Category: The Dish

"It’s early in the probe, but we may be looking at emerging evidence of a homosexual recruitment ring that operated on Capitol Hill," – Cliff Kincaid of Accuracy in Media. The column is one of the most disgusting smear pieces yet to emerge from the bigoted swamp that is the Republican far right.

… has lost his mind.

The last excerpt from the Cato debate. A woman finds it "appalling" that a conservative could support equality in marriage. I respond – or try to.

Dick Armey unloads another barrage:

"Freedom is a gift from God Almighty, and we have a responsibility to protect it. Christians face a temptation to power when we are fortunate enough to have a majority of support in Congress. But government can never advance a faith that is freely given, and it is corrosive to even try. … And so America’s Christian conservative movement is confronted with this divide: small government advocates who want to practice their faith independent of heavy-handed government versus big government sympathizers who want to impose their version of ‘righteousness’ on others through the hammer of law."

It’s great to see a Republican call it like it is – for the sake of politics, and for the sake of religion. I’m beginning to feel what may be a sea-change out there. I guess this election will either confirm or refute that.

Several readers have asked me if there’s a way to get a signed copy of the book without making it to one of the few book readings/signings. Well, I asked HarperCollins, and the answer is: yes, there is.

If you join the book club, and buy the book, you can email me your questions and criticisms (theconservativesoul@gmail.com) – but also, if you want a personalized signature in your copy, let me know and include your name and full mailing address in the email. Put the words "signed copy" in the content line of your email, so we can expedite things.

Harper Collins has "book-plates" – essentially adhesive, paper inserts for the first page – that I can dedicate to you or a friend or family member, sign, and send back by mail. They look like the inserts people once put in books to mark them as part of their own library. When you get it, just peel off the back and stick it into your copy of the book. It’s as good as waiting in line at Barnes and Noble.

Please no lengthy dedications: just the name of the person you want the book dedicated to, or I’ll develop carpal tunnel syndrome. But the general rule is: if you buy the book, I’ll find a way to sign it, if that’s your preference. It’s one more way a blog can interact with a book. Reminder: the email address is theconservativesoul@gmail.com. And put "signed copy" in the content line. Join the virtual book club with a virtually personalized edition. More details here.

"I’m extremely troubled by the fact that the record tax revenue was offset by record spending, which increased 7.4 percent from a year ago. Even more depressing is that a supposedly conservative Congress and President allowed education spending to rise over 28 percent in one year, and Medicare to grow at a rate of 12 percent over the same time period.

Can there be any better evidence that you can’t control the deficit until you get a handle on spending.  Why do we have to explain this to a supposedly ‘conservative’ Congress and GOP, who have ‘gone native’ and utterly failed to grasp the necessity of actually cutting government? And they wonder why some conservatives are thinking of staying home on Election Day (I’m not one of them, but there are many who may do so). Memo to the GOP: Conservative anger isn’t about Mark Foley – it’s about spending like Democrats (as well as immigration).

But the real buzzkill on this news is the utter failure to rein in entitlement spending. If nothing is done about actually cutting Social Security and Medicare rather than reducing the size of its growth then all the prosperity and growth isn’t going to matter one bit.

Quite simply, Social Security and Medicare are bankrupting the United States.  The GOP has done nothing to stop the train wreck and can only say ‘Yeah, but the Democrats will be worse’. That’s not comforting. It’s like asking if you would rather die from a firing squad or lethal injection. Either way you’re dead," – right-wing blogger, Bull Dog Pundit, exposing the fiscal insanity behind the Bush facade.

Earlier this week, secretary of state Condi Rice and First Lady Laura Bush attended a State Department ceremony for the new global AIDS coordinator. His name is Mark Dybul. Money quote from USA Today:

At a State Department ceremony this week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warmly acknowledged the family members of Mark Dybul, whom she was swearing in as the nation’s new global AIDS coordinator.

As first lady Laura Bush looked on, Rice singled out his partner, Jason Claire, and Claire’s mother. Rice referred to her as Dybul’s "mother-in-law."

There you have it. Among decent elite Republicans, there is often great acceptance of gay people as individuals, and of their families and spouses. "Mother-in-law" is itself an affirmation of marriage for gay couples; and the secretary of state just used those words. And yet her party officially regards gay unions as, in James Dobson’s words, a prelude to the "destruction of the earth". So which is it, guys? Let us know some time, will you?

(Photo:  J. Scott Applewhite, AP.)

The debate continues. I might add that I’ve long felt that the Apple stores are almost sacred in their architecture. If only we designed new churches as imaginatively …

Gallup detects a meltdown in white religious support for Republicans. The Dems are now even with the GOP among frequent church-going whites. Money graph:

This poll doesn’t look so good either.

We have more evidence of serious detainee abuse at Guantanamo Bay:

In a sworn affidavit filed with the Pentagon Inspector General, Sgt. Cerveny says she met several Navy prison guards at a club on the base where, over drinks, they described harsh physical abuse.
"One sailor specifically said, ‘I took the detainee by the head and smashed his head into the cell door,’" Sgt. Cerveny tells ABC News in an exclusive interview.

She says she was "shocked" to hear several guards from different parts of the camp speak openly of mistreating prisoners. "Everyone in the group laughed at all their stories of beating detainees," she recalled. "None of them looked like they cared. None of them looked shocked by it."

One of the guards "was telling his buddy, ‘Yeah, this one detainee, you know, really pissed me off, irritated me.  So I just, you know, punched him in the face.’"

I wonder why they didn’t feel shocked. Gitmo is heavily monitored and staffed by professionals. It’s certainly more closely monitored than many other detention centers. It couldn’t be because abuse and torture are still Bush administration policy, could it?