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MORE CARTER NONSENSE [Andrew Stuttaford] The New York Times (yes, that's what I'm reading today, at least until the X-Files repeat on Fox at 4pm) quotes an adviser to Jimmy Carter as saying that "many" dissidents favored lifting the trade embargo. How would the adviser know? During his trip Carter only met a handful of dissidents, and that's not enough to draw much in the way of any wider conclusions. Besides, if Carter really cared what dissidents thought he would have gone to the places where many more are to be found - in Castro's jails. Coward that he is, the former president seems to have made no such attempt. In kow-towing to the Cuban regime, Carter disgraced himself, embarrassed America and insulted the memory of Castro's victims. He should just shut up. Posted 2:58 PM | [Link] UNacceptable [Andrew Stuttaford] The New York Times is reporting that the US has failed in its efforts to exempt UN peacekeepers from the jurisdiction of the new international 'court'. Well, so far as US peacekeepers are concerned, that makes matters very simple: the US should not send any. Posted 2:35 PM | [Link] GERMAN JUMBLE [Andrew Stuttaford] A couple of points about Germany to note in that New York Times piece. The piece is illustrated with a sort of ' FBI's Most Wanted' selection of photographs headlined 'Europe's New Breed of Right-Wing Populists'. Amongst those pictured is Germany's CSU leader, Edmund Stoiber, the right's candidate in this autumn's elections. Stoiber is, in fact, a very mainstream politician, albeit of the center-right. In a comment recently on British politics (I think that he was visiting the country) he noted that he was closer to Tony Blair than to the Tories. The article also quotes from a Berlin newspaper talking about "right-wing populists...on the march". That's rich, coming from Berlin, a city that recently admitted the heirs of the East German communist party to its governing coalition. Posted 2:23 PM | [Link] OFF-CENTER [Andrew Stuttaford] The New York Times has a long piece today on the 'ascent of the right' in Europe. As usual, there's plenty to criticize, but it's still worth a look. Watch out, though, for the misleading sub-headline : ' A shift driven by fear of immigration and a sense of a political center adrift' . In fact, so far as the 'center' is concerned, the opposite is true. The swing to the right - such as it is - comes not from the fact that the 'center' (I'd dispute the term) is 'adrift', but from the fact that the center is out of control. The article actually includes a quote from a Dutch political scientist making the same point: "A new political wind is blowing through Europe. That wind is carrying a distrust of political leaders. That wind is carrying a kind of anger because of the arrogance, expecially of Social Democrats who speak too much on behalf of the people and not too much with the people." Too true. Posted 1:59 PM | [Link] TO BOLDLY GO [Jonah Goldberg] Yeah, well I boldly went to see Clones this morning at 8:30 AM. I liked it. Posted 1:52 PM | [Link] TO TIMIDLY GO [Andrew Stuttaford] It's quiet in the Corner today. This may mean that Kathryn is not around. One reader tells me that this is exactly the time to slip in some Star Trek commentary. The wrath of Lopez makes that too dangerous an option, but I will (quickly) just say that Enterprise is getting better and better... Posted 1:32 PM | [Link] STOP THE TELEMARKETERS! [John J. Miller] I've written an anti-telemarketer op-ed, which appears in today's New York Times. Posted 4:40 AM | [Link] DON'T FLY THE FLAG [Andrew Stuttaford] Fed up with PC? Well, as this story from the London Daily Telegraph shows, it's not only an American problem. Posted 12:12 AM | [Link]
TRUST NO-ONE [Andrew Stuttaford] Kathryn, it is interesting that Jonah's dog is called Cosmo. That looks to be one 's' away from an intergalatic confession. Posted 11:52 PM | [Link] THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Andrew, Jonah has not even alluded to the rumors. I dunno.... Posted 3:51 PM | [Link] EMBRACE THE DARK SIDE [Jonah Goldberg] Ramesh, Jonathan Last'sOde to the Dark Side has the distinct whiff of Straussian heresy. But I will reserve the rest of my comments until I actually see the film. Posted 3:24 PM | [Link] KEEP THAT FUNK ALIVE [Jonah Goldberg] That's right. Keep that funk alive. Posted 3:20 PM | [Link] NICELY SAID...[Rich Lowry] From Times: "Mr. Abed Rabbo denied that outside pressure had anything to do with Mr. Arafat's decision. Asked if Arab nations like Saudi Arabia had raised the idea of elections, Mr. Abed Rabbo replied drily, `In Saudi Arabia, or here?'" Posted 3:01 PM | [Link] HEARTBREAKING: [Rich Lowry] ...NYTimes story on how women in Pakistan get punished for being raped under Koran-based law. Posted 3:00 PM | [Link] BREAKING THE CARTEL [Andrew Stuttaford] Good news on the oil front. Russian PM Kasyanov has announced that Russia is going to start scrapping the export restrictions that have so helped OPEC this year. This reminder of Russia's increasing oil market power is just one more reason why the US can pay a little less attention to what its Saudi 'friends' have to say. Posted 1:14 PM | [Link] UPDATE & HELP [Jonah Goldberg] Okay. Done with radio show. G-File is in Kathryn's hands. It's on Cynthia McKinney and it is not, shall we say, "restrained." Thanks for all the help on yesterday's syndicated column. Here's that. I'm about to head out with the Wonder Dog. Meanwhile, there's much good news on my lovely bride's book to be announced next week. One thing I can tell you now is she'll be on Fox (I will be sure to let you know when). Meanwhile, I will write about Clone Wars for Monday -- that is if I get a chance to see the movie this weekend. Now, for the help. If you know anybody who's interested in renting an expensive but awesome apartment in Washington DC for a six month lease, please get in touch with me. It's possible the lease will be extendable, but we can only promise six months right now. We are definitely buying a house and really, really need to sublet this pad. In fact, if you work at a law firm or any place else where people look for high-end rentals please spread the word. There is a yet-to-be-determined finder's fee involved. Yes, this is a shamless abuse of my position and of the Corner. Deal with it. Posted 1:03 PM | [Link] BANNED FROM THE TIMES [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Bill McGowan should consider the NYT's silence about his excellent book, Coloring the News a badge of honor. Still, it's invaluable exposure he's not gettting. Nat Hentoff has an excellent piece on the blackballing of McGowan. Of course they have a vested interest in ignoring him--there's a lot of damning stuff about the New York Times in there. Here's a link to the book and here's a link to my review of it. Posted 12:53 PM | [Link] JONAH, VINDICATION! [Kathryn Jean Lopez] For comic books. Posted 12:26 PM | [Link] "MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING" [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Don Rumsfeld on Rush yesterday, about the who-knew-what-when frenzy. Posted 12:19 PM | [Link] FAREWELL [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Today was Bryant Gumble's last day on The Early Show. The Media Research Center, of course, has a tribute of sorts. Posted 12:05 PM | [Link] ANDREW, FOX MULDER MAY READ NRO [Kathryn Jean Lopez] WE just got this email... .I think Jonah Goldberg has been seized by space aliens, and replaced with a sophisticated duplicate. It's tough telling the difference. There's a little more polish. He writes longer and longer, and he's almost -- almost! -- stopped apologizing for the grievous sin of giving his readers a large amount of what they come back for again and again. Posted 12:01 PM | [Link] ELSEWHERE ON NRO [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Daniel Pipes, Victor Davis Hanson, Bill McGowan, and more weigh in on the ethics of CBS's airing of portions of the Daniel Pearl tape. Our prayers are with his family as they have to relive the ordeal through the trial, the tape controversies, and now, the possible recovery of his remains. Posted 11:39 AM | [Link] THIS SHOULD BE SAID[Kathryn Jean Lopez] Congrats to the Reagans. Posted 11:35 AM | [Link] CAN'T TALK.... [Jonah Goldberg] I'm not posting right now because I'm on the Mike Rosen show. Posted 11:28 AM | [Link] "THE CASE FOR THE EMPIRE": [Ramesh Ponnuru] Jonathan Last turns to the dark side, and in a typically neocon manner. Posted 10:28 AM | [Link] JONAH, THIS ONE'S FOR YOU [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Posted 12:51 AM | [Link]
EU v. USA [Andrew Stuttaford] The choice of a largely bogus "shared indignation" over steel tariffs as early evidence of "an emotional commitment" to a supposed shared European identity only goes to underline just how illusory the notion of that identity really is. Patten gives one other example of the nascent EU-patriotism - support for Europe's Ryder Cup team. Again this is nonsense. If you want to see real support, and real rivalry, check out the atmosphere at an England-Germany soccer match and then be amazed that the EU has lasted as long as it has. It also is worth noting, however, that when Commissioner Patten does want to give examples of this European spirit, he can only define it by what it is against (American tariffs and American golfers) rather than by what it is for. It is even more striking that in both cases the 'enemy' comes from one place - the US. Posted 11:32 PM | [Link] STAR SPANGLED TARIFF [Andrew Stuttaford] Poor Chris Patten sinks ever deeper into delusion. After last week's rather curious piece in the Washington Post, this prominent EU bureaucrat has now written an equally strange article for the London Spectator in which he claims to detect the first "stirrings" of EU-patriotism. His evidence? A supposed (and, in fact, largely imaginary) "shared indignation at US steel protection". Well, Chris, I hate to disappoint you, the steel tariff may be a mistake but, as patriotic themes go, it's not exactly "the rockets' red glare" is it? Posted 11:05 PM | [Link] WHAT WENT WRONG? [Andrew Stuttaford] Pressure for an inquiry into possible intelligence and policy failures ahead of 9/11 is clearly going to continue. If there is to be such an inquiry, however, it is essential that it look into events that took place far earlier than the middle of 2001. The failure to anticipate and deal with the threat posed by bin Laden has been a disaster, but it is a disaster that has been going on for years. Posted 10:11 PM | [Link] HELPFUL TRAVEL HINT: [Rod Dreher] Greetings from Austin, Texas. Here's a helpful travel hint for you: if you're wondering whether to give the two-year-old Dramamine before you get into the car for the airport, or before you get on the plane, choose the first option. Trust me on this. You have no idea. Now, I'm going to go over to the Jenna Bush Chuy's and try to get in arrestable condition. Bartender, a margarita with a floater! Posted 6:38 PM | [Link] MORE PIM TALK: [Rod Dreher] Readers want to know basically this: "OK, so the fact that Pim Fortuyn was a promiscuous homosexual who supported abortion, euthanasia, legalized drugs and legalized prostitution wouldn't have been enough to keep you from voting for him, but the fact that he was sympathetic to pederasty would have been? Aren't those other things pretty horrible too?" My answer: of course they are, but as I understand it, there's no realistic possibility in Holland's decadent culture that legislators will roll back any of those things. They are broadly supported by voters. That being the case, why not choose the candidate who is best on issues in play? Pederasty is not among them (yet), not even in the Netherlands, and every effort must be made to fight the mainstreaming of this criminal sensibility. That's my view, anyway. Posted 6:35 PM | [Link] CARTER'S FAN [Andrew Stuttaford] There's an odd piece in today's Wall Street Journal by Walter Russell Mead (the article has been offered refugee status by the kindly folks over in NRO's Nota Bene section) attempting to justify Carter's Castro kow-tow. Amongst its stranger suggestions is the claim that no Democratic president since Truman has "left such an enduring impact on American foreign policy." Well, even if that were true, it's not necessarily a compliment. Kennedy and Johnson left the US in Vietnam, Clinton's inaction helped pave the way for 9/11 and Carter's four years of humiliation ended with hostages in Iran and the Soviets in Afghanistan. One claim in the piece, the idea that Jimmy Carter was a pioneer in elevating human rights to a central position in US policy, is nonsense. To take only one example, the Helsinki Final Act (which was to prove such a useful tool for Soviet dissidents) was signed in 1975, nearly 18 months before Carter took office. When Carter reached the White House, the results were dismal. Confronted with tyranny abroad the only question was whether he would choose to crawl, grovel or kneel. Judging by the events of the last few days, his approach hasn't changed. Posted 2:59 PM | [Link] THE WOMEN’S BURDEN [Kathryn Jean Lopez] This from the Christian Medical Association: "human clone researchers would need every U.S. woman of child-bearing age to bear the burden of supplying the one billion-plus eggs required for embryonic stem cell therapy using human clones to treat just four diseases. Where are the feminists?! Posted 1:26 PM | [Link] JONAH'S NAGGING [Kathryn Jean Lopez] It's just procrastinating on your syndicated column, right? (Why do I play your game?) Posted 1:16 PM | [Link] MORE MCKINNEY [Jonah Goldberg] Still hearing from lots of people who think today’s story proves Cynthia McKinney was right. Here’s the most succinct one: "So... how's it feel motherf***er? You were WRONG! Cynthia was RIGHT! Know the facts before you go shooting off your mouth about that BLACK woman!" Posted 1:12 PM | [Link] AND NOW.... [Jonah Goldberg] You guys are punishing me by not posting anymore? Come on. Posted 1:04 PM | [Link] YEAH, BUT IT WORKED [Jonah Goldberg] Make fun all ya like. But since I posted that "alone in the corner" thing, we've heard from Andrew, Stanley, Rich and Kathryn. Crazy like a fox I tell ya. Posted 11:17 AM | [Link] ESPN. Com…: [Rich Lowry] …always has fascinating stuff. Here’s an interesting one on the pitchers with the most devastating pitches in baseball, according to hitters. Posted 11:12 AM | [Link] ASKING FOR TROUBLE [Stanley Kurtz] The estimable Instapundit (Glenn Reynolds) has an important piece up today at the Fox News website. Instapundit (and the bloggosphere generally) has been calling attention to an incident at San Francisco State University that goes beyond mere political correctness and suggests that we may yet see real violence on American campuses as a result of the war. A group of Jewish students peacefully expressing their support of Israel were surrounded by pro-Palestinian demonstrators who called for their death. The police did nothing. The administration now says it will punish the mob, but this remains doubtful. With all the attention we call to p.c. here on the conservative web, the public remains complacent–even when they’re convinced we’re right. Will we have to wait for real violence to break out before serious action is taken? Instapundit’s right. By not cracking down in cases like this, colleges are inviting the worst. Posted 10:53 AM | [Link] CORNER IN THE BALANCE [Andrew Stuttaford] Jeez, Jonah. I know it's a little lonely in there, but you are beginning to sound a bit like Al Gore last January... Posted 10:50 AM | [Link] YOU'RE ALL ALONE[Kathryn Jean Lopez] I can't speak for anyone else, but I thought I'd leave you in The Corner until you wrote enough to make the monkeys stop complaining about the fabled Cosmo-Rich interview column that was killed. Posted 10:48 AM | [Link] ALONE IN THE CORNER [Jonah Goldberg] Hello? Hello? HELLoooooooooh? HELLoooooooooh? Echo! Echo! This is what I sound like when I talk. This is what I sound like when I talk. Peter picked a pack of pickled peppers. Peter picked a pack of pickled peppers. Where the Hell is everybody? Where the Hell is everybody? Stop that. Stop that. Come on! It's scary in here by myself. Rich? Rod? Kathryn? Come on! It's scary in here by myself. Rich? Rod? Kathryn-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n....? Posted 10:40 AM | [Link] MORE WEST WING... [Jonah Goldberg] The Feminist chick who plays Josh Lyman's (Sp?)love interest has got to be the worst human toothache of a person ever to be portrayed on TV in a "sympathetic" light. It speaks volumes about the producers of West Wing that they think this carping, nasal, whiney, smug and humorless crone in a young woman's body is somehow sexy or charming. She harkens back to the late 80s when bitchiness was cool and feminists couldn't laugh at lightbulb jokes. Posted 10:22 AM | [Link] WEST WING WATER COOLER [Jonah Goldberg] At the end of West Wing last night there was a brilliant bit of ideological sleight of hand. One of the plot lines revolves around a terrorist sheik from the fictional Arab nation of Kumar. The Chief of Staff believes it might be necessary to assassinate the Sheik, who was involved in a plot to blow up the Golden Gate Bridge. President Bartlet shudders at the idea, believing that it would be wrong to do anything in violation of international or American law. "If the US can’t put the terrorist on trial, well, the terrorist is free to plot mass murder against Americans" seems to be the President’s thinking. The Chief of Staff tells the President "this is the most annoying aspect of your liberalism, your faith in moral absolutes." "There are moral absolutes!" the president responds more than once. You see what’s going on here? The argument being made is that a believer in "moral absolutes" is a believer in international law and due process while the guy who believes preventing mass-murder and punishing the objectively guilty is some sort of amoral realist. This is, to use a delicate phrase, poppycock. I am all for due process, but due process is not a moral absolute. Rather, it is a means to assure the most moral ends possible. That doesn’t mean, to paraphrase Dickens, due process cannot be an ass – especially in the realm of foreign policy. If killing Hitler was against international law, would the moral absolutist be the guy ordering the hit or the guy saying "some day we’re going to change that law, and then Hitler will be sorry." Posted 9:45 AM | [Link] HUGE VICTORY FOR JUSTICE [Jonah Goldberg] Great AP story on Benjamin LaGuer today. Benjamin LaGuer was a mini-Mumia in certain quarters. Noam Chomsky, for example, even submitted a letter to the parole board attesting to the young man’s "intelligence, insight, and…dignity and sincerity," saying LaGuer, had "very good prospects to enter into a constructive life of valuable achievement." Convicted of brutally raping a mentally ill elderly woman, LaGuer was given a life sentence despite his constant claims of innocence. LaGuer and his numerous supporters insisted that if the court would simply order a DNA test it would prove his innocence. A judge made a splash when he agreed saying, in effect, such a test is a constitutional right. The test, it turns out, proved he was guilty all along. This just underscores why DNA tests should be a constitutional right in such cases. Who wants to keep innocent people in jail? Moreover, it’s so much fun when guilty people get proven guilty all over again, despite the howls of their patrons. Posted 8:58 AM | [Link] PIM WAS PRO-PEDERASTY: [Rod Dreher] Demoralizing news this morning. A Scottish newspaper reports that Pim Fortuyn was on record as favoring man-boy love. Revolting. Well, this changes things. I learned about this after filing my column wrapping up the Dutch election results. In it, I said that given the political conditions in the Netherlands -- an astronomical tax rate, rising immigrant crime, welfare abuse, lax policing, smothering political correctness, and no conservative alternative in the American sense -- I would have voted for Fortuyn. Had I known of his pro-pederasty views before the election, I certainly would not have. It is deeply disappointing that Fortuyn was so personally corrupt. That does not disqualify his views on immigration, taxes and the like, but in this case, the messenger was so flawed that I don't believe he could have been supported in good conscience. It's interesting to reflect on why, if Fortuyn had written (in Dutch) about his sympathies for pederasty, nobody in the Dutch media made a big deal about it. Were they just not paying attention or, more troubling, did they just not think it was such a big deal? Posted 8:20 AM | [Link] LITTLE HELP? [Jonah Goldberg] Doing today's syndicated column on reasons to be concerned about Bush. My view is that Bush (Rove) increasingly thinks A) as long as he’s good on the war on terrorism, conservatives will let his bad domestic policies slide and B) he needs to do these things in order to win back the Congress and C) once he does win back Congress he can fix his mistakes. Some of the mistakes: Steel tariffs, farm Bill, Hispanic pandering, Campaign Finance Reform etc. Any other suggestions please drop me a line. But – and I really mean this -- no more suggestions after 12 noon today. Please. Whenever I solicit time sensitive advice in The Corner, I get people sending me email days after the column is already lining a bird cage somewhere. Posted 7:50 AM | [Link] MARKET UPDATE [Andrew Stuttaford] Markets are sickly, but matters may be even worse than investors suspect. A friend in Chicago tells me that her local cable channel ran ads for a pawn shop during CNBC's early segment today. Posted 7:44 AM | [Link] JUST GREAT [Jonah Goldberg] The fans of Cynthia McKinney who think I'm a fool or paid stooge of Big Oil are coming out of the woodwork this morning to tell me "See! Cynthia was right!" It's all because of this story reporting that Bush was warned prior to 9/11 that Osama Bin Laden might try to orchestrate plane hijakings. What these tin-foil-headed conspiratorialists don't understand is that this doesn't support McKinney at all. McKinney's allegation was that President Bush knowingly allowed the specific 9/11 attack because it would result in a windfall of profits for him and his oil patch gang. Even in the worst case scenario, it is the difference between a bank manager failing to hire enough bank guards after receiving vague warnings that there might be more robberies and willfully aiding and abetting bank robbers as they loot and murder. I know you readers understand this, but I need to write it down in one place so I can just send a single URL to the nuts when they demand a response. Thank you for your indulgence. Posted 7:21 AM | [Link]
AGAINST PREFERENCES: [John J. Miller] Here's the editor of the Michigan Review, a conservative student publication at the University of Michigan, writing in the campus daily about the federal court decision upholding racial preferences at his school. Posted 10:29 PM | [Link] BAMIYAN BUSH: [John J. Miller] Laura Bush has promised to help raise private funds for Afghanistan to rebuild the Bamiyan Buddhas destroyed by the Taliban--a noble effort, and a wonderful project for the First Lady. Here's something else she may want to do: Convince the British Museum not to return 25,000 cuneiform tablets to Iraq before the bombs start falling on Baghdad. Posted 8:29 PM | [Link] BAHRAINING HYPOCRISY [Jonah Goldberg] Get this. Bahrain's Government has banned Al-Jazeera from covering its municipal elections claiming the network is a tool of "Zionist infiltration." Now, this could be good news, if it showed that Al-Jazeera is actually being even-handed enough to make some in the Middle East think the famously anti-Israel network is pro-Israel. But somehow I don't think that's the case. It sounds to me like the Bahrainis (Bahrainites? Bahrainers?) just don't like anything that even smells like a free press and the best way to justify doing anything in that part of the world is to say you're sticking it to the "Zionists." Posted 4:11 PM | [Link] THE RESULTS ARE IN [Dave Kopel] The leftist "Purple Coalition" has been decisively swept from power by the Dutch people. The center-right Christian Democrats have finished first, winning 40 of 150 seats in the Second Chamber of the States General. The List Pim Fortuyn came in a very strong second, with 26 seats. Commentators expect that the Christian Democrats will govern in a coalition with L-P-F and the smaller, conservative Liberal Party. Radio Nederland is supplying updates in English in Real Audio. Christian Democrat Jan Peter Balkenende is expected to become the next prime minister. Posted 4:06 PM | [Link] NRO BASEMENT TAPES? [Jonah Goldberg] You know how every now and then a "previously unknown" or "previously undiscovered" (aren’t all things unknown and undiscovered until they are discovered and known?) album by the Beatles or some other music group comes out? Well, I’m wondering if some day we’ll have the same thing here at NRO. For only the second time in my memory, a Goldberg File has been sent into the maw of the home office to never be seen again. This one was killed – with my consent – because, well, it just wasn’t as funny as it needed to be. (For history’s sake, I’ll tell you it was about Rich Lowry and my dog). Who knows? Years from now this column may surface and, with the benefit of time, might seem far better than it actually was. Let’s not forget the other articles, drafts, emails and Instant Message® conversations that only someone with no life would be interested in – today. But decades from now, when Kathryn Lopez is the first female Pope and Chris McEvoy runs the Fox-Microsoft Group, who knows how valuable a first draft of Rich Lowry’s first swipe at the Moose will be? Dare to dream. Posted 4:01 PM | [Link] PALESTINIAN BABE [John Derbyshire] Knowing me, you can imagine how reluctant I am to inject a note of frivolity into the Middle East horrors: but has anyone else noticed the phenomenon of the Palestinian Babe? Time and again I am watching a TV talking-head show in which they have a Palestinian spokesperson up against an Israeli or Zionist, and increasingly it seems that the Palestinians are represented by stunningly beautiful young women. There was one on the O'Reilly show last night--a real knockout. They put her up against a well-spoken and thoughtful, but unfortunately rather dorky-looking, supporter of Israel. Hard to maintain objectivity in these circumstances. Posted 3:30 PM | [Link] ASSIMILATED? HARDLY: [Rod Dreher] Very important piece today by Linda Chavez. She's rightly appalled by the recent comments by third- and fourth-generation Palestinian Americans, which were aired on NPR. The reporter went to the DC suburbs to talk to Palestinian youths, and found that they were totally behind the genocide bombers (said one: "It doesn't matter who dies, just as long as they're Israeli.") Chavez writes, "They express a contempt for the rule of law and an allegiance to an extremist, foreign ideology that is antithetical to American values. And they are a reflection of our new multicultural America, where young people are taught that one's allegiance to one's ethnic group takes precedence over allegiance to the United States or adherence to democratic values. These young people may have been born in the United States, but they are Palestinians first and foremost." Where is the American Pim Fortuyn, a politician willing to confront the Islamofascists in our midst? Posted 3:27 PM | [Link] LEFT OUT [Andrew Stuttaford] Exit polls are suggesting that, as expected, Holland has swung significantly to the right. Amongst the headlines: The center-right Christian Democrats are now forecast to take 41 seats (up from 29 at the time of the 1998 election) and the party of the outgoing Social Democrat prime minister is likely to see its share of the seats in Holland's 150-strong parliament fall from 45 to 24. In its first ever national election Fortuyn's Party also seems set to equal that total, also with 24 seats. Before Fortuyn's assassination his party was forecast to win somewhere between 15-20 seats. More on this to come, doubtless. The new government will, as is always the case in Holland, be a coalition. The question now is which parties will be in it. The Social Democrats should not hold their breath, but will Pim's party get the call? Posted 3:25 PM | [Link] CAIR POSTER BOY -- NOT: [Rod Dreher] Some Muslim website picked up the odious David Duke as a columnist, and that led the excellent Mark Shea to put the smackdown on Islam. Scroll down a bit on the blog to read his commentary. An excerpt: "Like a spoiled child who was pampered in youth and then found itself destitute in adulthood, [Islam] blames everybody but itself for its troubles; remembering everything and learning nothing. And so, it embraces the most grotesque losers (like Duke) as its champions while failing to ask a single hard question of itself. It is a textbook example of how false ideas about God can lead to human misery on a massive scale. And it is, at present, a planetary scourge that threatens the lives of millions of people while whining about persecution every time somebody points that out." Posted 2:44 PM | [Link] NO WAY [Andrew Stuttaford] Jonah, Jimmy Carter cannot possibly be related to X-Files creator Chris Carter. Chris is well-known for his slogan, "Trust No One." Jimmy, by contrast, is obviously prepared to trust absolutely anybody. Ask Castro. Posted 1:50 PM | [Link] GOOD NEWS [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Jonah, I think it is safe to say that the prayers are definitely appreciated by Mona Charen and her family, in the most sincere way. Word is that Jonathan is walking and talking and that his prognosis is now optimistic. They are indeed wonderful people and that is wonderful news. Posted 1:11 PM | [Link] PHOTO OPPORTUNITY [Andrew Stuttaford] Rush Limbaugh is, I hear, drawing attention to this page on Tom Daschle's website. Tom, call Al. Posted 1:02 PM | [Link] PANEL TONIGHT [Jonah Goldberg] I'll be joining a panel on Bush and the war on terrorism tonight. It's sponsored by The Miami University (Ohio) Washington Center on Media & Politics. Posted 12:56 PM | [Link] WE'RE ALL MORMANS NOW? [Jonah Goldberg] A reader takes exception, of sorts, with my post about a genetically spliced-together Andrew Sullivan and Peter Berkowitz: "If I may be so bold, there is already a condition defined by "half jewish, half catholic"; it's Mormon. And as John J. Miller proved when he took the belief net "what's your denomination" quizz that YOU linked to, many of you are just dry Mormons, having the essential beliefs, but not yet dunked." Posted 12:37 PM | [Link] ANTI-CHOMSKY STUDENTS [Stanley Kurtz] Good news. Faculty and students at Harvard and MIT have started a counter-petition against the Noam Chomsky-sponsored petition calling on Harvard and MIT to divest from companies doing business with Israel. The new petition declares, “We have diverse opinions on how peace in the Middle East can be achieved, and widely differing views of the current government’s policies. We are unanimous, however, in our condemnation of this [anti-Israel] petition as a one-sided attempt to deligitimize Israel.” The counter-petition currently has 371 faculty signatures and 3,355 total signatures. To read it (or to sign it, if you are a Harvard or MIT alumni, or current affiliate) go here. http://www.harvardmitjustice.org Here’s an editorial from the Harvard Crimson opposing divestment. And here’s a great piece by Alan Dershowitz attacking the Chomsky petition. Posted 12:34 PM | [Link] MARRIAGE NEWS [Stanley Kurtz] Major news on the gay-marriage front. The Federal Marriage Amendment, which defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman, will be formally introduced in Congress today, sponsored by a half-dozen House members, three Democrats, and three Republicans. The amendment was coauthored by, among others, Harvard Law School Professor Mary Ann Glendon and Princeton political theorist Robert George. National Review formally endorsed the amendment last year, and FMA was thoroughly debated on National Review Online this past summer. The FMA is sponsored by the Alliance for Marriage, whose leader, Matt Daniels, has been tireless in his efforts on its behalf. The Alliance for Marriage, on whose website you can find more information about FMA) is a broad coalition of prominent scholars, religious and civic leaders, whose board includes civil rights leader Walter Fauntroy, former District of Columbia delegate and organizer of Martin Luther King’s 1963 March on Washington. Posted 12:31 PM | [Link] ON A BINGE [Dave Kopel] Today the full Senate Governmental Affairs Committee is holding a hearing titled , "Under the Influence: The Binge Drinking Epidemic on College Campuses." Not that Congress has any legitimate constitutional power over the subject -- as the Twenty-first Amendment (repealing the grant of Congressional power over alcohol) makes clear. The witnesses consist exclusively of supporters and instigators of the current moral panic about college drinking. The hearing is obviously a platform for expanding federal pork to pay for more "counselors" and other neo-prohibitionist busybodies on college campuses. The alleged statistics about "college binge drinking" are, as I detailed, in a Rocky Mountain News column, utterly bogus. Among other flaws, these statistics define "binge drinking" in such an absurdly broad way as to encompass people who aren't legally intoxicated or impaired. By the neo-prohibitionist definition, a woman who attends a three-hour Passover Seder and drinks the ritual Four Cups of wine is a "binge drinker." The real binging problem involves power-intoxicated bureaucrats and politicians who can't resist the temptation to intrude themselves into matters which, for federal officials, are none of their business. Posted 12:20 PM | [Link] CARTER, FILTERED [Andrew Stuttaford] Castro's Pravda, the Cuban newspaper Granma, quoted from the speech made by Carter last night, but mainly the sections criticizing the U.S. embargo. No reference was made to Carter's "revelation" that Cuba was a one-party state. I guess the guys at Granma knew that it wasn't news. Posted 12:14 PM | [Link] WHAT DOES CARTER KNOW? [Jonah Goldberg] Have you noticed his particularly odd way of talking. This week he said, "We have also been impressed with the range of cooperation that has been developed between Cuba and other countries on Earth." And on another occasion he explained, "I asked them specifically on more than one occasion if there was any evidence that Cuba has been involved in sharing any info to any other country on Earth that could be used for terrorist purposes." What is up with this "on Earth" business? Are there other "countries" not "on Earth" that Cuba might be cooperating with? Could it be that Carter (any relation to Chris Carter, creator of the X-Files?), who admits to having seen a UFO, might know something we don’t know? Posted 11:58 AM | [Link] WARNING VOTERS [Andrew Stuttaford] The Dutch prime minister, a Social Democrat, is urging the electorate not to vote "with too much emotion and too little rational consideration." But then he decided to try and frighten them anyway. A vote for the Fortuyn List would, he warned, be a "risky adventure." Posted 11:42 AM | [Link] ELECTION DAY [Andrew Stuttaford] It looks as if turnout may be up in the Dutch election, which is taking place today. By 3.45pm (local time) 42 percent of registered voters had voted, up from 38 percent last time round. Polls close at 9pm (local time - 3pm EST). Posted 10:45 AM | [Link] CHURCH AFTERMATH: [Rod Dreher] Here's a Washington Times piece that will make your blood boil. Greek Orthodox monks took reporters on a tour of their wrecked quarters in the Nativity basilica complex. Those good Muslim gunmen drained all the booze in the place, among other things, such as using Bibles for toilet paper. A Greek archbishop accuses the Franciscans, with whom they share the complex, of not only letting the Palestinian gunmen in, but of letting them into the Orthodox churchmen's rooms while the Orthodox were at prayer, then protecting their Franciscan rooms with iron bars. If that's true, it disgusts me as a Catholic, as much as it disgusted me to have that French (naturally) cardinal raise his hands in victory with Yasser Arafat. Posted 10:15 AM | [Link] WHAT WOULD WE DO WITHOUT HIM? [Andrew Stuttaford] Jimmy Carter has announced that he will continue on his travels. Fresh from informing Cubans that they live under a communist dictatorship, Carter now plans to travel to Britain, Russia and Morocco. He will telling the Brits that their island is surrounded by water, Moroccans will be informed that there is sand in the Sahara and Russians will be warned that it might snow this winter. Thanks for the updates, Jimmy! Posted 8:53 AM | [Link] WELL, DUH [Andrew Stuttaford] Well done to Carter for at least mentioning the dissident petition known as the "Varela Project," but let's not get too excited about the rest of his speech. Effectively, what Carter did was to tell Cubans that they live under a communist dictatorship. Somehow, I think that they knew that already. Posted 8:51 AM | [Link] GORE TALKS "DISGRACEFUL" [Robert Alt] Following the revelation that the GOP is selling a picture set of the president, including one taken on 9/11, Al Gore fired this shot: "While most pictures are worth a thousand words, a photo that seeks to capitalize on one of the most tragic moments in our nation's history is worth only one--disgraceful." Might I instead suggest that in the world of fundraising, disgraceful is selling the Lincoln bedroom to the highest bidder. Disgraceful is turning the White House into the world's most expensive Starbucks. Disgraceful is using your federal office to "dial for dollars." Disgraceful is shaking down Buddhist monks, and then "pretending" you didn't know it was a fundraiser. Disgraceful is receiving campaign contributions from the Chinese army. And finally, disgraceful is "no controlling legal authority." Oh, and while I'm at it: Mr. Carter, disgraceful is using a visit to a country which continues to oppress its own people as an opportunity to criticize U.S. policy. Posted 8:49 AM | [Link] PRAYERS ARE APPRECIATED [Jonah Goldberg] Mona Charen's son was in a terrible accident. She and her family are very good people. I don't know if there's anything anybody can do. But, as she says, prayers are appreciated. Posted 8:03 AM | [Link] FYI [Jonah Goldberg] Here's my syndicated column on Jimmy Carter. You won't learn much that wasn't in Jay Nordlinger's excellent piece from the magazine, but there are a lot more "Simsons" references. Posted 7:53 AM | [Link] HITCHENS V. CHURCHILL CONT'D [Jonah Goldberg] A while back I touted Chris Hitchens' depressing but riveting Atlantic cover story on Winston Churchill. Well, the battle has been joined. This seems to be the definitive site for rebutting Hitch's claims. Posted 7:23 AM | [Link] DARKER SHADE OF GRAY: [John J. Miller] California governor Gray Davis handed Republican challenger Bill Simon a gift-wrapped campaign issue yesterday--he proposed raising taxes to close a budget cap. The tax hikes aren't huge--an additional 50-cent tax on cigarette packages and a car tax that will cost most drivers less than $100--but they will dominate budget talks in Sacrameno and political talk in the whole state for the next few weeks. Fundraising scandals also continue to dog the governor. Davis remains a formidible candidate for re-election, but when it's all over, Simon won't be able to say he never stood a chance. Posted 4:50 AM | [Link]
A CLIMATE OF HATE [Andrew Stuttaford] There is a brief report in the British press that three people have now been arrested in Holland in connection with the throwing of that cake laced with either excrement or urine (accounts vary) at Pim Fortuyn a couple of months ago. It's about time. Interestingly, they are said to have possible links with the man accused of Fortuyn's murder. If true, this could be yet more evidence of the increasingly violent intolerance of dissent displayed by the enviro-extremists, an intolerance that may have ultimately taken Pim's life. Posted 11:44 PM | [Link] CARTER'S CRONIES [Andrew Stuttaford] We've heard a lot from Jimmy Carter about the advantages of Cuban healthcare, but I'd prefer to hear what he has to say about what the Castro regime did to Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leiva. Leiva is president of the Cuban Foundation for Human Rights. He's also blind. On March 4th he was beaten up by the regime's police and thrown into jail. He's still there. Check out this piece in frontpagemag for more details. Posted 10:23 PM | [Link] MORE ON ARAB NEWS [Andrew Stuttaford] Here's what a writer in the New York Times had to say about the editor-in-chief of Arab News (an 'unabashed America-lover', apparently) in a piece from a couple of months ago. Posted 7:19 PM | [Link] MOVE OVER GLORIA [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Perhaps we should not be so quick to criticize the Saudis, though. Seems they are considering liberating their women a little (same month when they’ve announced a crackdown on women wearing and factories producing full-length burkas with colored sequins INSIDE): allowing women to be become legal advisers so they can meet with female clients and provide the court with written legal arguments. So, maybe the door’s not completely open yet… Posted 6:45 PM | [Link] ALSO IN THE ARAB DAILY [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Is it me, or do you hear the Saudis laughing at Norman Mineta here? Posted 6:32 PM | [Link] VOICE OF AMERICA [Dave Kopel] The Wahabbi government currently running "Saudi" Arabia has created a government-controlled English language daily, Arab News. Today's issue features a long transcript of a radio speech by David Duke suggesting Israeli complicity in the September 11 attacks, announcing that Americans who support the Israeli government's war on terror are "traitors," and asserting that Ariel Sharon is worse than Osama bin Laden. Does the Bush administration really believe that a government which promotes David Duke as an astute Mideast analyst is a government which will sincerely promote peaceful relations with Israel? Posted 6:27 PM | [Link] ONE LAST WORD ON THE ASHCROFT SPEECH [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Needless to say, that’s not the kind of address you would have ever heard from Janet “Let’s-Take-the-Boy-on-Holy-Saturday-by-Gunpoint” Reno, or from anyone else in that administration. Nor is it anything you would have heard often at Catholic University during a prior administration their, less concerned with matters of truth--both John Ashcroft and CUA’s Fr. O’Connell of CUA know where the truth lies, and they know the importance of fighting for it. Refreshing stuff. Posted 6:11 PM | [Link] SOME OF ASHCROFT [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Here’s a snippet: Today, we are a nation called to a better understanding of these ideas--a deeper comprehension than that which is conveyed by our popular culture and even many of our academic institutions. The values we hold--truth, human dignity, freedom--these are the values that are under assault in the world. And in the midst of this assault, we have learned that our values are neither self-executing nor self-sustaining. They must be defended, not just with military might, but with deeper devotion. To defeat a culture of death, we must cultivate a culture of life. To expose the great lie of nothingness, we must embrace the great truth of being. Above all, to conquer tyranny, we must understand the nature and source of our freedom. Posted 6:10 PM | [Link] JUST LIKE A GENERAL [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Often, you’ll come across a collection of commencement speeches (like the one mentioned here). But you’re never going to find John Ashcroft’s address this weekend at my alma mater, the Catholic University of America, in one of those books (unless someone bright like Spence Publishing or Encounter Books publishes one). When Ashcroft is on, he is on. And this was one of those times. And, needless to say, he got virtually no press attention. (Distracted by my brother’s graduation this weekend, I totally forgot to read it until now.) But its worth reading--and passing on to the graduates who will hear inane speeches (like my brother did), to educators, and citizens. They are the kind of right-on words we need to hear time and again. Here’s the text, and here’s the video. Posted 5:59 PM | [Link] CLINTON VS. BUSH [Ramesh Ponnuru] A certain Moose argues that conservatives won more policy victories from the last administration than from this one. Posted 5:39 PM | [Link] HOW TO GET BEATEN UP AT THE OFFICE [Jonah Goldberg] Open this web page at your cubicle computer and then go to lunch. Warning site is rated G, but it plays music. Posted 5:30 PM | [Link] AS FOR KRUGMAN.... [Jonah Goldberg] I'm not normally one to encourage spamming. But it seems to me that at least a few NRO readers would be tempted, every day until the war on terrorism is over, to email Krugman and ask him, "Do you still think Enron was much more significant than September 11?" Posted 4:52 PM | [Link] OKAY, OKAY, I READ CHAIT [Jonah Goldberg] Ramesh, I still think Chait is wrong, but I confess that I was caught up in the unprecedented bite to Broder's column. It was like getting smashed off a bottle of O'Doul's (non-alcoholic) beer. Chait's response is pretty good. Grumble, grumble. Posted 4:48 PM | [Link] KRUGMAN'S SMEAR [Ramesh Ponnuru] I couldn't bring myself to read through his latest, but a line in the second paragraph caught my eye: "[T]he Bush administration, always quick to question the patriotism of anyone who gets in its way. . . ." Some examples, Paul? And be specific. Posted 4:38 PM | [Link] A LITTLE CHOICE, PERHAPS? [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Some parents in Connecticut definitely seem to be looking for a little choice in schooling their kids, or so this piece on the life of residency cops in Connecticut suggests. To cut down on overcrowding and to make sure they’re district is getting it’s fair share from the money pie, school districts have hired investigators to track down “illegals”—kids from the next town over with the bad school—to quietly “disenroll” them. (Love the title of that piece: “Bouncers in the Schoolyard.”) Posted 4:35 PM | [Link] CHAIT VS. BRODER [Ramesh Ponnuru] I was less impressed with David Broder's column on McCain-as-a-Democrat than Jonah was. Here's Jonathan Chait's persuasive take-down of Broder. Posted 4:22 PM | [Link] GOOD POINT: [Rich Lowry] Lots of moaning from arms controllers that new Bush-Putin agreement doesn’t call for destruction of warheads. But I’m told neither did START I or START II and no one complained about those agreements. Posted 4:12 PM | [Link] A SAFER AND BETTER WORLD—IS THAT ALL?: [Rich Lowry] Here’s Bob Novak from yesterday: “There is justifiable belief in the White House, the Pentagon and the State Department that the world—not to mention Iraq—will be better and safer without Saddam Hussein. But that does not justify to the world the overthrowing of a government.” Uh, well, then what would? Posted 4:03 PM | [Link] NOT QUITE ALL SIDES [Ramesh Ponnuru] “Carter’s trip is being viewed by all sides as a delicate chess match between two old masters. . . . Carter, 77, is one the world’s most experienced and respected statesmen. . . . Despite the embarrassment of Mariel, most historians now remember Carter’s presidential experience as a progressive time in relations with Cuba.” This from Kevin Sullivan’s news story in the Washington Post. No doubt Sullivan considers his work free of bias. Anyway, bias alone can’t explain this sentence: “Watching Carter’s trip from the sidelines will be perhaps the most staunchly anti-Castro U.S. presidential administration ever.” Bush hasn’t sent Castro any exploding cigars, has he? Posted 3:21 PM | [Link] DUTCH TREAT: [Rod Dreher] Just had a fascinating election-eve phone conversation with a Dutch friend who lives in Amsterdam. He's planning to vote for the Christian Democrats, for the first time in his life (he usually votes for the Liberal party). He was strongly considering voting List Pim Fortuyn, but now the Pim-less party has no appeal to him, because he doesn't think they'll have a center without their leader. He was pleased by this week's poll results indicating a complete collapse of the Labour party, which has led the governing coalition for eight years. "Whenever there was violence by these Moroccan gangs in our cities, Labour were the ones saying we must have more dialogue with them," my friend said. "People are fed up with that now. They say, 'Send in the police.'" My friend, who is robustly agnostic, said since Fortuyn's murder, he has thought more positively about Holland's Christian heritage. "The old lady who is sewing the curtains for my apartment told me today that she has always voted Liberal, but she's going to vote Christian Democrat tomorrow, because she believes that Christians represent decency. You know me, so you know how strange it is for me to say so, but I agree with her. I understand Christian values aren't wrong values. I believe Islamic values are wrong, and they are as much a threat to us as communism or fascism." Something very interesting is going on in Europe's most permissive society. This bears watching closely. Posted 3:08 PM | [Link] NOW I FEEL BAD [Jonah Goldberg] A retired Army officer sent me the following: U.S. Army helicopters are named for Native American Tribes. Permission is requested from the Tribal elders and the proposed name is used only if permission is granted. At the roll out ceremony for the aircraft, representatives of the tribe are honored guests and a Native American ceremony to bless the aircraft is performed. This is not using the name of a defeated enemy but a celabration of honored allies (numerous Native Americans were Scouts for the U.S. Army as well as serving as uniformed members during World War I, World War II and later conflicts). Posted 2:41 PM | [Link] NAME GAMES [John J. Miller] Rich, Jonah: Perhaps as homage to the genius of Western capitalism, we should just sell the naming rights to our military tools. We could have the Nike Combat Boot, the ADT National Missile Defense System, and the Martha Stewart Daisy Cutter. Posted 2:34 PM | [Link] RICH, [James Robbins] That's because we're winning. Posted 2:26 PM | [Link] JUST HAD…: [Rich Lowry] ..a conversation with a shrewd Mideast expert. His distressing observation about what he considers the incredibly shrinking war on terrorism: “It feels like August again.” Posted 2:08 PM | [Link] OF COURSE.... [Jonah Goldberg] It's not just Indians. There's also the F18 hornet, F15 eagle, F14 Tomcat , F16 Falcon, EF-111B Raven etc. When is PETA going to complain that we are slandering our bird-brothers by imputing martial and belligerent connotations to these peace-lovers of the sky? Perhaps we should call our planes the F14 Actuary, the F16 Associate Editor, the F18 Proctologist, the EF-111B Crack Whore…etc. I’ll tell you, if someone said "there’s a Proctologist at twelve o’clock and he’s armed to the teeth!" I’d find a fox hole pretty damn quick. Posted 1:07 PM | [Link] EXCELLENT POINT! [Jonah Goldberg] Rich, I don't know why that never occurred to me. We especially stick it to our Native American brethren. There's the Apache helicopter, the Commanche heliopter, the Tomahawk Cruise Missile...etc. Nothing like naming weapons after the people we conquer. Maybe some day we'll have a new Taliban bunker-busting missile or maybe an al-Quaida death ray. Dare to dream. Posted 1:01 PM | [Link] HAS…: [Rich Lowry] ..anyone pointed out that The Crusader mobile artillery piece is potentially offensive to Muslims? The names of weaponry must be one of the last vestiges of the non-PC world. Posted 12:38 PM | [Link] GET WITH IT [James Robbins] "Gangland sign"? Rich, surely you recognize this as an homage to my yardrat Gotama (G-Go) da Boo-Tah. Posted 12:24 PM | [Link] PREFERENCES NEWS [Roger Clegg] The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has just handed down a decision in the much-watched lawsuit challenging the use of racial and ethnic preferences at the University of Michigan. Today’s decision upholds the use of preferences at the law school by a surprisingly close 5-4 vote. Still to come: A decision in the undergraduate- admissions case. This case is likely headed to the Supreme Court, which is likely to grant review, since there is now a widening division among the various federal courts of appeals on the issue. And the Supreme Court is likely to split 5-4. All this will put the Bush administration on the spot, since any brief it files in the case could well tip the balance. Posted 11:59 AM | [Link] BEST OF BOTH BLOGS [Jonah Goldberg] And...if we could only somehow splice together the genes of Peter Berkowitz and Andrew Sullivan, we could have....SUPER CONSERVATIVE! Not quite Jewish, not quite Catholic but always ready to defend either, he would be fluent on everything from Voltaire to where the bodies are buried at the New Republic. This Half-man, half-God and all-wise "Ander Sulliwitz" would be a colossus philosopher-king, bestriding the earth with a copy of the Talmud in one hand, the Reflections on the Revolution in France in the other, and the latest Pet Shop Boys tune blaring in his I-Pod. History would be his blog and what glories he would post to it! Posted 11:41 AM | [Link] BEST OF BOTH WORLDS [Stanley Kurtz] Conservatives defend tradition. And the tradition defended by many American conservatives today is liberalism--a philosophy of governance that has been radicalized, bent out of shape, and occasionally abandoned altogether by those who nowadays carry on in its name. If you want to know what authentic liberalism is all about, and why genuine liberalism is compatible with--and even requires--the cultivation of classic “conservative” virtue, you can do no better than to acquaint yourself with the work of my friend, and sometime NRO contributor, Peter Berkowitz. Berkowitz’s book, Virtue and the Making of Modern Liberalism, helps make sense of the deeper conflicts behind the proximate battles that we fight out every day here on NRO. These points come to mind as I read yet another of Berkowitz’s challenging, yet wonderfully thoughtful book reviews for The New Republic. Over the past several years, these reviews have served as living applications of Berkowitz’s political philosophy--a philosophy at once conservative and liberal, in the best sense of both of those words. Posted 11:28 AM | [Link] MORE CONFIRMATION FROM THE ACADEMY [Stanley Kurtz] An important story from the University of South Carolina, reported by the indispensable FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education). On the first day of class, while noting that class discussion would count for 20% of a student’s grade, a professor of Women’s Studies distributed “Guidelines for Classroom Discussion.” These guidelines prescribed that, in order to speak, students would have to “acknowledge that racism, classism, sexism, heterosexism, and other institutionalized forms of oppression exist.” Other obligatory opinions were also dictated. (For more details, check out FIRE’s website.) Coming on the heels of the story about a U.C. Berkeley course that banned conservatives who would not pledge fealty to the Palestinian cause, this news confirms what we have long known about the American academy. The remarkable thing is that matters have now progressed to the point where, from California to Carolina, even the pretense of fairness has been dropped. Posted 11:00 AM | [Link] NO MOMZ ALLOWED [Emmy Chang] Officials at Metro High in St. Louis don't want your mom to know what they're teaching you about gay rights. Posted 10:58 AM | [Link] A POET IS BORN: [Rich Lowry] Cliff May is not just a fine human being, an excellent Mideast analyst, and an effective TV talking head, but .. . . a poet. Here is one of his offerings (and please don’t take this as a sign that The Corner is now accepting poetry submissions—Cliff is our ONLY poet): To those who loathe the bourgeoisie, I offer this advice to thee: Get very rich or very poor, And you won't be bourgeois anymore. - Clifford D. May Posted 10:51 AM | [Link] EXPECT…: [Rich Lowry] …blowback from the Bush administration today on Jimmy Carter’s dismissal yesterday of John Bolton’s statement on Cuba’s BW technology. Bolton’s statement was written and cleared by the CIA, and State Department official Carl Ford had briefed the Senate foreign relations committee about it back on March 19. Posted 10:48 AM | [Link] HE'S GOT THE POWER [Stanley Kurtz] Not many folks could get themselves booted out of the pages of The New Republic and the New York Times and still prosper as a pundit, but Andrew Sullivan is no ordinary fellow. Howard Kurtz may call him, "perhaps the country's most prominent gay journalist." I'd say he's perhaps the country's most influential journalist, period. As someone generally more conservative than Sullivan on social issues, I'm happy to acknowledge Sullivan's success as a tribute to the libertarian values he so eloquently embodies and defends. What Andrew stands for is the power that even a single thoughtful and courageous individual can have. We're not talking about Robinson Crusoe fantasies here. Sullivan only got where he is today by working his way up through the mainstream media. Yet given that, Sullivan shows how extraordinarily much can be accomplished by someone willing to carve out a position of his own. After fearlessly biting the hands that feed him, Sullivan may now be more reliant on his blog than ever. Yet Sullivan all by himself, at this point, may rival The New Republic in influence. Certainly, TNR's got no individual author to compare. In terms of sheer numbers, Sullivan's probably got more eyeballs. And of course, what's happened to Sullivan is a vindication of blogging, a technology that allows even a single individual to stand on his own, unbeholden to the powers that (used to?) be. Posted 10:16 AM | [Link] IF IT HELPS.... [Jonah Goldberg] Here's the link to my archives. Posted 9:16 AM | [Link] AVIARY SIMIAN AID [Jonah Goldberg] I need help from longtime readers of the Goldberg File. I need to pull together some "best of" columns. Any nominations would be most welcome. Please send to votegfile@aol.com. Thanks. Posted 9:14 AM | [Link] NY TIMES SACKS SULLIVAN [Jonah Goldberg] Howard Kurtz has the definitive tick-tock on the Times' decision to cut Andrew Sullivan loose. Nick Schulz has the definitive diatribe on same. Posted 9:08 AM | [Link] MORE CASTRO PR [Kathryn Jean Lopez] The Media Research Council has great documentation on the Castro News Network—with some of the best of (re worst of) CNN’s pro-Castro news coverage. Here’s the report. Posted 9:05 AM | [Link] NEW YORK TIMES: ARAFAT’S P.R. AGENT [Jonah Goldberg] More evidence the New York Times lives in an alternate reality. The Gray Lady editorializes this morning, "Sometimes good news in the Middle East is a matter of what has not happened….Yasir Arafat, leaving Ramallah yesterday for the first time in five months, did not call for more "martyrs." That could be construed, I suppose, as "good news" if it weren’t for one thing: It’s not true. See this item from Israel National News: Arafat Calls for Another Million Martyrs While CNN was repeatedly broadcasting Yasser Arafat yesterday saying that he wants peace with his Jewish "cousins" in Israel, at the same time he was calling for "one million martyrs" to march to Jerusalem. Arafat was speaking to a crowd while visiting PLO-controlled Shechem during his first foray outside of Ramallah in almost six months. Israel had confined Arafat to the city following a wave of PLO terrorism. During his Shechem visit Arafat also vowed to continue his battle towards the "liberation" of Jerusalem from Israeli control. Posted 9:01 AM | [Link] ABOUT TIME(S) [Jonah Goldberg] The New York Times Op-Ed page finally has something useful to say about Pim Fortuyn. Posted 7:53 AM | [Link] THEY REPORT, BUT DON'T DECIDE: [John J. Miller] The Washington Post and New York Times both carry stories today on statements by Castro spokesman James Earl Carter doubting the Bush administration's recent claim about Cuba's bio-weapons capabilities. But they don't agree on how Colin Powell replied. According to the Post, Powell "said he stood by Bolton's comments and added that they were not the first such assertions made by the Bush administration." According to the Times, Powell "cast some doubt" on the assertions. Posted 4:39 AM | [Link] DETERRENT EFFECT: [John J. Miller] Remember how the enemies of missile defense told us that pulling out of the ABM treaty would lead to a horrible new arms race? Well, we're just a few weeks away from being formally out of the ABM treaty, and Bush and Putin are about to sign an arms-reduction pact that cuts the nuclear arsenals of both countries by about two-thirds. Posted 4:20 AM | [Link]
THE REAL EXTREMISTS [Andrew Stuttaford] Here's a piece from the London Times today saying that the Dutch press now regrets the way in which Fortuyn was 'demonized' prior to his death. Better late than never, I suppose. Perhaps more interesting, however, is the suggestion that, even prior to the murder, the Dutch intelligence service had been warning about the 'serious' danger posed by eco-terrorism and extreme animal rights groups. That's worth remembering the next time we are told that no wider implications can be drawn from the fact that the alleged assassin came from the environmentalist movement. Posted 7:11 PM | [Link] PRO-CONSTITUTION [Dave Kopel] Congress is fast-tracking a "Victims Rights Amendment" to the U.S. Constitution. A joint letter which I co-signed to the House Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution argues that the amendment is a gross interference with states' proper authority to control their own criminal justice systems. Further, the amendment is contrary to the Bill of Rights and the presumption of innocence, since in many criminal cases, we are not sure who is the real victim and who is the aggressor until after the jury has made its findings of fact. Posted 5:06 PM | [Link] WHAT A CYCLE [Dave Kopel] The failed "DARE" anti-drug program was invented in Los Angeles by disgraced LAPD chief Daryl Gates. Now, the Los Angeles Police are eliminating the DARE program from Junior and Senior high schools, in order to put more police into anti-gang work. Posted 5:02 PM | [Link] FREUDIAN SLIP?: [Rod Dreher] A Corner reader notes a telling remark in this op-ed from the University of Washington daily. The author is a Palestinian-American student who takes issue with the term "anti-Semite," noting that Arabs are ethnically Semitic as well. The columnist writes: "This is why it astounds me reading the numerous letters to the editor I get branding me an anti-Semite or Jew hater. Anti-Semite? There could be nothing further from the truth." Posted 5:01 PM | [Link] ZERO SENSE [Dave Kopel] The Washington Times reports on a new zero tolerance atrocity: fourth grade boys suspended "for pointing their fingers like guns during a game of army-and-aliens on the playground." When the boys were brought into the principal's office, he interrogated them about whether their families own firearms at own. The Cherry Creek school district and the head of Colorado's major anti-gun group endorsed this interrogation. My own view, as quoted in the article, was that the interrogation was "like asking what political party your parents belong to, or how they voted, or whether they've ever had an abortion. It's none of the schools' business how parents exercise their constitutional rights." Posted 4:59 PM | [Link] CENSORSHIP SAVED? [Jonathan Adler] Libertarians can scratch their heads while Jonah breathes a sigh of relief. Earlier today the Supreme Court issued two opinions which will likely facilitate government regulations to control access to pornography. In | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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