Andrew Sullivan's Blog, page 2561

The Daily Wrap

Today on the Dish, the rule of law took an unimaginable hit on torture and national security. On the Florida jerk front, the burning was cancelled. We paid a visit to the other Terry Joneses, we found out who is funding the Cordoba culture war, and Sarah Palin won the Yglesias Award. A divided government may be a better government; but probably not when led by the Tea Partiers. GOP heretic hunting continued; our intelligence community was shooting itself in the foot; and a burning Boulder...

Why Emergency Rooms Are Packed, Ctd

A reader writes:

People are kidding themselves if they think urgent care centers can"de-crowd" emergency departments.  The latest number from the CDC onnon-urgent visits to ERs is less than 8 percent.  Non-urgent means apatient who needs to be seen in 2-24 hours, mind you, not a patient whois there for a hangnail.  Remove the 8 percent non-urgent patients fromAmerica's emergency departments and you still have 114 million peopleseeking emergency care every year, a number that is likely to...

The Happy Planet Index

Mark Nics suggests an alternative to GDP:

Happy Planet Index - Gross domestic product - Multimedia - Flash - Development Frameworks

Peak Oil, Meh? Ctd

A reader writes:

I want to make four essential points on the subject of peak oil that Reihan and your friend Vaclav Smil are not fully appreciating:

1. Oil currently powers 94% of the transportation of people and goods in the United States.  The near complete monopoly of oil on an essential area of human activity makes it vastly different from other commodities.  When the price of natural gas goes up, people or utilities can switch to nuclear power.  When the price of oil goes up, people still...

The Burning Is Canceled

It's a merciful escape from what could have been a horrifying dynamic. But a weird one as well:

Terry Jones said he was calling off the event after the group behind a
planned Islamic centre near Ground Zero in New York agreed to relocate
it. But the cultural centre's organisers said they had no plans to move it.

What's fascinating to me is the linkage this hateful nutjob tried to make between Park51 and the Koran-burning stunt. It's in his own head, apparently, and a way to save face, I...

Face Of The Day

A Roma child looks on in a camp via Alessandro Marchetti on the outskirts of Rome on September 8, 2010. Police in Rome said they had begun demolishing small, illegal Roma settlements in the outskirts of the city and that operations would continue. By Christophe Simon/AFP/Getty Images.

Rome - Italy - Lazio - Arts and Entertainment - Romani

The Case For Modesty In Afghanistan

The Afghanistan Study Group thinks our strategy is misguided:

Even if the Taliban were to regain power in some of Afghanistan
would likely not invite Al Qaeda to re-establish a significant
there. The Taliban may be reluctant to risk renewed U.S. attacks
welcoming Al Qaeda onto Afghan soil. Bin Laden and his associates
well prefer to remain in Pakistan, which is both safer and a
base from which to operate than isolated and land-locked Afghanistan.

Mostimportantly, no...

The Non-Event

A study of marriage from Iowa eighteen months after marriage equality. Early, I know. But this captures the reality as opposed to the hysteria:

"They shouldn't be allowed to marry," Maggie Gallagher, chairman for the National Organization for Marriage, said in an e-mail. "They shouldn't be allowed to redefine marriage to mean whatever relationship [they:] choose."

In sharp contrast, married gays often depict a lifestyle and relationship that seems suburban stable, only now they have a marriage...

The Untamed Prince, Ctd

A reader writes:

Another excellent piece you've penned, Andrew. Scares the bejabbers out of me. They've got the full authorized power of laws set in place, which our weak, rightist Supreme Court will not undo—authorizations to do these horrible things. They have the Republicans and half the Dems backing them, making legislative mandated changes nearly impossible; and the media Right has thrown in some 25-40 of the populace into the support for this Century of Fear they are conjuring, which...

Quote For The Day II

"You aren't responsible for Quran burners. Don't hold Muslims responsible for 9/11," - Will Saletan.
















Qur'an - Islam - Religion and Spirituality - Quran - United States