Category: Old Dish

Here’s the website for Lord’s Gym in Claremont, California. It shows Jesus as a bodybuilder doing push-ups under the cross. Classy. It boasts:

Lord’s Gym also fosters a non-sex driven environment where men and women can exercise without the discomfort of gawkers and those flaunting their bodies openly. A moderate dress code is encouraged at all franchise locations as well as spiritually focused music and music videos.

It also offers classes in “Chariots of Fire Spin.” I can’t believe they don’t have one on Pontius Pilates. (Hat tip: Slate.) (CORRECTION: The gym is in Clermont, Florida. Not Claremont, California. My bad.)

THE UNFAB FIVE: Yes, it’s Ralph Reed, Pat Buchanan, Rush Limbaugh, Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell – all here to help rearrange the lives of young couples who aren’t with the religious right program. Right Wing Eye for the Liberal Guy. Enjoy the movie.

A NEW POLL: The latest poll on marriage rights for gays struck me as interesting. The latest breakdown shows about 25 percent favor of marriage rights, close to 40 percent support civil unions, and 33 percent favor giving gay couples nothing at all. What strikes me about that finding is that the polls haven’t changed much on marriage – with one significant difference. The middle group of Americans – tolerant, but queasy, say – have now come round to civil unions. Civil unions are, in fact, the natural compromise right now. Bottom line: around two-thirds of Americans believe that gays should have either marriage rights or something close to that (called something else). I’m encouraged. The job now is to persuade the middle ground that civil unions would be a far bigger blow to marriage than allowing gays into the institution (because such marriage-lite options would be extended to straights and provide too easy an alternative to marriage). But with numbers like this, how likely is it that America will amend its constitution to bar any enforceable civil benefits for gay couples, as the religious right now wants?

I’m going to be writing more about the positive possibilities that are now opening up in Iraq. My own view is that the violence is an inevitable consequence of the various factions in Iraq feeling their way toward filling the power vacuum. This is not only unavoidable; it can be revealing. What we need in Iraq are future leaders, who have real followings, and can deliver them in a political process. The showdown with al Sadr and the Sunni rump is the necessary first stage to accelerate this process. A must-read in this respect is Baghdad blogger, Ali, who writes a blog (in not terrific English) that I recommend. Here’s his latest analysis (I’ve cleaned up some spelling):

So what’s good about this riot? As I said this is a very old dream that is strongly rooted to the conscience of the majority of the [Shi’a]. And with the freedom of speech and with the defeat of the Arab Sunni and with the support and motivation from Iran, this was bound to happen. It could’ve been worse if a leader with more brains and popularity than this clown carried it.

This riot should be and will be crushed sooner or later, because of the ignorance of the leadership and the lack of support of the majority of Iraqis including Shea’at which made those fanatics resort to terrorizing the people to show that they have the support of the Iraqis like their demand for a general strike which was associated with clear threats.

Another good outcome of this riot is that it showed that the influence of clerics including Sistani, is much smaller than they and their followers were claiming. I’ve heard it from most of the Shi’a that the whole Iraq supports Sistani and that the Americans don’t dare to defy him! They really believed their illusions. Now it appears that the fatwa of Sistani didn’t have any significant effect on the Americans’ determination to end this riot, nor it convinced the fanatic Shi’a to stay calm. Even the GC paid no attention to him and showed readiness to use force if it is needed.
When this riot will be crushed, and it will be, Sistani and all the clerics will no longer seem as strong as they seemed before, and once they see the ‘holy’ name Al-Sadir in handcuffs, they will think a million times before committing a similar stupidity in the future. Even some members of the GC with its religious, tribal and ethnic composition, proved to be short of meeting the challenge. This should clear the political field from these traditional representatives of the Iraqis and surely Iraqis in the future will be forced to search for alternatives once they realize how hypocrite, feeble and lacking their current leaderships are.

This will certainly not happen tomorrow, nor will it happen soon after crushing this riot, but certainly the results will make Iraqis aware of the fact that their leaders are actually not as smart and strong as they look, and that their religious, tribal and ethnic groups will not provide them with their needs. Once that happen they will start to reconsider their goals and their loyalty and the voice of reason, logic will certainly be more heard once the horns of ignorance get silenced or ignored by the majority.

That’s one possible scenario. It’s just as possible as the gleeful predictions of calamity now being broadcast far and wide by opponents of the war, like NPR and the BBC.

A wonderful photographic composite of the attorney general. Study closely.

RED-BLUE DATING: Here’s an email that’s telling about where we are:

I am a 49 year old professional classical musician and educator and not a democrat. Your quote today from Margot Mifflin of Salon in her ‘therapy’ session perfectly describes the reaction I have stirred up in a new girlfriend. Like many musicians, she is zealously left-liberal. Her heroes are Ted Kennedy and Hillary. (not Sir Edmund) We share everything in common except politics. I am able to accept and understand her values while not agreeing with them, but am perplexed by her difficulty with mine. She is like the robot on the old Lost In Space TV show. When I explain rationally that I do not think that Rush Limbaugh is ‘evil’, and that perhaps Al Qaeda might better illustrate that concept, she starts spinning around and yammers “It does not compute, It does not compute”. Furthermore, she is constantly asking questions about my views on one aspect of politics or another with every question beginning with either ‘Why’? or, ‘How could you possibly?’…….. In other words, I am viewed as some kind of double anomaly, on the one hand I am one of those neanderthal Republicans, and on the other I SEEM to be a reasonable and civilized one. This is causing her no end of confusion. She is actually having dinner with and making love to one of “THEM”. So much for inclusiveness and ending ‘Us against Them’ thinking in our lifetime. Sigh…

More feedback and commentary (often better than you read in the Dish) can be found on the Letters Page.

Iraq has been a free country for a single year after decades of fascism, mass murder, communal paranoia, hysteria, random violence, and economic collapse. Did we expect the place to become Toledo overnight? The closer we get to transferring power, the more the extremist factions need to prevent a peaceful transition and establish their own power bases for the next phase. The closer we get to a self-governing Arab state, the more terrified Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas and the rest will be that their alternatives – theocratic fascism and medieval economics – will look pathetic in comparison. There are millions of people in Iraq who need us now more than ever. Their future and our future are entwined. Which is why we have to keep our nerve, put down these insurrections with focussed ferocity, and move relentlessly toward self-rule. It may be dark this Friday, but Christians are told that a new day will dawn. Not in three days. But in time. If we keep our nerve.

What is there to say? We have a frigging war on and the major networks all run this? I have nothing to add. Except to say: we have a war on. We used to win them before we engaged in elaborate blame-games as to who was asleep at the wheel when they broke out.

DERBYSHIRE AWARD NOMINEE: “If you still think homosexual “marriage” won’t affect you, think again. Your job may be at stake! Legal recognition of unnatural unions is the ultimate societal affirmation. Once the state approves of homosexual “marriages,” the full weight of the law will be brought down against men and women of faith who believe in Judeo-Christian values.” – Gary Bauer, in his newsletter for his organization, Campaign for Working Families. Actually, you won’t only lose your job, you’ll be forced to sing show-tunes every Sunday. Is there no end to the humiliation?

THE SILENCING OF STERN: All I can say is that if we cannot hear sex and fart jokes on the radio, America is a lesser place. Half a million dollar fine for a single broadcast? Where are we? Tehran?

“I was sitting in therapy describing an in-law I like, and quickly heading for a “but.” “He’s a loving, caring, selfless man — but his politics are all about hatred,” I said. “He’s not educated, and more significant, he’s ignorant — he actually listens to Rush Limbaugh.”
I waited for a “Whoo boy!” or a sympathetic smile, but my shrink just stared at me, expressionless.
“I assume you’re not a Limbaugh fan,” I ventured, assured that this woman, so nuanced in her thinking, couldn’t possibly be a Dittohead. She was so reasonable that I couldn’t imagine her getting off on Rush’s demented tirades. She didn’t seem square enough for his politics, and I was certain no hate radio fan was capable of her intellectual sophistication. Besides, she was an educated urban Jewish professional, and Rush’s audience consisted largely of white suburban males.
She held my gaze a few excruciating seconds longer. “Actually, I am,” she said. My moral compass began spinning wildly. I was suddenly sitting with someone new. The levelheaded sage in whom I’d confided for nearly a year had been replaced by an off-the-rack ideologue.
There were five minutes left in the session, and I felt like running. “Well, this could devolve into a whole political discussion, so I’ll just finish the story,” I rallied.
For the next week, I struggled with an overwhelming sense of betrayal.” – Margot Mifflin, Salon.

BLOG RANKINGS: How knows what to make of them? I used to be hooked on daily traffic readings and then I realized I was going insane. Some of you may have come to that conclusion a long time ago, of course. Anyway, here’s some crack for the weak, as Mickey would say. According to RightwingNews, this blog is the second most influential (in terms of who links to it) and the most popular (according to one unreliable ranking system) on the web. Generally speaking the right still dominates – but the left has all but caught up. That’s a good thing. The more voices the better.

THE BEST CASE: If your mind is in any way open to persuasion on the matter of gay marriage, you really n eed to read Jonathan Rauch’s extraordinary new book, “Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good For Gays, Good for Straights, and Good For America.” It’s calm, clear, relentless and, to my mind, irrefutable.

What will he do now? The internal Shi’a war continues – and it may be the real meaning of what’s now going on in Iraq. Spencer Ackerman explains.

A marine writes home:

Things have been busy here. You know I can’t say much about it. However, I do know two things. One, POTUS has given us the green light to do whatever we needed to do to win this thing so we have that going for us. Two, and my opinion only, this battle is going to have far reaching effects on not only the war here in Iraq but in the overall war on terrorism. We have to be very precise in our application of combat power. We cannot kill a lot of innocent folks (though they are few and far between in Fallujah). There will be no shock and awe. There will be plenty of bloodshed at the lowest levels. This battle is the Marine Corps’ Belleau Wood for this war. 2/1 and 1/5 will be leading the way. We have to find a way to kill the bad guys only. The Fallujahans are fired up and ready for a fight (or so they think). A lot of terrorists and foreign fighters are holed up in Fallujah. It has been a sanctuary for them. If they have not left town they are going to die. I’m hoping they stay and fight.

This way we won’t have to track them down one by one.

This battle is going to be talked about for a long time. The Marine Corps will either reaffirm its place in history as one of the greatest fighting organizations in the world or we will die trying. The Marines are fired up. I’m nervous for them though because I know how much is riding on this fight (the war in Iraq, the view of the war at home, the length of the war on terror and the reputation of the Marine Corps to name a few). However, every time I’ve been nervous during my career about the outcome of events when young Marines were involved they have ALWAYS exceeded my expectations. I’m praying this is one of those times.

Pray for them. This is a critical moment.

Here’s another.

“I’m waiting for the first moron to start calling this violence an Iraqi intifada.” – yours truly, yesterday.

“Shi’ite Intifada Pushes Allies to the Front Lines” – al Jazeera.net, today.

THE PASSION OF THE BUNNY: The best news of this depressing week was the ratings success of South Park’s brutal and brilliant razzing of Mel Gibson. “The Passion of the Jew” gained 4.4 million viewers, the cartoon’s biggest audience since its second season, and the biggest share on cable among 18 – 49 year-olds. Meanwhile, reality in Pennsylvania is beginning to look like South Park. Whipping the Easter Bunny? I thought that only happened in Japan.