The Dish

The president’s approval ratings just scored a staggering 26 percent in the Newsweek poll. 23 percent approve of the handling of Iraq. A broader look at a range of polls is no more comforting. Pollster.com’s average is now below 30 percent for the first time. The man can’t go much lower among independents and Democrats, so now it’s simply a question of whether the base can send him past Carter levels to Nixon territory. Nixon only performed worse than Bush in the worst of the Watergate impeachment crisis. How to explain the recent collapse? Some will say immigration. It may well have an impact. But the data suggest otherwise:

The sharpness of the decline is striking. The change-point for approval is April 23, corresponding to the week of the Congressional vote for deadlines and a fund cutoff in Iraq and the President’s subsequent veto. It precedes the immigration debate, though that debate may have sustained the decline. (On the other hand there is little evidence that immigration accelerated the decline which was already underway.)

It’s relatively simple, I think. The president’s basic rationale for the war in Iraq was debunked within a few weeks of the invasion. His second rationale, democracy, is much further away now than it was three years ago. He has, in effect, no rationale now, except preventing an even worse catastrophe, which simply reminds Americans of what a colossal misjudgment he has made. 26 percent is far too generous., I’d say. Bush asked to have his presidency judged on how he waged the war in Iraq. He has got his wish.

If only Americans had this level of sang-froid when dealing with al Qaeda. The WWII poster has an interesting history. (They even have t-shirts.)

An infant boy dies after a botched circumcision:

According to the Paediatric Child Health article, the boy was "bottlefed and was reported to be doing well when he was circumsized." Five hours later, the parents returned to their family doctor with the infant, who had become "irritable and had blue discoloration" below the belly button.

Doctors noticed the discoloration and slight swelling of the penis, but sent the child home. Fourteen hours after the circumcision, according to Cairns, the child was brought to another hospital where doctors noted he was extremely irritable with marked swelling of the penis and bruising to the scrotum.

The child was then transferred to a paediatric centre, where his bladder was diagnosed, Cairns said, to "seven or eight times its normal size." The PlastiBell ring, which is used to hold back the foreskin after circumcision, was removed and drained and the child went into shock.

This happens. Whenever you subject an infant to unnecessary surgery, complications can ensue. John Colapinto’s extraordinary book, "As Nature Made Him" recounts the tragic story of an infant boy whose penis was entirely destroyed by another botched genital mutilation. He was then gender-reassigned and given a vagina.

In response to this news story, libertarian blogger Kip vents:

If rent regulation is going to exist, then let’s at least be accurate about what it represents: counterproductive warm-fuzzy-feeling politics that violate every principle of elementary economics and do more harm than good. Race has nothing to do with it. That’s about the only nice thing one can say about it – it’s an equal opportunity disaster.

Amen.

A Glastonbury festival goer sleeps as he arrives at Worthy Farm, Pilton near Glastonbury, on June 21 2007 in Somerset, England. The festival, that was started by diary farmer Michael Eavis in 1970, has grown into the largest music festival in Europe. This year’s festival is the biggest yet and will have headline acts including The Who, The Artic Monkeys, Killers and Muse. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

It’s vile and it’s more of a factor in the GOP race than some might want to think. I’m not surprised, though. The Rove GOP has encouraged explicitly religious criteria for policies and candidates. Why would this strategy not backfire against a non-evangelical Christian? Money quote:

The most recent example came to light earlier this week when the Washington Post reported that Emma Nemecek, an Iowa field operative for Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, had recently forwarded an e-mail to Iowa Republicans containing a number of criticisms of Mormonism, including a charge that it is not a Christian faith. The e-mail closed with a quote from a Founding Father, John Jay: "Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers."

Brownback has condemned it. But he can’t stop it.

The gay, burly kind, Mr Colbert. The gay, burly kind. From Canada!

Steve Benen detects a surrender to propaganda:

I’m all for spirited debate. When it comes to law, political science, and religion, there are a nearly endless supply of ideas and perspectives. Let a thousand flowers bloom. But facts are stubborn things, and “Wall of Separation” is not history. It’s a religious-right-style interpretation of history, presented by PBS to its viewers as fact.

Indeed, PBS’s ombudsman seems to realize that this film is driven by a religious agenda, and made by religious activists, who brush over details in order to make a religious point. He seems to believe airing misleading information, intentionally, is consistent with "diverse" programming. That’s absurd.

From Salon, the latest information on the Bush administration’s knowing endorsement and implementation of many of the techniques – and worse – exposed at Abu Ghraib:

The military’s use of SERE training for interrogations in the war on terror was revealed in detail in a recently declassified report. But the CIA’s use of such tactics – working in close coordination with the military – until now has remained largely unknown.

According to congressional sources and mental healthcare professionals knowledgeable about the secret program who spoke with Salon, two CIA-employed psychologists, James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, were at the center of the program, which likely violated the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of prisoners. The two are currently under investigation: Salon has learned that Daniel Dell’Orto, the principal deputy general counsel at the Department of Defense, sent a "document preservation" order on May 15 to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other top Pentagon officials forbidding the destruction of any document mentioning Mitchell and Jessen or their psychological consulting firm, Mitchell, Jessen and Associates, based in Spokane, Wash. Dell’Orto’s order was in response to a May 1 request from Sen. Carl Levin, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who is investigating the abuse of prisoners in U.S. custody…

Close coordination between the CIA and the Pentagon is referred to in military lingo as "jointness." A retired high-level military official, familiar with the detainee abuse scandals, confirmed that such "jointness" requires orchestration at the top levels of government. "This says that somebody is acting as a bridge between the CIA and the Defense Department," he said, "because you’ve got the [CIA] side and the military side, and they are collaborating." Human-rights expert Scott Horton, who chairs the International Law Committee at the New York City Bar Association, also says that the cross-agency coordination "reflects the fact that the decision to introduce and develop these methods was made at a very high level."

We need to follow this all the way to the White House.

From John Whitehead, evangelical conservative and defender of civil liberties:

This issue is bigger than Al-Marri. It’s even bigger than the Bush   Administration and its so-called war on terror. The groundwork is being laid for a new kind of government where   it will no longer matter if you’re innocent or guilty, whether you’re a threat to the nation or   even if you’re a citizen. What will matter is what the president—or whoever happens to be occupying   the Oval Office at the time—thinks. And if he or she thinks you’re a threat to the nation and   should be locked up, then you’ll be locked up with no access to the protections our Constitution   provides. In effect, you will disappear.