Padilla case crumbling?

Andrew Sullivan sums up the status of the Jose Padilla case:

So an American citizen, detained without due process for three years, accused of terribly serious crimes, and allegedly tortured, may not be found guilty, after all. And people wonder why many of us have concerns about the way the Bush administration has handled military detainees.

NYT: Bush to Ask Lame Duck Congress...

Big surprise -- Bush wants to push through not only major nominations and pass spending bills (before Democrats try to put pay-as-you-go rules back in place), energy legislation (read: more money for Exxon/Mobil), and surveillance measures (read: more civil liberties violations).

Bush to Ask Lame Duck Congress to Confirm Gates - New York Times: "Earlier, Mr. Bush listed spending bills, energy legislation and a measure authorizing surveillance of terrorist suspects as issues that need to be addressed soon. He did not mention immigration legislation, which stalled in Congress recently."

I know I have to say something...

I know I have to say something about Ted Haggard, but I don't even know where to start. Here's a guy who started and grew a 14,000- member church, and met with the Bush admini- stration on a weekly basis. He associated with leaders of the most vehement of gay-bashing organizations, Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council.

There is this very short video of Haggard (from the frightening documentary "Jesus Camp" about American madrassas), apparently confronting his own homosexuality. There's this May 2005 Harper's profile of him.

One pastor blames Haggard's wife, noting that wives of preachers often let themselves go, assuming that they don't have to work for their husbands' fidelity (I am not kidding!). Then there's David Frum, who thinks it's more moral to be a hypocritical homosexual than an honest one (apparently there is an unwritten commandment about homosexuality that trumps the one about false witness).

So there you have it folks. It doesn't matter how often it becomes clear that gays can be conservative, and even religious, and still be driven by their innate sexuality. It doesn't matter how many hyper-homophobic politicians, preachers, and priests are outed (Rick Santorum -- your day is coming!). The U.S. is so hung up about sex, and particularly gay sex, that it was easier for Haggard to admit to buying the deadly, addictive, illegal drug that is killing people and truly ruining families, than to admit to being gay. His followers will continue to put their blinders on and cover their ears and insist that these are anomolies, and move on to the next charismatic charlatan.

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On the bright side... Doogie Howser came out. :-)

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Business Week: Can Design Change the World?

A new book - an outgrowth of the popular worldchanging.com Web site - focuses on simple and complex innovations that could solve global crises. Publisher Abrams set an example by printing the 600-page book on recycled, acid-free paper and purchasing wind credits (from www.renewablechoice.com) equal to the amount of electricity needed to manufacture the book.

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