The Dish

James Joyner:

One of the clichés of developing world politics is that “the election is a census, and the census is an election.” We don’t want that to happen here.

In case you missed the final tally, the results are here.

A Republican stands by his daughter, does the right thing, and backs his daughter’s right to marry the woman she loves. If only more Republicans had the humanity and courage of the mayor of San Diego, they could go into the twenty-first century sharing their ideas rather than their phobias.

Norm Geras is a liberal who cannot fathom why the left is hostile to the concept. Money quote:

No, it doesn’t make you a rightwing anti-egalitarian. It’s one obvious basis for a philosophy of universal human rights – the idea that we share a common human nature, and by virtue of it common needs, common capacities and fundamental interests. These interests ought to be protected. Granted, the fact that a common human nature provides the intellectual basis for a justification of universal rights does not by itself show that there is such a common human nature. But there is one – as any open-eyed consultation of historical, anthropological and cultural evidence will vouchsafe. We can argue about what traits it includes and what traits it doesn’t – a really important area of argument – but the denial of there being any human nature at all is wasted breath.

"Don’t tase me, bro," is obviously already in the collective lexicon. So is YouTube:

And other 2007 pick-up lines.

Climate change has lengthened the feline mating season.

High enough not to go mad. Marijuana apparently inhibits bovine spongiforme enzephalopathy aka mad cow disease. But they’ll strip pastures dry.

Science blogs are an unexpected source of visual surprises. Here’s a visual trick on the eyes kinda like the Margaret Thatcher illusion. And if you’re wondering what the latter is:

Maybe I should have saved that for Halloween. But it has spawned an arresting phrase: a "Thatcherized face."

I haven’t commented because, frankly, I am still unsure of all the details of the case, some of which may never be known. But Megan has a useful timeline.