Author: Andrew Sullivan

The Washington Post tells the tragic story of a new mother's untimely death by annotating her Facebook page.

Yes, we made a profit this year – of $1.8 million. Congrats to Justin Smith, Jay Lauf, James Bennet and Bob Cohn – and the entire leadership of the enterprise. And we at the Dish are proud of the contribution we've made: we now account for more than a quarter of the site's unique visitors and close to half its visits. But none of that would count for much apart from the real skill and dedication of the business team, who feared nothing in grappling with the web and showed that it can not only be exciting, but also … money-making.

In what appears to be an almost epic attempt at political suicide, some Democrats appear so exercized by the very idea that the very rich should continue to enjoy the tax rates of the Bush era that they are willing to push their president, and their own political prospects, over the cliff.

I made my case pretty clear soon after the deal was struck. It was staggering to me how many tangible concessions Obama was able to get for one symbolic give. The GOP got to protect the very rich to the tune of $120 billion for two years. In return, Obama got the $360 billion tax cut for the middle class he wanted, plus $450 billion on extended unemployment benefits, the pay-roll tax cut and EITC and college tuition funding. In the process, he got the GOP to endorse a huge fiscal stimulus for Obama as he runs for re-election – a stimulus that could, according to Morgan Stanley, push economic growth to as much as 4 percent next year. That might be an overshoot – but it's surely salient that no one thinks the package won't boost growth at all.

Charles Krauthammer gets it:

Barack Obama won the great tax-cut showdown of 2010 – and House Democrats don't have a clue that he did.

Bill Clinton gets it. The markets get it. The only question is: why doesn't the House move swiftly to pass this as-good-as-it-will-get deal, and then move forward on START, DADT and the DREAM Act? A week is a long time in politics. Two weeks – which the Democrats could give themselves if they want – could turn a coup into a year-end triumph for the president and this party.

It could also lead to a spectacular black eye for the GOP establishment. Does anyone believe that the Tea Party campaigned so hard in order to have the Congress pass a second stimulus – as pricey as the first, and borrowed entirely from the Chinese? Think what happens after the deal is passed, and the truth of it sinks in with the base. The GOP civil war will begin in earnest – especially if Obama outflanks the GOP on long-term debt reduction in the SOTU.

Memo to the Dems: what on earth are you waiting for? Pass the deal. ASAP.

(Photo: U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill on December 7, 2010 in Washington, DC. The Obama administration is pushing for Congress to extend Bush-era tax cuts in a compromise with Republicans. By Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images.)

"In a large survey of museum-going households released in April, it was found that they are significantly better educated and affluent than the U.S. population; they are also overwhelmingly white. The time has come, then, to stop funding the leisure of rich white people: all public monies for the arts should cease. Quite frankly, to make the working class pay for the leisure of the rich amounts to class discrimination. In the spirit of social justice, a better case could be made to fund professional wrestling—it’s what the working class enjoy," – Bill O'Donohue, Catholic League.

The exhibition of gay portraiture he was referring to was funded privately. Frank Rich has more details today.

"If she were the Republican candidate she'd have to show me a lot more than I've seen thus far as far as an understanding of the depth and the complexity of the issues that we face. I mean, I don't know her personally. So I can't comment on that. I mean, she was a governor. But the fact that she left office before even completing her first term is — that's just not a attitude that I think is necessarily in the best interest of your constituents — rather what's in your best interests," – Christie Todd Whitman.

"Our elites, broadly defined as the top third of our society, aren't nearly as decadent as advertised. According to Wilcox's data, the highly educated (with a college diploma or higher) are less likely to divorce, less likely to have children out of wedlock, and less likely to commit adultery than the moderately educated (high-school degree or some college) and the least-educated (no high-school diploma)," – Rich Lowry, fan of Sarah Palin.

David Zetland takes another look at Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (1962):

A big thought: Most farmers will tell you that they minimize the volume of chemicals (and fertilizer) that they apply to their land, because they do not want to waste money and time on over-application. It's thus important (and sad) to note that the biggest abusers of chemicals in Silent Spring are bureaucrats whose jobs dictate that they should "do something" with other people's money (OPM!) and homeowners who do not understand the dangers of the chemicals they use and who think that "some is good, so more is better" when applying them to their yards. …

Bureaucrats apply them to other people's land; homeowners just wash excess into storm drains and distant environments. Farmers may be willing to chemically sterilize their land, but at least they experience most of the costs and benefits of those actions.

Alexey Sidorenko has the disturbing story of Russian cops who came out on YouTube against corruption within the police force and have since been persecuted with "arrests, beatings, firings or criminal prosecution":

The story of ‘YouTube cops' vividly shows how Russian law enforcement structures react to the attempts of online whistle-blowers. [Alexey] Dymovskiy and his followers have not experienced the same glorious fate of Frank Serpico, a New York policeman who testified against city corruption. Unlike Serpiko, Dymovskiy has not received any awards, and his story has not been turned into a Hollywood movie (other than the movie he made himself, of course). So far, he and his supporters have been persecuted, marginalized, and their claims were ignored.

The kicker? A number of the YouTube cops have been involved in crimes themselves. This is Russia, after all.

Grady Hendrix sounds the death knell for a once-thriving profession:

Jose Ramos has been the projectionist at the Anthology Film Archives since the '90s, but his career started back in the '80s in New York City's porno houses. "I remember one time I had a break in the film," he says. "I forgot where I was and turned on the lights like I was in a normal theater. You could hear everyone screaming, because the porno houses were just about backdoor sex.

At the Roxy, I used to have to do the music and the lights for the strip show and the live sex acts. It was wild times. The strippers would change clothes in my booth to get away from the tricks, and you'd get to know each other. We're all just people, regardless of our chosen profession."

 

Steven Grant argues that the Tea Party "movement was detailed in the Bible." I kid you not. PZ Myers scoffs:

Yeah, this is the fourth Tea Party movement: the first was after the death of Solomon, the second was led by Jesus Christ himself, the third was the Boston event, and the fourth was begun by a ranting overprivileged ass on the Chicago stock exchange, which makes Rick Santelli some kind of prophet, apparently.

Tony Woodlief – understandably – wonders if orthodox Christianity in the West may have jumped the shark. The news from Poland does not suggest optimism; it reflects what will, I fear, at some point be regarded as the catastrophic papacy of Benedict XVI with respect to Europe's faith.