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PARTY LINE [John Derbyshire] I'm glad to hear that there is a "mainstream Tory agenda." This is news. Posted 10:58 PM | [Link] ARAFAT’S GOVERNMENT [John Derbyshire] I was struck by the reports that Israeli soldiers going through the occupied parts of Arafat's HQ found stores of counterfeit U.S. and Israeli currency. This seems to me very shocking. The counterfeiting of currency is done for two purposes: crime, or the subverting of an enemy's economy in wartime. So either the "Palestinian Authority" is a criminal enterprise, or it has been considering itself at war with Israel all this time. If the first is the case, the leaders of the "Palestinian Authority" ought to be arrested and handed over to INTERPOL, or to some law-enforcement agency that can deal with international counterfeiting rings. If the second, then the present Israeli acts of war against the PA are entirely justified and ought not be impeded. Posted 10:01 PM | [Link] PARTY LINE [John Derbyshire] I'm glad to hear that there is a "mainstream Tory agenda." This is news. Posted 9:59 PM | [Link] MORE BIAS [Andrew Stuttaford] Big media's pervasive liberal bias can manifest itself in little ways as well as large. Sometimes it only takes a conjunction. Writing in today's New York Times, Sarah Lyall notes that the British magazine 'The Spectator' "has livened up considerably...but generally advances the mainstream Tory agenda". Notice the use of that 'but' . Being lively and being 'mainstream Tory' is obviously meant to be some sort of contradiction. Posted 5:36 PM | [Link] CBS CONFESSION [Andrew Stuttaford] The current issue of the CJR contains a review of Bernard Goldberg's Bias by Tom Goldstein, dean of Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism. One of the important passages in that book is Goldberg's description of a face-to-face conversation with Andrew Heyward, the president of CBS news, in which Heyward told him that "of course, there's a liberal bias in the news. All the networks tilt left." Goldstein describes this as "rank hearsay." I'd prefer the term "confession." Come to think of it, Heyward's statement also looks a lot like "an admission against interest," which, as legal mavens will know, is one of the types of hearsay that CAN be quoted in court. So how "rank" is that, Dean Goldstein? Posted 3:31 PM | [Link] MONEY CAN BUY DESTRUCTION [Andrew Stuttaford] As the Saudis are well aware, money can also be a weapon of mass destruction. Arab News is reporting that the Saudi interior minister "Prince" Naif has called on Saudis wishing to help the Palestinians to do so "through donations to the Saudi Committee for Supporting Al-Quds Intifada." (Al-Quds is the Arabic name for Jerusalem). The "prince" added that preparations were now being made "to send a large quantity of donations, both in cash and kind, to the Palestinian people languishing under the barbaric Israeli aggression." Much of this assistance will, doubtless, be more genuinely humanitarian in nature than the language it comes with: It is up to the Saudis to ensure that it all is. That will be something else for George Bush to check with another "prince," Abdullah, when the de facto Saudi leader shows up in Crawford, Texas. Come to think of it, why wait until then? Posted 1:39 PM | [Link] CIVIL PROTEST [Kathryn Jean Lopez] The kids at Berkeley are letting their views be known on the Mideast. According to Friday's San Francisco Chronicle, "Jewish students coming out of worship services have been pelted with eggs and subjected to epithets, Oleon said. Last week someone threw a cinder block through the front windows and wrote "F-- Jews" in black marker on the Jewish Hillel cultural center's recycling bins." Not wanting to given the impression that the Jewish kids are being targeted, though, the article is quick to point out that Palestinian students are being harrassed too--"labeled as terrorists and as being anti-Semitic just for voicing their opposition to Israel." Thanks to Instapundit for pointing this out. Posted 1:34 PM | [Link] NOT MOVING [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Dave, and yet, President Bush, in his press conference with Tony Blair, just, unfortunately, reiterated what he said the other day: "My words to Israel are the same today as they were a couple of days ago: withdraw without delay." Posted 1:16 PM | [Link] BREAKING THE CYCLE OF VIOLENCE [Dave Kopel] The past several days have seen notably fewer Israeli civilians killed by terrorists compared to the days before the invasion of the terrorist sanctuaries began. Indeed, the recent days have been more peaceful for civilians than many other similar periods in 2002. It turns out that the best way to "end the cycle of violence" isn't conducting negotiations with terrorists who never keep their word. Killing and capturing terrorists turns out to be the best way to stop terrorism. Posted 1:11 PM | [Link] MORE OF WHAT ISRAEL'S UP AGAINST [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Six Palestinians have been arrested in Lebanon. In their possession: nine missiles, like ones launched against Israeli positions yesterday. No doubt, though, Yassir Arafat noble, Nobel Peace Prize-winner, would discourage such things were he not boxed in by the Israelis. Posted 1:09 PM | [Link] MINETA'S MEN [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Two times this week foreign nationals got past screeners at Louis Armstrong International airport in New Orleans, although they were stopped and arrested before they were able to board. The second man, one his way home to the Philippines, was stopped on Thursday by a random search at the boarding gate. Here's what he had that got past the routine check: one utility knife with a 3½-inch blade, four other 3½-inch blades, one knife with a blade that was two inches long, another knife with a blade one inch long and a six-inch hacksaw blade. Posted 12:59 PM | [Link] CLONE EN ROUTE? [Kathryn Jean Lopez] A number of people have asked for more information on the "doctor" who claims he has a woman eight weeks pregnant with a clone. The guy in question is actually a nutty megalomaniac and I frankly wouldn’t believe a word he says. That true, though, there really is no way to know for sure. Eventually this kind of thing will happen, especially when countries like the U.S. can’t even agree to prohibit it. Posted 12:48 PM | [Link] BUSH WHACKS: [John J. Miller] President Bush on Iraq, in an interview yesterday with Britain's ITV network: Q I take your point about no immediate plans, but in a sense, have you made up your mind that Iraq must be attacked? THE PRESIDENT: I made up my mind that Saddam needs to go. That's about all I'm willing to share with you. Q And you would take action to make sure that happens? And, of course, if the logic of the war on terror means anything -- which you have explained -- then Saddam must go? THE PRESIDENT: That's what I just said. The policy of my government is that he goes. Q People think that Saddam Hussein has had no links with the al Qaeda network, and I'm wondering why you have -- THE PRESIDENT: The worst thing that could happen would be to allow a nation like Iraq, run by Saddam Hussein, to develop weapons of mass destruction and then team up with terrorist organizations so they can blackmail the world. I'm not going to let that happen. Q So you're going to go after him? THE PRESIDENT: As I told you, the policy of my government is that Saddam Hussein not be in power. Q And how are you going to achieve this, Mr. President? THE PRESIDENT: Wait and see. Posted 5:26 AM | [Link] PEACELOVERS [Kathryn Jean Lopez] These are the people we are telling Israel to try and make peace with again. Yep, that looks likely. Posted 4:56 AM | [Link]
BEATEN TO THE PUNCH [Ramesh Ponnuru] Timothy Noah had a piece on Klayman two days ago. Serves me right for not checking Slate recently. Posted 4:52 PM | [Link] USS Clinton [John Derbyshire] Oh, boy, did I open the floodgates with that one. Among the printable responses, "Chinese junk," "oiler" and "bumboat" are popular. I am cheered, at least, to know that Clinton-hating is alive and well--that untold numbers of Americans, like me, have not yet "moved on". (But is it really true that a frigate has only one screw?) Posted 4:40 PM | [Link] USS THATCHER--A SPIN-OFF [John Derbyshire] One reader wants to know the following: Should the U.S. Navy decide to name a ship after Bill Clinton, what kind of vessel would be appropriate? Don't look at me, I'm not touching this one; but bolder spirits are welcome to offer suggestions. Posted 3:35 PM | [Link] CLIMATE CONTROL [Andrew Stuttaford] If there has been any global warming, its causes and potential effects remain obscure. The Kyoto Treaty would have embarrassed Chicken Little and unless the precautionary principle is to be allowed to run amok, there is no reason to allow fear of this possibly benign, possibly imaginary phenomenon to shape policy. Robert Watson, the American who heads the UN Committee on climate change argues otherwise, and that is why his hold on this job should not be extended. As that's the case, this (unfortunately slanted) piece from the London Times may be good news. It suggests that the Bush administration is trying to ensure that Doctor Watson is replaced at the end of his term this year. The only mystery is why the White House is opting for Rajendra Pachauri as Watson's successor. Pachauri seems to hold the same views as Watson, only more discreetly. Why not hire a scientist who can be objective? Bjorn Lomborg (author of The Skeptical Environmentalist) would be a good choice. Posted 3:31 PM | [Link] I'M NOT SO SURE ABOUT THIS [Andrew Stuttaford] There's a story in the WSJ's 'Weekend Journal' today about religious summer camps for kids. Call me crazy, but I wasn't sure about the entertainment on offer at Camp Sandy Cove: "To teach the Old Testament, this camp has kids run a relay with each leg representing one of the 10 plagues." Posted 3:27 PM | [Link] TRASH TALK [Roger Clegg] The speech given last night by Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe was an appalling example of racial demagoguery. “[P]erhaps the most dangerous aspect of the Bush agenda is its outright hostility to the civil rights that folks in this room have fought so hard for,” he warned the audience. Evidence of this hostility includes the administration’s efforts to “disenfranchise African-Americans” in Mississippi, its appointment of Gerald Reynolds to head the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights (Reynolds is a black man who--the traitor--opposes racial preferences), the nomination of Charles Pickering, and its approach to Social Security reform (huh?). Many Republicans “want you to believe that racism is a relic of the American past,” but Democrats “stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you in that struggle”--that is, the struggle that must continue because “too many of our people are judged by the color of their skin and not the content of their character.” But isn’t it McAuliffe who wants color-coded racial preferences, and Republicans like Reynolds who oppose them? Posted 3:18 PM | [Link] THE POST’S WELFARE PROBLEM [Ramesh Ponnuru] I agree, Kathryn, that it’s nice to see the Washington Post criticizing leftists on a social issue. But their analysis is off base. “For decades, welfare discouraged marriage among the poor,” its editors write. “With few exceptions, before the 1996 reforms welfare payments were made only to unmarried recipients, giving men an incentive to walk away. Many states have eliminated this disincentive, and the rest should be pushed to follow suit.” It’s not true that married recipients were ineligible for welfare. It was, and is, fine for a mother to get married so long as her husband isn’t working. If he is, they might not qualify for means-tested anti-poverty programs. Means-tested programs are necessarily and structurally anti-marriage because married couples tend to make more money than single mothers. Even the current, reformed welfare system is anti-marriage. (And by the way, wasn’t the Post a bitter opponent of reform back in ’96?) Posted 2:55 PM | [Link] DID SOMEONE SAY “MARTYR”?: [Rich Lowry] This from Memri.org excerpts of recent Arafat interviews. Arafat: "They decided to take me as a prisoner, a deportee, or to kill me. No. I say to them [that I will be] a martyr, a martyr, a martyr, and a martyr. …'And they will be in the front line until Judgment Day'… and 'one of their martyrs [who falls in the battle for Jerusalem] is worth 40 martyrs'... Allah, give me martyrdom in… [Jerusalem], the place from which the Prophet Muhammad ascended to the heavens, and the place our lord Jesus was born… I may be martyred, but certainly one of our boys or one of our girls will wave the flag of Palestine over the walls of Jerusalem, over the minarets of Jerusalem, and over the churches of Jerusalem. 'They think it is distant, but we know it is imminent, and we are right'… 'They will enter the mosque as they entered it for the first time'... This is the path I have chosen… Allah, give me martyrdom..." Posted 2:48 PM | [Link] THE POT SUES THE KETTLE [Ramesh Ponnuru] Just got a fundraising letter from Judicial Watch. It seems that Larry Klayman has discovered the crisis of “runaway litigation,” which has transformed the United States “from a nation of friends and neighbors into one of actual and potential litigants—plaintiffs and defendants.” (People who’d sue their own mothers?) But not to worry. There’s a solution: “Our staff attorneys here at Judicial Watch have already filed suit in over 100 of the wors[t] cases of legal corruption in the country today” (emphasis in original). Posted 2:43 PM | [Link] NOBEL CAUSE [Kathryn Jean Lopez] The Nobel Peace Prize people have launched a wispering campaign against Simon Peres, saying they wish they could take his prize back, according to the BBC. Here’s a better idea. Posted 2:28 PM | [Link] STARTING THEM EARLY [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Admittedly, this is a weird question, especially here, but I know someone out there knows. Where can one purchase cool (re political junkie) baby products. I’m thinking a “proud to be republican” baby bottle, bath-time Constitution, Ronald Reagan mobile. That kind of thing. Okay, maybe not a Ronald Reagan mobile, but you get the idea. We’ll post the coolest, most useful links in The Corner sometime this weekend. Posted 2:12 PM | [Link] AS THE WORLD TURNS [Andrew Stuttaford] However bleak the world, there is always room for a spot of good news. There is a piece in this week's New York Observer which implies that Butch Patrick (Eddie Munster) is dating Lisa Loring (Wednesday Addams). If this is true, a splendid precedent has been set. What next? Richie Cunningham and Laurie Partridge? John-Boy Walton and Laura Ingalls-Wilder? Homer Simpson and Peggy Bundy? The mind boggles. Posted 2:01 PM | [Link] MORE APPROPRIATE [Andrew Stuttaford] Thinking about it, I'm not sure that it would be right to name an aircraft carrier after Mrs T. Such a vessel would be too stately. We need something more aggressive. A weapons system or a type of gun might be more appropriate: "The enemy crumbled after remorseless bombardment by Special Forces Thatchers." Yes, I like the sound of that. Posted 1:51 PM | [Link] LEST WE FORGET [Andrew Stuttaford] John, Let's not forget the USS George Washington: That's named after a man who was a British citizen, at least for a while (there seems to have been some difficulty with his nationality after 1776). Posted 1:31 PM | [Link] The Churchill [John Derbyshire] Before anyone else tells me about the USS Winston Churchill, let me point out that he was an honorary U.S. citizen. Posted 12:43 PM | [Link] USS Margaret Thatcher[John Derbyshire] Reader J. D. Smith has emailed in with what seems to me like a brilliant idea. He suggests the U.S.A. honor one of this country's most stalwart friends, and a gret champion of freedom, by naming an aircraft carrier after Margaret Thatcher. However, I wonder if this violates some rule. Can a non-U.S. citizen have a carrier named after him/her? Can a living person? Anyone know this stuff? Posted 12:21 PM | [Link] DAMN YANKEES [John J. Miller] Rich, I much prefer it when you talk about this Moose. But while we're on the subject of the Yankees, I'd like to shout from the rooftops that your team is a full game behind the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the AL East. Posted 12:04 PM | [Link] WAY TO GO MOOSE, II [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Like, Ramesh, I have abstained from the Moose pile-on. (The Moose, for the record, campaign-finance-reform aside, is a gem of a man.) Besides his “Moose” columns, he has a great piece on the war on terror and Israel in the Standard this week. On these issues, we need more Moose and less Bandar. Posted 11:15 AM | [Link] MORE HISTORY [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Jonah, I thought so. Actually, as cool-site watchers know too well, It's also been cool site, I must confess, way more than two times. There's really no measurement for its coolness, is there? But readers, if you have other cool sites, you know where to send them (coolsites@nationalreview.com). Lest we just make aldaily.com our permanent cool site. Posted 10:56 AM | [Link] FOR THE RECORD [Jonah Goldberg] Kathryn, for the record I do believe that ALDAILY.com was our very first cool site, lo those many years ago. Just a little history. Posted 10:36 AM | [Link] WAY TO GO MOOSE!: [Rich Lowry] No, not that Moose. This Moose. Posted 10:34 AM | [Link] THE TRUE STORMIN’ NORMAN[Kathryn Jean Lopez] Excellent piece in the Jerusalem Post today by the incomparable Norman Podhoretz on President Bush and Israel. Posted 10:18 AM | [Link] SHOPPING FOR A JUDGE[James S. Robbins] The significance of Deadria Farmer-Paellmann's suit on behalf of all blacks (does she have standing to sue?) is the change in tactics. The legislative route is clearly not going to work, so the reparations seekers are trying to pick easier targets like "big corporations." By limiting the debate to judges and lawyers they seek to achieve what they could not through legislative processes. This way it doesn't matter what the public thinks, all they have to do is shop for the right judge. It is similar to the line of attack used against the tobacco companies, and of course if this first suit fails all they have to do is retool and file again, and keep doing so until they win one. Then it gets tossed into the appeals process where the real abstract magic can happen. This is a very clever, very dangerous tactic. Pro-reparations lawyers can be counted on to keep working on it because their eventual payday is potentially mammoth. Luckily, lawyers defending the corporations will be as dogged in the defense. In the end it will come down to whether the plaintiffs can find an activist judge looking for a spot in the history books. Posted 10:05 AM | [Link] HELP WANTED [Kathryn Jean Lopez] If you haven't noticed, we have a feature on the homepage where we link to one cool website each day. Today we link to www.aldaily.com, among the smartest and coolest of sites on the web. If you have any sites you'd like to see given the honor, please e-mail your nominations to coolsites@nationalreview.com. Posted 8:02 AM | [Link] EXTRA! EXTRA! [Kathryn Jean Lopez] See Jonah on C-SPAN's Morning Journal this morning. Posted 7:54 AM | [Link] EXPORTING NORMAN [Andrew Stuttaford] George Bush is calling for the Israelis to show more “compassion” at checkpoints. Does this mean that Norm Mineta is now giving foreign-policy advice? Posted 7:08 AM | [Link] THE BAD AND THE UGLY [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Prince Bandar bin Sultan, long-time Saudi ambassador to the U.S. unloads his frustrations on the op-ed page of the Washington Post. As you may have guessed, he sees the current Israeli actions as part of terrorist operation, from leaders who have refused peace. Posted 7:01 AM | [Link] THE GOOD[Kathryn Jean Lopez] Rare criticism of the Left—even NOW specifically--from the Washington Post, on its “reflexive hostility” to marriage. Posted 6:39 AM | [Link] NICE TRY[Andrew Stuttaford] Writing in Arab News Nourah Abdul Aziz Al-Khereiji is calling upon "the Arab masses" to boycott American products. If he wants to be more persuasive, Mr. Al-Khereiji should to change his email contact address. He's on Hotmail, courtesy, presumably, of Microsoft. Posted 6:21 AM | [Link] FYI [Jonah Goldberg] I will be on C-Span this morning from 8-9 AM and then on CNN around 9:35 AM. I will then come home and apologize to Cosmo for leaving the house. Posted 6:15 AM | [Link] WHAT THE ISRAELIS THINK [Dave Kopel] A new poll from the Jerusalem Post finds 72% of the Israeli public in favor of the nation's defensive war in the West Bank. Fifteen percent of the public favor more negotiations with Arafat, while 36% want him expelled and 23% want him eliminated. Arafat's strategy of holding out in the expectation that the Sharon government will fall does not appear to be working; if the election were held today, Labor Party leader Binyamin Ben-Eliezer would garner only 4% of the vote. Sharon would get 36%, and Benjamin Netanyahu, former (and future?) Likud President who is more hawkish than Sharon would get 26%. Among people who voted for Ehud Barak last time, Sharon is strongly preferred to Ben-Eliezer; among Sharon voters, Netanyahu has a slim lead over Sharon. Posted 6:10 AM | [Link] THE SAUDI PROBLEM [Andrew Stuttaford] Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit notes that some students at Berkeley are calling on the university to divest its holdings of Israeli securities. As he says, too stupid for words. Unfortunately his alternative (divestment from Saudi Arabia) wouldn't work, at least so far as portfolio investments are concerned. As there have been no investments worth buying in Saudi Arabia, there's nothing to divest. The fact that that is the case is a remarkable indictment of the Saudi “monarchy.” Their country was the beneficiary of one of history's greatest windfalls, and yet all they have created is a rapidly diminishing pile of cash. The regime is as economically incompetent as it is morally corrupt. Posted 6:00 AM | [Link] OVER AND OUT: [John J. Miller] Marion Barry has decided, after all, not to run for city council in DC. Posted 5:26 AM | [Link] THAT'LL TEACH THEM: [Rod Dreher] A reader writes: "If the USA forces Israel to stop its defensive counterattack, I have one suggestion that will correct American policy: all State Department officials must send their spouses and children to Israel for a six-week vacation, and they must visit public places everyday." Posted 12:42 AM | [Link]
TRADE BAIT: [John J. Miller] President Bush's remarks on Israel today may have been a disappointment, but he gave a pretty good speech this morning on free trade--and why the Senate should approve Trade Promotion Authority ASAP. Posted 10:55 PM | [Link] LOCAL ZEROES: [John J. Miller] An editorial in the New York Times today bemoans the presence of snowmobiles at Yellowstone and swamp buggies in the Everglades, and also attacks the "local stewardship" model of federal park management: "Giving local communities--or political leaders--what they want is not a sound basis for rational policy on the federal estate. ... We are reverting, regrettably, to localism." Two days ago, however, another Times editorial was doing its own reverting, on the subject of Governors Island in New York Harbor, urging the federal government to sell it to New York state for a "nominal fee" so that local leaders can set up a special campus for "teacher training." For the Times, apparently, all politics is local--that is, liberals in the locality of Manhattan get to dictate the politics of everything, including that of parks thousands of miles away. Posted 10:24 PM | [Link] WHY IS THIS COUNTRY NOT LIKE OTHER COUNTRIES?: [Rod Dreher] From the Jerusalem Post editorial on Bush's going wobbly: "In his surprise speech yesterday, US President George W. Bush demonstrated what has become an axiom of international relations: Israel is the only country whose right to defend itself is not self-evident, but subject to strict international limits. The transplantation of this axiom into the post-September 11 world order is a tragedy, not just for Israel, but for the US." Yes. Posted 9:37 PM | [Link] AN ENTENTE [Ramesh Ponnuru] Speaking of the Moose: I haven't joined the pile-on. I know some of his shots are cheap and some of his rhetoric demagogic (although he also makes some good points about conservatives). But on the most important issues before us--how to respond to 9/11--he's on the right side. That's more than can be said for all Republicans, all conservatives, or even all people in the Bush administration. Posted 6:47 PM | [Link] THE DARKEST DAY [Ramesh Ponnuru] I was talking to a friend--a very Moose-like friend, actually--earlier today, and we both agreed that the war on terrorism is going as badly as it's gone since Sept. 12. Not even in late October, when people were wringing their hands about the lack of progress in Afghanistan, could it be said that our enemies actually had momentum on their side. Now, I think, they do. I say this not because I have any particular commitment to Israel; I don't really. It's more because 1) their enemies are in fact ours as well: Look who's funding and arming the Palestinians and 2) if whining by the Europeans, the Arabs, and the media make the administration retreat here, how resolute can we expect it to be on Iraq? My friend noted the president's reference today to "the stark picture of tanks in the street." How exactly were we planning to go into Iraq? With Land Rovers? Posted 6:35 PM | [Link] IF WE GET OUR WAY [Dave Kopel] Thus, even if President Bush and Secretary Powell foolishly succeed in cutting short the Israeli counterattacks on Palestinian terrorist centers, the counterattacks are an essential step for the survival of the Jewish people as a people: "The world asks anxiously: What will be the consequences of Israel's invasion? For Israelis, that isn't even a question. For us, the only question that matters, at least for now, is whether the fragile collective identity of 'Israeli'--stretched thin over a bewildering ethnic and ideological cacophony--will continue to exist. That question will be answered not by the results of the battle, but simply by our willingness to fight it." Posted 6:02 PM | [Link] NO CHOICE [Dave Kopel] Writing from Jerusalem for The New Republic, Yossi Klein Halevi explains how the terrorists are making life intolerable within Israel: "And the fear has not only forced us into our homes; it has locked us out of our national, communal space. In our dread of public places, notes Israeli journalist Ari Shavit, lies a threat to our collective identity. Striking at a seder--which celebrates the founding of the Jewish people--is an unbearable symbol of the war against the Jewish collective. We are in the grip of an experiment testing how long a society can endure under relentless terrorism before it begins to disintegrate. If the experiment continues unchecked, we will become a completely atomized society--or no longer a society at all." Posted 5:37 PM | [Link] RIOT PREVENTION [Dave Kopel] The Letter from Gotham wonders if the reason why the United States hasn't seen anti-Semitic riots like Europe is that in the United States, potential ride victims are noted to be potentially armed. This makes a sense; as Aaron Zelman and Richard W. Stevens detail in their new book Death by "Gun Control": The Human Cost of Victim Disarmament genocide is invariably preceded by victim disarmament. Find a society where Jews are allowed to own guns for protection, and you'll tend to find a society with a high degree of religious and intellectual tolerance, and a low rate of violence against minorities. But I think there is another reason is well. The U.S., with its strong culture at individual rights and intellectual diversity, is simply a more civilized place than Europe. The millions of people who had the good sense to leave Europe and come to the U.S. understood that when government is too powerful, it tends to promote--either directly or by creating a hate-filled intellectual climate--mob violence against minorities. Posted 5:09 PM | [Link] DREHER VS. SULLIVAN [Ramesh Ponnuru] It's probably unwise of me--especially since I haven't yet signed the papers to join the RCs--to weigh in on their dispute about the legitimacy of dissent by good Catholics from Church teaching. Contra Rod, I would say that the distinction to be made is not between moral and non-moral judgments. Rather, the distinction concerns the degree of authoritativeness of the teaching. The Vatican does not itself claim that all conscientious Catholics must support its position in the Middle East. Nor does it teach against the death penalty as authoritatively as against abortion--although its opposition to the death penalty is becoming stricter and could some day become equally authoritative. Finally, I do think Sullivan has a point when he says that he would be treated more harshly than Rod if he used the same language Rod did about a Catholic prelate. Posted 4:57 PM | [Link] GOING STUTTAFORD ONE BETTER: [Rod Dreher] Here's an even crazier EU idea: making xenophobia a crime. No more calling the French "Frogs" in the UK tabloids. The splendid right-wing blogger Eve Tushnet fears that Jonah's Bastille Day rants could be banned. God bless the First Amendment, say I. Posted 4:54 PM | [Link] NEVER CORRECT [Dave Kopel] Glenn Reynolds's latest column for Fox News examines the numerous Old Media book reviews which have failed to print corrections to their glowing reviews of Michael Bellesiles's book Arming America now that it has been exposed as a fraud. Posted 4:45 PM | [Link] JONAH, FOR YOUR LIST [Andrew Stuttaford] Marmite was, undoubtedly, invented by Protestants. Posted 4:12 PM | [Link] YOU MUST DO HARM [Kathryn Jean Lopez] NYC is requiring abortion training for all obstetrics and gynecology residents in public hospitals. True, it can be way to safeguard there will not be two deaths instead of one in an industry infamous for lack of regulations/standards. On the other hand, what is really behind it is the fear that pretty soon there will be no one to do the abortions: med-school students--unless they are rabid NARAL types--don't want to go near abortion. They don't like the stigma, the politics, the danger. There are even some who rather keep an oath to do no harm. Posted 4:02 PM | [Link] HOW THINGS CHANGE: [Rich Lowry] Jude Wanniski quotes Pravda, approvingly, in his memo today: “The Russian newspaper Pravda today observes that the Palestinian extremist group Hamas has been rooting for Sharon, and that in roundabout ways have been aided by the Likud extremists!” Posted 3:46 PM | [Link] So, Zinni is going to get to meet…: [Rich Lowry] …with Arafat after all. I’ve never understood this idea of “isolating” Arafat. Either 1) expel him from the West Bank, or 2) make a quick raid to grab documents and other intelligence and leave. As it is, Israel is essentially providing Arafat three things: food, water, and a huge PR megaphone. Posted 3:43 PM | [Link] HMMM: [Rich Lowry] Bush from today: “No nation can negotiate with terrorists, for there is no way to make peace with those whose only goal is death. . . . And so I’ve decided to send Secretary of State Powell to the region next week to seek broad international support for the vision I’ve laid out today.” Posted 3:27 PM | [Link] THE PEACE PROCESS AT WORK: [Rich Lowry] "'We hate you,' said Ahmed Abdel Rahman, a senior Arafat aide who addressed Israelis in an interview with Qatar-based al-Jazeera satellite television. 'You should take your tanks and your soldiers and your settlers and get out. The air hates you, the land hates you, the trees hate you, there is no purpose in you staying on this land.'" Posted 3:05 PM | [Link] STRONG WORDS FROM WASHPOST EDIT THIS A.M.: [Rich Lowry] "The Palestinian national cause will never recover--nor should it--until its leadership is willing to break definitively with the bombers. And Muslim states that support such sickening carnage will risk not just stigma but also their own eventual self-destruction." Posted 2:56 PM | [Link] SAUDI INSURANCE [Andrew Stuttaford] One of the reasons that leading Saudis fund extremist Islam is, of course, to save their skins at home. To put it more diplomatically, they are trying to preserve domestic peace. Let's not put it diplomatically. What the Saudis are doing is taking out a form of life insurance--and our lives are the premium. We should have nothing to do with them. Posted 2:56 PM | [Link] SURVEY SAYS... [Dave Kopel] A new ABC News poll reveals that American Catholics are dismayed by the Church's cover-up of priestly sexual misconduct. But unlike the Old Media, only 19% see a male-only priesthood as part of the problem, and only 38% of American Catholics believe that the celibacy rule contributed to the the problem. Will these parts of the poll be reported by the Old Media? Not by Reuters. Posted 2:43 PM | [Link] A NEW LOW [Andrew Stuttaford] Just when you think that the EU has finally plumbed the depths of stupidity, Brussels comes up with something worse. The London Times is reporting that the European Commission is proposing to impose a new tax of up to $75 a ticket on airline travelers. Its excuse? The tax will contribute to the cost of each flight's supposed contribution to 'global warming'. The levy would also help Europe's established airlines against low cost competition, but that, of course, is only a coincidence. For those concerned by recent reports (mentioned on The Corner) that Europe is no warmer than it was one thousand years ago, don't worry. Brussels will shortly be introducing a tax on all trips by horse and cart. Posted 2:26 PM | [Link] CONTAMINATED BIOTECH RESEARCH [Jonathan Adler] Last fall, anti-biotechnology activists seized on a study published in the prestigious journal Nature suggesting that genes from genetically engineered corn had "contaminated" nonengineered varieties of corn in Mexico. The study struck many researchers as implausible from the get go, but these criticisms were largely ignored in media coverage of the study. Now Nature has recanted, publishing an editorial note in the latest issue declaring that "Nature has concluded that the evidence available is not sufficient to justify the publication of the original paper." In other words, the claims of crop "contamination" were unfounded. The Nature editorial is not available without charge on the web, but the Washington Post has a story here. Ron Bailey also noted the studies problems earlier this year for Reason. This is not the first time prestigious environmental journals have rushed shoddy, alarmist research findings into print. Alas, it is not likely to be the last. Posted 10:30 AM | [Link] LIBERTARIAN-LEFT AXIS [Jonah Goldberg] Brink Lindsey -- a prominent libertarian light -- has an interesting take on the peacenik libertarian fringe. I'm staying out of this fight for now -- until I can appease the Protestants on my right flank. "I come in peace! I bring you mayonnaise!" Posted 9:46 AM | [Link] EQUAL TIME [Jonah Goldberg] As might be expected, Martin Luther's fans are coming at me hard. This is unfortunate because I’ve got no grievance against Protestants. So in the interests of ecumenicity expect a great tribute to the "gifts of the Protestants" in a future column. Among the highlights to be covered, of course: the American Revolution, the Scottish Enlightenment, literacy in South America, Lucianne Goldberg, Deviled Eggs etc. Feel free to send other suggestions. Posted 8:34 AM | [Link] MUSLIM BLOOD LIBEL? [Jonah Goldberg] Kathryn – the most ironic thing about those horrible pictures (see "JONAH, YOU'RE ON TO SOMETHING" below) may be lost on a lot of people. Throughout the Middle East variants of the old Jewish "blood libel" are carried in newspapers and on TV. The blood libel, in general, is the lie that Jews use the blood of gentile babies in their rituals. This was "reported" (again) just a few weeks ago in a leading Saudi newspaper. Well, now it turns out that some Muslims use the blood of Muslim babies in their rituals. Posted 8:25 AM | [Link] RATS! [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Washington, D.C. is about to be overrun by rats (insert your own jokes). An unusually mild winter has meant rat breeding and fewer deaths in a city that already had a high rodent population. So the mayor’s office has, of course, launched a "war" on rats—in Washington, D.C. Leno and Letterman must love this. PETA must not. Posted 7:30 AM | [Link] BASEBALL FANS ONLY: [John J. Miller] My NL-only rotisserie league held its annual auction into the wee hours of the morning. Highest-priced acquisition was Todd Helton for $42. Barry Bonds was second-highest at $40 (though someone had Trevor Hoffman as a keeper at $41). Bargain of the night: Probably Jose Vidro for $11, though Jason Kendall at $10 will be a steal if he returns to form. I have some hope for my all-power, no-speed team, whose members include Sosa ($39), Gonzalez ($33), and Schilling ($19 -- a keeper). But then again it's still April. Even the 2-0 Devil Rays are feeling hopeful. Posted 6:44 AM | [Link] GOD HELP US [Kathryn Jean Lopez] The U.S. Naval Academy may dump prayer before meals, depending on the outcome of a VMI prayer-case appeal. Posted 4:39 AM | [Link] FOR THE RECORD [Kathryn Jean Lopez] The Vatican spokesman yesterday also denounced "indiscriminate acts of terrorism," which I think it is safe to say is aimed at Palestinian suicide bombers in crowded civilian areas. Posted 4:27 AM | [Link] JONAH, YOU'RE ON TO SOMETHING [Kathryn Jean Lopez] If you haven't read Jonah's latest GFILE, do. And, if you need any convincing, check out the boy in this and this. Posted 3:54 AM | [Link]
THOUGHTFUL DISSENT [Jonah Goldberg] A reader offers this thoughtful disagreement to my my column today: "I enjoy your writing and thoughts most of the time. I would not want to diminish the role of Roman Catholicism to science. But it probably can be attributed more generally to Judaeo-Christian ideas as exemplified in Christianity in a catholic sense. You might want to consider the contributions of Calvinism (and Puritans too) to science. Bacon might be considered as a giant, along with a few others such as Sir Isaac Newton. Christian belief in an ordered universe which was the creation of a good Creator was basis for getting the West unstuck from conundrums which seemed to bind up science in ancient world, Arab world and Chinese dynasties." Posted 5:49 PM | [Link] ANDREW SULLIVAN IS NOT MAKING SENSE: [Rod Dreher] Here we go again. Andrew Sullivan accuses me of Catholic heterodoxy for vigorously dissenting from the Vatican's statement condemning the Israelis for "revenge attacks." He believes this is evidence of "theocon hypocrisy," because I dissent from the view issued in the Pope's name on the Mideast war, while denying him the "right" to dissent from the Church's teaching on homosexuality. This is not the statement of a serious person. Calling the Vatican wrong in its opinion of this particular geopolitical situation is not remotely the same thing as dissenting from magisterial teaching on faith and morals -- which is what Andrew does. For example, one could say Paul VI was seriously wrong for his Ostpolitik diplomacy, and still be a perfectly orthodox Catholic. One cannot say Paul VI was wrong on "Humanae Vitae" and be so. Got that? And by the way, it's not the Orthodox Patriarch that my Vatican source criticized, it's the Latin Patriarch. Perhaps one is overly optimistic to expect Catholic hobbyists to notice important distinctions. Posted 5:34 PM | [Link] YASSER ARAFAT, VATICAN EDITORIALIST?: [Rod Dreher] The mind boggles and the stomach turns at this bit from a front-page editorial today in L'Osservatore Romano, the official Vatican newspaper: "Rarely has history been violated with this crudeness and pushed backward by a clear will to offend the dignity of a people. The land of the Uprising is profaned with the iron and the fire and is the victim of an aggression that wants to destroy." Posted 5:15 PM | [Link] THE LAST WORD ON MARMITE [Andrew Stuttaford] John, I suspect that Kathryn is about to shut down this Marmite discussion (remember what happened to the Prime Directive) but as this Toronto Globe & Mail story makes clear, you have no reason to fear. No jars anywhere carry a royal warrant because, as the manufacturers explain, Marmite doesn't need any "third party endorsements." So have no fear, there is no "export" Marmite and I think we all know why that is. Posted 5:15 PM | [Link] OKAY, OKAY [Jonah Goldberg] Kentucky not totally landlocked. It's got those rivers. Leave me alone. Posted 4:55 PM | [Link] GOOD NEWS FOR WEST VIRGINIA: [Rod Dreher] A new study finds that kissing cousins won't necessarily make three-eyed moron babies. (Please, West Virginians, spare me your e-mails. I'm jes' funnin' ya. I'm sure your morons have the anatomically correct number of eyes, and can only be discerned by the "Re-Elect Senator Byrd" bumper stickers on their pick-up trucks.) Posted 4:54 PM | [Link] THE FOUNDERS WANTED TO PROTECT SATAN? [Jonah Goldberg] Another idiotic ACLU story. You would think the ACLU would pick and choose its battles a little better. How am I supposed to take their whines about prisoners in Gitmo seriously when they're also fighting for Lucifer? Posted 4:48 PM | [Link] NAME GAMES [Dave Kopel] Minnesotans Against Terrorism has taken out an advertisement asking why the Minneapolis Star-Tribune calls groups which kill American civilians "terrorists" but refuses to apply the same word to groups which kill Israelis. The Star-Tribune's article on the controversy concludes by quoting a Palestinian American who says that it is "despicable" to call the killers "terrorists" because they are really just "desparate." A media-ethics professor asserts that "one person's terrorist is another person's freedom fighter." If the latter is true, then why does the Star-Tribune call al Qaeda "terrorists" rather than "Islamofascist activists"? Meanwhile, Kenneth Adelman suggests that we all drop the term "suicide bomber"--which would be accurate for people who killed only themselves with explosives. "Homicide bombers" is the more accurate phrase. Posted 4:47 PM | [Link] This is your link. Posted 4:46 PM | [Link] PAGAN SAVAGES REDUX: [Rod Dreher] A human sacrifice cult in India can't find a willing victim for its ritual. Perhaps Brother Yasser could spare a suicide bomber in a gesture of Third World solidarity? Posted 4:45 PM | [Link] AND THE WINNER IS... [Andrew Stuttaford] Jonah, that's spectacular. It's the clear winner of today's "Admiral Horthy" prize. Posted 4:42 PM | [Link] THE REAL BRITAIN [Andrew Stuttaford] More seriously, Mike, the point you raise about the class system needs a reply. I'm no great monarchist (John Derbyshire will be glad to know that I am a life member of the Cromwell Association) and I prefer living in this country, but Altman's vision of England as a land of haughty aristocrats and downtrodden servants is a crude leftist caricature. Contrary to its reputation, there was far more social movement in the Britain of the past than its image would suggest. One reason for this was that in Britain the newly rich tended to conceal their humble origins, while in the U.S. they would often stress them. In America rags to riches was a triumph, in Britain it was (stupidly) almost an embarrassment. Britain not only had fewer success stories than America but those that it had frequently remained hidden beneath an often entirely fake veneer of "old money." More recently, it is interesting to note that there are some signs that social mobility may be declining again in the UK as thirty years of educational egalitarianism begin to bite, but that's another topic altogether... Posted 4:40 PM | [Link] THE FAR-FLUNG EMPIRE OF MARMITE [John Derbyshire] Andrew: Scrutinizing the Marmite jar (which, naturally, is never far from my elbow) I see no Royal Warrant. It now dawns on me that for all my 17 years in the USA, I have been eating export Marmite. Aaaaaargh! [Incidentally, for those readers who thought I was too hard on the Queem Mum: (a) Check out Chris Hitchens in the Guardian and (b) On the subject of T.S. Eliot, at least, I think her judgment cannot be gainsaid.] Posted 4:37 PM | [Link] GOOD POINT: [Rod Dreher] A reader asks, "Why didn't the Palestinian gunmen take refuge in the mosque just across Manger Square from the Church of the Nativity?" Ah yes, that mosque. That's the one from which the muezzin issued the daily call to prayer during the Pope's mass in Manger Square two years ago -- just to show the pontiff who's boss in Bethlehem. The answer, reader, is that the Palestinians want to provoke Israel into attacking a Christian church so that the West goes berserk. Posted 3:59 PM | [Link] YOU MUST CHECK THIS OUT [Jonah Goldberg] The absolutely most brilliant and inspired law ever passed by a landlocked state. Posted 3:19 PM | [Link] WHAT'S THE MATTER HERE: [Rod Dreher] The Vatican today issued a statement condemning the Israelis for "revenge attacks," a strange way of describing self-defense. Does the Vatican honestly expect the Israelis to sit back until every last one of them is killed by Palestinian suicide bombers? A frustrated Vatican source just spoke to me about the Palestinian terrorists currently occupying the Church of the Nativity: "The Palestinians shot the locks off the doors, and barged in over the protests of the clergy. They started shooting at Israelis to draw fire, so the Israelis would attack a Christian shrine. Sabbah, the Latin Patriarch [and Arafat crony -- RD], says he offered them sanctuary, which isn't true, and that they were unarmed, which is way not true! It isn't his Church anyway! It belongs to the Greek Orthodox, Armenians and Franciscans, who have exclusive Catholic rights. The Franciscans are hopping mad, but can't say anything because they have to be 'pro-Palestinian.' But now they cannot even ask them politely to leave because of the Patriarch's false, lying, asinine statement. The priest who was reported killed is alive, as you know. However, the Palestinians leaked the false report to discredit the Israelis and are now holding that same priest and some nuns hostage in the Church as human shields. Again, the Christians do not say anything, because they have to be 'pro-Palestinian.' How soon will it be before they start killing Christian clergy and the few pilgrims that are there, in order to say that the Israelis are causing the deaths of Christians?" Posted 3:04 PM | [Link] LAND OF MARMITE [Andrew Stuttaford] John, I have no idea whether the Queen Mother was a Marmite maven, but I do know that the Marmite jar carries a "royal warrant," which indicates that at least some Windsors are snacking on this delicious spread. In a further sign of royal favour, you will be excited to know that, as part of the Queen's Golden Jubilee celebrations Prince Philip will be visiting a Marmite factory on July 3rd this year. It doesn't get better than that. Posted 2:41 PM | [Link] RELIGION OF PEACE UPDATE: [Rod Dreher] On the way to work this morning, I stopped into an Arab-owned convenience store to buy a newspaper. A wiry Arab man, about my age and looking like a tightly coiled spring, stood by the counter holding a clipboard. "You should not buy that one," he said to me in a thick accent, as I picked up a New York Post. "You should buy this one. It's more fair about this story," he said, holding up a Daily News -- which, like the Post, reports the Bethlehem siege on its front page. The man's eyes were hot, and I didn't want to argue with him. I told him I prefer the Post. "But they print lies about Palestine!" he said, his voice rising (the Post's editorial policy is strongly pro-Israel). "Hitler, he knew what the those people were about. He knew that if you give them freedom, they will take over your country, just like they have done here. And I'm not just saying that because I'm a Muslim." I pointed out to the man, as calmly as I could, that Hitler killed six million Jews. "Not true!" he shot back, sticking his finger in my face. "It's a lie!" I turned and walked out without saying a word more. Because there is nothing left to say to such fanatics. Posted 2:41 PM | [Link] AMERICA THANKS YOU, JOHN DERBYSHIRE [Michael Potemra] I have no ill will toward Britain's late Queen Mother, but I must say I was delighted by John Derbyshire's debunking piece. One of the more pernicious pathologies here on the American Right is an unreflective Anglophilia that worships at the shrine of a genuinely absurd class system: "Ah, good old England, where the lower orders knew their place!" Here in America, your "place" is not determined for you by who your great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather was; and we think ours is a pretty good system. If you think you'd like it the other way, I recommend you go see the film Gosford Park. (A little small-R republican rant is just the thing to get the old heart started....) Posted 12:53 PM | [Link] OFF WITH THEIR HEADS [John Derbyshire] I have it on good authority that the secret of the Queen Mother's longevity was a lifetime passion for those traditional British working class foodstuffs that I myself have praised in this space. Unfortunately I have no precise information on whether or not she liked Marmite--a Google search on "Queen Mother"+Marmite (the first such search ever, I would venture to speculate) turned up nothing definitive. Meanwhile, for more on the Queen Mother's dark side, I refer readers to the philippic published by that fine republican organ Socialist Worker on the occasion of her 100th birthday. (This article should, though, be taken with a grain of salt, containing as it does some obvious factual errors. The King could not possibly have eaten grouse every day, as grouse is only in season from August 12th to December 10th, and not even the most dedicated BritFood traditionalist would hang a bird for 8 months.) As for Andrew's suggestion that I have just recently turned away from the Crown for reasons of mere expediency, I note that the middle name of my son (b. 1995) is "Oliver," after our great national leader, scourge of Royalists and Papists--a man who, I am sure, would have a solution for the current scandals in the Catholic priesthood. Posted 12:52 PM | [Link] POWERFUL STUFF [Rich Lowry] George F. Will and Michael Kelly make a powerful tag-team on WashPost op-ed page this morning. Jim Hoagland doesn’t quite hold up his end, but this is an important paragraph: "The conventional wisdom is that an escalating Palestinian-Israeli conflict will complicate and inhibit U.S. military action against Baghdad. That is a misreading of history and of the White House. Establishing fear and respect among those who would indiscriminately harm Americans--for whatever cause--is and must remain a fundamental part of the Bush war on global terrorism." Posted 12:08 PM | [Link] DEAR KEVIN HOLTSBERRY…: [Rich Lowry] …thank you so much for sending along the “Here moosey . . . moosey” T-shirt. Moose-hunting paraphernalia is always welcome here at The Corner. Posted 12:01 PM | [Link] ISRAELI BLOG [Jonathan Adler] For those who are addicted to blogs--and can't spend all day hitting "refresh" while at The Corner--here's an Israeli blog worth visiting. Posted 11:21 AM | [Link] TREACHERY [Andrew Stuttaford] Have just read John Derbyshire's shocking attempt to ingratiate himself with his (new) compatriots. Assimilation can be taken too far, John. What's next? Will the Marmite be abandoned in favour of peanut butter and jelly? Posted 10:49 AM | [Link] OWEN'S SCARLET "E" [Jonathan Adler] Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen is the latest Bush judicial nominee to come under attack. As first reported by Byron York on this site, Owen's alleged connection to Enron will be the focal point of the attack. Activists concerned about her conservative voting record on the Texas bench will be meeting later this month to plot strategy. The Texas Lawyer reports Owen is supposed to be tainted goods because she received "huge amounts of money"--$8,600--in campaign contributions from Enron and later authored a unanimous court opinion favoring Enron in a tax case. If Enron is supposed to have bought Justice Owens with its contribution, she came awfully cheap--indeed, she didn't even get her fair share. There are nine supreme court justices, but Owen received less than 7% of the $134,058 Enron contributed to Texas supreme-court justices since 1993. There's nothing to the Enron claims. Even the losing attorney in the tax case claims the charges are "a bunch of crap." But the Scarlet E of Enron may provide just enough cover for those who want to stop every conservative nominee they can. Posted 10:39 AM | [Link] PALESTINIAN PROPAGANDA I [Jonah Goldberg] Palestinian mouthpiece Hanan Ashrawi (Arafat’s Vladimir Posner) is everywhere these days. I heard her yesterday on the radio denouncing the racism, tyranny and arrogance of Israel’s offer to give Yasser Arafat a "one-way ticket" out of the West Bank. How could Israel demand the removal of a "democratically elected president?" she demanded to know. It’s a good question and when Israel demands the removal of one I’ll join her in demanding an answer. But Yasser Arafat wasn’t democratically elected. In fact, even the sham election he "won," put him in office for a term which expired a couple years ago. He unilaterally extended his term. That’s what dictators do (see Michael Kelly’s column for other things dictators do). Anyway, that’s a longer argument. But I would love it if the networks and newspapers would stop calling her a "Palestinian legislator." I know that technically you can be a legislator without being a democratically elected official (See Federalist #48 "One hundred and seventy-three despots would surely be as oppressive as one. Let those who doubt it turn their eyes on the republic of Venice."). But in the West "legislator" has a certain electoral connotation. And in that context saying "Palestinian legislator" is like saying "Soviet pollster" or "Mafia ombudsman." Posted 10:27 AM | [Link] THEIR DICTIONARY [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Anyone see the debate at an Islamic conference in Malaysia over how to define terrorism? Supposedly it’s hard to come up with a definition that 57 nations might agree to—especially when a number of them are terrorists. A draft attempt included this: "We reject any attempt to associate Islamic states or Palestinian and Lebanese resistance with terrorism." That’s mighty useful. Posted 9:13 AM | [Link]
OUR WITH THE PEACE [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Kaddaffi has evidently dropped his peace plan, seeking instead to recruit volunteers to help Arab brothers fight Israelis. Posted 9:59 PM | [Link] AGAINST THE ICC [Ramesh Ponnuru] A big setback for the International Criminal Court: B'nai B'rith International has suspended its support. As the group notes in its letter to President Bush, it has lobbied for an international tribunal to try crimes against humanity ever since the Nuremberg trials. But "we no longer believe that the ICC, as constituted under the Rome Statute, will act as we had originally envisioned." In particular, the ICC is likely to be politicized and used as a weapon against Israel. As now proposed, the ICC would, for example, treat Jewish settlements in disputed territories as a crime it could prosecute. The attempts by the Clinton and Bush administrations to fix the proposal have been rebuffed, the letter notes. B'nai B'rith is not willing to "rely on the goodwill of the United Nations to treat all countries equally." That's not the only reason to oppose the ICC. But it's a good one. Posted 9:50 PM | [Link] CLOCK CROCK: [John J. Miller] Jesse Jackson has condemned the recess appointment of Gerald Reynolds to head the Department of Education's civil-rights office: "Mr. Reynolds is himself a beneficiary of the civil rights movement and sadly, he works to turn back the clock and dismantle this legacy for future generations." I keep hearing about this "clock," whose hands are constantly under threat of being "turned back." Would somebody please tell me where it may be found? Posted 9:47 PM | [Link] GUILTY PARTIES [Andrew Stuttaford] Rod, yes, that's a disgraceful image. I hope that the police took action as a result. The faces in the crowd are clearly visible and so, it would appear, is their guilt. Posted 9:46 PM | [Link] ARAFAT'S SPINSANITY: [Rod Dreher] Get this: Palestinian gunmen shooting it out with Israeli troops force their way into Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, whence they continue shooting at the Israelis -- and Yasser Arafat responds by saying he can't believe the Israelis are attacking holy places! Isn't this kind of like killing your parents and begging for the court's mercy as an orphan? Posted 9:00 PM | [Link] ISN'T IT INTERESTING. . . [Ramesh Ponnuru] given the standard polemical positions in debates over U.S. policy in the Mideast, that it's the most pro-Israel commentators who want the most hands-off policy (let the conflict continue) and the least pro-Israel commentators who want the most vigorous American intervention (restart the peace process)? Posted 7:15 PM | [Link] MAN'S INHUMANITY TO WOMAN: [Rod Dreher] This shocking photograph of a woman having her clothes ripped off by a Mardi Gras mob in Seattle (don't worry, it's not sexually explicit) just won a journalism photography award -- and is being criticized by some for being exploitative. I don't think so at all. This is an incredible image that documents mob violence at its most revolting. I may have to apologize to the pagan savages I dissed earlier today. Posted 5:59 PM | [Link] CAN I HAVE YOUR ID PLEASE? [Dave Kopel] "Dynamic entries" is a euphemism for violent home break-ins by the police, usually for the purpose of "serving" a search warrant in a drug case. Violent police home invasions have now become so common that non-government (criminal) home robbers are pretending to be police, yelling "police, police, get down" as they break in and point guns at the victims. Since so many actual police home invaders don't wear police uniforms, it's pretty harder to tell the cops from the criminals. Posted 5:01 PM | [Link] PC FOR KIDS--CONTINUED [Jonathan Adler] David is absolutely correct that the environmental conservation problem in central Africa is not due to weak governments. Where wildlife conservation efforts in sub-Saharan Africa have been successful, they have relied upon property rights and sustainable utilization, not government regulation. In the 1970s and 1980s, both Kenya and Zimbabwe sought to protect their elephant herds. Kenya followed the traditional government-oriented model, limiting the use of elephants, creating parks, and the like. Zimbabwe encouraged local, community management of elephant herds by creating quasi-property rights in wildlife. Kenya's elephant populations plummeted, Zimbabwe's increased dramatically -- as did the amount of land devoted to wildlife conservation. Once wildlife had economic value, people had an incentive to protect habitat rather than clear it to plant crops. Unfortunately, the complete breakdown of order and the rule of law in Zimbabwe has also undermined this success story, as Terry Anderson of PERC and the Hoover Institution explains here. To save wildlife in the developing world requires property rights, economic liberty, and the rule of law, not more centralized government power. Posted 4:52 PM | [Link] PC FOR KIDS [Dave Kopel] "The Mini Page" is a four-page newspaper feature for children; distributed by the Universal Press Syndicate, the Mini Page is found in many daily U.S. newspapers, usually midweek. This week's Mini Page looks at the African Rain Forest, and informs children that "The Congo rain forest spreads into several countries. The governments of these countries are not strong. . .The animals in the rain forest cannot be protected when the governments are not strong enough to do so." Actually, most of the African rain forest is contained within the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly known as Zaire), and to claim that the main conservation problem there is weak government is ludicrous. According to Amnesty International, the dictatorial government perpetrates a disgusting variety of human-rights abuses, including the mass murder of civilians. It is absurd to imagine that a government which is so blithe about killing humans would care about protecting animals if the government were even stronger. Around the world, the countries which best protect the environment are not the ones with the strongest governments (e.g., North Korea), but the ones which have a republican form of government, a free press, and a free economy. Too bad the Mini Page is so PC that it can't criticize a rapacious, murderous dictatorship which is a accomplice in the destruction of the environment. Posted 3:20 PM | [Link] ON JOURNALISM SCHOOL [Dave Shiflett] Attention J-School graduates. When I was coming along, which was apparently a bit before Rod, no self-respecting editor would hire a J-school grad. As several told me, J-schoolers thought they knew everything and had to be reeducated. Plus, none of them could write. The path suggested to me was the Good Old Waye: start off as a copy boy (I'm showing my age), then to a small weekly or semi-weekly covering the obit beat, town councils, and housefires; then to a small daily and from there wherever the winds of fate would take you. Along the way, if you were the real thing, your lungs filled with tar, your fingers were stained with nicotine, your liver swelled to watermelon size and could be seen pulsing through your shirt, and you'd become more cynical than Beelzebub. Plus, whenever you'd encounter a J-Schooler you'd instinctively spit on the floor. There was glory in the trade back then. Posted 2:53 PM | [Link] CORRECTION [Jonah Goldberg] It appears that I got it wrong with Wanniski. For some reason Wanniski has reprinted an Eric Alterman MSNBC column verbatim without making it clear that it's not something he wrote. Maybe there's some missing text or a layout scew-up involved. It could be an honest mistake, a deliberate but stupid error or a gross case of plagiarism or copyright infringement. It's probably an honest mistake. Anyway, Wanniski clearly likes such lists and Alterman definitely comes from the bullying school of lefty journalism. So much of the substance of what I wrote still holds. The only thing is that Wanniski oddly uses someone else's list rather than write one out himself. Posted 2:04 PM | [Link] BEST ADVICE FOR ASPIRING HACKS: [Rod Dreher] Blog God James Lileks has some terrific advice for journalism school students. In part, he tells them to get the hell out of journalism school and get a job with the school paper, where they can write. I don't know that I would go so far as to say quitting J-school is a good idea, but it is true that you don't stand a ghost of a chance getting an actual journalism job unless you graduate with a sheaf of clips. (I wonder whatever happened to all those classmates of mine who didn't work at the college paper or radio station, and who thought their J-school degree would be enough to get them a job.) When I graduated from J-school 13 years ago, you had to have a journalism degree to get your foot in the door at newspapers. I hope that isn't true now. I can think of about four J-school classes that did me any good, or were at all necessary to the job I've been doing for over a decade. The real college journalism education came in pulling late nights at the LSU Daily Reveille (followed by later nights at the Bayou bar). I would have been a better journalist if I had spent less time taking required thumbsucker classes in the J-school, and had had more freedom to study philosophy, politics, economics, etc. Anybody agree? Disagree? Any LSU alumni miss Double Drunk Night at the Bayou? Write me, I'm interested (rdreher@nationalreview.com) Posted 1:24 PM | [Link] I HAVE IN MY HAND A LIST OF NAMES… [Jonah Goldberg] I don’t normally (i.e. never) read Jude Wanniski but after Rod’s post I decided to poke around. His latest "memo" contains a list of people (including me) who, Wanniski declares, "could never even imagine themselves criticizing Israel." Wanniski's psychic powers – perhaps Farrakhan picked up a brain scanner on that space ship? -- seem extraordinary. But I hate to break it to him, I can certainly imagine being critical of Israel. Hell, I can even imagine reading Wanniski again, my powers of conjecture are just that powerful. In fact, I oppose further settlements, don’t like Sharon that much and have long favored a Palestinian state – with the usual caveats that it not be just a staging ground for another anti-Israeli war. And I certainly don’t like Israel’s socialist economics. Still, I am partial to democracies and societies which generally like America (as opposed to Israel’s neighbors). My problem with announcing these things is that it rewards the pompous bullying of the sorts of people who like to make lists. But in this case I will make an exception. Posted 12:50 PM | [Link] PEACE-LOVING EQUAL OPPORTUNITY [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Lebanon's leading Muslim cleric has praised the surge in Palestinian female suicide bombers in Israel. In an interview with al Jazeera, he called the them authors of a "new, glorious history for Arab and Muslim women." Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah said: "It is true that Islam has not asked women to carry out jihad, but it permits them to take part if the necessities of defensive war dictate that women should carry out any regular military operations, or suicide operations." And also, "We believe that the women who carry out suicide bombings are martyrs." No word on the virgins...or raisins. Posted 12:22 PM | [Link] OUR MULTICULTURAL PARADISE: [Rod Dreher] Some followers of what nonjudgmental types like to call "traditional African religion" have some rather vile ideas about how to get rich. Pagan savages, these people are. Posted 12:19 PM | [Link] HEY JUDE [Jonah Goldberg] Rod, Great stuff from that great Uniter Jude Wanniski. Someone might point out to him that what his "friend" Louis Farrakhan believes in is not actually Islam. It's a goofy cult in which a mad scientist named Yacub invented white people in a lab. Most mainstream muslims think Farrakhan's "religion" is at minimum a bizarre heresy. Personally, I don't give a rat's patoot what Farrakhan thinks of Judaism (which he's called a "gutter religion"). But I would love to know if Jude thinks his buddy really did fly around in a flying saucer as he's claimed several times. Posted 11:39 AM | [Link] KUMBAYA ALERT: [Rod Dreher] Noted theologian Jude Wanniski encourages his Christian brethren and sistren to think happy thoughts about Islam, which is "in many ways the most ecumenical of the monotheistic faiths." Wanniski says his friend Louis Farrakhan signed a gift copy of the Koran thus: "To Jude, my brother in Christ." Well, that changes everything, doesn't it? Posted 11:25 AM | [Link] DEJA VU: [Rod Dreher] They're beating up Jews in the streets of Berlin again -- except this time it's not Nazis, but Arab Islamofascists doing the deed. As in France. A sign of things to come. Posted 10:54 AM | [Link] WHERE? [Kathryn Jean Lopez] If Arafat is headed to Europe, Andrew, how will the EU decide who gets him? They'll all want to protect this Nobel Prize-winning freedom fighter. Maybe they could take turns? Posted 10:31 AM | [Link] NEXT UP [Andrew Stuttaford] So Arafat may be about to be forced into exile. Could Alec Baldwin be the next to go? Posted 10:29 AM | [Link] AFL-DNC? [Jonah Goldberg] John, my favorite thing about the Washington Post piece is how Juliet Eiplerin un-self-consciously refers to the political director of the AFL-CIO as if he were just another Democratic Party strategist. "AFL-CIO political director Steve Rosenthal said the party is working on crafting a unified message," blah, blah, blah. I know it’s not news, but worth remembering the next time the Dems or the unions claim otherwise. Posted 10:28 AM | [Link] ABOUT THE DEAF LESBIANS [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Rod, you know what I find most fascinating about this story? That all weekend I got e-mails from readers telling me I should read the Post piece about "the deaf couple that wants a deaf child." No one mentioned that they were lesbian although one or two mentioned the artificial insemination aspect. I was shocked when I finally sat down to it last night. Not shocked that anyone would want this, nothing really shocks me in that regard anymore, but that it's now a given, even among NRO readers that gay couples have kids created for them. What made it a story was only the deaf aspect. If you wonder where we are in the culture wars, there you are. Posted 10:27 AM | [Link] CHRISTIAN HYPOCRISY: [Rod Dreher] Here's what I don't get. This L.A. Times story says leaders of Christian churches in the Holy Land are begging the Israelis to stop their so-called inhuman assault on Palestinian villages. The story also says that Palestinian gunmen have been hiding in a convent in Bethlehem, from which they shoot at Israeli troops. What on earth do the Christian leaders in the Holy Land, who have allowed Arafat's gunmen to use the holy sites as military bases, expect the Israelis to do? I would very much like to know if the Christian leaders there have vigorously condemned the suicide bombings that provoked the current Israeli response. Posted 10:19 AM | [Link] WE'LL GO YOU ONE BETTER: [Rod Dreher] Iran says it will consider using oil as a weapon against the U.S. to combat America's support of Israel. I say we go them one better. Let's make it clear America will use weapons as a weapon against the Islamofascists in Tehran. God knows they have it coming. Posted 10:11 AM | [Link] This is your link. Posted 10:08 AM | [Link] NICHE MARKETING: [Rod Dreher] A deaf lesbian couple is trying to find a sperm donor with a family history of deafness to help them conceive a deaf child. Believe it or not, they let nuts like this walk free on the streets. Posted 10:08 AM | [Link] I’M BACK. [Jonah Goldberg] Took a long-weekend mini-vacation in Florida with the missus. Alas, I’m not tanned, rested nor ready, but it was a nice time. Got a lot of reading done, though not much on the beach. I find it difficult to read when little kids continually come up to me and poke me with sticks, trying to figure out if that thing the tide carried in is still alive. Posted 10:06 AM | [Link] WHAT DO DEMOCRATS STAND FOR? [John J. Miller] Loyal reader Blaise Rhodes has accepted the Steve Rosenthal challenge and submitted a list of 21 things the Democrats stand for. My favorite: "Guns in the hands of law-abiding Americans are more of a threat than U.S. nuclear weapons technology in the hands of Chinese communists." Mr. Rosenthal, I think you owe somebody dinner. Posted 9:48 AM | [Link] HEADLINES [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Reader Mark Freshwater just e-mailed proposed headlines for Roz, off the Elle template: "Sugar Saddam: Confessions of a Kept Human Shield";"Ramadan: The Religious Road to Weight Loss." Posted 8:06 AM | [Link] P.S. [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Roz marks France’s contribution to the war effort. Posted 7:47 AM | [Link] THE NEW AFGHAN WOMAN [Kathryn Jean Lopez] The current cover of Elle: “Beauty Vamp: Head-to-Toe Makeover”; “Finally: The Most Perfect Jeans on Earth”; "Rebecca Romijn-Stamos: On Sapphic Love, Nude Scenes, and Antonio Banderas”; "The Year of the Sugar Daddy: Confessions of a Kept Woman”; “Doctors Reveal How to Avoid Plastic Surgery.” All this and more can all belong to Afghan women! Okay, so maybe that’s not quite the first edition of the new magazine called Roz ("The Day") that Elle is publishing for Afghan women--the issue that went to press yesterday has a color headshot of a young Afghan woman wearing a headscarf (no come-hither look so far as I know), but staffers (some of whom are still wearing traditional garb) promise that “The burkas will begin to come off, but slowly.” Posted 7:44 AM | [Link] HOUSE CALLS: [John J. Miller] Republicans once hoped that congressional redistricting would hand them eight or ten new House seats, but it's now clear this won't happen. Yet they have shored up a number of iffy seats in places like Michigan and West Virginia. That means Democrats won't easily gain control of the House after this year's elections, as this interesting Washington Post analysis points out. My favorite quote, from AFL-CIO political director Steve Rosenthal: "I'll buy dinner for anybody who can say what the Democrats stand for. So far nobody's taken me up on it." Posted 6:49 AM | [Link] WE DON'T JUST PLAY SPIES ON TV [Kathryn Jean Lopez] FoxNews.com has this headline about the al Qaeda operative the Pakistanis just handed over: "S. Hits Intelligence Jackpot." Man, I hope we have more than luck on our side. Posted 4:17 AM | [Link] &@!#&**$%! [Kathryn Jean Lopez] A Michigan court has ruled that the state's 105-year-old law banning swearing in front of women and children unconstitutional. Is nothing sacred? It's a good thing for many NRO types, though, I must say... Posted 4:13 AM | [Link]
WHAT'S ARABIC FOR "KRISTALLNACHT"?: [Rod Dreher] More violent anti-Semitic attacks in France, which authorities are blaming on Arab Muslims in the French populace. Appeasement-minded Europe, owing to liberal immigration policies and a declining native-born birth rate, had better get used to it. The early 20th century was an era of fascism on the European continent; the 21st is shaping up into an era of Islamofascism there. Posted 11:18 PM | [Link] P.A.=M.A.F.I.A.: [Rod Dreher] Looks like the Palestinian Authority really is a mafia outfit. The Israelis have discovered in P.A. headquarters evidence that Yasser Arafat (that's General Arafat to you, Miss Amanpour) has busied himself as a counterfeiter. As OpinionJournal.com likes to remind us, "Arafat won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994." Posted 8:09 PM | [Link] THE FEAR OF SOME [Jonathan Adler] Tom Clancy fans should be thrilled that another Jack Ryan movie is due in theaters this May. But they may be disturbed by the trailer for two reasons. First, Ben Affleck is the latest star to take his turn playing Ryan (replacing Harrison Ford who replaced Alec Baldwin). Second, and a bit more interesting, the nuke-wielding Islamic terrorists from the book have been replaced by European neo-nazis. Lest anyone think this change was due to post-September 11 sensibilities, the decision to modify the baddies was apparently made early last year. Posted 5:45 PM | [Link] GIRLS CAN’T DO COMBAT [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Considering allowing women in frontline battle, Britain is expected to nix the idea after a defense ministry report has found fewer than 2% of female soldiers are as fit as the average male soldier. According to a BBC report, one of the tests included in the survey had soldiers under 30 carrying “20kg of equipment and their rifle while running a mile and a half in 15 minutes, as well as carrying a colleague for 50 yards.” Not one of the women was able to do it. Posted 4:34 PM | [Link] THIS IS FUNNY [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Roll Call's April Fools' Day cover. Posted 3:53 PM | [Link] IT'S REALLY HAPPENING: [Rod Dreher] My next piece for NR On Dead Tree will be about the role homosexual priests and gay-friendly liberal seminaries play in the Church's current crisis. I find that when I tell people seminary stories from both "Goodbye! Good Men" and my personal e-mail from priests and ex-seminarians, they have a tough time believing it. Check out the feedback page on the "Goodbye! Good Men" website, where you can read accounts faithful Catholic readers and others have sent to author Michael S. Rose of their own seminary experience -- and where you can add your own. Posted 3:36 PM | [Link] MULTIMEDIA ME [Dave Kopel] My latest media analysis column for the Rocky Mountain News looks at media spin on new studies about minority health and Internet gambling, and also examines slanted coverage of immigration legislation. Posted 2:13 PM | [Link] COURT WATCH [Jonathan Adler] There are no indications that Chief Justice Rehnquist plans to retire anytime soon, but that doesn't stop speculation about his potential successor. Many think Bush will consider elevating Chief Justice O'Connor in the hope of scoring political points for nominating the first female Chief Justice. Now, the Legal Times asks whether Justice Kennedy is lobbying for the job. After all, the Justice has been seen in public with Laura Bush! All this speculation is moot until the Chief announces his plans. Moreover, there are good reasons to believe that Justice Stevens, and not the Chief, will be the next Justice to step down. Posted 9:20 AM | [Link] WAR & WEDDINGS [Stanley Kurtz] Why are we at war with Islamic terrorists? I take my most systematic stab yet at answering that question in, “Root Causes,” an extended review essay about Bernard Lewis’s, What Went Wrong?, in the new issue of Policy Review. In the first half of the piece, I lay out the argument of Lewis’s extraordinary book, which has been on the best-seller list for eleven weeks now. In the second half, I reinterpret Lewis’s findings in my own terms. And as long as I’m into self promotion, let me note that my review last week of Monsoon Wedding, wasn’t simply about the movie, but was very much about the war as well. The Monsoon piece is a complement, of sorts, to the Lewis review. Posted 8:36 AM | [Link] SAME ENEMY [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Ariel Sharon has declared that Israel is fighting a "war against terrorism." Wonder how the media and Foggy Bottum will handle that. Posted 6:02 AM | [Link] HUGH DAVIS GRAHAM, RIP: [John J. Miller] A few months ago, the Wall Street Journal asked me to review a forthcoming book by the historian Hugh Davis Graham. Collision Course is a probing examination of the unexpected "convergence" of affirmative action and immigration--in other words, how a policy created in the 1960s to benefit blacks is now used to advantage by millions of people who have not suffered from a legacy of slavery and segregation in the United States. (Some 26 million of the 35 million immigrants arriving between 1965 and 2000 are eligible for affirmative action, Graham reports.) When I heard that Graham was terminally ill, the Journal agreed to run my review as soon as possible, which turned out to be last Wednesday; Graham died of cancer Tuesday night, at the age of 65. His work lives on, though, not only in Collision Course but also in the book for which he will be most remembered, The Civil Rights Era, which is the single best source of information on how the federal government addressed civil-rights questions in the 1960s and early 1970s. Hugh Davis Graham, RIP. Posted 5:39 AM | [Link]
WASTEFUL KINGDOM [Andrew Stuttaford] On Friday night, Barbara Walters was shown in Saudi Arabia. The most revealing moment came in one startling statistic: Around 500,000 people in the terrorist "kingdom" (a country of around 20 million people) have to be employed as chauffeurs, simply on the grounds that women are not allowed to drive. What a waste. If nothing else, economic mismanagement will ensure the overthrow of the current Saudi regime. The only question is as to what form the revolution will take. Posted 8:21 PM | [Link] DAMN YANKEES [Andrew Stuttaford] I don't want to fill The Corner with too much Queen Mum stuff, but here is one quote with an American dimension. The poor woman had just been greeted by an effusive Jimmy Carter. Her comment: "Nobody has kissed me on the lips since my husband died." Posted 8:19 PM | [Link] SILENT MUM [Andrew Stuttaford] Here's an excellent article on the Queen Mum from today's Sunday Telegraph by Andrew Roberts, a well-known British historian. In an age obsessed by celebrity it is impressive to see that she gave her last interview in 1922. Posted 8:16 PM | [Link] BRAVE MOSS [Andrew Stuttaford] The latest celebrity addiction scandal is more benign than usual. The Sunday Telegraph is reporting that British supermodel Kate Moss has confessed that she is addicted to a nice cup of tea (can Marmite be far behind?). Not so coincidentally, perhaps, she will now be appearing in a series of commercials for the beverage, which is, of course, best served milky with sugar (a slice of lemon is for wimps and foreigners). Kate Moss's new career move is a braver step than American readers may realize. For over thirty years tea commercials in Britain have been dominated by chimps. Can beauty really do better than the (always witty) beasts? Posted 8:14 PM | [Link] BAD TASTE, CONT'D: [Rod Dreher] Cointinuing the bad taste thread, I've long been bothered by Communist chic. About a decade ago, when I lived in DC, a vodka bar opened up on U Street with a Soviet kitsch theme. I drank there once, but the place gave me the creeps. I kept thinking about how people would go berserk if a Nazi-kitsch bar opened up. But some genocidal totalitarian regimes are more acceptable than others, I guess. There's a poster and knick-knacks shop in Greenwich Village that sells Soviet posters, pins, et cetera. Whenever I pass by, I wonder how refugees from the USSR keep themselves from walking in and wringing the owner's neck. Posted 7:48 PM | [Link] DOES THE INS KNOW ABOUT THE WAR? [Kathryn Jean Lopez] One of the visa-less Pakistani crewman who disappeared in Virginia earlier this month has been found in Texas. He’s being held, awaiting deportation proceedings. Three remain at large. You’ll be happy to know though that the guy in charge of the Norfolk office has been reassigned to Arlington—you know, closer to Washington, D.C. Posted 12:09 PM | [Link] THIS, TOO, WILL PASS [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Nice column from David Limbaugh on Harry Crocker's book on the Catholic Church. See NRO's main page for an interview with Crocker. Happy Easter and blessed Passover (belatedly). Posted 7:41 AM | [Link] HOLY DAYS? [Kathryn Jean Lopez] "Why do people wear their Sunday Best on Easter?" (Picture Peanuts characters talking.) "Because Easter is the BEST Sunday." That, I kid you not, was the most nonsecular Easter card I could find while shopping for the fam on the way home earlier this week. Joe Loconte of the Heritage Foundation had a similar experience, finding Snoopy in a yarmulke at Hallmark. He's got a good commentary on NPR's website. Posted 7:36 AM | [Link] DOWN HOME LIBERTARIANS: [John J. Miller] The Virginia-car controversy has inspired me to look up one of my all-time favorite stories to appear in Reason magazine, by John Shelton Reed, featuring this immortal line: "If a man can't choose his own damn porch furniture, what the hell can he choose?" Posted 5:50 AM | [Link] A CAR TOO FAR: [John J. Miller] The liberal mind at work: In Virginia, there's an effort underway to ban the number of cars people can park in their driveways. (Don't the Democrats know we haven't fully phased out the car tax yet?) For what it's worth, I drive down the street described in this article about once a month, and I've never noticed the "problem" it describes. Also, deep in the article, there's a reference to a Democratic effort to outlaw people from falling asleep on their family-room couches. As Dave Barry might say, I am not making this up. Memo to RNC headquarters: Both of these initiatives are aimed at immigrants. Posted 5:35 AM | [Link] GILLIGAN’S ISLAND [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Rare semi-critical piece on the cult of feminist Carol Gilligan and her junk social science in the NY Times. Posted 1:26 AM | [Link] A LONG LIFE [Andrew Stuttaford] If you want one indicator of the changes that the Queen Mum saw during the course of her immensely long life, consider this. With her death, we have witnessed the passing of the last Empress of India. Posted 1:03 AM | [Link] QUEEN MUM, II [Andrew Stuttaford] Far from frugal, fond of a drink and a devoted fan of the track, this entertaining and indomitable woman combined a rather Edwardian self-indulgence with that era's strong sense of duty. She had never expected to be queen (her husband only became king as a result of his older brother's abdication) but she rose, magnificently, to the challenge. RIP. Posted 1:02 AM | [Link] MISSING LINK [John Derbyshire] I am sorry the link in my last posting (about Lady Thatcher) did not work. It was to Tom Utley's Op-Ed piece in the Saturday Daily Telegraph, which can be linked to via Drudge (or, possibly here.) Posted 1:00 AM | [Link] QUEEN MUM [John Derbyshire] I note with sadness the death of Britain's Queen Mother at age 101. She carried out her dull duties with grace and style, was a very good egg in the war, and helped the monarchy survive through the last 20 years in spite of all the efforts by younger royals to destroy it. May she rest in peace. Posted 12:59 AM | [Link] |
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