The Dish

I’m a First Amendment fanatic, but I have to say the request by a Florida College newspaper and an Internet site to gain access to the autopsy pictures of Dale Earnhardt is one of the most sickening things I have ever come across. Do these people have any decency? There is no, repeat no, public interest, apart from evil prurience, to see the remnants of Earnhardt’s body. The newspaper is absurdly claiming that the photos will show NASCAR’s lack of safety procedures and head braces. But that information – and its relevance in the Earnhardt case – can easily be gleaned without subjecting the Earnhardt family to seeing Dale’s broken body sent out to the whole world on the Internet. Check out this story for the gruesome details of the case. To violate the privacy of a marital bond at a time of extreme pain for Teresa Earnhardt is simply wicked and cruel. To subject Earnhardt’s young daughter to this is, in the judges words, “unspeakable.” We’re learning more and more, aren’t we, that evil is still with us, and that in the Internet age, it has simply found more outlets for its expression. The only response we can have is to pass laws like the one in Florida protecting such things as autopsy photographs, and to try to shame those who abuse privacy for political or simply malicious or prurient ends. So let’s name the perpetrators of this evil: Michael Uribe, who runs a disgusting website devoted to the pictures of the dead and injured; and the Independent Florida Alligator, the University of Florida newspaper. What on earth are the faculty and administration at that university doing allowing their students to perpetrate this sickness? There will now be an appeal: more trauma and grief for Earnhardt’s family; more disgusting publicity for these media outlets who shame the profession of journalism.

The New York Times pooh-poohs the way Irish voters have told Brussels to take a running jump in their recent referendum on the Nice Treaty, seeking further extension and integration of the E.U. The Times regards the vote as ingratitude, since the Irish have benefited so much from European integration. But the truth is the Irish have benefited from economic integration, free trade and freedom of movement within the E.U. These are separate issues than further political integration. The Irish aren’t being bad Europeans by taking a stand. They just have a different – and far saner – view of Europe than Brussels or the New York Times. Interestingly, the Irish are the only country to demand voter assent to the new treaty. Who knows how many other countries would say no to a greater E.U. if they were ever given the chance to vote on it?

THE OFFICIAL D’OH!: Homer Simpson finally makes it into the Oxford English Dictionary (Last item). Woohoo!

WHERE’S THE DONKEY DUNG?: The Onion’s take on a new shockingly unshocking art exhibit.

The incomparable Mickey Kaus notices Elizabeth Shogren’s Los Angeles Times piece on the Bush administration’s quiet efforts to deal with global warming in a more effective manner than posturing about Kyoto. Devastating quote from Eileen Claussen, the Clinton administration’s point-woman on climate change: “The Clinton administration agreed to ambitious targets in Kyoto but didn’t try to put in place a program at home that would allow them to meet the targets. This administration is doing the reverse.” That from a Clinton official? Ouch.

COULD IT GET ANY WORSE THAN CLINTON?: Buried in the news a couple of weeks ago were the latest figures on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the signal contribution of the Clinton administration to gay rights. The final year of Clinton’s term saw discharges on grounds of homosexuality increase by yet another 17 percent. This was at a time when the Gallup poll found a record 72 percent of Americans saw no reason why gays shouldn’t be hired by the military and when every other NATO country quietly ended their bans – to no apparent ill effect. All this helps put Clinton’s mixture of betrayal and incompetence in a starker light. The former president succeeded in more than doubling the rate of gay discharges in the military in a mere six years, as well as presiding over two brutal murders of soldiers believed to be gay by other servicemembers. I didn’t notice any major statements by the main gay organizations protesting this record – except for the admirable and dogged Servicemembers’ Legal Defense Network. No surprise there. The other groups were busy complaining that George W. Bush hasn’t signed any Gay Pride declarations. Good to know the main gay rights organizations have their eyes on the ball.

POSEUR ALERT: “Above all else, Suck was a dream. It was a pretty good dream, too — a rock-and-roll dream, a pirate dream — about how a couple of kids maxing out their credit cards could grab eyeballs all over the world. How guerrilla publishers could flummox the old-line media mastodons no matter how massive their antique printing presses. How the primordial Internet was truly different — not the same-old same-old. It was particularly a Generation X dream. It rewrote the narrative for twenty-somethings. No longer would they be remembered as losers and slackers destined to sweep up behind the elephants. The Net became the defining moment for these young, their identity forever reshaped by those who slept
beneath their desks, invented a new world and — if their timing was lucky — got to keep their Porsches. This dream was also about telling the truth — especially when the truth sucked, hence the name — because you had nothing left to lose.” – Joel Garreau, The Washington Post, June 13.

BEGALA, DERBYSHIRE, POSEURS, ETC: One of the good things about having so many new readers is that some of you don’t know what the hell we’re talking about. To recap: the Begala Award is occasionally given for statements from liberals that are hyperbolic, excessive, dumb, unfair and unnecessarily inflammatory. It’s named after Paul Begala, for obvious reasons. We give a similar award, called a Derbyshire, for similar statements from the right. This one is named after John Derbyshire, the always entertaining and often wacko commentator for National Review Online. We also give an occasional mention to pretentious over-writing under the rubric, Poseur Alert (see above), a shameless rip-off of Private Eye’s “Pseuds’ Corner.” I look out for nominees all the time but the best ones often come from readers. Keep ’em coming.

“Defense attorney David Baugh said al-‘Owhali’s engaged in “killing to stop killing,” referring to the million Iraqis who have died from Gulf War airstrikes and food and medical shortages created by U.N. sanctions. He told jurors it would be wrong to order an execution. “Each of you will have to decide whether to kill someone,” Baugh said. “If state sanctioning makes killing OK, I want you to know the Holocaust was state sanctioned.”” – CNN.com’s report of the arguments of the defense attorney, David Baugh, in the case of Mohamed al-‘Owhali, who was convicted of bombing the U.S. embassy in Nairobi. Baugh’s arguments are almost enough to make me support the death penalty.

FLORIDA AGAIN: Since I often criticize the New York Times and since they’re still kind enough to publish me regularly, it behooves me to point out that in the case of the report about Florida’s election issued by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, the Times was not suckered like the Washington Post into publishing the leaked report without comment on its bias. One of the reasons I often criticize the Times, I should add, is that it’s still, in my view, the finest paper in the world, and therefore all the more worth criticizing. They’re so good at times, it pains me when they’re not. Here endeth the suck-up.

“Had George W. Bush conducted a charm offensive when his daughter was hospitalized for an emergency appendectomy at Christmas – rather than fleeing for golf in Boca Grande, Fla. – would she be in open revolt now? By engaging in two underage-drinking ruses in one month – a “crime” likely committed by more college students than not – Jenna Bush has made herself into the No. 1 poster child for the lack of compassion in her father’s conservatism.” – Frank Rich, New York Times, last Saturday.

WHO’S YOUR DADDY?: Find out in my new piece for Time magazine on the politics of fatherhood.

The obvious choice for the next Tory leader is Michael Portillo, a brash, handsome, smart, fiscal conservative and social liberal. He was once a fire-breather of the Right, but a few years ago, after plenty of rumors, he confirmed that he had once had affairs with men in college, and had something of a change of tone. The usual suspects on the far right found this so abhorrent that they immediately scotched his chances to be a future Tory leader. Worse, the usual suspects on the left – i.e. gay leftists – berated him for alleged hypocrisy for many years and generally for not being a statist like them. Portillo braved it out and now looks set to run for the leadership. I wish him well. His private life, and his sexual orientation, have nothing to do with his ability to be a good politician or party leader. He’s married now and his private life should remain just that – private. Moreover, his experience of being pummeled in this way – and the dignity with which he put up with it – speaks well of him. I wish he’d be less defensive about his gay past; and I also hope that in his very late ‘coming out,’ he doesn’t go wobbly on a whole range of other matters. Now more than ever the British Tories need to stake out clear positions to the right of Tony Blair: much lower taxes, privatization of large parts of the National Health Service, more autonomy for schools, more inclusion of gays and racial minorities, and stiff opposition to the growth of a socialist federal European state. The Tories don’t have so much talent that they can afford to throw away a good potential leader because of gay intolerance on the left and straight intolerance on the right. If they waste Portillo, they’ll deserve more wilderness years. And if Portillo wins, his first task should be to make sure William Hague has a central role in the party. I know I’m biased, but William is a decent man who did right by his party. He deserves a little gratitude; and the Tories cannot afford to waste his talents either.

BUSH IN EUROPE: The usual suspects are bleating that the Europeans are upset about President Bush and that this is a good reason for Bush to change policies to suit, er, the New York Times. This is one of the dumber arguments around right now. If you disagree with Bush’s policies on, say, global warming or missile defense, make the arguments on their merits. But to use European opposition to American policies as proof that the U.S. is wrong is a non-sequitur. Like the Europeans were right in the 1980s when they wanted to keep appeasing the Soviet Union? Like they were right in the 1990s when they kept going on about Kyoto while doing nothing themselves to enforce it? Like they were right in the Balkans when they stood around opening and shutting their mouths until the U.S. took charge? Fareed Zakaria has a typically helpful piece in Newsweek this week clarifying some of these issues. I particularly like his point about unilateralism. When the Europeans send a mission to North Korea entirely to embarrass the Americans, it’s diplomacy. When Bush demurs on North Korea, it’s unilateralism. Go figure. I just hope Bush sticks to his guns in Europe and charms the epaulettes off their dinky and swiftly downsizing armies.

FLORIDA AGAIN: Glad to see the Washington Post’s ombudsman has taken the paper to task for being suckered by the leak of the biased and unpersuasive report of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights about alleged voting rights abuses in Florida. Read his column and feel better if, like me, you were taken aback by the Post’s coverage.

DON’T HAVE A HEART ATTACK, DUDE: In the annals of silly science, could anyone come up with a daffier one than the notion that pot should stay illegal because it can give you a heart attack if you’re in middle age? I’ve no doubt it’s true. But it’s also true that jogging in middle age can give you a heart attack; so can having sex; so can watching Geraldo. But no-one’s trying to ban any of the above (although one might have reveries about the latter). Cocaine, on the other hand, is apparently harmless in this respect. I guess this is relevant for aging boomer dudes – be careful, guys! – but I don’t see much broader significance than that. But how long will it take the pleasure police to use this material in their war against people’s private choices? Take it away, Gauleiter Walters!

EARTH TO HERBERT II: Finally, the media are beginning to get it. Here’s a good piece from the Washington Post today about the limits of cheap anti-retrovirals in Africa. “AIDS here is not a medical issue. It is a developmental problem, linked to social and economic conditions. It’s a poverty issue.” That’s not me. It’s Marc Aguirre, a doctor in the Ivory Coast. How long, I wonder, before Bob Herbert calls him a racist for telling the truth?

Take a look at this map. Look familiar? Just reverse the colors, as Labour is red in British parlance and the Tories are blue. Notice the rural-urban divide?

HEADS UP: I’m on Jeff Greenfield’s new show on CNN tonight at 10.30pm. We’re talking about McVeigh and the death penalty.

A beautiful few days in New York City. The highlight was the ordination of an old and dear friend of mine as a Jesuit priest. The ceremony was held at Fordham University in the Bronx. I went through a couple of cab-drivers before I finally found one who knew the way from Manhattan. He turned out to be a Puerto Rican Pentecostalist so I had to endure twenty minutes of Catholic-bashing before I got there. But it was worth it. I’d never been to an ordination before – and it defeated all expectations. The ceremony lasted two and a half hours and was presided over by Cardinal Egan, whose homily didn’t exactly raise expectations of an intellectually distinguished term of office. But the rite itself swept all before it. As I saw my old friend lie prostrate in the aisle, face down, as a symbol of his submission to God and the Church, I found tears coming to my eyes. As the chorus, “Veni Sancte Spiritus,” slowly ascended in octaves and volume, you could almost feel the Holy Spirit fill the place with a sort of serious joy. Part wedding, part graduation ceremony, the rite filled me with new hope and enormous admiration for my friend. He has been a priest all his life, in some ways. Some people are like that. They simply serve others – ordained or simply there. And when my friend slowly rose to his feet and the church filled with applause, it felt as if a circle had been completed, and what had been the inner core of his life could now also be his outer identity. I hugged him afterwards and almost called him father. But then I stopped myself and called him something just as sacred: friend.

EARTH TO HERBERT: Bob Herbert, ever on the cutting edge of analysis, has just discovered the notion that the Bush administration is reluctant to provide anti-HIV drugs to South Africa. He argues that the Bushies think prevention measures would be more effective since the drug regimens are too costly and complicated for countries without a decent medical infrastructure. All of this is a preamble to the point of his column – actually the point of almost every single column he writes – which is that some white people he knows or has heard about are racists. But does Herbert know that refusing anti-HIV drugs in favor of prevention measures is exactly the current policy of the South African government? If he does know, isn’t his column a deliberate attempt to divert attention from where it obviously belongs? And if he doesn’t, what on earth is he doing writing a column as ill-informed as this one?

A FEW DAYS TOO LATE: William Hague must be cursing the Guardian newspaper today. The paper has declared that a cure for baldness seems imminent. Yay! I’ve been on Propecia for a while, and I’ve definitely grown more hair. I once proposed it to William as a potential cure for his image problems, but he rightly pointed out the media would soon find out and blast him as a phony. Sucks for him. Well, actually, sucked. The bright side of losing the election is that he can get to have a life again. Here’s to more hair and more down-time for the guy. Meanwhile, I’m out tomorrow to buy shares in Glaxo SmithKline.

HARVEY MANSFIELD’S NIGHTMARE STUDENT: Harvard just graduated their first all A student. Not even a single A- in his transcript. How long before 20 percent of the class follows suit?

“DIVINELY ORDERED”: A stunning development in Anglican theology has emerged in a new catechism for the Anglican and Episcopalian churches. The catechism has been endorsed by the second highest ranking English bishop, and says the following: “Homosexuality may well not be a condition to be regretted but to have divinely ordered and positive qualities… Homosexual Christian believers should be encouraged to find in their sexual preferences such elements of moral beauty as may enhance their general understanding of Christ’s calling.” Wow. Now let’s see what the more traditional African and Asian wings of the Anglican Church have to say about this. But the very fact that this catechism has been published and endorsed from almost the very top suggests a sea-change in the West at least.

Actually, it turns out I was spot-on on the British elections. When I went to bed this morning, they didn’t have the percentage figures. Sullivan’s prediction: Labour 43 percent, Tories 32 percent. Actual result: Labour 43 percent, Tories 32 percent. My problem was not caring about the Lib Dems who robbed William of much of a gain in seats. If I were Jonathan Alter, I’d be whining about a system which doesn’t more accurately reflect the popular vote. But then I’m not Jonathan Alter.

Could I have been more wrong about the British elections? I guess my friendship got the better of me. Bottom-line: it was the same result as last time with a smidgen of an improvement for the Tories. The turn-out, however, doesn’t exactly portend a triumph for Tony Blair. It was the lowest turnout in Britain since 1918. Most people, it seems, were disillusioned with Labour but felt they deserved a second term after 18 years of the Tories to make good on their promises to improve the public services. Alas, the Blairites won’t and they can’t. The way that healthcare is provided in Britain is the last remnant of the Soviet Union left on the planet – a vast, bureaucratic, dilapidated, under-funded, sclerotic rationing system designed in the mid 1940s – and Labour is committed to pouring even more resources into it. What William should have done – and what his natural caution prevented him from doing – was to stake out a position much more radical: a retrenchment of the National Health Service, a vast expansion of private healthcare, more independence for schools, much lower taxation, and opposition to the euro. As it stands, Labour now has four more years of near-dictatorial powers, with pressure from the left to use it to drag Britain back away from the reforms of the Thatcher years. Blair won’t do that – he’s too smart. But he’s also trapped – between moving right to privatize parts of the public services in order to deliver and staying on the left to keep his own party together. So more water-treading until the Tories come up with a real policy alternative. As I write – at 3am New York time – the news is that my old buddy William Hague has announced his intention to resign as party leader. I was wrong again. Poor William. An uphill struggle, a good campaign, but not enough. Classy of him to take responsibility. Deeply sad (at least from my point of view) that he had to.

HIV-HUH?: My skeptical look at the alleged recent rise in HIV infections is posted opposite in the new TRB. It’s based on nothing but the CDC’s latest studies – and the absence of much solid data behind them.