Andrew Sullivan's Blog, page 2634

Assessing Imam Rauf

by Conor Friedersdorf

Over at Ricochet, Claire Berlinski has been asking tough questions about the Cordoba Initiative, engaging that organization via social media, and expressing dismay at certain remarks made by Imam Rauf even as she opposes the approach taken by Sarah Palin, Abe Foxman, and Newt Gingrich. In other words, she's one of the people whose take on this differs from my own, but whose work on the subject nevertheless seems to me a valuable contribution.

In her latest, I want to...

When Intuition Met Reason

by Patrick Appel

Suderman shares how he came to support marriage equality:

Is there any more damning moment for an advocate than when he admits
that he not only does not know how to justify his own position, but
that he believes it is so obvious, so utterly self-evident that it does
not need justification at all? For the diehards, intuition is not just
enough, it is everything.

But for the majority of the public, that will likely not suffice — not forever, anyway. It didn't for me.

...

How Hallowed?

by Chris Bodenner

A reader writes:

If the World Trade Center site is such a sacred place, then why are we allowing a for-profit office complex to be erected on it?  Did we move the USS Arizona because it took up valuable dock space?  (Maybe someone will open a coffee shop on the first floor called Hallowed Grounds.) Also, I assume the new complex will have toilets and that they will be used. Talk about disrespectful.

Here is the most thorough accounting I've seen of all the strip clubs, sex s...

Past And Present, Ctd

by Chris Bodenner

An incredible collection of color photos recently featured in the Denver Post:

These images, by photographers of the Farm Security
Administration/Office of War Information, are some of the only color
photographs taken of the effects of the Depression on America's rural
and small town populations.

Caption for the one above:

Jack Whinery, homesteader, and his family. Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940.

Another Dish fave after the jump:

Who is he pining for?

(Hat tip: Zach...

Who Do You Trust?

by Patrick Appel

Bernstein asks liberals:

Are there specific pols, interest group leaders,
activists, pundits, or whoever who, if they support a candidate or a
nominee or a bill, you would basically assume that she or it was
acceptably liberal?

He poses the same question for conservatives. I don't trust any politicians; pols are incentivized to lie or gloss over hard truths. There are a number of writers who I trust to write with intellectual honestly, but I put more trust in systems than I do ...

Running Towards America, Ctd

by Chris Bodenner

Matt Duss tackles Ross' column:

Whatever positive function nativism and bigotry, institutionalizedand otherwise, may have performed in encouraging greater, fasterassimilation is far outweighed by the harassment and discriminationendured by new immigrants as a result. This attempt at even-handednessalso leads Douthat to underappreciate the extent to which, just asnewly arriving Catholic, Jewish, Italian, German, and Chineseimmigrants became more American upon arriving here...

The Daily Wrap

Today on the Dish, Andrew was away, so we got to assess the fray. On the mosque, Halperin urged Republicans to avoid hubris; Reid crumpled; and Douthat, Bouie and Bernstein butted heads. Conor hit upon an apt analogy by imagining a Catholic prayer group scenario instead. There's a history of the entire controversy here; and Reihan on Ross and his own Muslim parents here.

Debbie Riddle pulled a Palin on Anderson Cooper; Palin pulled a Palin on Levi's custody agreement; and Levi talked to...

California Marriages Delayed

by Chris Bodenner

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals just stayed Judge Walker's ruling. Brian Devine reacts:

First, and drastically most importantly, the Court
the stay. Consequently the thousands of couples who were waiting
the day of equality will have to wait at least a few more months
December.

Second, the Court wants this case to be resolved quickly.Appellants' opening brief is due in just a month and the hearing willhappen on December 6th. This is lightning quick for a...

Atheists Vs The Mosque

by Patrick Appel

Sam Harris, whom I often enjoy, has an exceedingly wrong-headed article on the Cordoba project. He sees no legal reason to oppose the "ground zero mosque" but nevertheless feels it is a bad idea:

The claim that the events of September 11, 2001, had "nothing to do with Islam" is an abject and destabilizing lie. This murder of 3,000 innocents was viewed as a victory for the One True Faith by millions of Muslims throughout the world (even, idiotically, by those who think it was...

Face Of The Day

A scarecrow is dressed as a banker during the annual Scarecrow Festival on August 14, 2010 in Kettlewell, United Kingdom. Every year since 1994, hundreds of scarecrows have been created by the villagers and hidden on a trail around the village. By Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images.

Scarecrow - Wray - Lancashire - Arts - England