Andrew Sullivan's Blog, page 2643

Do Prop 8 Proponents Have Standing To Appeal? Ctd

Be prepared for some fascinating right-wing cognitive dissonance. What happens when a conservative approach to jurisprudence, which often takes a very strict view of who has standing to appeal, meets the Christianist demand that gay people be ostracized in civil society. Walker, as throughout, has represented the real conservative position on this, and his denial of standing to the Prop 8 supporters is one which John Roberts has a history of backing. From Jeffrey Toobin's profile of Roberts l...

The View From Your Window

Isola, Italy, 4.56 pm

Italy - United States - Travel and Tourism - Travel Guides - Wine

"Shameless, Even For Cable News"

Balko pwns repeat offender Wendy Murphy and ties her lies to the depressing state of punditry.

Law - Crime - United States - Recreation - Television

Do Prop 8 Proponents Have Standing To Appeal? Ctd

A reader writes:

Your attorney reader who weighed in on the standing of the Prop 8 proponents is mistaken in his prognosis of appellate outcome. "Insufficient assistance/inadequate counsel" is only an issue for which appellate courts remand in criminal cases, not civil ones such as the Prop 8 trial. Furthermore, Jerry Brown and the other non-intervenor defendants were all agents of California's executive branch, tasked with executing the laws of California as they see fit. There would be an...

Quote For The Day

"In my own mind, I have the same political philosophy I've always had--basically libertarian but tempered by Burkean small-C conservatism. But I am no longer a member of the Republican Party and no longer consider myself part of the "conservative movement." That's not because I changed, but because I believe that they have. The Republican Party of today is not the party of Jack Kemp and Ronald Reagan that I was once a member of; it stands for nothing except the pursuit of power as an end in i...

Vindicated

An Iranian reader writes:

Last week the audio track of a senior Revolutionary
speech was leaked. In the audio, you hear
Moshfegh, the head of SAR ALLAH military base - which was in charge
"controlling" Tehran in the days after the election - give an
and detailed account of their pre-election preparations to stop
Nejad's rivals.

Moshfegh describes all the methods employed to achieve theirgoal, from eavesdropping in every campaign/planningmeeting that...

The Gitmo Farce

The injustice, hypocrisy and bizarre paranoia continue under this president, as if almost nothing has changed since Bush.
















United States - President - History - Bush George Walker - George W Bush

Kinsley On Packer

He almost changed his mind!
















Business - Michael Kinsley - Editors - Philosophy - Atlantic

The Unique Quality Of "Lifelong Heterosexual Monogamy" Ctd

A reader writes:

I was so disappointed when Douthat went all Dreher. Just
Dreher did 2 years ago, when even his most devout readers couldn't find a
positive argument in his morass of unfounded worries, Ross has reached for
celibate lesbian, whose choice is really, at the end of the day, the
choice they think we have.

It's not about protecting hetero marriage; itis about retaining enough social stigma around homosexuality and gay sex thatthe church and its members can continue to...

The Real Benedict XVI

We now know that this Pope was personally involved in enabling the rape of children rather than confronting criminal priests during his time as an archbishop in Munich. We know that while he had jurisdiction as head of the CDF, child-rapists were often allowed to carry on their crimes, and the most powerful rapist, abuser and cultist, Marcial Maciel, was abetted in his behavior. We know also that Benedict has seemed to try to get a grip on the problem as Pope, while never actually...