The Dish

“I’m a great admirer of your writing, and consider myself an evangelical Christian. The article that you cited as a Derbyshire award nominee “Do you have a Pitbull Attitude” by Doug Giles I think may have been misunderstood on your part. This seems to me (I’ve never read anything by Mr. Giles before) to be a piece that is representative of a small fad in evangelical writing. The most prominent of this fad is “Wild at Heart” by John Eldredge. The concept is that the current church has been feminized as men have not lived up to their role as depicted in scripture. To counteract this trend, these authors depict the spiritual life as one that can be seen as a masculine challenge rather than passivity. The challenge in this article by Giles is to live authentically what you preach, and to not insulate oneself in a christian bubble. You may object to his machismo style, but it’s likely targeted to those that see the christian life as too feminine for themselves. I don’t think that this article deserves a Derbyshire as it’s not concerning public policy or bullying anyone, just to have courage to practice what you preach, be authentic, and break through your bubble. How is this not like Jesus?”

Gregg Easterbrook says that big changes are ahead in energy policy – whether the president wants them or not.

A first hand account from the photo-journalist who witnessed the Marine killing of a wounded man in Falluja.

“In the ideological and military clash of Christian fundamentals with Islamist fundamentals, the western media are simply off-limits to the latter. I am still getting emails every week from viewers demanding why we are not in Falluja, Tikrit, Amara covering this war properly and showing the other side.” – Alex Thomson, of Britain’s Channel 4 News, arguing for more embedded journalists with the Jihadists, to present their side of the conflict. (Hat tip: Clive Davis).

LIDDY AND HITLER: A pretty amazing interview with the radio host, G. Gordon Liddy.

News flash: we need more troops in Iraq. Duh. The truth is: we needed far more from the very beginning – and this incremental increase, which reflects the enemy’s tenacity as much as ours, is exactly the kind of mission creep we should always have avoided. I’m still dumbfounded by the political branch’s refusal to acknowledge this before now, and the lame excuse that the only justification for more troops would be if the commanders demanded them. The level of troops – like the war in general – is far too important to be left to the military. Such decisions require political and strategic judgments that can only be made by the commander in chief. Bush’s limitations as a real war-leader are nowhere better illustrated than in this passivity on a matter of supreme importance. But better late then never. The important thing now is to win.

READING KRISTOL: One of the real skills of many neoconservatives is their message discipline. Their private concerns about the dreadful post-war planning in Iraq, and their frustrations with Rumsfeld in particular were kept absolutely under wraps until the election. These are intellectuals whose first calling is political power, rather than intellectual candor. Win first, cavil later: that’s the motto. This is not to say they are intellectually dishonest, merely that they have learned the benefits of silence when their political masters are caught with their pants down. But now the election is over, you can read the following missive from the Politburo head, Bill Kristol, with some interest:

The president presented himself for the judgment of the American people with 150,000 troops in the field, taking real casualties and on the verge of launching a major offensive. The people didn’t flinch. They showed fortitude and judgment, sticking with Bush and the difficult path he has chosen, a path in some respects made more difficult by mistakes his administration had made, but not one his opponent could be counted on to follow to success.

Translation: Bush screwed up monumentally but at least he didn’t waver; and we were able to keep the full truth of the Iraq mess from the people long enough to survive. Yes, Bush’s record did not merit re-election; but Kerry would have been far worse. (That’s why Kristol barely wrote a word about Bush for months, and wrote ceaselessly against Kerry.)

SLITHER, SLITHER: There’s more:

What remains to be done is to announce new leadership for the Department of Defense. This, surely, would be an opportunity for a strong, Bush Doctrine-supporting outsider, someone who of course would be a team player, but someone who could also work with the military and broaden support for the president’s policy. Is John McCain, or Rudy Giuliani, or Joe Lieberman too much to hope for?

Translation: Rummy’s obsessive short-staffing of the war, his reluctance to endorse the nation-building, democracy-installing agenda of the neocon right (mine too!), and his presiding over Abu Ghraib, all mean he should go. But we’re not going to say that outright, because, er, we don’t want to lose our access. Finally:

Meanwhile, the offensive in Falluja has gone better than expected, and we are following up in Mosul, Ramadi, and elsewhere as necessary. The president is clearly resolved to mobilize all available military, political, and diplomatic resources to bring off elections in Iraq, and successfully to prosecute the larger war on terror and hasten the transformation of the Middle East.

Translation: for frickin’ sake, get more troops over there! Kristol really is a master of the art of Washington suck-up, clear criticism, and keeping himself in the game. This one’s a minor classic.

How else to interpret the Orwellian provision in the mammoth spending bill that gave a couple of powerful Republicans the chance to snoop on anyone’s tax returns? First, they re-write ethics procedures to get their leader off the hook. Now they’re snooping. Note especially Congressman Istook’s blatant lie about the whole affair.

DERBYSHIRE AWARD NOMINEE: “It’s time to put down our pusillanimous poodle proclivities and start taking onboard a pitbull-esque tenacity … you know, like the Christians of old, like Peter, like Paul, like Timothy, and Stephen. We need a breed of believers with the courage to stand proudly for their faith in God and their place in society. How about looking at scripture through the eyes of the Pit Bull?” – Doug Giles, on how Jesus fought back against his opponents like an attack-dog.

If you haven’t read Dexter Filkin’s harrowing, extraordinary account of the bravery, ingenuity and commitment of the young Marines who re-took Falluja, then do yourself a favor and read it. It’s Pulitzer material. Just one story:

Cpl. Nick Ziolkowski, nicknamed Ski, was a Bravo Company sniper. For hours at a stretch, Corporal Ziolkowski would sit on a rooftop, looking through the scope on his bolt-action M-40 rifle, waiting for guerrillas to step into his sights. The scope was big and wide, and Corporal Ziolkowski often took off his helmet to get a better look.
Tall, good-looking and gregarious, Corporal Ziolkowski was one of Bravo Company’s most popular soldiers. Unlike most snipers, who learned to shoot growing up in the countryside, Corporal Ziolkowski grew up near Baltimore, unfamiliar with guns. Though Baltimore boasts no beach front, Corporal Ziolkowski’s passion was surfing; at Camp Lejeune, N.C., Bravo Company’s base, he would often organize his entire day around the tides. “All I need now is a beach with some waves,” Corporal Ziolkowski said, during a break from his sniper duties at Falluja’s Grand Mosque, where he killed three men in a single day.
During that same break, Corporal Ziolkowski foretold his own death. The snipers, he said, were now among the most hunted of American soldiers. In the first battle for Falluja, in April, American snipers had been especially lethal, Corporal Ziolkowski said, and intelligence officers had warned him that this time, the snipers would be targets. “They are trying to take us out,” Corporal Ziolkowski said.
The bullet knocked Corporal Ziolkowski backward and onto the roof. He had been sitting there on the outskirts of the Shuhada neighborhood, an area controlled by insurgents, peering through his wide scope. He had taken his helmet off to get a better view. The bullet hit him in the head.

This week is Thanksgiving week. We should dedicate it more emphatically than ever to the young men and women making such great sacrifices in a war-plan that has pushed them into operations they never anticipated. We shouldn’t give up until they do. And they never will.

“In response to the “defense of the pill” posting. Under Catholic teaching, it is always permissible to prescribe the pill for non-contraceptive, i.e., medical reasons. And as it turns out, endometriosis is regarded by Catholic natural family (NFP) ob/gyns as the only condition for which the pill is a useful medical treatment. (I am not a physician but did once conduct research into this question.) The objection of Catholic pharmacists is to prescribing it for lifestyle/contraceptive reasons — non-medical reasons. I don’t see why it is so objectionable for Catholic providers to have the right to decline involvement in elective care.
NFP, promoted by the Church, has its medical benefits, too. My charting revealed something a little odd in my cycles and, as it turns, out — hormone testing confirmed that I had a problem (an estrogen dominance). I know of an NFP teacher who discovered a tumor based on the the readings of her client’s NFP chart. Unfortunately, most physicians are too quick to discount the benefits of NFP and put patients on the pill without discovering the underlying problems in cycles.
The problem today is in finding providers respectful of NFP. Visit any ob/gyn office and one is bombarded with contraceptive literature and gimmicks. A friend’s ob/gyn was totally dismissive of her once my friend indicated that she was not wanting to go on the pill but rather was interested in NFP following the birth of her son. There is not a lack of providers and pharmacists willing to distribute the pill. Why not protect the innovative minority ob/gyns and pharmacists who don’t want the pill to be a part of their professional practice?” All fair points. I have a particular fondness for Natural Family Planning, since I am one its unintended consequences. My mother read the calendar the wrong way and – voila! Or as my mom put it to me: ‘You sister was an accident; but you were a mistake.” Awww. More feedback on the Letters Page.

A big rally in Cologne protesting the use of violence under the name of Islam.

WHO’S FUNDING DELAY? Who are the corporate donors pouring money into Tom DeLay’s legal defense fund? Newsweek has the details.

THREE NEW POSTS: On the post-11/2 future of marriage equality, Bush’s cabinet re-shuffle, and the political lessons of “The Incredibles” and “Team America.” They’re all posted on the upper left.

They’re selling a “Passion of the Christ” video game? Does Jesus try to get away or something?