Andrew Sullivan's Blog, page 2560

Quote For The Day

"I don't know much about Texas state politics, but the more I see of the Tea Party, the more convinced I am that it is good for gays, not because it is pro-gay (its members are mostly socially conservative) but because it is anti-anti-gay. To whatever extent they succeed in shredding the overdrawn "moral values" political credit card, more power to them," - Jonathan Rauch. The GOP in Texas, however, remains as vile as ever when it comes to toleration.



Texas - Politics - United S...

The Untamed Prince, Ctd

"You've got state secrets, targeted killings, indefinite detention,renditions, the opposition to extending the right of habeas corpus toprisoners at Bagram [in Afghanistan. And although it is slightly different, Obama has beenas aggressive as President Bush in defending prerogatives about who hehas to inform in Congress for executive covert action," - former CIA director Michael Hayden, celebrating Obama's embrace of the unchecked executive power he once promised to restrain. He does not...

Authoritarianism On The March

Nir Rosen evaluates the political impasse in Iraq:

In a sad sense, none of thismaneuvering actually matters all that much. Regardless of who becomes prime ministeror president, Iraq is about to become increasingly authoritarian. Oil revenueswill not kick in for several years, so services are not going to improve. Evenwhen revenues reach Iraqi coffers, infrastructure costs will eat them up forthe near future. The lack of services means the government will facestreet-level dissatisfaction...

The Survivors, Ctd

A reader writes:

I think we don't talk about it because we've run out of things to say. But we all still feel deeply about it. I still can't say Ronald Reagan's name out loud, even after all these years. Somehow, I managed to live through that time, as did my husband (although we didn't know each other), and now we find ourselves having come through the woods into the clearing and, now what? The grief is still there. the loss is still unimaginable. Our whole social network has been zapped. We...

The Corruption Of Kabul Bank

Amy Davidson draws lessons:

One
wonders, as always, where our interests intersect with those of the
Karzai family. What is their endgame? If it's just getting hold of a
compound in Dubai and some hard-to-trace bank accounts, then what stake
do they have in stabilizing the country? Would they simply be happy to
have us keep back the crowds until they have taken care of getting as
much money as they can out of Afghanistan?

Dubai - Afghanistan - Hamid Karzai - Country music - Asia...

"Permanent" And "Temporary"

Howard Gleckman makes an important, and often overlooked, point:

A 'permanent" tax cut is a fiction. No tax cuts are forever.Congress amends the Internal Revenue Code annually, and sometimes morethan once a year. Since World War II, it has done a major overhaulabout once a decade, and is overdue for its next renovation. And givenmassive budget pressures, one is likely to come sooner rather thanlater.And when it does, the entire Code will be in the mix,notwithstanding what it permanent and...

Pseudo Sizing

Vanity sizing isn't only for women. Abram Sauer exposes the fraudulent waist measurements of several chain stores:

Ienjoyed many of these pants, as I mentioned, but I'm still perturbed.This isn't the subjective business of mediums, larges and extra-larges— nor is it the murky business of women's sizes, what with itsblack-hole size zero. This is science, damnit. Numbers! Shouldinches be different than miles per hour? Do highway signs make us feelbetter by informing us that Chicago is but 45...

"Black"

Ta-Nehisi reflects on the many black Americas:

My time up in the Woods pretty much convinced me that, in
ways, I'm rootless, that "black" is important to me because
decided to make it so, not because it's objectively true. The
counter is that racism forces you to accept an identity. But
just never been true for me--I can count on one hand, and maybe
fingers, all the instances of direct racism I've experienced.

Forme, "black" was always most descriptive as an...

Terry Jones' German Past

A fascinating dispatch from the Guardian on the Florida nut-job's previous gambit for religious dominion in Germany:

Among the numerous documented reports of the ways in which he used
allegedly manipulate members were demands for money, as well as
complete commitment to the community. Members were reportedly forced to
work in the community's so-called Lisa Jones shops, named after his
first wife, which sold and distributed secondhand clothes and furniture.

The members reportedly...

Now Just Suspended

It's bizarre watching this saga of threatened mass Koran-burning on 9/11 unfold. As I write this, it could still happen - again. The meta story from the NYT does not seem to me to be a massive indictment of the media. Stunts get covered all the time - with little attention. Think of Fred Phelps, a truly marginal figure whose outrageous stunts against gay people and military funerals have been extensively covered for years. What seems to me to have given this latest excrescence greater...