Category: The Dish

What follows below is a dramatization of a "waterboarding". It’s taken from the USA network award-winning show, "The 4400" on YouTube. Since I have only read descriptions, I cannot verify its accuracy in detail – but it certainly captures the essence of this technique directly authorized by the president, and used by the CIA at the behest of the president and vice-president. The clip lasts around 30 seconds. Most victims apparently do not last that long. If you believe that what you are watching is "severe mental or physical pain or suffering," then it is torture under U.S. law, and the U.N. Treaty. It is undeniably a violation of the Geneva Convention. If it is torture, according to the president himself, then it should stopped. At this moment in history, let us at least look at what is being done by the government; and call it by its proper name. 

Missoula, Montana, yesterday. If readers driving around find explicitly political and partisan Republican messages on church buildings or signs, please send them in. This one doesn’t cross the line. But I wouldn’t be shocked to hear they didn’t have that sign up under Clinton.

A reader writes:

Andrew, this "Jesus camp" makes me think Stephen Glass was just a little ahead of his time. Remember one of his fake stories was "Peddling Poppy", in which he describes his visit to the "First Church of George Herbert Walker Bush Christ", run by a group of evangelicals who thought "41" was the reincarnation of Jesus.

Ah, yes, Stephen Glass. Ewww. But you need Twain or Mencken to capture today’s religious right accurately. And Glass was and is no Mencken.

They have the Internet on the West Bank and across the Muslim world, don’t they? Greg Gutfeld has an effigy store up and running. Bargain prices with a great guarantee: "We ship same day for next day delivery to Amman, Riyadh, Baghdad and Burnley." What are you waiting for? Burn the Pope! In my land of birth, it’s a very old tradition.  Why not in the Middle East?

Many evangelical writers and some preachers have spoken out against torture; but isn’t it amazing that there does not seem to be much pressure from Bush’s Christian conservative base on the matter? A reader comments:

I haven’t dug around in my Bible in a long time, but I thought I remembered that a few of the apostles (Peter, Andrew, maybe others?) died from torture. And of course, Jesus was placed in a "stress position" for most of a Friday afternoon. It’s hard to believe that so-called Christians will follow an administration that seems hell-bent on legalizing torture.

And yet so many seem to. Why? Torture is not a hard issue for any Christian. It is an unmitigated moral evil. There is no theology on earth which can make it a less grave moral matter than, say, gay marriage. And yet it has been enforced by this president for five years and where is the outrage? You would imagine that James Dobson would have organized a massive phone-in or email blitz to Capitol Hill on the detainee legislation. You would imagine that every theocon from Ponnuru to Neuhaus would be writing about this every day and night. But nah. Gays getting married in one state out of 49? Massive, coordinated outrage, sermon after sermon, direct mail blitz after direct mail blitz, and a threatened constitutional amendment. The president authorizing torture? You can hear a pin drop on the religious right. Tells you something, no?

For the last two summers, performance-artist/drag-queen/comic genius Dina Martina has been playing in Provincetown. For what it’s worth, I’ve seen a lot of shows in Ptown over the last couple of decades and I’ve never seen anything as brilliant or as funny as Dina. This summer, my fiance and I saw her show seven times in nine weeks. Like all great comedy – Monty Python and South Park spring to mind – it gets funnier the more you experience it. I write this just to let you know that if you’re in New York City from September 22 to October 7, and have tolerance for avant-garde comedy, her new show, "Soft Palate, Fallen Arches" is playing at The Cutting Room, located at 19 West 24th Street. You can buy tickets here. Playwright Craig Lucas said the following about her, and I cannot improve on it:

"Once in a great long while, the planets align and all of nature conspires to come up with the previously unimaginable, the wondrous and newly beautiful, the awe inspiring. And some people are lucky enough to live in a time when such a creative vision appears in their midst. Now is such a time, we are the lucky ones, and Dina Martina is it."

Thanks for all the window views. Just a few reminders. These are not vacation shots or shots from your car window. These are supposed to be photographs taken from the window of where you live. I do my best to verify them, but please keep the parameters clear or we simply have a photo gallery of whatever. You get extra points by including a window frame or reference in the shot. And you may have noticed we have had no trackbacks lately. This is a function of Typepad’s malfunction. We’ve been bugging them for well over a week but they still haven’t fixed it. My apologies on their behalf.

Beijing, China, 3 pm

David Gregory follows Matt Lauer in demanding answers from president Bush on his policy of violating the Geneva Convention. David won’t be fobbed off by Bush’s belligerent evasions. The press is fighting back … at last.

Here’s an interesting remark on Hugh Hewitt’s blog:

As a Jew, I found Fox’s question [to George Allen] profoundly offensive. Trust me, the wounded minority card is not one that I play with much frequency. But the attempt to "tar" Allen as a Jew in a southern state was at the very least disturbing, and I actually consider it sickening.

The premise of this argument is that many Southern voters are anti-Semitic. Is that Hugh Hewitt’s belief, as well as his colleague, Dean Barnett’s? (Hat tip: Mike.) Here’s the video, where Allen regards asking about his Jewish inheritance is a way to cast "aspersions" on him.