchi and Saatchi for Thatcher:

The first work produced for the party was a television broadcast devised by Charles, in which images of everyday Britain were run in reverse. The dramatic sequence was concluded with Michael Heseltine uttering the slogan: ‘Backwards or forwards, because we can’t go on as we are. Don’t hope for a better life; vote for one.’

Felix Salmon analyzes McCain’s promise to balance the budget:

Pledging to balance the budget in one term is easy and cost-free: it’s the kind of promise which is so improbable that no one’s going to hold you to it when you fail to meet your goal, especially if you make the promise only in briefing papers, meaning there are no soundbites to be used against you in future.

"There’s a weird irony at work when Sen. Barack Obama, the black presidential candidate who will allegedly scrub the stain of racism from the nation, vows to run afoul of the constitutional amendment that abolished slavery.     For those who don’t remember, the 13th Amendment says: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime … shall exist within the United States.”     I guess in Obama’s mind it must be a crime to be born or to go to college," – Jonah Goldberg, LA Times.

I agree with Jonah’s basic point, but you could make it without linking Obama to slavery. Jeff Fecke follows the logic:

Did Jonah Goldberg just make the argument that adding a curriculum requirement for colleges and schools is tantamount to slavery? Really? I mean, by that logic, isn’t compulsory education itself slavery? Does this make No Child Left Behind the Dred Scott decision of the 21st century?

Here’s what Obama said:

At the middle and high school level, we’ll make federal assistance conditional on school districts developing service programs, and give schools resources to offer new service opportunities. At the community level, we’ll develop public-private partnerships so students can serve more outside the classroom.

For college students, I have proposed an annual American Opportunity Tax Credit of $4,000. To receive this credit, we’ll require 100 hours of public service. You invest in America, and America invests in you – that’s how we’re going to make sure that college is affordable for every single American, while preparing our nation to compete in the 21st century."

(Hat tip: Hilzoy)

A reader writes:

I found your blog purely by accident during the Dem primary fracas, not really knowing your political bent. Which is probably a good thing since I am recovering from old bi-partisan prejudices which did not allow much room for conservative voices. But your refreshingly catholic view of the world has made me a fan.

This morning at my usual diner with my usual eggs I read the usual headlines in the NYTimes — 41 dead in Kabul bombing, two giant mortgage lenders going broke, alcoholic veterans — then I went home and turned on the computer. Your blog is always my first visit.  And what do I see? Your Face of the Day. Thank you for this small reminder of all that is beautiful and wondrous in this battered world.