The Dish

He’s getting as horrified as the rest of us. What a gruesome day yesterday – all the worst because we have become numb to the carnage. The hope, of course is that the sheer insanity of these monsters – who are vying to turn Iraq into an even worse dictatorship than Saddam’s – will become apparent to ordinary Iraqis. Unless the pathologies of contemporary Islam in the Middle East have already done too much damage. That, I guess, is what we shall soon find out.

WONKETTE DOES WOLFIE: Almost as much fun as when she does Tina.

VOTING RIGHTS IN DC: Thanks for your emails about the colony in the American capital. Here’s a challenge: can anyone provide me with an actual argument for the fact that the inhabitants of the capital city have no fundamental right to govern themselves (without some strangers from other states’ vetoing or amending their decisions)? Is there even the faintest justification for residents of DC paying federal taxes when they have no senators and only one Potemkin representative in the House? Wyoming has fewer inhabitants and two senators. How does this make any sense? I know the historical reasons for this carbuncle on American democracy. I also know the self-interested reasons for preventing representation (Republicans don’t want any more Democrats in the Senate). But when you see people from elsewhere simply using DC as an experiment on a “test-vote”, the sheer contempt these people have for democracy and for the residents of their own little colony is overpowering. So I repeat: can anyone defend this? Seriously? I’ll publish the best ones.

Yes, we knew that already. But James Lileks proves it. Can you wait for Roger Ebert’s review of “Fahrenheit 9/11”?

MOVE OVER, BECKS: England’s newest football star is a hottie. The vultures are moving in.

QUOTE FOR THE DAY: “A recently reprinted memoir by Frederick Douglass has footnotes explaining what words like ‘arraigned,’ ‘curried’ and ‘exculpate’ meant, and explaining who Job was. In other words, this man who was born a slave and never went to school educated himself to the point where his words now have to be explained to today’s expensively under-educated generation.” – Thomas Sowell, in his latest column.

EMAIL OF THE DAY: “As someone who was born and raised in the Mormon Church (though currently non-believing), I’ve always been a bit confused by the Latter Day Saints’ position on Gay Marriage. To be considered an adult in full standing in that faith, one must be married in the Mormon Temple — any other marriage is viewed as secular, without the gravity or sanctity of the sacred covenant of Mormon Temple Marriage, which is the only wedding ceremony which seals a couple for time and all eternity. Since Mitt Romney’s religious beliefs already view the marriages of non-Mormons as ‘second class, one wonders why he won’t make allowances for gays to enter into this lesser contract.” More feedback on the Letters Page.

BORK ‘N ME: The debate on marriage rights, held at the National Constitution Center a while back featured your humble blogger, Judge Bork, law professor Bill Eskridge, Matthew Spaulding and Bob Barr. It’s now online.

Will Saletan exposes some conservative flim-flam. I think the use of acrimonious divorce papers, revealing legal, consensual sex between adults, to be appalling. But, as we all know, there is no privacy in America any more. It’s no use complaining. Every aspect of everyone’s private life is now fair game. The press will print anything; and if they don’t, the Internet will; and then the press will report on the Internet. You have to be a saint or a born-again former sinner to be a public official these days. Anyone else should stay away from public life – and absolutely public office of any kind – if they care at all about their private life. That’s the reality. And there’s nothing we can do about it.

This has been the rallying cry for many social conservatives, outraged that courts might uphold minority rights on the issue of marriage. So what are they proposing this summer in the House? Because they apparently lack the votes to pass a Constitutional Amendment banning marriage rights (or any other legal protections) for gay couples, they are considering other options. According to
Amy Fagan, in the Washington Times yesterday, such options “include … a measure that would define marriage in the District of Columbia as being between a man and a woman.” How about the voters in the District of Columbia? The City Council has a majority that would support equal marriage rights for homosexuals. Voters probably agree. So why should Congressmen from other states dictate social policy for D.C.? As Bill Clinton might put it, because they can. Just please don’t tell me that the campaign to prevent gay couples from marrying has anything to do with genuine concern for democracy. In D.C., it’s the opposite. Why not let the people vote in DC on marriage rights? Because residents of the capital city are subjects not citizens.

He does a grand job of evisceration (and he’s not voting for Bush). I will say this: I will generally go see anything. I even sat through “The Passion of the Christ.” But I cannot bring myself to go to this piece of vile, hateful propaganda. I walked out of “Roger and Me” years ago, before Michael Moore was Michael Moore. I know who he is. I refuse to sit in a theater and subject myself to lies and hate.

A South Asian version of your favorite show. (Hat tip: Jonah.)

Is Clinton full of it about even the origins of Hillary’s name? New Zealanders want to know.

The Washington Post’s editorial on the torture memos seems to me to strike the right balance. (Just compare it to the Bush-can’t-win screed at the NYT.) It is indeed a relief to see that the president ruled out anything that violated Geneva principles, and that the defense secretary reversed, after a month, the permissibility of a variety of techniques that he previously sanctioned in Guantanamo. But there’s the rub:

The documents confirm that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld approved a number of harsh interrogation techniques for use in Guantanamo in December 2002, including hooding, requiring nudity, placing prisoners in stress positions and using dogs. After military lawyers objected that these violated international law, Mr. Rumsfeld suspended their use a month later. But all these techniques, as well as the restricted practices now approved for Guantanamo, appeared in an interrogation policy issued for Iraq by command of Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez in September 2003. Nearly word for word, the harsh methods detailed in memos signed by Mr. Rumsfeld — which even administration lawyers considered violations of the Geneva Conventions — were then distributed to interrogators at Abu Ghraib. The procedures in turn could be read to cover much of what is seen in the photographs that have scandalized the world. How did this spread of improper and illegal practices occur?

That is what we will find out.

Yep, it gets even more depressing.

ALLAWI ON ELECTIONS: He says he’d prefer them sooner than January. Shouldn’t this be a bigger story if it’s true?

THE FANATICS WE FACE: The more recent outbreak of Islamist mass murder and mayhem should stir us to remember the real enemy. Here’s a posting from a website allegedly celebrating the latest murders in Saudi Arabia. Cited in a terrific column by Aussie Andrew Bolt, it purports to be written by one Fawwaz bin Muhammad al-Nashami, a Jihadist who escaped. Its details comprt with what we know happened. Listen to him:

Al-Nashami says he and his “brothers” shot their way into an oil company compound, where, as police confirm, they killed a British worker and tied his body to their car. He says they drove on until “the infidel’s clothing was torn to shreds and he was naked in the street … and everyone watched the infidel being dragged, praise and gratitude be to Allah.” The terrorists then stormed a second compound, and found an “American infidel”.
“I shot him in the head, and his head exploded. We entered another office and found one infidel from South Africa, and our brother Hussein slit his throat. We asked Allah to accept (these pious acts) from us, and from him.” The terrorists then killed guards at a third compound, where al-Nashami says they found Johansson: “Brother Nimr cut off his head and put it at the gate, so that it would be seen by all …” They caught other workers and checked their religion.
“We found Filipino Christians. We cut their throats and dedicated them to our brothers the Mujahideen in the Philippines. We found Hindu engineers and we cut their throats, too, Allah be praised … We utilised the time for (teaching) the Koran to the Muslims who remained.”

Please don’t tell me that this is not religiously-inspired terrorism. And these people, according to the 9/11 Commisssion, remain “extremely interested in conducting chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear attacks.” We are absolutely right to hold Western governments to account for failures, abuses and incompetence. But the government is not the enemy. Neither is John Kerry. And the enemy is still out there.

BUSH ON AIDS: He spoke movingly and powerfully yesterday. History will credit him for caring about this issue far more than his predecessor, Bill Clinton. Maybe because it was my eleventh anniversary of finding out I got HIV but I was moved by his words. Except, of course, for his usual exception in his compassionate conservatism: gay men. The president managed to give an entire speech and – again – never mentioned one of the biggest groups in the country affected by it. Amazing. How do his speech-writers do it? To a black audience, he had a chance to help them confront the homophobia that has crippled the black community’s ability to confront the epidemic. But, of course, Bush didn’t. Imagine what James Dobson would say. He also said the following:

The second part of a domestic strategy to fight AIDS is prevention. I think it’s really important for us to focus on prevention. We can learn from the experiences of other countries when it comes to a good program to prevent the spread of AIDS, like the nation of Uganda. They’ve started what they call the A-B-C approach to prevention of this deadly disease. That stands for: Abstain, be faithful in marriage, and, when appropriate, use condoms. That’s what A-B-C stands for. And it’s working. I like to call it a practical, balanced and moral message.

And yet, in one of the populations most at risk from this disease, Bush opposes any measures that would encourage marriage. In fact, he is waging a war to ban such marriages, and erase any incentives for gay men to stick together. Is Bush aware of this lacuna? If marriage cannot be a strategy for prevention among gays, then what is his prevention policy? He has none, because in order to have one, he would have to acknowledge that gay people exist – and that he is their president too. That he cannot and will not do. It’s too depressing for words.

QUOTE FOR THE DAY I: “I have not yet read Mr. Clinton’s book, but you can bet that my Judicial Watch attorneys will. I have learned that Bill Clinton has repeated his lies about me, and I am sickened by his continued disregard for the truth. Bill Clinton pretends to be contrite, but he continues to bear false witness against his neighbor. He is a national disgrace.” – Gennifer Flowers, Bill Clinton’s former long-term mistress.

QUOTE FOR THE DAY II: “‘Crush your enemies, see them driven before you and hear the lamentations of their women’ … Wait a minute, that’s Conan. I stepped out of character here for a second.” – Arnold on his governing philosophy, in the New York Times. The very fact that he has set up a smoking tent in the grounds of the California legislature (smoking is banned inside) is yet another reason to love the guy. And no, he won’t be stumping for Bush.

ROMNEY AND WELD: They’re a contrast of two kinds of Republican governors – one is a Mormon dedicated to keeping gay couples marginalized; the other is a libertarian WASP who actually officiates at a wedding for his old roommate. I know which party I support.

How the U.S. beat al Sadr.