The Dish

A very unholy alliance.

I mean: really bored? Not so bored that you’re reading a blog at lunchtime. Take a number. But really, really bored. Do I have a club for you.

Has the chief theorist of the law-free executive changed his tune? An anonymous liberal wants to know.

This time, a kidney: from one legally married husband to another. And it just happened to be scheduled for Valentine’s Day. Full story here.

A Senate candidate in Ohio wants to impose the death penalty for homosexuals. And, yes, he’s a Democrat.

Josh Marshall sees the light. Mine is 17 inches and I whip it out whenever and wherever I need to.

An uplifting story. My very best to both women, two of the most engaging and inspiring writers I know.

A new poll for 2008.

A Catholic group’s attempt to boycott a South Park episode that offended many was spectacularly successful in New Zealand. The viewership of the show increased by more than six times the usual rating. Money quote:

"The protest centred on a statue of the Virgin Mary, with participants — clutching Bibles and religious icons — singing hymns, reciting the rosary and offering other prayers.

A Catholic priest who led the protesters in prayer asked God to enlighten those responsible for the cartoon "and strengthen them to see how much harm they can do."

Last weekend, New Zealand’s Roman Catholic bishops issued a letter urging parishioners to boycott the channel and its sponsors. The Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand also protested the episode and said it was deeply offensive."

I hope Bill Donahue takes notice. But he won’t.

(You can buy the t-shirt here.)

Well, that was an invigorating lunch discussion. The fiscal case against this administration is so damning and unanswerable that I’m not surprised the White House refused to offer up a single person to argue their case. Cato asked for someone. Rove sent no one. The audience was primarily conservative and libertarian, so the fact that almost no one there could defend Bush either – except as better than the alternatives – was instructive. But I think the "better-than-the-alternatives" point is awry as well. The salient question is: could a president Al Gore have managed to increase public spending as massively and as permanently as this crew? He would surely have been stopped in his tracks by a Republican Congress. Even a Democratic Congress would have felt the need to assuage the Republican grass roots and scaled back the huge growth. But not Bush. By hitching the Republican base to Christianism, and by legitimizing massive spending for a Republican, he has been able to dispense with much of what conservatism once meant. Limited government? Yeah, right. Balanced budgets? A joke. Individual liberty? Only if you’re in the Middle East. Huge tax increases? Just you wait. They’re now inevitable. A welfare state bigger and more intrusive than Ted Kennedy could dream of? That will be Bush’s legacy. It will take conservatism a generation to recover its bearings.

By the way, you can buy Bruce Bartlett’s book, "Impostor," here. And you can read about a glimmer of hope here.