Category: The Dish

Ross Douthat tackles Kevin Drum on eugenics.

Fred Thompson appears to have come down with a bad case.

The bond between apes and men is sometimes the hand on the face:

"The gesture rarely lasts longer than a few seconds, so it is not easy to see, yet once [primatologist] Wallis told the audience what to look for, the muzzle wipe was clearly evident. Nervous baboons could be seen constantly putting their hands to their faces in difficult situations. She noted that monkeys make a similar move and that a chimpanzee will often put its wrist to its forehead in similar contexts. . . . Humans do put their hand to their face when nervous, and indeed, as she pointed out, psychiatrists and law enforcement officials often interpret a hand-to-face gesture as evidence of uncertainty or even deception."

Further political reflections here.

 

"While Christians respect Islam and desire to dialogue with Muslims, [we] must act to protect the Christian identity of Europe… I believe the Regensburg speech, as it is known, was prophetic… Attempts at the ‘Islamification’ of the West cannot be denied. And the associated danger for the identity of Europe cannot be ignored out of a wrongly understood sense of respect… The Catholic side sees this clearly and says as much," – Georg Ganswein, the Pope’s private secretary.

His own data-set on Iraq belies his op-ed on the surge.

Sweden does a lot better than you’d expect.

Who knew?

What if Mary Poppins were re-edited into a horror movie? The trailer might look something like this:

The Pope speaks:

"We all see that today man can destroy the foundation of his existence, his Earth. We cannot simply do what we want with this Earth of ours, with what has been entrusted to us. We must respect the interior laws of creation, of this Earth, to learn these laws and obey them if we want to survive. This obedience to the voice of the Earth is more important for our future happiness … than the desires of the moment. Our Earth is talking to us and we must listen to it and decipher its message if we want to survive."

One glimpse through the fog of war:

Suddenly the trees were gone and the sky opened up. I couldn’t see anything.

"We’re in the slum now," Lieutenant Evan Wolf said. "It’s a nasty one, too. Some houses are literally made out of cardboard. I would kill myself before I lived here." I have no idea how these people survive without air conditioning and clean water. The environment here in the summer is unrelentingly hostile.

"How did you get into this job?" Eddy said.

"I was in the high tech industry a few years ago," I told him. "I got bored of the cubicle farm and needed to get out of the office."

"You’re way out now," Eddy said and laughed.

"I can’t wait to get in the office," Lieutenant Wolf said.

"Do you like your job?" Eddy said.

"I love my job," I said. "It’s the best I’ve ever had. Do you like yours?"

"I wouldn’t say it’s the worst decision I ever made," he said. "It’s hard for soldiers. We all want to go home, of course. But we also want to stay and make sure our buddies did not die for nothing."

There were no street lights. All I could see was absolute darkness and the faint outlines of hovels against a backdrop of stars.

(Photo: Totten. Hit his tip jar.)