The Dish

One father tries to cure his three-year old son of being gay; and eventually kills him. “He didn’t want him to be a sissy,” Shelton Bostic, the defendant’s Bible-study friend, testified. Yep: the guy was in Bible study. And this is what he learned.

“Why doesn’t Mel Gibson make a movie that is nothing but 2 hours of people hacking each other to death with machetes? For an auteur-ish touch, he could have the blood level gradually rise through the duration, until at the end the entire screen was scarlet. For extra “pull,” movie theaters could be asked to instal special sprinklers that shower the audience with blood from time to time.” – John Derbyshire, NRO. Rick Santorum could bring the whole family.

Here’s a splendid piece of splenetic rage. I disagree, of course, but it’s always fun to read someone go off. Sample:

The word “blog” is literally shorthand for “boring;” a vulgar, overused word that strikes your ear with the dull thud of a cudgel to the soft spot of a child. It’s an abbreviation used by journalism drop outs to give legitimacy to their shallow opinions and amateur photography that seems to be permanently stuck in first draft hell. Looking in the archives of the blogs, one would expect someone who has been at it for years to slowly hone their craft and improve their writing and photographs, since it’s usually safe to assume that if someone does something long enough, he or she will eventually not suck at it. Even with lowered expectations, you’ll get a shotgun blast of disappointment in your face.

And here I am, still sucking after all these years. Wait, there’s more:

Blogger: Term used to describe anyone with enough time or narcissism to document every tedious bit of minutia filling their uneventful lives. Possibly the most annoying thing about bloggers is the sense of self-importance they get after even the most modest of publicity. Sometimes it takes as little as a referral on a more popular blogger’s website to set the lesser blogger’s ego into orbit.
Then God forbid a blogger gets mentioned on CNN. If you thought it was impossible for a certain blogger to get more pious than he was, wait until you see the shit storm of self-righteous save-the-world bullshit after a network plug. Suddenly the boring, mild-mannered blogger you once knew will turn into Mother Theresa, and will single handedly take it upon himself to end world hunger with his stupid links to band websites and other smug blogger dipshits.

C’mon. Tell us how you really feel.

A guest on NPR insinuates that the Bush administration is somehow behind the Darfur genocide. I kid you not.

NUTTY RIGHT WATCH: The anti-Kinsey obsessives now have a new theory: porn causes the release of harmful “erototoxins” in the human brain. Bring ’em on, say I.

“A friend forwarded to me your your recent (July 16, 2005) comments about a possible upcoming Vatican document that may ban gay men from priestly ordination. After reading your comments, John Allen’s article, and the email from a gay priest who wrote about his own struggles, I find myself so incensed that words almost escape me.

I, too, am a gay priest. While I am no longer in active ministry (currently on a leave of absence), I can fully understand and identify with the pain and anguish that the priest expressed. Though I no longer function as a priest in the sacramental or adminstrative sense, I have always considered who I am and the work I do to be “priestly.” I am a professional “do-gooder,” a social worker with a non-profit mental health organization; I am active in my Washington, DC parish, teaching RCIA to those seeking the good news that Christ and the Church proclaim. Though conscious of my own sinfulness and shortcomings, I try to live my life in the light of the truth that my ordination forever changed the essence of my soul, calling me to “be there” for others, as Christ has been and always is “there” for us.

For the Church even to consider taking a position that gay men are “unfit” for priestly ordination must be called what it is. You labeled it as bigotry; indeed, such a statement would be an expression of indefensible bigotry and discrimination. It also would be an evil of immense magnitude. If the current Holy Father were to promulgate such a statement, I cannot tell you the range of thoughts and emotions such an action would engender in me (anger and dismay being at the top of the list). I would also feel great sadness for Benedict XVI himself, and I would fear for his salvation. To knowingly inflict such immense harm on part of God’s flock, doing so in his role as the Church’s Universal Pastor, would, I believe, place on him the burden of one day standing before the Lord in need of the boundless mercy and forgiveness that only God can give.

Like the priest who wrote to you, I feel I must do something, but don’t yet know what that is. While I reflect and pray for guidance on what that “something” is, I wish to thank you for providing an enlightened place in these “darkening times” for all gay men and women seeking to follow the light of Christ.”

Another gay priest recommended this book to me. It’s a biography of one of the great Catholic intellectuals and priests of the twentieth century, Henri Nouwen. And, yes, he was gay.

“One’s life is probably in no greater danger in the jungles of deepest Africa than in the jungles of America’s large cities. In my judgment, much of the problem has been brought about by the mollycoddling of criminals by some of the liberal judges who have been placed on the nation’s courts in recent years.” – Senator Robert Byrd, a former racist who now directs his bigotry at gays.

The liberal media sees both through the prism of intellectual snobbery, says David Adesnik.

It doesn’t get more depressing than this.

“Judge Roberts has a first-rate mind and by all accounts he’s a wonderful person. In addition, his opinions to date are excellent and they show a healthy respect for people who disagree with him. It’s far too soon to reach any final conclusions – the process has just started – but Judge Roberts combines quality with a fine character, and that’s certainly something to applaud.” – Cass Sunstein.

“”He’s conservative in manner and conservative in approach. He’s a person who is cautious and careful, that’s true. But he is also someone quite deeply immersed in the law, and he loves it. He believes in it as a discipline and pursues it in principle and not by way of politics.” – Laurence H. Tribe.

It’s so good to see two proud, accomplished American women taking on the genocidal government of Sudan:

When NBC diplomatic reporter Andrea Mitchell tried to ask el-Bashir about his involvement with alleged atrocities, guards grabbed her and muscled her toward the rear of the room. State Department officials shouted at the guards. “Get your hands off her!” Wilkinson demanded. But all the reporters and a camera crew were physically forced out as Rice and el-Bashir watched.

Later, describing Rice’s meeting with el-Bashir, Wilkinson said, “She was very direct about the skepticism of the international community about their ability to improve Darfur.”

Rice put it this way: “I said action, not words.”

Mitchell is a great reporter. She asked the right question. Rice did right. I think we know what that thuggish government is about. If they do this to the entourage of the secretary of state, can you imagine what they do to domestic dissenters?