Andrew Sullivan's Blog, page 2780

Sanity On Social Security?

Some hopeful signs of a bipartisan consensus on raising the social security cap and the retirement age. The Dish will support anyone of any party who has the balls to tackle this. And so far, the GOP's Boehner and the Dems' Hoyer and Clyburn are on the right side of the struggle.
















Social Security - John Boehner - Republican - United States - Politics

The VFYW Contest: Winner #5

A reader writes:

Ok, so "late at night" means the city is in the far north. The building in the foreground looks French to me but the rest
the buildings look North American (and that parked car seems to be a
mid-sized sedan or SUV). The river and the mountains make me think
the West Coast. But I can't reconcile the "French" building
anywhere in western Canada. Can it be in Alaska? How the hell did
get there? So I'm going to take the plunge and say

Another writes:

Looks...

Something Is Happening In Palinland, Ctd

A reader writes:

It's really not difficult to see what's going on here.  Custody battles
are nasty.  They can drag on for years and cost thousands.  Levi is
probably no angel.  It's obviously not difficult to make a few bad
choices in Wasilla.  Throw in the Playgirl spread and 'partying' in
Hollywood or wherever...it's red meat for the high priced team of
lawyers I'm sure Palin hired for Bristol.

Short version: shut your mouth, we own you and your dirt on us ... or you will never see your...

Those "Contentious Words" At The NYT

Funny how they are not squeamish about using the term "genocide" accurately - even in a fiercely contested context. A reader asks a potent question of the NYT's editors:

Hypothetically, is there any action the Bush administration could have
authorized against a detainee that you would have called "torture,"
despite their objection to the word?

Recall the no one disputes that several individuals were tortured to death by the US under Bush and Cheney? Would Bill Keller use the word "torture...

Americans Against Torture

From a political science symposium:

Many journalists and politicians believe that during the Bushadministration, a majority of Americans supported torture if they wereassured that it would prevent a terrorist attack….But this view was amisperception…we show here that a majority of Americans were opposed totorture throughout the Bush presidency…even when respondents were askedabout an imminent terrorist attack, even when enhanced interrogationtechniques were not called torture, and even...

Not Even Civil Unions

Governor Linda Lingle of Hawaii vetoes a civil unions bill because it would create separate-but-equal status for gay citizens. Lingle supports separate and unequal. Which is one better than the GOP platforms in Montana and Texas, which want gays back in jail.
















Linda Lingle - Civil union - Veto - Republican Party - Texas

Something Is Happening In Palinland

 

From Mercede Johnston's blog:

The message was from my mother saying that Levi, who has not
to us since he rekindled his relationship with Bristol (although we
attempted repeatedly to call or text him), left a message saying
if I did not take my blog down by Wednesday that I would never get
see him, or Tripp, again.

I could not believe it! I thought to myself if he was really willingto make such a threat that he would at least have the decency to callme and talk about it...

That Uganda Beheading Story

Box Turtle Bulletin now says it was a hoax:

Here is what we do know: a young man was brutally murdered, that he
was mutilated and his head was cut off and dumped into a latrine. That
much is true. But we have now confirmed that the young man had no
connections with Integrity Uganda.

Box Turtle Bulletin - Integrity Uganda - Uganda - LGBT - Murder

Weigel vs Breitbart, Ctd

Were Weigel's emails leaked or hacked? Dave emails to clarify:

Just so you know, I am not disputing anything about JList with anyone in my interview with David Carr. He quoted me accurately, but what I was saying was that people shouldn't immediately turn this into some bloodless "media, what to make of it?" story. Someone, probably someone on the list, spent a lot of time digging into old off-the-record emails and unleashed a bunch of them to hurt my career. I called this "hacking," because...

Where Most Analysts Agree

Howard Gleckman scores the unemployment benefits fight:

It is true...that those receiving benefits are somewhat less
likely to accept a job offer than those whose aid has run out. However,
most researchers find this effect is small, especially when jobs are
very hard to get, as they are now. With work so scarce, few will turn
down a job offer for the temporary pleasures of $300-a-week.

The funding argument is even harder to swallow.

I'd be moresympathetic with these new converts to fiscal...