The Dish

"Make no mistake, there’s a jury that’s out. In half the world, the verdict is not yet in. The commitment to accept the Western idea of democracy has not yet been made, and they are waiting for you to make the case … Our best security, our only security, is in the world of ideas, and I sense a slight foreboding…  Americans must understand that if the rules of law have meaning, such as hope and inspiration for the rest of the world, it must be coupled with the opportunity to improve human existence." ‚ÄîSupreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, in my view the most truly conservative of the current Justices.

Kennedy’s point reaffirms the danger of the temptation to suspend the rule of law, to grant the executive extra-legal powers, to condone torture and ignore treaties and laws, in order to fight terrorism. By abandoning these constitutional and moral standards without a fight, for whatever motives, we muddy the bright future line between civilization and barbarism. We must keep that line clear if we are to win this long war ‚Äî which is why the sooner this presidency is over, the better.

No, it’s not an oxymoron. Or at least, it shouldn’t be. My case for a central place for environmentalism within the conservative tradition ‚Äî a case I first made for Margaret Thatcher’s think tank 21 years ago ‚Äî can be read here.

Gays are being dragged out and murdered; women are under new Islamist scrutiny; the government itself is fast becoming a Hezbollah-like entity. From the Riverbend blog:

Residents of Baghdad are systematically being pushed out of the city. Some families are waking up to find a Klashnikov bullet and a letter in an envelope with the words "Leave your area or else." The culprits behind these attacks and threats are Sadr‚Äôs followers ‚Äî Mahdi Army. It’s general knowledge, although no one dares say it out loud. In the last month we’ve had two different families staying with us in our house, after having to leave their neighborhoods due to death threats and attacks. It‚Äôs not just Sunnis ‚Äî it’s Shia, Arabs, Kurds ‚Äî most of the middle-class areas are being targeted by militias.

Other areas are being overrun by armed Islamists. The Americans have absolutely no control in these areas. Or maybe they simply don’t want to control the areas because when there’s a clash between Sadr‚Äôs militia and another militia in a residential neighborhood, they surround the area and watch things happen.

Since the beginning of July, the men in our area have been patrolling the streets. Some of them patrol the rooftops and others sit quietly by the homemade road blocks we have on the major roads leading into the area. You cannot in any way rely on Americans or the government. You can only hope your family and friends will remain alive — not safe, not secure — just alive. That’s good enough.

For me, June marked the first month I don‚Äô’t dare leave the house without a hijab, or headscarf. I don’t wear a hijab usually, but it’s no longer possible to drive around Baghdad without one. It‚Äôs just not a good idea. (Take note that when I say ‘drive’ I actually mean ‘sit in the back seat of the car’ ‚Äî I haven’t driven for the longest time.) Going around bare-headed in a car or in the street also puts the family members with you in danger. You risk hearing something you don‚Äôt want to hear and then the father or the brother or cousin or uncle can’t just sit by and let it happen. I haven’t driven for the longest time. If you’re a female, you risk being attacked.

This is the face of "liberation." Stuff happens, I guess.

(Photo: Kareem Raheem/Reuters.)

"They count their dead in dozens. We count ours in hundreds." —a civilian Iraqi talking about the civil war now raging in his country, compared with the relative skirmishes in Lebanon and Israel.

The current war in Iraq is far deadlier than in Lebanon and Israel. And the United States is ultimately responsible for its security. A brutal first-person account of the hell that is now much of Iraq can be read here.

(Photo: Franco Pagetti for Time.)

More evidence about the hero of the American Christianist movement:

Mel Gibson once had close links to the Australian League of Rights, a Far Right group notorious for its anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and Holocaust denial.
The league claims the world is run by a secret society of Jews.
The Hollywood star’s foray into Far Right activist politics in Australia occurred in 1987 when he campaigned for a friend, Rob Taylor, who stood unsuccessfully for the northern Victorian federal seat of Indi.
Charles Pinwill, a former Queensland state director of the League of Rights, said he knew Gibson’s father, Hutton, and said Gibson was interested in the league’s ideas.
"They were never members of the league, no. But we never really recruited members, just support. (Mel and Hutton) were interested in some of our ideas," Mr Pinwill said.
"His dad had politically similar ideas to me. His dad had a well-considered philosophy, he thought things through.
"I knew (Mr Taylor) was a friend of Mel’s. Mel’s not really a political animal, he’s interested in spiritual things."

Rocky Mount, North Carolina, 10 am.

"A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land;
The prophets prophesy falsely; and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so.
And what will ye do in the end thereof?" – Jeremiah, 30 -31.

(Photo of Christianists Tim and Beverly LaHaye by Thomas Michael Alleman for Time.)

Coulter strikes again. Can her anti-anti-homophobic friend, Mickey, be far behind?

Will Lieberman’s impending defeat lay the foundations for a Gore nomination? The ironies mount. My own view is that Gore is the only Democratic candidate for president who could conceivably mount a credible challenge to McCain.

What the Arab world really wants.