Author: Andrew Sullivan

Where The Rich Live

by Patrick Appel

Dylan Matthews looks at the distribution of high earners across the country, which prompts Reihan to sound off on dual-earner families. I'm with Joyner:

[Reihan] points to a posting by Gothamist‘s Jen Carlson (“Think You’re Making $250K In Manhattan? Think Again“) which notes that a “lifestyle that would cost $250,000 in Salt Lake City would cost $545,000 in Manhattan, $261,750 in Miami-Dade, and $405,250 in San Francisco.”  That’s true if by “lifestyle” you mean “house size and model of car.”  Otherwise, I’d posit that a Manhattan, San Francisco, or even DC “lifestyle” isn’t available in Salt Lake City at any price.

Regardless, all of this shows how complicated gauging relative wealth is when dealing with a diverse, continental country.

Epistemic Closure Watch

by Chris Bodenner

Gays are either destroying the moral foundation of our country or don't exist:

Mehlmanmention It’s unclear why Fox News ignored the story, since some Republicans have embraced Mehlman’s coming out. Current Republican Party chairman, Michael Steele, for instance, issued a supportive statement: “His announcement, often a very difficult decision which is only compounded when done on the public stage, reaffirms for me why we are friends and why I respect him personally and professionally.” Mehlman has also said that President Bush has been “incredibly supportive” of his coming out.

Ignoring stories which undermine conservative causes, however, is the norm at Fox. Earlier this month, Fox News refused to run a single segment on Dr. Laura Schlessinger’s racially-charged rant, after which she resigned from talk radio.

“It’s Just A Cat” Ctd

by Chris Bodenner

A reader writes:

Your reader who defended the woman who threw a cat into a trash bin made some good points but used a couple of lousy examples.  I love cats and own three, but I most certainly don't place their well being higher than a human's. However, it's pretty well known that serial killers start with animals.  The kid your reader mentioned has some serious problems if he's setting cats on fire.  Yes, he had a harsh past and should be getting treatment rather than incarceration.  And those cat lovers sending him hate mail need to chill out.  But torturing an animal is a huge big red flag for future, much worse behavior.

As to labeling a cat as "cruel" because it "plays with" a mouse, that's just plain ignorance.  It's survival instinct, not cruelty, when a cat lets go of and recaptures its prey. Explanation here.

From that article:

A cat will “play” with her prey to tire it out in order to reduce the risk of injury to herself, but she is not actually playing in the human sense. She is simply doing the job that her instincts tell her she must do in order not to starve, and protecting herself in the process. If the prey is lively, the cat could suffer a serious bite that might become infected and lead to death. Only when the prey is sufficiently tired and dazed is the cat able to make the kill.

“Moderate Muslims”

by Patrick Appel

Larison goes another round with Douthat:

As far as I can tell, what Rauf’s critics want is not merely someone who is a moderate Muslim, which presumably means someone moderate in his interpretation of Islam as a religion. What they would apparently also like is someone who has no sympathy for the political causes or grievances of any other Muslims in the world. If moderation is defined in that unreasonable way, there probably aren’t very many moderate Muslims after all.

The Arab Mainstream

by Patrick Appel

Marc Lynch reads up on the Arab press's coverage of the Park 51 controversy:

Where the anti-mosque movement and escalating anti-Islam rhetoric is really resonating is with the Arab mainstream — that vast middle ground which had hoped that the election of Barack Obama would mark a real change from the Bush administration but have grown increasingly disappointed.   The mosque issue has been covered heavily on Arab satellite TV stations such as al-Jazeera, and the images of angry Americans chanting slogans and waving signs against Islam have resonated much like the images of angry Arabs burning American flags and denouncing U.S. policy did with American viewers after 9/11.   The recent public opinion surveys showing widespread hostility towards Islam among Americans have also gotten a lot of attention. 

It all contributes to the ongoing deterioriation of their residual hope in Obama's ability to bring about meaningful change. It's confirming the worst fears of too many mainstream Arabs and Muslims, and thus providing fodder for the extremists who hope to exploit that atmosphere.

The Daily Wrap

Today on the Dish, we debated Americans' obsession with moderate Islam and how it eclipses the greater battle against extremists. Exum declared a different sort of victory in Iraq; we saw a another side of the war in Afghanistan; Wilkinson and Conor debunked the myth of the much brighter past; and this reader mused on memorials. Frum found Romney's Achilles heel; Reid went negative; and sometimes rental inspectors save the day.

We got a glimpse of the view from your recession; some blowback on the Cash for Clunkers debunking; and Mehlman came out of the closet. We wrapped our minds around the fallout from the housing market crash; tuned in to drop-outs; and tackled why no one really wants to live in the middle of the woods and get paid in cash. Pensions came back to haunt us; Kinsley pushed for more stem cell research; and Bernstein put liberals and conservatives into their respective camps.

We compared cats and children; kept an eye on Christianists, and an ear on Marin's Christian apology. VFYW here; MHB here; FOTD here; long form accolades can be found here and here; the case against envy here, and poking continued across international lines. We inducted Neutral Milk Hotel, Nick Cave, and Black Sabbath into the annals of hip Christian rock; Infinite Jest battled infinite Joyce; and liberals and libertarians all wanted to swim in the deep end. 

— Z.P.

Filming The Enemy

by Patrick Appel

Ackerman digs up "extremely rare footage of the war in Afghanistan’s Kunar Province — from the Taliban’s perspective" shot by journalist Paul Refsdal:

Most American troops spend their tours in Afghanistan with only the vaguest idea of who they’re fighting. June, a Special Forces A-Team in the south reportedly couldn’t find the Taliban. It wasn’t so hard for Refsdal. This self-described “tall white man” managed to effectively infiltrate the insurgency in one of its bastions. The only other person we know to have done anything similar is our crazy friend Nir Rosen, who’s been known to pass himself off as a Bosnian Muslim.