Category: The Dish

Chris Matthews gets Rudy right. Giuliani has no understanding of what it is we’re fighting for in this war. Given his crude 9/12 analysis of the terror war, I don’t even think he understands what we’re fighting against. His candidacy speaks to the worst part of us: fear, loathing, and an instinctual belief that freedom is a threat to us, rather than the core of us.

I’m a bit of a Gatorade freak myself. We buy them in bulk from Peapod, and store them in relays in the fridge. Occasionally, I’m asked which flavor I prefer. I really have no preference, or, rather, my preference is rather like my taste for a particular color of skittle. Having signed off on the general concept – over-priced, sugary, colored water – I’m quite happy to be pleasantly surprised. It turns out I’m not the only one who feels this way. A Singapore company has come up with some new, and mysterious soda drinks:

Out of the Box caters to consumers who respond to "What would you like to drink?" with a non-committal "anything" or "whatever". Two weeks ago, the company launched two complementary brands: Anything and Whatever. Anything is fizzy and comes in six flavors (Cola with Lemon, Apple, Fizz Up, Cloudy Lemon and Root Beer) and Whatever is non-carbonated (Ice Lemon Tea, Peach Tea, Jasmine Green Tea, White Grape Tea, Apple Tea, Chrysanthemum Tea).The surprise part? Consumers don’t know which flavor they’re getting until they take a sip.

Makes for a cool guessing game too, I guess. But I won’t hold my breath for the US version.

A reader responded to the Clinton commencement link thus:

I wept. I am usually too jaded for that.

Another reader reponded to this Atlantic D-Day link thus:

I’d have never found that if not for you. I cried for about 10 minutes.

Just spreading the joy around. But seriously, if you haven’t read Bill Clinton’s speech, take a look. It’s him at his best. And there’s a great anecdote about Rush Limbaugh.

David Frum has advice for Joe Klein. (Hat tip: Ross.)

A Thai muslim student looks at the gutted structure of his school building that was set on fire by unidentified militants in Thailand’s insurgency-torn southern Yala province, 06 June 2007. More than 2,200 people have been killed and thousands more wounded in a separatist insurgency that has been raging in the Muslim-majority southern region bordering Malaysia since January 2004. Violence is growing despite peace-building moves by the military-installed government, which came to power after a coup in September 2006. By Muhammed Sabri/AFP/Getty.

According to Politico.

A reader corrects:

Great quote, but you called him "African-American." There’s nothing American about the man; pure Trinidad. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend "Beyond a Boundary," his great work on cricket, maybe the smartest and best writing on sport I’ve ever read. And on colonialism.

A reader writes:

Yes, I love that clip of Hitchens refusing to stand down for the bullying and buffoonery of Sean Hannity. This is why Hitchens is so valuable in the fight against religious fundamentalism. He lives for getting dirty in the trenches of what passes for political debate in today’s climate. He lives for the opportunity to take on buffoons and bullies like Hannity defending Christianism on the right and Hedges defending Islamism on the left.

By contrast, Sam Harris, who I admire and respect greatly, is far less confrontational and far more polite and reserved, and thus I find myself almost yelling at the computer screen for Sam to defend himself whenever another youtube clip of him "debating" Nancy Grace or the like appears.

Harris won’t sink to Grace or Hannity’s level.  Hitchens will, and I love him for it.

Mitt Romney blurts out his real views in New Hampshire. He’s really got to watch that. The Christianists are getting pissy. But isn’t Romney obviously correct? He’s sticking with the Hewitt-approved line that only a man and a woman should have the legal protections of civil marriage, but he is acknowledging that in a free country, others will be able to bring kids up in a variety of ways. He’s also acknowledging a simple fact: all the evidence suggests that kids who are brought up by two moms fare just as well as kids brought up in other contexts. So what do the Christianists want? Are they really going to demand that Republicans not only forbid those moms from having legal protections for the child-rearing and relationships but also regularly denounce and condemn them? I guess so. Let me just offer some advice: going around trashing mothers is not the best politics. Especially when the next generation is so over this crap. And especially when one of those moms is the daughter of the vice-president.

I linked to a Shiite cleric’s defense of them yesterday. A "one hour marriage" is to prostitution what "enhanced interrogation techniques" is to torture: an attempt to deny reality. Here’s a link to a photo-essay by Veronique De Viguerie, a gifted photographer, who documented the practice in Afghanistan (that’s her photo of a Muslim john and a prospective hire two years ago). Money quote:

With the comeback of democracy, the Shi’ite tradition of Sekha, or temporary marriages, has returned, in Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan, on Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2005. This contract of marriage allows a man to get married with the consent of the Muslim religion for a certain amount of time, from one night to a few months. Here, Mullah Razul Jan, 25, as a Mullah, can authorize himself as many temporary weddings as he wants. Since he practices Sekha, he has married more than 100 times. He plans on marrying between two to five times per month depending on his money situation, most of the time for a few nights, which he negotiates for around 35 dollars.

Religion can deny human nature or it can find ways to accommodate it. When you hear the Islamists going off about the alleged degeneracy of the West, remember that they’re about as credible as Ted Haggard. And the impulse for denial and oppression of women and all non-hetero-male sexuality is the same. A reader adds:

Add the fact that the legal age for girls to marry is 9 years old, and you have a society that is not only OK with prostitution, but with child prostitution. It’s hard for me to see how you get more debased and decadent than that.

I don’t have a problem with prostitution – just a viciously anti-woman culture that makes it less of a choice and more of a fate. And the preaching to the West is gag-inducing.