In a glitzy but filtered place.

I'm here at my car dealer's getting a glitch in the window fixed. Yesterday, I got in my car -- an Audi TT Coupe -- and saw that the driver-side window was down an inch. It refused go up. The service guy on the phone said it needed to be reprogrammed. How could it get unprogrammed? I asked. He didn't know. Cars aren't mechanical so much anymore. They have their own minds, and they make their own decisions. In the future, look out. That thing might do... who knows what? If it can think, no, I want to keep the window cracked at all times, what else might it decide to do? I know, there are 12 Stephen King books I haven't read on this theme.

Anyway, the new Zimbrick European is pretty glossy. Get your special Quattro Starbucks coffee...



And sit down in the lounge or -- I like it here -- at this work station...



See that convertible? That's what I'm getting when my lease on the coupe expires. But not silver. What's with all the silver? Everyone wants a silver car, the service guy informs me. Enough with the silver! And enough with the roof.

Well, get to work. There's WiFi here, but it won't let me get to Blogger to post or even to read my blog. ("Your organization's Internet use policy restricts access to this web page at this time. Reason: The Websense category 'Message Boards and Clubs' is filtered.") But I can read blogs that don't have comments. Hmmmm. I'd like to upload these photographs but I can't get to Flickr. ("The Websense category 'Personal Network Storage and Backup' is filtered.") And I can't get to BloggingheadsTV -- no streaming media -- and I can see that Mickey Kaus is saying that he took Bob Wright to task for going easy on Andrew Sullivan. I definitely want to see that when I can. I've watched the Bob & Andrew Show and found Andrew insufferable. Frankly, I have little patience for just about anyone who fancies himself a theologian, but what on earth makes Andrew Sullivan think he's credible as a theologian? The claim that Jesus speaks to him?!

• • •

Okay, I'm now in a place where I can get on the unfiltered web, so let's watch the part of The Bob & Mickey Show about Andrew. Noting that Bob pursued Andrew about Darwinian theory, Mickey says:

Why didn't you bring up that [Sullivan's] whole book was about wanting to rationalize gay marriage and to smite the opponents of gay marriage. And that is his Darwinian impulse that is underlying his whole very interesting, cogent theological discussion....

Having a discussion with Andrew Sullivan where you don't talk about gay marriage is ignoring the sexual drive that underlies human nature.

They get into a nice big fight about whether -- to put it more bluntly than they actually do -- Sullivan's theological posturings are all a manifestation of his sexual drive. "He's driven by his sexuality and the political dilemmas that puts him in as a conservative," says Mickey. Bob seems disgusted by the idea that everything a gay man thinks is driven by his sexuality. But Bob thinks everyone is always driven by sexuality, Mickey asserts. Bob wrote a book about that ("Moral Animal"). I wonder whether there's some reason to feel different about heterosexuals and homosexuals when it comes to making these big Darwinian claims. It's easy to say things about heterosexuals, but you worry that saying equivalent things about homosexuals is actually going to hurt people by stirring up hostility and prejudice. Mickey seems to realize this and throws in a "Not that there's anything wrong with that" as he glides on to the next subject.