The Dish

Senator Lindsey Graham is censured by the Charleston GOP for supporting cap-and-trade legislation to tackle climate change, for supporting the bailout of the banks, and for backing McCain’s immigration bill. The base of the GOP’s position seems to be that climate change is a hoax, the banks should have been allowed to fail, and illegal immigrants should be rounded up and sent home. This is not a serious platform for a party interested in actually governing.

Ryan Avent ponders the greenness of car sharing:

Zipcar may mean that some trips which were previously taken on foot or by transit are now taken by automobile. But because using an automobile to ferry around huge items is so much more convenient than trying to do it on foot, the availability of car-sharing makes city life more attractive relative to the suburban alternative. And this should encourage more people to live in cities, which will indisputably be green, on net.

Phew. A zipcar is the only guzzler we use. And only when we have to move something big or heavy, or have to go somewhere outside of bike-range.

The indispensable Laura Rozen does her best:

The one-on-one meeting between Obama and Netanyahu was supposed to last 30 minutes, but it went on for 70 minutes, a diplomatic source said — a very long one-on-one meeting with POTUS. There was also a 20 minute meeting between the larger U.S. and Israeli PM delegations.

The immense damage done by secretary of state Clinton's "unprecedented" gaffe is clearly being walked back as thoroughly as possible. It is easily the worst diplomatic error she has made so far. Rozen parses Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Bill Burns speech to the Middle East Institute on Monday and doesn't disagree with the American Task Force for Palestine's Hussein Ibish:

"Almost everything cited here shows a subtle but noticeable shift back towards the Palestinian perspective."

And for domestic consumption: the appointment of a US special envoy to monitor global anti-Semitism. Which, given the climate these days, is a very good thing. Bottom line: amid deep, deep gloom (thanks largely to Netanyahu's intransigence), some tiny specks of hope.

Tyler Cowen flags a Ben Casnocha post on the subject:

There are some remarkable contrasts between "dumb" searches and "smart" ones. People who start their search "how 2" are more likely to search "how 2 get pregnant" or "how 2 grow weed." People who start their search "how one might" are more likely to search "how one might discover a new piece of music" or "how one might for the rise of andrew jackson in 1828."

Dan Savage:

The reader who started the thread replies:

A reader wrote, "The gatekeepers own the future."

Agreed. However, as modern consumers we're already lined-up in front of the gates through which passes the crap we're most apt to appreciate. And, we're connected to like-thinking people on Facebook and Twitter that will alert us to any crap we might miss. We largely select what we read based on what we want to hear. This is a separate problem/issue, e.g. Fox News (although the tendency is endemic). I consider myself open-minded, but I still find myself day after day getting my news through the same filters: Talking Points Memo (Josh Marshall), Washington Monthly (Steve Benen), and of course, the Dish.

It's the issue roiling the PR industry. It used to be 20 journalists reached 80% of the market. Now thousands of people comment and influence the purchasing decisions of untold numbers (quantifying the return on social media marketing is still getting sorted out). One thing's certain, it's put relating to the public back into public relations.

I don't see the large publishing houses adapting to this new reality.

We don't either. By the way, you can buy this reader's "crap" here.

A reader writes:

I live in suburban Kansas City, hardly the most dynamic social/religious/racial melting pot, but a pretty tolerant place nonetheless. Yesterday, I read to my daughter’s third grade class, and afterwards, I answered questions about my career as a writer. The teacher asked if there were a person I’d like to write a book about, and I told of a very successful Japanese-American man I know who came of age during World War II, enduring all sorts of unpleasantness because America was at war with his ancestral home. One of my daughter’s classmates is the son of two Iraqi immigrants, and he’s the sweetest, most engaging kid. Without any sense of self-pity, he said “I think I understand how that man felt.” 

Last night, I was back at school as the third graders saluted America in song, and that same boy was on stage singing his heart out. During the same program, a Muslim girl born in Turkey played the part of the Statue of Liberty and gave the “tired, poor, huddled masses” speech. Her mother, a naturalized citizen, was in tears. That boy, that girl and that mom love America. They are Americans, and they are patriots. And any line of thought that tries to marginalize them is as un-American a thing as I can imagine.

Today on the Dish we did our best to honor America's veterans. First we featured the president's tribute in full – a speech that Andrew both lauded and lamented. David Ignatius praised the troops, the Dish connected a soldier and his father, James Joyner questioned the meaning of "heroes," readers pushed back, and a pair of beagles showed their appreciation. Goldblog called for more Muslims in the military and Barney Frank set a timeline for scrapping DADT.

In healthcare coverage, David Leonhardt guided us through the House bill, Saletan wrangled the Stupak debate, and Andrew took at look at the whole messy process of reform. We also covered the bizarre beating of a Greek Orthodox priest down in Florida and an odd act of heroism by a Muslim-American woman in Delaware.

The fact-checking of Palin continued here and here, and even Fox News got in the act. Andrew discussed  both his marriage and his relationship to the Catholic Church. We found a catchy youtube on marriage equality and a cool ad with faces.

— C.B.

A reader writes:

Blacks, slave and free, have fought in every war America has engaged in without exception from before the Revolution and the War of 1812 all the way to the "War on Terror". They were always full citizens in every regard save that explicitly denied them by bigotry. Blacks have been dying for America from the beginning on the battlefield and right here at home.

Like gays the only difference is in the recognition of their sacrifice. It's a safe bet that there were homosexuals under arms in the Colonial struggle as well. Not being honored is a far cry from not being there.