Dan Zak unearths a 1984 WaPo column by Henry Mitchell. The beginning:
People are confused about the weather of Washington. I shall explain basics:
Winter is cold.
Summer is hot.
Every year these truths hit the populace with the force of a thunderbolt.
Today on the Dish we assembled analysis on the DOMA ruling and added Andrew Koppelman's clarifying point. David Boies reflected on the Prop 8 trial and the Vatican kept digging a hole. A big roundup of Palin '12 speculation here; Andrew thinks she's unstoppable. Josh Green started to come around to that possibility. A reader planned to pull a Rip Van Winkle while another called out her record on killing grizzly bears.
Andrew laid into neoconservatives over their failures in the Middle East, detailed his views on journalistic decorum, and reiterated his conservative case for extending marriage rights. The WSJ starts to catch on to that conservative view. Joel Wing briefed us on troop withdrawal in Iraq, Golblog interviewed the UAE ambassador, Governor Lingle played the incest card, and the song "Down's Syndrome Girl" was up for an Emmy. Legalization update here.
In assorted commentary, Bacevich got backlash over calling Obama amoral, Jonah Lehrer jumped aboard the soda tax, Andrew Leonardyes explained the vicious cycle of AC and global warming, and Kerry Howley covered cryogenics. A few readers chimed in on the latest HIV news and another opened up about open marriage.
The double rainbow dude is so hot right now. A heartwarming beagle video here and MSM lampooning here. Christianist watch here and particularly crazy Hewitt Award here. Cool ad here. MHB here, VFYW here, and FOTD here.
Thursday on the Dish, a longtime CNN journalist, Octavia Nasr, was canned for a controversial tweet. Juan Cole pointed his finger at the Israel Lobby, Stephen Walt also sided with Nasr, Greenwald asked if any reporters have been fired for anti-Arab/Muslim sentiment, and David Carr was on edge. A federal judge ruled against the Defense of Marriage Act. More great news on HIV treatment and some bad news out of Iraq.
In Palin news, she launched her first campaign ad, GOP insiders loved it, and readers observed a lack of ethnic appearances. Doug Mataconis explained how potentially new primary rules could hurt her chances with the nomination, Andrew highlighted her intransigence on defense spending, a reader tore into her special needs record, and Gail Collins noted the creepiness of Levi and Bristol's latest statements.
Andrew went after WaPo for its use of "torture" and showed the consequences of newspapers not calling it like it is. He also sided with Coulter over Steele's comments. Andy Bacevich leveled a serious charge at Obama, James Gibney made the case for ending aid to Egypt and Israel, Yglesias preferred to cut Medicare over Social Security, Reihan tackled sugar taxes, and readers broached sugar subsidies.
Dan Savage joined the monogamy debate, Stephanie Mencimer checked in on NOM, Lindy West told us WTF is up with Gallagher, Dana McCourt commented on why Americans don't watch the World Cup, and a reader had a deep thought about AC. Hathos here. MHB here, VFYW here, and FOTD here.
Wednesday on the Dish, the Iranian government was set to stone a woman to death, the Uganda beheading turned out to be a hoax, the Hawaiian governor vetoed civil unions, the Louisiana governor called for guns in churches, and raising the retirement age looked more likely. Andrew and Beinart felt that the president further caved to the Israeli prime minister, Andrew confronted Chait over the gulf between Congress and the American public on Israel, and the US inroads into Arab PR continued to falter.
In Palinland, Andrew scratched his head over Levi's sudden about-face, Chris Good explained why it matters, Mercede couldn't understand why her brother would turn on her, and a reader figured it was all part of a custody battle. Hasidic women were crazy for Palin's hairdo, Steve Kornacki took a turn at her chances in '12, readers added on, and Dana McCourt was sick of all the Trig talk.
Andrew circled back to the NYT's application of "torture," called out the AP for the same, examined the evolution of public perception on torture, and mounted a defense of AC. Bernstein and Wheeler jumped on the public perception thread while TNC piled on the NYT. Ambers and Kaplan savaged Romney on his foreign policy and others joined in. Wehner had some wise words on the Steele debacle, Adam Serwer pointed out that more deportations are occurring under Obama than Bush, Frum questioned social mobility, Terry Tamminen proposed taxing carbon on a state-by-state basis, and Robert Wright saw humans as a global superorganism.
A particularly foul Hewitt Award here. Yglesias here. Mad Men fodder here. MHB here, VFYW here, and FOTD here. The latest winner of the window contest here.
Ithaca, New York, 12 pm
Tuesday on the Dish, Andrew sided with Steele against Obama's war in Afghanistan and spotlighted the extremely small number of enemies there. The president was already beating Bush on the budget and his healthcare bill was growing in popularity. Cameron stood tall against torture and the mayor of London stood up for marriage equality. A gay man was slaughtered in Uganda.
In economic coverage, Hale Stewart showed how the recession has been good to business owners, Brad DeLong pushed for another stimulus, Adam Ozimek weighed the pros and cons, and Howard Gleckman took a turn at the question of unemployment benefits and laziness. Josh Green explained how pot propositions help Democrats on the ballot. Thiessen posed as a tea-partier, Larison voted nay on a Palin nomination, and NRO nominated her for RNC chair. Another big dose of Trig talk here.
Looking abroad, the American public continued to diverge with Israelis over the flotilla, Beinart went to bat for Karl Eikenberry and gave a pep talk to Obama on Israeli discontent, settlers tightened the screws on Bibi, Andrew highlighted how US taxpayers fund the settlements, and the IDF got down to Ke$ha.
In media coverage, new details emerged over Weigel-gate, Chris Beam profiled a humble David Brooks, Chait offered his take, Greenwald defended Nazi comparisons, Howard Kurtz outed personal emails again, and Prince proclaimed the end of the Internet. Readers wondered whether to pray for an atheist and sounded off on the evolutionary case against monogamy. Hilarious tech video here and a funny video on "faggots" here. MHB here, VFYW here, and FOTD here.
— C.B.
Andrew Koppelman thinks Jack Balkin is wrong:
Judge Tauro’s opinions invalidate DOMA on two grounds: it invidiously discriminates against same-sex couples in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and it invades states’ prerogative to define marriage in violation of the Tenth Amendment. Jack correctly observed, in this blog and in statements quoted in a front page story in the New York Times, that the second of these is a lousy argument with mischievous implications. But the bad argument is surplusage. The Equal Protection argument is enough to invalidate the law.
Balkin clarifies and corrects.
It's not as easy as you might think.
Mike Tyson attends a press conference held at Just Cvalle Cafe on July 9, 2010 in Milan, Italy. By Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images.
Yes, he's scared of Iran. But here's part of the interview that Jeffrey Goldberg did not highlight:
YOUSEF AL OTAIBA: For [Obama] to really make progress on the Iran issue and to deal with extremism and to deal with terrorism in the region, to deal with radicalized home-grown terrorism in the U.S., you need to address the [Israel-Palestine] peace process. That is the one core issue everyone tends to blame, and that's what the people hang all their problems on. Well, the Palestinians are, you know, they are — they don't have a country, they are abused, they are oppressed, and the U.S. always sides with Israel. So the sooner U.S. appears to be objective and impartial and create a Palestinian state, we take that argument away from everyone, and that is in everyone's best interest.
JEFFREY GOLDBERG: Why would that stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon?
OTAIBA: It won't stop. It will get you all the Arab countries more aligned on containing Iran because now they use Palestine as an excuse, and the Palestine issue is a deep political problem. And I'm not saying it's only the U.S.' fault, I'm saying it is as much Israel and Palestine's fault for not making any progress on it themselves. But lack of their kind of commitment, the U.S. needs to step in and say, you need to do this. And you need to do this for your sake, for our sake, and for the region's sake.
Manzi replies to Ezra Klein:
When thinking about time after 2100, we have, in cartoon terms, two choices: (i) simply treat it as unknowable fog, or (ii) attempt to guess. I think that if we take the first choice, then we simply try to forecast through the next century, and let future generations worry about the world beyond 2100 (though I’ll point out that it is a very unusual political debate in which we call trying to manage the entire world for about the next 100 years as “short-termism”).
If we take the second approach, how far out do we try to guess? The Nordhaus economic calculations that I cited in my post as formal attempts to compare odds-adjusted costs versus benefits actually extend out for 250 years. That is, they consider expected costs and benefits to about 2250. Therefore, Klein’s point is really about potential damages beyond 2250,not 2100. That’s a long way off.
This doesn’t mean that I don’t care about problems that might occur hundreds of years from now, just that I don’t care much about current predictions about those problems.
Andrew Leonardyes explains how AC use increases global warming, which increases temperatures, which increases AC use:
There's no doubt that high temperatures translate immediately into increased burning of fossil fuels — and, inevitably, increased concentrations of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. This year is on track to be one of the hottest years in the historical record. If fossil fuel consumption is contributing to a warmer world, then our efforts to cool ourselves are only going to make matters worse.
And there are still quite a few people in China and India and elsewhere who do not yet have air conditioners — but intend to get them. Wanna save the world? Invent a low-power home cooling mechanism.
Keith Hennessey explains the Republican position on extending unemployment benefits.
The Dish 