Shiloh Bucher’s excellent Dropscan calls the BBC’s willingness to examine the root causes of baby rape “a new low in Fiskism.” She then points us to Mark Steyn’s Opinion Journal article, “Hate-Me Crimes,” which draws a useful distinction between the transnational progressivist’s tendency to create elaborate narratives aimed at problematizing modalities of responsibility (in peoplespeak, turning black and white into shades gray), with the more modest impulse of reaching an understanding — a move he recognizes in Dubya’s attempts, awkward as they may be, to respect other cultures:

In recent weeks, some of us have found it hard to suppress the occasional titter at President Bush’s attempts at Islamic outreach. But it testifies, if nothing else, to Mr. Bush’s humanity: He believes the third-graders at the Sword of the Infidel-Slayer Elementary School in Kandahar are at heart no different from those in Crawford, Texas. He may be na