The Dish

"In an interview with ABC radio, Vice President Cheney said he did not know if the sailors had been released because of a quid pro quo arrangement," – New York Sun. Did not know?

A contretemps in San Francisco led to this dyspeptic post at the paleocon American Thinker. Money quote:

My complaint is with the bad attitude way too many bicyclists have toward others. I am certain there are drivers who scare the wits out of them and endanger their lives. But that is no reason to give into a self-righteous fury at all drivers.

That’s a complaint? Of course, we bicyclists shouldn’t express fury at all drivers. Just most of them. But, of course, my own experience is that the "bad attitude" invariably lies with those in cars. Many American drivers (it’s different in Europe) simply act as if cyclists have no right to be on the road at all. You get "doored" all the time, cut off, pushed into curbs, and, my pet peeve, prevented even from crossing streets by cars sitting plonk in the way trying to get into oncoming traffic. After my testosterone shots, it’s a wonder I don’t go Cheney on these people.  Especially those in their smug, huge SUVs.

Two words: "spousal unions." When New Hampshire’s House votes overwhelmingly to give gay couples and only gay couples all the rights and responsibilities of civil marriage while calling it something else, the debate has moved on to new ground. New Hampshire would be the sixth state to give gay couples every benefit of marriage without the m-word. But "spousal union" is new language.

Nancy Pelosi has finally brought them together.

Only if you have no idea what you’re talking about.

What children? You could put this down to modernity, but traditional English parents, especially among the elites, always treated their children distantly.

A Christian reader writes:

One of your last lines in the latest reply to Sam Harris is:

"But in these matters of ultimate meaning, being persuasive is not as important as being right, is it?" 

I agree. But as a Christian I also know that I am not always right, so being right is less important than being forgiven. And, after all, being persuasive is a good thing, too, but in these matters it is perhaps mostly unachievable.  Christ himself sent missionaries out to preach his Gospel. Their job was to bear witness of what they had seen and heard, and to teach what Jesus taught, but their words did far less to convert than did the Spirit.

A good missionary doesn’t say, "So let me show you why you’re wrong," or even "Let me show you why I’m right." The best missionaries say, "This is what I experienced" or even "This is what I saw" (with care taken never to bear false witness). You have been, especially in your last two messages to Sam, a good missionary.

Let me put it another way. If you had been alive during the ministry of Paul, and you heard him speak about his experience on the road to Damascus, would you have believed him?  Almost certainly not. What you would have believed would have been what was happening inside yourself. The Gospel is logical and makes sense, but conversion is spiritual and happens within us. You might have said, "Well, his story is incredible, yet I felt something inside that told me it was true." Sam has helped put you in touch with that experience, so although he did not wish it he has acted as a missionary, too.

Clive Davis has a post from London, contrasting British conservative reactions to the Iran deal with American conservatives, including some British ex-pats. He emails despairingly:

It’s amazing how US conservatives have managed to alienate so many of us over here.

Ahem.

He responds to my response here. For the time being, I’l link to Scott Horton’s post about the original McCarthy essay here. I’ll tackle the issues on which Andy and I still differ soon. I think the Iranian breach of Geneva may be a helpful opportunity to revisit this debate. But I’m a little frazzed from defending the existence of God in time for lunch.