Category: The Dish

An Australian citizen was captured by US forces in Afghanistan as an alleged terrorist, and taken to Guantanamo Bay. He claims serious abuse in captivity – not torture, just the now-familiar litany of beatings, hoodings, and sexual abuse. Given the way the Bush administration has handled the case, and America’s current reputation in the world, the Australian public seems increasingly inclined to believe Hicks and not the US. The case has been seriously weakening a key ally in the war against terror, prime minister John Howard. John McCain is not defending the handling of the case.

Just another day for the Bush-Cheney military detention policy.

Why bother with hotels for your corporate convention? Just rent an entire village.

Compared to civil marriage in Massachusetts, not many couples are rushing to the registry office in New Jersey. Dale Carpenter has an explanation.

Matt is, of course, right that order precedes liberty. If that were Rudy’s entire gist, I’d agree. (And Hegel was, in my view, a liberal, properly understood.) But any New Yorker will tell you that Rudy has never been content merely to establish order and let freedom reign. He’s never secured a liberty he wouldn’t like the power to meddle with further, an underling he hasn’t tried to bully, or a rival he hasn’t tried to undermine. I’m still open to his candidacy. But my eyes are open this time. I’ve learned my lesson from 2000.

I linked to a BBC report here. Bill Roggio has an interesting discussion going.

Marc Ambinder thinks it’s a helpful assumption.

"The underlying problem for the West is not Islamic fundamentalism. It is Islam, a different civilization whose people are convinced of the superiority of their culture and are obsessed with the inferiority of their power. The problem for Islam is not the CIA or the US Department of Defense. It is the West, a different civilization whose people are convinced of the universality of their culture and believe that their superior, if declining, power imposes on them the obligation to extend that culture throughout the world. These are the basis ingredients that fuel conflict between Islam and the West," – Sam Huntington in his increasingly prophetic book, "The Clash of Civilizations." Rod Dreher finds more in it to like than he expected.

George P. joins the Navy reserve.

It’s where they’re plotting the next 9/11, while the Bush administration looks on. There’s evidence of a new and brutal battle, but it’s unclear who’s fighting whom and for what. The hope is that local tribesmen are turning on al Qaeda. But it could also be just an internal power-struggle.

Pot-smoking as a religion? Money quote:

"I’m a Jewish kid from Beverly Hills who went to UCLA. I could have been a lawyer making $250 an hour like the rest of my friends, or a TV producer. Instead, I’m teaching the Bible, selling weed on Hollywood Boulevard, facing seven years in jail – of course I’m crazy."

(Hat tip: Slate.)