The Dish

I wrote here that Jim Haynes was White House general counsel, when the Bush torture policy was devised and implemented. He wasn’t. He was general counsel for the Defense Department. In that capacity, he advised Rumsfeld that waterboarding, among other forms of abuse and torture, was legally available to the president. My point stands.

It’s great that lower taxes seem to be generating rises in revenue (though not enough). If we had a conservative administration that controlled spending, we could have an amazing example of conservative fiscal policy working. But we don’t. As the Heritage Foundation points out, spending last year increased at a faster rate than at any time since 1990. 9 percent in one year! Remember how they promised fiscal restraint if they were re-elected? I’m glad I wasn’t dumb enough to buy that one and backed the more fiscally conservative candidate. Money quote:

Since 2001, federal spending has leaped 45 percent. Defense and homeland security account for less than one-third of this increase. Education has increased 137 percent, international spending by 111 percent, and health research and regulation by 78 percent. Anti-poverty spending now tops three percent of GDP for the first time ever. Even after a freeze in FY 2007, non-defense discretionary spending will be up 42 percent since 2001 — double the increase enacted in President Clinton’s first six years in office.

George W. Bush: twice as liberal as Bill Clinton. The numbers don’t lie.

An Indian reader vouches for this email from a friend in Bombay. It sends a powerful message to terrorists. One weapon we have is outrage and a refusal to be numbed by their evil. Another weapon is an aggressive attempt to find and kill these people. A third is something Americans are not so practised in: stoicism. We will, I believe, suffer many more attacks in the future. I think we will endure worse than 9/11 in the coming months or years. We have to remind ourselves that one way of fighting back is simply to carry on as if nothing has happened, to deny them the paralysis they want, to keep the freedom they want to destroy. Here’s the email:

Not-so-Dear Terrorist,

Even if you are not reading this we don’t care. Time and again you tried to disturb us and disrupt our life – killing innocent civilians by planting bombs in trains, buses and cars. You have tried hard to bring death and destruction, cause panic and fear and create communal disharmony but every time you were disgustingly unsuccessful. Do you know how we pass our life in Mumbai? How much it takes for us to earn that single rupee? If you wanted to give us a shock then we are sorry to say that you failed miserably in your ulterior motives. Better look elsewhere, not here.

We are not Hindus and Muslims or Gujaratis and Marathis or Punjabis and Bengaliies. Nor do we distinguish ourselves as owners or workers, govt. employees or private employees. WE ARE MUMBAIKERS (Bombay-ites, if you like). We will not allow you to disrupt our life like this. On the last few  occasions when you struck (including the 7 deadly blasts in a single day killing over 250 people and injuring over 500 in 1993), we went to work next day in full strength. This time we cleared everything within a few hours and were back to normal – the vendors placing their next order, businessmen finalizing the next deals and the office workers rushing to catch the next train. (Yes the same train you targeted)

Fathom this: Within 3 hours of the blasts, long queues of blood donating volunteers were seen outside various hospital, where most of the injured were admitted. By 12 midnight, the hospital had to issue a notification that blood banks were full and they didn’t require any more blood. The next day, attendance at schools and office was close to 100%, trains & buses were packed to the brim, the crowds were back. The city has simply dusted itself off and moved one – perhaps with greater vigor.

We are Mumbaikers and we live like brothers in times like this. So, do not dare to threaten us with your crackers. The spirit of Mumbai is very strong and can not be harmed.

(Photo: Sebastian D’Souza/AFP/Getty).

Colin Powell’s former chief of staff, Lawrence Wilkerson, calls for reporters to hold the real architects of the torture policy responsible. The TV press has, indeed, been delinquent. Why have they not pressed Rumsfeld on whether, for example, he believes "waterboarding" is torture? Or Cheney? Why have they not pursued this against the real culprits? When will Gonzales be peppered daily with questions about his endorsement of torture? Demand answers – for their past decisions. Make sure Americans understand who did this.

Evan Wolfson, whom history will one day credit with pioneering today’s civil rights movement, notes a fascinating wrinkle last week in two civil marriage cases:

"New York’s ruling came just a week after the Arkansas supreme court unanimously rejected precisely the same proffered rationale; unlike the four-member majority of New York‚Äôs highest court, the judges in Arkansas (!) instead relied on the evidence provided by experts in child welfare. That evidence was, of course, available to the New York judges. Institutions such as the American Psychological Association, the National Association of Social Workers, the American Psychiatric Association, the Association to Benefit Children, and the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, among other authorities, submitted briefs to the court calling for an end to marriage discrimination in the interest of children and families."

Evan and I have our differences over tactics – and we’ve had them for thirteen years now. I favor a more legislative and federal approach to his judicial strategy (although I also believe courts have a role to play). But we both believe the fundamental task for gay people and our allies right now is persuasion, advocacy, speech. We have by far the better arguments. if you’re a gay person who hasn’t talked to a co-worker or family member about why marriage matters, then you’re not part of this movement. Stop relying on judges or political lobbies – and fight the fight yourself: person by person, again and again and again. Never duck an opportunity to engage; never let a dumb argument go unchallenged; never be intimidated by those wanting you to be silent or talk about something else. In the immortal words of Quentin Crisp:

It is not the simple statement of facts that ushers in freedom; it is the constant repetition of them that has this liberating effect. Tolerance is the result not of enlightenment, but of boredom.

Bore away.

"The Department of Defense’s own investigation concluded that this technique migrated from Guant√°namo to Iraq and Abu Ghraib. At least two members of the armed forces have now been convicted under the Uniform Code of Military Justice for using dogs to frighten detainees. It is striking that as these soldiers were prosecuted, you were being promoted. What message are we sending our troops? And what message are we sending the world, in light of your role in promulgating abusive interrogation techniques, like the use of dogs, stress positions and forced nudity. What message are we sending if we promote you to the second highest court in the land? …  ‘Well, we’re going to dispatch a few privates, a few corporals, a sergeant, maybe it will get to a lieutenant, but it’ll never get upstairs.’ … Apparently, upstairs there’s a promotion party. Downstairs people are being sent to prison," – Dick Durbin, finally telling it like it is about the way the Bush administration has protected politicians, commanders, and White House lawyers from accountability for abandoning Geneva and endorsing torture, while scapegoating a few grunts.

"Should we ever make the mistake of capturing any of the perpetrators of the war crime against PFCs Menchaca and Tucker alive, we can forget about interrogating them in order to catch the rest, according to the Supreme Whores. Well, unless they’re willing to give up information if we ask ‘pretty please?’, since anything other than that has been deemed illegal by those blackrobed tyrants. Are we exaggerating? Try doing anything to those mutilating darlings of the Supremes in order to extract life-saving intel from them, and then wait for the Supreme Whores to decide that you were ‚Äúhumiliating‚Äù them in doing so.

Five ropes, five robes, five trees.

Some assembly required," – (filed under "Religion of Pus, Useless Swine" by the "anti-idiotarian rottweiler blog". (Hat tip: Instapundit.)

Hunter’s Creek, Florida, 4 pm.

And they did. South Park’s Scientology episode will now return to rotation. It was a shameful acquiescence to corporate pressure and Tom Cruise’s ego, but now that MI:3 is over and done with, Viacom discovers it has some balls. I’m afraid their reputation for freedom of expression is shot, but they deserve some credit for doing the right thing eventually. This is as good a moment as any to plug an upcoming conference I’m speaking at, alongside Matt Stone and Trey Parker in Amsterdam late next month: "Libertarianism in Europe."