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COZING UP TO THE SAUDIS [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Is the State Dept. getting ready to put the stops on the 9/11 families' suit aginst Saudi Arabia? Posted 11:28 AM | [Link] RAMBLIN' MAN: [Rod Dreher] This red-hot story from the Bellingham (Wash.) Herald reports that the apparently destitute John Muhammad flashed big wads of cash, and did a lot of air traveling last year. That, and his generally suspicious behavior, prompted the pastor who runs the shelter where Muhammad and his Ward (love that, Jonah) lived to call the FBI in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. "I felt like he was part of an organization. I felt like he had some connection with terrorists. ...I said he's got connections somewhere with somebody who's got money," the pastor says he told the FBI. Nothing happened. It's important to find out why the FBI didn't react, but more important to follow that money trail. Posted 11:20 AM | [Link] SEEKING DEATH PENALTY FOR MUHAMMED AND MALVO [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Posted 11:12 AM | [Link] WHO INHERITS THE SILVER? [Jim Robbins] Osama Bin Laden's purported last will and testament will be published tomorrow by al Majallah magazine. It is dated December 14, 2001, right around the time he disappeared. In it the terror master pours scorn on his Taliban allies for not defending him with the expected fervor: "The situation was overturned as we saw the coward crusaders and the humiliated Jews remain steadfast in the fighting while the soldiers of our nation lift a white flag and surrender to their enemies like women--may God give us strength--only the very few from the students of religion [Taliban] remained steadfast." He also called on his sons not to work for al Qaeda after his death. Sounds like one of those sour grapes wills. Posted 10:39 AM | [Link] LISTENING IN [Jim Robbins] Moscow Kommersant reports the following telephone conversation between Movsar Barayev, the leader of the Chechen hostage takers, and Ruslan, an Azeri childhood friend who was trying to get some people released: Barayev: How are you, brother, what are you doing? Ruslan: Never mind me, what are you doing? How did you end up here? Barayev: 'With Allah's help. Ruslan: What do you intend to do? Barayev: You know yourself. So long, we won't talk any more. Remember Allah... Ruslan: Why are you doing this? Barayev: I have taken the true path, I have decide to follow my uncle (Arbi Barayev, who was killed fighting the Russians) Ruslan: OK, Allah is your judge, let my Azerbaijani friends go. Barayev: 'Too late, I can't do that any more. We're not letting anyone else go. Posted 10:37 AM | [Link] IS JOHN MUHAMMED A THREEFER? [Jonah Goldberg] We know the Sniper is a Nation of Islam Muslim (which is to say he belongs to a cult that uses Islamic jargon). We know he's black. But I've got this nagging feeling we might find out that he also practices an alternative lifestyle -- I mean besides from all of the murdering. There's just something about this Batman and Robin act -- Malvo is his "ward"? --- that strikes me as odd, in a specific way. Call it a hunch. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Posted 10:26 AM | [Link] MARTYRDOM APPROACHING [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Chechen terrorists say they'll start killing at dawn on Saturday. Posted 10:20 AM | [Link] IRAQ AND THE DEMOCRATS: [Ramesh Ponnuru] Peter Beinart argues that the Iraq issue will help the Democrats, based on one national poll that says that voters who consider Iraq their top issue favor them. He concludes by saying that this doesn't fill him with pride: "But then, Bill Clinton's 1998 tryst with Monica Lewinsky didn't fill me with partisan pride either. And to the astonishment of almost everyone in Washington, it helped Democrats in that year's midterms too." But by Beinart's own measure, the Lewinsky affair actually hurt the Democrats that year. Of the voters who told exit pollsters that it was their top issue, 55 percent voted Republican. Posted 10:14 AM | [Link] GRADING THE EXPERTS [Jim Robbins] The Washington Post brings some accountabiliy to the poor performance of the TV profilers. I'll bet they all stay in the producers' rolodexes and are right back up there next time. Posted 10:08 AM | [Link] PATIENCE [Andrew Stuttaford] Kathryn, in time, probably, but not yet. The Russians can be relied on to take a tough line when the threat comes from Islamic fundamentalism. There are unpleasant historical associations and they also see it as a threat to their territorial integrity (the real concern for them, incidentally, is not so much Chechnya but the precedent that it might one day set for other more significant places, such as Tatarstan). But they have yet to be convinced that this issue can be connected to Iraq - secular and an ally since Soviet times. Posted 9:46 AM | [Link] ALL-SNIPER, ALL THE TIME: [Rod Dreher] I've had it with wall-to-wall media coverage of the sniper. For Pete's sake, the guy is caught now, and there's no new news, but the cable news channels just won't let go. You wait in vain for news from the Moscow hostage situation, in which hundreds of people stand to die at any second, and the channels might squeeze in a short update between long patches of telling you the same sniper news they told you FIVE MINUTES AGO! While I'm at it, did anybody see Jimmy Breslin on Aaron Brown's show the other night, before the sniper was caught? He ranted like a crazy old man about how we all ought to be bashing the cops. Aaron Brown seemed painfully embarrassed by the old windbag's display. Nothing I saw was worse than Wednesday night's appearance on Fox of the obnoxious "expert commentator" Bernie Grimm, a DC area lawyer. Like a compulsive fraternity boy, he kept making bad attempts at humor -- humor! -- while talking about the sniper manhunt. The absolute worst came when Greta Van Susteren asked him what it was like to be a DC-area parent these days. He remarked that, "We call our two-year-old 'Sniper,' because he's such a nut." Har de har har. Posted 9:44 AM | [Link] PROFILING [Jonah Goldberg] I wasn't able to get into it in my Wall Street Journal piece, but one of the enduring ironies of the sniper-hunt is that he was probably able to kill many more people because the police were racial-profiling for a white guy. As a law enforcement official told the Washington Post, "Everyone was looking for a white car with white people." To a certain extent, I think this forgiveable, certainly the part about the white car. But it is worth nothing that not one -- not one! -- of the usual chorus of anti-racial-profiling people ever said -- just once -- that we shouldn't be using race as a factor when countless profilers and reporters insisted the sniper had to be a white guy. It's difficult to imagine a scenario in which the media would be so comfortable to say "this criminal has to be white guy." Andrew Sullivan gets into some of this today. Posted 9:38 AM | [Link] THAT'S MY DAD [Jonah Goldberg] For a long time my dad has argued that post-Saddam Iraq should change its name to Pleasantville. In this excellent op-ed (if I say so myself) he opts for Babylonia, but the point is the same. Posted 9:23 AM | [Link] WHEN THE ELITES GET REAL [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Katie Couric, during a segment on teens and sex on The Today Show this morning, asked an "expert" if it is "okay" for Katie, or any other mother, to tell their kids they don't want them having sex until they are married. Katie admitted she doesn't want her kids having sex. The expert affirmed her right and Katie was much relieved. You know, in some backwater parts we call that abstinence. Either Katie lost the talking points or she should have a chat with some of her friends. Posted 8:56 AM | [Link] WAITING UNTIL IT'S TOO LATE (FOR SOME) [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Andrew, perhaps that means Russia will vote the right way in the U.N. Tragic that it would take this suicide mission in Moscow to make the difference. Let's hope others don't make the same mistake. Posted 6:44 AM | [Link] INTERESTING TIMES [Andrew Stuttaford] In an interesting sign of the times, the BBC World Service is reporting that there is commentary in today's issue of Izvestia calling for an alliance between Russia, Britain and the US against the terrorist threat. Apparently the newspaper compares the current crisis with the situation in 1941. Posted 6:42 AM | [Link] CUTE [Kathryn Jean Lopez] A Moose fan club. (No, not that Moose.) Posted 6:07 AM | [Link] HAPPY, HAPPY DAY!!!!!! [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Arts and Letters Daily is back! Courtesy of the Chronicle of Higher Education. Nice. Posted 6:00 AM | [Link] THE TRUCK DRIVER... [Kathryn Jean Lopez] ...who saw the sniper killers at the rest stop, sounds like a good man. Posted 5:51 AM | [Link] HEY, LOOK... [Kathryn Jean Lopez] ...it's JONAH!!! Posted 5:48 AM | [Link] IT'LL HAPPEN HERE, AGAIN [Kathryn Jean Lopez] U.S. Military bases preparing for large-scale attack responses. Posted 5:46 AM | [Link] WHATCHA GOT TO HIDE? [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Iraq is throwing foreign journalists out. Posted 5:43 AM | [Link] THE IVORY TOWER AS MINARET: [Rod Dreher] A theologian friend saw my Bat Ye'or comments and sent the following: "This week, the world religions class I'm attending at [a university divinity school] covered Islam. The kind professor spent the class whitewashing well-known beliefs and practices of Islamic Middle Eastern nations. The students, who are almost all Christian, and none Muslim, mostly shared his view. The students angrily denounced any suggestion that the Koran advocated violence any more than the Bible. Most disturbingly, they and the professor passionately defended Islamic culture's treatment of women. The professor gently explained that the women performed genital mutilation on each other, so it couldn't be about men controlling women. The female students, who thought it so bigoted to question Islamic culture's view of women, probably wouldn't toe that line if it was there own tender labia being hacked off. A couple of us raised critical points that were met with stares and mau-mauing. One student asked why only Islamic cultures were practicing suicide bombing. The professor gave the standard Palestinian rationalization that they're the poor, and don't have rich Israel's weapons. ...The clear dominant value in that class group is that the U.S. is evil. No approved victim group may be criticized, since all sensitive and compassionate people show solidarity with these groups. I think these people are out of touch with reality." Posted 1:04 AM | [Link]
LEST WE FORGET: [Rod Dreher] Contrary to the best guesses of profilers, the sniper was NOT a white male loner. Contrary to the best recollection of witnesses, there was NO white van or truck. Posted 11:32 PM | [Link] HUH? [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Salon has this tease for one of their pay articles: Thursday, Oct. 24, 2002 "The media is fixating on John Allen Muhammad's Muslim beliefs. But the most relevant fact about him could be his record of terrorizing his family members -- and how that didn't stop him from getting his hands on guns By Joan Walsh" WHO in the media is fixating on his Muslim beliefs? Besides, maybe The Corner? Posted 10:25 PM | [Link] JUST ABOUT ANY OTHER DAY.... [Kathryn Jean Lopez] ...this would have been a big story -- someone jumping the White House fence. Posted 10:04 PM | [Link] LIVING IN AMERICA [Kathryn Jean Lopez] One of those things the rest of the world doesn't get: Here we are, a nation with a face to the sniper enemy(ies) and yet a murder (never mind multiple murder charges) charge has not been made. In other countries (feel free to supply them yourself), the "suspects" would have already been scheduled for execution/beheading/etc.--if it hadn't happened already--for much lesser crimes--or "crimes." Posted 8:15 PM | [Link] WAKE ME, PLEASE [Kathryn Jean Lopez] A reader just pointed out why I need to read the ENTIRE wire story before I post it. That Reuters story I posted earlier has this kicker: "The United States has blamed Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network for the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacked airliner attacks on the United States that killed about 3,000 people." For the record, bin Laden and al Qaeda have actually taken credit for the 9/11 attacks. I can't imagine Reuters would want to give anyone the suggestion these evil ones where being unfairly blamed. Posted 8:10 PM | [Link] MORE REASON TO "STOP THE PRESSES" [Kathryn Jean Lopez] The Department of Homeland Security says al Qaeda is planning more attacks on the U.S., possibly targetting our transportation systems. Posted 6:38 PM | [Link] WITHOUT HONOR [Andrew Stuttaford] Something called the Progressive Religious Partnership has issued a 'statement of conscience' on whether the US should go to war in Iraq. Signatories include a ragbag of holy folk. You can probably guess how the statement goes, but fair enough, everyone is entitled to an opinion. More surprising is the way in which the Partnership chooses to describe itself: "The Progressive Religious Partnership is a coalition of American Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist leaders seeking to raise a prophetic voice on issues of racial, economic sexual and gender justice, and also to be an alternative voice on war and peace". "A prophetic voice?" Isn't that a little, well, boastful? Posted 6:02 PM | [Link] HOW LONG.... [Jonah Goldberg] Will it be until the "Arab press" starts reporting that 4,000 Jews left the DC suburbs right before Mr. Muhammed started shooting people? (Of course, 4,000 out of Montgomery County would be a spoonful out of an ocean, but who cares about the details?) Posted 5:59 PM | [Link] MIA [Jonah Goldberg] Sorry, I was working all day on my syndicated column and a Wall Street Journal (Taste) op-ed that should be up tomorrow. Thanks to everyone for their help. Also, thanks to everyone who's decided to subscribe based on my pleas. On that score, one reader makes an excellent suggestion: How can a bunch of conservatives screaming for subscriptions not mention the "free rider" problem? You and Katherine [sic] ought to point out that those who visit the site without subscribing to the magazine are behaving like policy addicted welfare queens. That ought to open up the wallets of conservatives. Guilt. The gift that keeps on giving. Posted 5:51 PM | [Link] FYI [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Michelle Malkin will be talking about the Malvo outrage tonight on Sean Hannity's Fox show, too. Posted 5:45 PM | [Link] DHIMMITUDE IN AMERICA, PART 2: [Rod Dreher] Bat Ye'or was stunned to see how far the self-dhimmitization of Americans has already progressed, at least on elite American college campuses. Speaking at Georgetown the other day, she said about three-quarters of the students who turned up to hear her speech were Muslims, and they responded abusively. All they could say was that she was defaming Islam; they couldn't argue the facts with her. But that didn't surprise her. Said her husband, David Littman, who was there to speak on human rights under Islam, "The amazing thing is the local Jewish group [at the university] had become dhimmis. Their leader was absolutely panicked when he saw the shouting of the Muslims. He told me he'd rather I not speak. I refused." Added Bat Ye'or: "There were Jews and Christians present who totally agreed with what we said, but when they came up after to thank us, we said, 'Why did you not speak? Why did you let us stand alone?' ... [Muslims] have such self-assurance." Jews and Christians, alas, do not. And the historian warns this is going to be our downfall. "I spoke to many Americans here, important clergymen, bishops and others. They didn't even know that in the Muslim tradition, Jesus is a prophet who paved the way to Islam. How can they meet this challenge when they don't understand the nature of it?" The historian is proposing a Washington-based institute for the study of dhimmitude, to help fight the cultural war against jihad by simply telling the truth. "We must not transform America into a racist, xenophobic, anti-Islamic society. This is very important," she said. "In Europe, there is so much politically correct censorship that one cannot say anything [negative about Islam] So the criticism of Muslims, when it comes out, is fanatical and violent. People like that because it's the only way they can express their rejection of Islamization. That's why we need this institute: so people can express their resistance through rational argument." Posted 5:39 PM | [Link] MALVO WAS RELEASED BY THE INS.... [Kathryn Jean Lopez] ...that's the story Michelle has... Posted 5:38 PM | [Link] DHIMMITUDE IN AMERICA: [Rod Dreher] I went to hear historian Bat Ye'or speak today. She's on a short tour of the U.S., speaking about jihad and dhimmitude, which is the oppressive, second-class state under which Jews and Christians conquered by Islamic forces are forced to live. Bat Ye'or, who has been addressing groups on American college campuses, said she was so stunned by what she'd observed at universities that she decided to alter her remarks. "We are facing today a jihad against America," she said, because "America is a fortress of Judeo-Christian values, which Europe is no more." The jihadis intend to Islamize the West, but they are not only doing it by violent means. She said that they are doing so by splitting America from Europe, and by using multiculturalism and Western notions of tolerance to immobilize resistance to its demands. In Bat Ye'or's view, universities and naive Jewish and Christian religious leaders are carrying water for Islamists, as is the political Left ("The leftists were educated with hate of America and rejection of Judeo-Christian values," she said, and this perversely leads them to view Islamofascism uncritically). "We have to understand the cultural war we're in," Bat Ye'or said. "The war is not only a terrorist war, but a cultural war on our values and on our integrity." Posted 5:28 PM | [Link] LISTEN TO HANNITY [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Michelle Malkin's going on the Sean Hannity radio show in a few minutes (5:30 pm EST). She has the immigration-status scoop on Lee Malvo, Muhammed's stepson. No surprises if you've been following this stuff, or have read Michelle's book; still no less shocking, however. Posted 5:15 PM | [Link] WE'RE FEELING SORRY FOR THE MOSCOW TERRORISTS ALREADY [Kathryn Jean Lopez] From the AP: "As the war in Chechnya drags on, acts of desperation committed by Chechen rebels furious at the destruction of their homeland have grown even more brutal, pushing them closer to extremist Islam and creating a new generation ready to kill innocent civilians for their cause." Posted 5:08 PM | [Link] SIMON IS ELECTED GOVERNOR!!! [Kathryn Jean Lopez] San Francisco Chronicle posts a test page, predicting future. Posted 4:54 PM | [Link] YOU WOULD THINK... [Kathryn Jean Lopez] ...that the video would make it a bit harder for CNN and MSNBC and Reuters and whoever else to stop using "alleged" and "rebels" instead of "terrorists" of the suicide/homicide variety. Posted 4:37 PM | [Link] THE CHECHEN TERRORISTS HAVE THEIR SAY ON AL-JAZEERA [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Their video, aired on the Arab network, "Each one of us is willing to sacrifice himself for the sake of God and the independence of Chechnya," one of the Chechens said. "I swear by God that we are more keen on dying than you are on living." Posted 4:35 PM | [Link] REPUBLICANS HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR! [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Here's the RNC's answer to that rotten DNC ad with President Bush killing seniors. Posted 3:58 PM | [Link] IF YOU ALREADY SUBSCRIBE... [Kathryn Jean Lopez] ...to National Review (On Dead Tree), besides ordering your family, friends, and enemies subscriptions, you can donate to NRO, your favorite webzine. Click here to donate. A few readers have written me since the Jonah and the Suit Chronicles, so there you are. Use early and often! And, thanks. Posted 2:01 PM | [Link] TERRORISTS, REBELS OR BOTH [Andrew Stuttaford] Jim, I see your point, but I still suspect that there is some subjectivity in the choice of terms. For example, both ETA and the IRA are usually referred to as terrorists, despite the fact that both organizations have a clear separatist agenda. Posted 1:16 PM | [Link] GET WITH THE PROGRAM, CORNERITES [Kathryn Jean Lopez] CAIR's latest release:
Posted 12:55 PM | [Link] I BRING THIS UP... [Jonah Goldberg] Because I've had a similar (email) conversation with one of the suits about NRO subscriptions. He asked, reasonably, why I don't just explain to the readers the importance of subscriptions. You see, subscriptions pay for the magazine. They pay for the site. They pay for my beer and Cosmo's bacon. They pay for everything. They ensure the future of the magazine and the future of all of our jobs. They ensure that National Review continues to do what is so needed today -- and tomorrow. And, by making it sound like subscriptions aren't really important I make people think that NR, NRO and the Corner can get by without them. But they can't. NRO would shrivel up and disappear into the cyber wind without them. We need people to subscribe to National Review (And, besides, it's not like they don't get something truly excellent in return). In effect, Mr. Goldberg, you have defied the laws of nature. He's right. So let me be clear. I do think subscriptions are important -- and subscriptions generated by the Corner are doubly so because they also remind the suits how vital NRO is. National Review readers -- of all people -- need to understand that a business can do good and still be a business. And that applies to NRO too. Contrary to rumors I may or may not have started, the suits don't do this to pay for their Dachas and yachts, they do it to keep NR going into the next millenium. They are as committed to the future of NR as anybody in the world. So, yes. Please do subscribe to the magazine. Do it from the Corner. And if everybody does, the suits insist that their hunger will be satiated. Now, none of this means I will stop making fun of the suits -- a boy has got to have his fun. But please don't ever think that my jabs mean that I think they're wrong about the importance of all this. Okay, now. Did I ever tell you the one about how to keep an NR exec busy? Throw a filled out subscription card in a round room and tell him it's in the Corner. (Get it?) Posted 12:22 PM | [Link] YOU HAVE DEFIED THE LAWS OF NATURE MR. GOLDBERG! [Jonah Goldberg] One of my favorite movies is Network, in part because it has one of my all-time favorite scenes: When Mr. Jensen, played by Ned Beatty, explains to Howard Beale how the world works: It is the international system of currency which determines the vitality of life on this planet. That is the natural order of things today. That is the atomic and subatomic and galactic structure of things today! And you have meddled with the primal forces of nature! And you will atone! Am I getting through to you, Mr. Beale? You get up on your little 21 inch screen and howl about America and democracy. There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and ITT, and AT&T, and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today.... Posted 12:10 PM | [Link] REUTERS ON RUSSIAN ATTACK [Andrew Stuttaford] Kathryn, that's a convincing - and horrifying - piece on the al Qaeda connection to the Chechen situation. The folks over at Reuters don't seem quite so sure, however. Here's what they have to say: "Russia has drawn attention to Arab fighters in Chechnya and accuses the rebels of links to radical Islamist groups like...al Qaeda, blamed for the September 11 attacks. But privately, Western diplomats play down any Chechen involvement by al Qaeda". Connoisseurs of Reuters style will also notice the reference to al Qaeda as an organization "blamed" for the September 11 attacks. Posted 12:00 PM | [Link] BE CAREFUL [Jim Robbins] Maybe the Chechens holding hostages are motivated by anti-Russian feelings, but let's not jump the gun on that. Also, it may be fair, if premature, to assume that they are, on some level, motivated, perhaps influenced by, or simply familiar with, radical Muslim beliefs. However, we cannot rule out that these are a bunch of home grown, angry white male, former military, lifetime NRA member loners with potty training issues. Posted 11:59 AM | [Link] HELP [Jonah Goldberg] I'm doing a piece -- very fast -- for another publication about the Sniper. I need examples of the media being too eager to paint sniper as a disgruntled white right wing whacko. Concrete examples only please. Posted 11:38 AM | [Link] ALLEGED? [Jim Robbins] Andrew, "Chechen rebels" is a term of art meant to convey that they are a guerilla movement with separatist aim, which is to say rebelling against Moscow. They are also terrorists, in that they employ terrorist tactics in pursuit of their strategic goals. So either would be correct. My question, is Reuters or ABC referring to them as "alleged" terrorists/rebels/Chechens? Posted 11:33 AM | [Link] ABOUT THE OBVIOUS [Jim Robbins] This may be more preaching to the choir, but remember Hesham Mohammed Ali Hadayet, the Egyptian shooter at the El Al ticket counter at LAX last July 4? The media was very reluctant to conclude the obvious, namely that he was motivated by radical Islamic beliefs and hatreds. As I pointed out in my piece on the sniper a week ago Islamic terrorism should have been the default assumption, in that case and this one. I think the people who a year ago were complaining about the intelligence agencies failing to connect the dots should examine their own critical analytical failures. Posted 11:32 AM | [Link] JERKS DU JOUR: [Rod Dreher] I know it's not the most important news today, but it should be said that Abe Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League, and Rabbi James Rudin of the American Jewish Committee, are behaving like jerks. They have both criticized General Motors for sponsoring a short concert tour by leading Contemporary Christian musicians. "I think it's a very divisive way of reaching the public," Rabbi Rudin told the New York Times. What a small-minded man. The Times story reports that GM has sponsored gospel concerts, a genre whose artists are mostly black; did Rabbi Rudin and Mr. Foxman complain then? One very much doubts it, and one would hope not. Look, I don't happen to like Contemporary Christian music, but what on earth is wrong with a private business trying to reach people who do, and supporting their music? You won't find a lot of Southern Baptists or Shi'ite Muslims at klezmer concerts, but what kind of twerp would complain if a company sponsored a tour of klezmer musicians? Rabbi Rudin and Mr. Foxman have a strange sense of perspective. Anti-Semitism is on the rise in Europe and even in some quarters of America, and Israel is in as much danger now as she has ever been, and desperately in need of allies. Who are the most faithful and vocal non-Jewish friends of Israel? Evangelical Christians, the kind of people who go to Contemporary Christian music concerts. Good on GM for not bowing to this bigoted pressure. I can't believe most American Jews agree with Rabbi Rudin and Mr. Foxman. Posted 11:07 AM | [Link] CALLING BLACK RED [Andrew Stuttaford] MSNBC is referring to the Chechen attackers as "rebels." The word to use is terrorists. Posted 10:54 AM | [Link] A READER'S PLEA [Jonah Goldberg] In an email titled "Cornerites Making Demands!!" a reader begs: Jonah, I am open to suggestions as to how we do that. One idea I have is that we provide a brain teaser in every subscription pitch. Like, "If God created a rock so heavy even he couldn't lift it -- would a NR suit be able to get it if there was a filled-out subscription card underneathe it?" Posted 10:38 AM | [Link] BACK TO MORE IMPORTANT NEWS [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Kweisi Mfume tells newspaper editors they don't have enough minority quotas. Posted 10:38 AM | [Link] I DIDN'T REALIZE! [Jonah Goldberg] Today is United Nations Day! In that spirit, I think we should let Mr. Muhammed go and impose a strict economic sanctions regime on him and insist that he never do anything like this again. Sure, he can get food and clothing from stores, but a police officer must follow him around to ensure that he only buy the bare necessities. No candy! Posted 10:33 AM | [Link] GET 4 FREE ISSUES OF NATIONAL REVIEW! That's right: We'll send you 4 FREE issues of National Review at absolutely no risk to you. If you're impressed by National Review's superior writing style, analysis, and wit, we'll send you the next 12 issues — for a total of 16 in all! — for only $19.95. Click here for details. Posted 10:12 AM | [Link] NOT ONLY IS HE FUNNY.... [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Don't let it be said we don't give John McCain credit when it is due: His Washington Post piece is worth reading today--especially if you happen to work at the United Nations or the State Department. He writes: "As we contemplate preemptive action to prevent Saddam Hussein from acquiring the world's worst weapons, it's worth understanding how the temptation to go home and get a nice quiet sleep led directly to the inevitable crisis we now face on the Korean peninsula -- where North Korea's acknowledgment of a secret nuclear weapons program demonstrates the perils of entrusting American security to dangerously flawed agreements with rogue regimes." Posted 9:59 AM | [Link] RE: SHWWWEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOO [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Jonah, I'm convinced, too, that it is okay to be relieved about this. That they have evidently been caught, obviously, but also that they do appear to be anti-Americans who expressed support for the 9/11 attacks (according to some of the scattered reports out), whether or not they are directly al Qaeda or not. This is the enemy we are facing, and we should be aware and scared and prepared, as much as one can be. The jihad will be waged at landmarks like the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, at the gas station, outside of school, and at a theater, like in Moscow right now. There's still room in the world for random nutso murderers, of course, but we--read the media--need to stop pretending that this is not the brutal reality we face. I know, I am choir preaching. Posted 9:52 AM | [Link] MUST READING [Kathryn Jean Lopez] I, of course, recommend you READ EVERYTHING ON NRO DAILY. I, do, however, highlight the R . P. Eddy-Mark Riebling piece just posted on the Moscow-theater attack. It's ugly stuff--clear-thinking and forward looking. Like Jim Robbins pieces do regularly, they tie up a lot of loose ends and lay out the reality of this war we are facing, from country to country... Posted 9:46 AM | [Link] SHWWWEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOO [Jonah Goldberg] As I listen to every talking head insist about how "careful" we have to be about drawing too many conclusions about Mr. Muhammed having anything to do with Islamic terrorism or anti-Americanism, I can't help but be relieved this wasn't some disgruntled Soldier of Fortune reading angry white guy. Somehow, I don't think the care would have been as tender if that were the case. Posted 9:46 AM | [Link] NATION OF ISLAM AND THE SNIPER [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Andrew, this is in that Seattle Times piece you just linked to: "Leo Dudley, a friend who lived a block from Muhammad in south Tacoma, said Muhammad once provided security in Washington, D.C., for the Million Man March." Posted 9:40 AM | [Link] OBSERVING [Kathryn Jean Lopez] A reader points out that that if you focus on the first letter of each word in the "like a duck in a noose" comment Mo County's Moose read last night, it spells out "Ladin." If that's been all over the 'net already, forgive me... Speaking of things going around the net, here's the "story" behind it. Posted 9:34 AM | [Link] UNDER ARREST [Andrew Stuttaford] More on the reported sniper arrests--from the Seattle Times. Posted 9:05 AM | [Link] STOP THE PRESSES! [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Katie Couric just announced that officials have suggested that the two suspects now under arrest--Mr. Muhammed and his stepson--"may have been motivated by anti-American sentiments." You don't say. Posted 8:33 AM | [Link] THE LONGEST NIGHT AT THE THEATER [Andrew Stuttaford] I was speaking this morning to a friend in Moscow, who was, naturally, appalled over the attack on the theater, and not optimistic about the outcome. She'd been to that theater to see the show herself some months ago. It's been a big hit, and last night's show was, apparently, an "anniversary" production. It had thus been widely advertised in the city, ensuring, alas, a full house. Posted 8:31 AM | [Link] SURPRISE! [Kathryn Jean Lopez] The Dems are obsessed with defeating Jeb Bush. Posted 8:08 AM | [Link] MUHAMMED IS IN CUSTODY [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Posted 5:49 AM | [Link] FRUM DEBUNKING [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Another installment in David Frum's myth-debunking series in the London Telegraph. Posted 5:45 AM | [Link] THE LATEST FROM THE MOST BENEVOLENT, SADDAM HUSSEIN [Kathryn Jean Lopez] He's ordered the children of diplomats abroad home to Iraq...he better be careful. People might start thinking he's a tyrant. Posted 5:29 AM | [Link] THE LONG HAUL [Jim Robbins] Chechens say the Russians have a week to comply. Seems like a long time to hold 1000 people hostage Posted 1:03 AM | [Link] THEY'VE GONE THERE TO DIE [Jim Robbins] A Chechen website says the people in the Moscow theater are a "suicide unit." Posted 12:50 AM | [Link] THAT JONAH DUDE... [Kathryn Jean Lopez] ...has got a syndicated column, too, of course. His latest, on the sniper and the media, is here. (I'm feeling like a loser right about now.) Posted 12:48 AM | [Link] OH, HAPPY DAY! [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Rich Lowry's syndicated column can be regularly read now on Town Hall. Here's his latest, on North Korea. Posted 12:44 AM | [Link] INSIDE THE THEATER (PALACE OF CULTURE) [Jim Robbins] Chechen rebels report 20 widows of Mujahedin are among the attackers, and they came to Moscow "to fight and to die on the enemy's ground." The terrorists are describing themselves as "shaheeds" (martyrs) who are ready to die Posted 12:36 AM | [Link] THE COMMUNISTS SURE KNEW HOW TO NAME THEM [Jim Robbins] That Moscow theater is in a building that used to be called the State Ball Bearing Plant's Palace of Culture. Posted 12:17 AM | [Link] I CAN'T BELIEVE I AM TELLING YOU THIS... [Kathryn Jean Lopez] ...but i have gotten a few e-mails already. No, I don't have insomnia. I took a nap, now I am back up, working on Thursday's NRO. Thanks for the concern though--and the milk, sheep, and Martha Stewart pillow deliveries (her Kmart "puff ball" pillows are the best pillows ever made, for the record). With that last comment, I'm fading... Posted 12:16 AM | [Link] WHEN TAXPAYER-FUNDED WEBSITES... [Kathryn Jean Lopez] ...like the ATF's, can't handle the traffic they solicit, I feel better about our occasional problems... Posted 12:08 AM | [Link] GROUND ZERO IN ALABAMA [Kathryn Jean Lopez Jim Robbins sends me the other latest news in the sniper investigation: An al Qaeda training camp in Alabama. Posted 12:04 AM | [Link]
COINCIDENCE? [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Fox just reported a "person of interest" in the coast-to-coast sniper investigation goes by the name (among others) "John Mohammed." Posted 11:24 PM | [Link] THE NEWS HELICOPTERS OVER THE HOUSE IN TACOMA... [Kathryn Jean Lopez] ...seems somewhat close to printing military strategy before the war... Posted 11:00 PM | [Link] G-FILE IS UP [Jonah Goldberg] If you care. Posted 6:06 PM | [Link] GET 4 FREE ISSUES OF NATIONAL REVIEW! That's right: We'll send you 4 FREE issues of National Review at absolutely no risk to you. If you're impressed by National Review's superior writing style, analysis, and wit, we'll send you the next 12 issues — for a total of 16 in all! — for only $19.95. Click here for details. Posted 4:51 PM | [Link] IT'S LIKE... [Jonah Goldberg] The Missile Command videogame, but patriotic and without incoming ICBMS. See for yourself. Posted 4:45 PM | [Link] NOT FOLDING: [Ramesh Ponnuru] Tucked away in an inconspicuous spot amid the letters to the editor in today's New York Times is a nice response by Richard Perle to Maureen Dowd's Sunday column--which may have been her most bizarre ever: "I think it only fair to advise those of your readers who may have seen Maureen Dowd's Oct. 20 column, 'The Soufflé Doctrine,' that anyone trying to produce a soufflé in the slapdash manner that she suggests will end up going out for dinner. Combining the egg yolks and other ingredients with the milk requires considerable care. The making of soufflés, like the making of security policy or the making of judgments about presidents, is more difficult than Ms. Dowd imagines." Posted 4:30 PM | [Link] MOSCOW THEATER [Andrew Stuttaford] This siege in Moscow is horribly reminiscent of an earlier Chechen attack. Back in 1995 the Chechen guerilla leader Shamil Basaev took over 1,000 hostages in a hospital in the southern Russian town of Budyonnovsk. More than a hundred hostages were killed, mainly in an abortive rescue attempt, the memory of which will doubtless weigh on the Russian authorities as they face this challenge. UPI meanwhile is reporting that the terrorists are "beating" some of the hostages. Posted 4:14 PM | [Link] GET 4 FREE ISSUES OF NATIONAL REVIEW! That's right: We'll send you 4 FREE issues of National Review at absolutely no risk to you. If you're impressed by National Review's superior writing style, analysis, and wit, we'll send you the next 12 issues — for a total of 16 in all! — for only $19.95. Click here for details. Posted 4:12 PM | [Link] SOUTHERN DJS [Dave Shiflett] Rod that Atlanta's not the only place radio managers don't like twang. After I got out of college I applied for a job at a radio station. Admittedly, I sound like Gomer Pyle on severe barbituates--but this station was in Richmond. They said I sounded too southern. So I became a writer. Easy as that. Posted 4:09 PM | [Link] IRAQ AND OKLAHOMA CITY: [Rod Dreher] Was Iraq involved in the Oklahoma City bombing? I've heard this theory bandied about, but never paid much attention to it, thinking it was just a conspiracy theory. This story suggests that attention must be paid -- now. If there's nothing to this, somebody please shoot me the info knocking this theory down. If this theory has legs, somebody explain to me why officials haven't paid more attention to it. Posted 3:52 PM | [Link] GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOOD [Andrew Stuttaford] Jonathan, what's ironic is that, so far as some African countries are concerned, the GMO ban may be too late anyway. In Zambia there has been at least one case where the locals have looted stocks of impounded food aid (in this instance genetically-modified maize). Wire services quote a local aid officer as saying that, "while looting is never the right thing to do, it is a bit naive to tell people they cannot have food in the face of hunger, even if it is GM food." Quite. Posted 3:45 PM | [Link] GIFT HORSES [Kathryn Jean Lopez] How many of them do you think Annan gets in a given year? Do you have to keep them? Posted 3:42 PM | [Link] THEY'RE SO NAIVE.... [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Just arrived in my in-box:
Posted 3:41 PM | [Link] DO YOU THINK SAUDIS DON'T GET TO READ NRO? [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Posted 3:11 PM | [Link] IN MOSCOW... [Kathryn Jean Lopez] ...Muslims in the audience were allowed to leave, along with children. Posted 3:03 PM | [Link] IMMORAL NOT IRRATIONAL [Jonathan Adler] Andrew, I largely agree with your post. I never said the African governments were being irrational. Rather, my point is that their action was immoral and inhumane, and without scientific basis. To be sure, some of those governments may be concerned about their continued ability to export food to Europe -- but not due to the accidental "escape" of GMOs. Rather they have good reason to believe that many rural inhabitants will save some GMOs and deliberately plant them, thereby "contaminating" their crops and subjecting them to Europe's anti-GMO trade restrictions (restrictions which are almost certainly WTO-illegal). Europe should be roundly condemned for placing Africans in this position -- as should those who purport to give such decisions an air of moral or theological respectability (the point of my earlier posts). Posted 3:00 PM | [Link] IS THE SNIPER FRENCH? [Jonathan Adler] That is one way to read this post from Eugene Volokh (and the Fox story he cites). Posted 3:00 PM | [Link] GUNMEN HOLD 700 HOSTAGE IN MOSCOW THEATER [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Posted 2:42 PM | [Link] SPEAKING TO THE SAUDIS [Kathryn Jean Lopez] 67 U.S. intellectuals have released a letter as part of a correspondence with 153 Saudi intellectuals and religious leaders. Some honest addressing of jihad and the Saudi role in the 9/11 attacks. The letter, organized by the Institute for American Values, is here. Posted 2:29 PM | [Link] GOV. GOLISANO?: [Rich Lowry] Just talked to a shrewd NY political observer who thinks McCall may finish third in the gov’s race, and that Golisano might even win. For what it’s worth… Posted 2:13 PM | [Link] ANOTHER REASON TO ROOT AGAINST THE ANGELS: [Rich Lowry] They’re just too damn good. This budding dynasty must be stopped! Posted 2:10 PM | [Link] GO BUSH!! [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Looks like the U.S. may be forcing the U.N. to vote on Iraq. Security Council is meeting at 4. Posted 1:56 PM | [Link] THE GALL, Y'ALL!: [Rod Dreher] Amy Welborn put me onto this story about a country-music DJ in Atlanta who says he was fired for having a Southern accent. There have been lots of complaints about how wimpy and pop-oriented mainstream country music has become, but this really does take the cake. Bring back the twang! Posted 1:46 PM | [Link] MRS. TENET FOR CIA DIRECTOR [Kathryn Jean Lopez] George Tenet’s wife has out a how-to book for women on fixing things around the house, which she co-wrote with another CIA wife. I’m guessing she’s better at fixing things that threaten the home turf than her husband. Posted 12:24 PM | [Link] KRAMER ON AL JAZEERA [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Martin Kramer was in Qatar over the weekend and wound up on al Jazeera. His thoughts on the Arab media king are worth reading. Posted 12:19 PM | [Link] TIT FOR TAT [Jonah Goldberg] A reader responds to the VA guy's potshot at Maryland: Tell your Virginia reader of the "could we trust the nice folks in Montgomery County to handle the job?" question that this Montgomery County parent tells him to go to hell. Just because our children aren't also our nieces and nephews doesn't mean we don't want to protect them as much as Virginians want to protect theirs. Editor's Note: This officially concludes the spitball fight between our tough-minded Maryland readers and our upstanding and virtuous Virginia readers. Posted 12:14 PM | [Link] GUARDED VOTING[Kathryn Jean Lopez] The Maryland governor just suggested he may call in the national guard to protect voters on Election Day. Do we really think armed guards in the streets and polling places will encourage people to vote? Posted 11:33 AM | [Link] IRAQI DOMESTIC SCENE [Jim Robbins] Saddam's Chief of Staff has asked the Iraqi people to stop "celebrating" the results of the referendum, and in particular to stop firing so many weapons into the air. Apparently the shooting is getting a little too boisterous, and isn't exactly related to celebrating. Posted 11:26 AM | [Link] WHAT IF SADDAM IMPLODES? [Jonah Goldberg] The idea that Saddam's regime may crumble without our firing a shot is percolating this week. The Journal raised it yesterday, Andrew Sullivan discusses it today and there's a heartening piece in the Times about the public protests in Baghdad yesterday. I still think it's probably wishful thinking at best. But it does raise the interesting question: What would we learn from such an event? Would the anti-war people suddenly understand that the credible threat of force can often be a useful substitute for actual force? Would the talk-meisters of Europe and the UN suddenly see that talking with a big stick is more effective than talking with a big carrot (to borrow a phrase from the Journal)? Or... would they insist that "diplomatic pressure" (in Arabic: "the weight of a thousand feathers") forced the implosion? After all it is still a common argument on the left that Reagan had nothing to do with the collapse of the Soviet Union even though it was the Soviet's view of Reagan as a cowboy that forced Soviet concessions. I fear the Times et al. would choose the latter. And this would annoy me greatly. The diplomatists would gleefully claim their anti-war fervor and vigorous pressure forced the Iraqi regime to crumble (or they would claim -- a la the Soviets -- that collapse was both obvious and inevitable -- while at the same time claiming credit for preventing the United States from launching an ill-conceived and illegal war. And we would not be permitted to smack them across the face with semi-frozen flounders to wipe their smiles from their faces. Posted 10:23 AM | [Link] HEY, JONAH... [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Looks like...WE RULE THE CORNER! Posted 10:22 AM | [Link] AN ALTERNATIVE PROPOSAL [Jonah Goldberg] A reader emails: I liked your idea to leave the sniper for enraged citizens to deal with personally. But really, could we trust the nice folks in Montgomery County to handle the job? What would they do, pour Chablis on him, or ask Connie Morella to hold a town hall meeting about it? Maybe get Parris to have state shrinks ask the guy if he got enough love from Mama Sniper? He raises a good point. Maybe we should have a tug-of-war at the state line to settle the issue? Posted 10:10 AM | [Link] THE SNIPER [Jonah Goldberg] When they catch him, they should just let him go with a cinder block tied to one foot and a cowbell around his neck and leave him in the school parking lot outside a PTA meeting in Montgomery County. Posted 9:46 AM | [Link] MILBANK ON BUSH [Kathryn Jean Lopez] I was hoping someone would take on Dana Milbank's "facts are malleable" piece in the Post yesterday and I see the Media Research Council has done just that. Posted 7:07 AM | [Link] WHERE IS EVERYBODY? [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Just checking to see if Cosmo's awake. Posted 1:13 AM | [Link] TRUTH TELLING [Kathryn Jean Lopez] David Frum's been debunking war myths in the London Telegraph. Today is part three. (There are links to the previous ones on that page.) Posted 12:59 AM | [Link]
GET 4 FREE ISSUES OF NATIONAL REVIEW! That's right: We'll send you 4 FREE issues of National Review at absolutely no risk to you. If you're impressed by National Review's superior writing style, analysis, and wit, we'll send you the next 12 issues — for a total of 16 in all! — for only $19.95. Click here for details. Posted 10:05 PM | [Link] SORRY... [Kathryn Jean Lopez] ...that we were gone for a few hours again. Thanks go to Aaron Bailey for another after-hours fix. Posted 10:04 PM | [Link] I HAVE A THEORY... [Kathryn Jean Lopez] ...that the Corner problem is an inside job. A Corner-ite who doesn't want to post ruins the thing for all of us (and YOU!). Posted 9:14 PM | [Link] FORGIVE THE CORNER... [Kathryn Jean Lopez] ....it is down again (or it was, now that you are reading this)...it is moody. I understand. Posted 8:31 PM | [Link] REMARKABLE: [Ramesh Ponnuru] I just noticed that Connie Morella, the liberal Republican from Maryland, is running the first negative ads of her long career in the House. She's throwing the worst accusation she can think of against her opponent: He sounds like "a Republican." Something Rep. Morella has rarely been accused of. Posted 7:17 PM | [Link] RE: THEY'D BETTER... [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Especially since I don't know many parents who don't live that fear everyday of their children's, anyway--sniper or no sniper. On the other hand: On the terrible chance he targets a child, like he has in the past, and it comes out later that cops had a message like this, expect a "MOOSE KNEW" headline in the Post. Posted 4:54 PM | [Link] THEY'D BETTER... [Jonah Goldberg] Have a really, really, really, really good reason to issue that warning on the air. If it turns out it wasn't necessary, there will be some hell to pay from freaked out parents and media second-guessers. Posted 4:52 PM | [Link] "YOUR CHILDREN ARE NOT SAFE ANYWHERE AT ANY TIME" [Jonah Goldberg] That was the sniper's message which Montgomery County Charles Moose just read at a press conference. Posted 4:49 PM | [Link] THIS WILL UPSET SOME [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Turns out the WTC did not fall due to structural flaws. Shocking. Posted 4:21 PM | [Link] BERKELEY NOT AS NUTTY AS ITS NEWSPAPER THINKS [Kathryn Jean Lopez] A correction appears today to a piece linked to in The Corner yesterday. Evidently the Bali panel explored reasons why the Indonesians think we were behind the bombing, the profs didn't actually accuse the U.S. Posted 4:20 PM | [Link] AND... [Kathryn Jean Lopez] ...the universe is "doomed to collapse." Posted 4:14 PM | [Link] DECORUM... [Kathryn Jean Lopez] ...may officially be gone from The Corner. Posted 4:13 PM | [Link] OF COURSE... [Kathryn Jean Lopez] ...I know many men who pray when the women in their lives have PMS. Posted 4:12 PM | [Link] "Prayers for PMS? Beatitudes for bulimia?" [Kathryn Jean Lopez] I just found that on NOW's website while doing research for a Week item for NR on Dead Tree, from a rant about Dr. Hager, the potential FDA-panel appointee the Left fem groups are going all nutty about. I just wanted to share. Posted 4:10 PM | [Link] AMERICA AND ITS VALUES [ Mike Potemra] The cover story of a magazine called Doublethink, published by the America's Future Foundation, takes David Brooks to task for being too charitable in his judgment of the American people. Here's my favorite sentence from Elizabeth Arens's article: "We have . . . lately seen real heroism, but drawing quick connections between the rigors of soccer practice and the ultimate self-sacrifice made on September 11 is not an adequate way to 'explain our strength to ourselves.'" Arens's judgment would have come as a great surprise to the Duke of Wellington, who made the famous observation that "the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton." This all points to a broader truth about Kirkian conservatism: The health of a society depends on its ability to preserve its strengths and traditions in an organic way. Wellington's playing fields of Eton, like the soccer fields of today, taught values in a way that the compilers of tomes of moral philosophy can only envy. Posted 3:52 PM | [Link] BTW, THAT WAS A (BAD) JOKE [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Just in case you either thought it was a good joke, or true. Posted 3:47 PM | [Link] MIKE TAYLOR IS BACK IN THE MONTANA SENATE RACE [Kathryn Jean Lopez] His opponent, Senator Baucus, is leaking that Taylor's campaign theme song comes from the Pet Shop Boys. Posted 3:41 PM | [Link] TRAUMA II: [Rich Lowry] An e-mail from Canada: "Actually heroic emergency measures are largely untouched by our disastrous medicare system. Money is no object (it's "free", remember?) and heroics make for good tv, so if you're rushed in to the ER in a blaze of sirens and EMTs, you get pretty good care. Where things fall apart is in routine care and in less impressive cases. Unless you're literally slitting your wrists referrals to psychiatrists take up to six months; cancer patients frequently have to wait even longer to *being* their treatments. Until last year an in-law of mine lived in Minneapolis, and she and a cousin in Canada both developed gall bladder problems at the same time. Their circumstances were the same -- both young, both in pain but in no immediate danger -- and yet the one at the mercy of an evil American HMO had her surgery within two weeks, while it took the Canadian recipient of universal health care two months merely to have the diagnosis confirmed by a specialist. The surgery, needless to say, has not yet occured. Another great instnace of dropping the ball happens when an elderly man or woman with no relatives to make noise on their behalf is brought into the ER with heart problems. Every year a few of them die in the waiting room due to the tremendous staffing problems. Finally, my husband's pet peeve is hallway medicine -- people who are severely ill and frequently days away from dying spend days or weeks in gurneys in the main hallways as a "temporary" measure. The solution of our current socialist government? They gave the hallways room numbers: presto, you're no longer in the hallway, you're in room 203A. Wishing I were an American...." Posted 3:36 PM | [Link] TRAUMA: [Rich Lowry] E-mail: "Without a doubt, US has more ERs and tauma centers and has more sophisticated equipment in those centers. But when it comes to surgical technique and trauma care, regrettably the main reason the US is better is because these doctors see a lot more trauma care than physicians in other countries. They have more practice at treating gun shot wounds, etc. You will also note that two of the three treating surgeons (that I'm aware of) are foreign-born physicians. Because the US has better training, facilities and pay, physicians and physicians-to-be flock to the US to train and practice." Posted 3:33 PM | [Link] THE EXILE [Andrew Stuttaford] Jonah, that staggeringly un-PC guide to European tribalism looks as if it comes from 'The Exile', a gonzo expat newspaper based in Moscow. I went on occasional visits to that city throughout the 1990s (indeed Mrs Stuttaford was fortunate enough to be taken there on our honeymoon). Checking out 'The Exile' was always good for a few laughs, and from the look of its (equally staggeringly un-PC) website it still is. Its outstanding - and hilarious - guide to Moscow's night life blended Weimar sensibility with PJ O'Rourke-style prose. Among other highlights from the paper, I seem to remember one issue from the gangster years that contained a piece where the writer was basically laying odds on who was most likely to be murdered next. Beats Page Six any day... Posted 3:24 PM | [Link] COSMO: BACON BITS: [Rich Lowry] Posted 3:00 PM | [Link] VIVE LA FRANCE: [Rod Dreher] Raison is not dead in France. Novelist Michel Houellebecq has been cleared of charges that he defamed Islam. It's asinine that any writer would be brought up on the 21st-century equivalence of blasphemy charges, but at least he beat the rap. Posted 2:51 PM | [Link] GOOD WSJ EDIT TODAY ON VISAS: [Rich Lowry] "Secretary of State Colin Powell rightly refers to America's embassies and consulates as "our first line of defense in protecting ourselves from those who would come to our shores." But a GAO report on border security released yesterday suggests that State's visa policies have been more like a Maginot Line. The GAO report appears in the thick of a battle over Maura Harty, a career diplomat tapped to head the department's Bureau of Consular Affairs. Her nomination has had a hold put on it by one or more skeptical Senators. So now State is selling Ms. Harty as an "agent of change." But that's a schizophrenic position, because the promise comes from the same department that attacks any specific ideas for change. No one knows this better than National Review's Joel Mowbray. Since he first exposed the now infamous "Visa Express" program in Saudi Arabia, Mr. Mowbray has been pounding away at three points: that Visa Express delegated too much authority to travel agencies that collected the applications; that the visas given the 9/11 Saudi hijackers should never have been issued; and that State continues to resist proper security measures. State has fought every criticism. Ed Vazquez of Consular Affairs has said that "Every word that [Mowbray] writes is a lie, including 'the' and 'and.'" This is the same Mr. Vazquez who also asserted that 12 of the hijackers had been interviewed by consular officials. That assertion is contradicted by the GAO, which found interviews for only two hijackers...." Posted 2:46 PM | [Link] GM FOODS [Andrew Stuttaford] Jonathan, opposition to genetically-modified food is usually little more than superstition, but the source of that superstition can often be found in Europe, not Africa. Most European consumers will not buy GM food. African countries that import, say, genetically-modified corn as famine relief, run the risk that some of these strains might escape into the wild. If a few errant seeds were to be accidentally planted, this could be held to have 'contaminated' that country's crop, shutting off possible export markets in Europe. Now, it's possible to quarrel with those priorities (and its also true that, when it comes to GM food, some African consumers share the prejudices of the Europeans), but , in rejecting genetically-modified food, African countries are not always being as irrational as it at first seems. The same is not true of the Europeans. Posted 2:46 PM | [Link] SOLDIERS OF SURRENDER [Jonah Goldberg] A new French magazine to read in a safe location. Posted 2:46 PM | [Link] IN DEFENSE OF SNIPERS [Jonah Goldberg] Lots of people are writing me to say that the reason it's unfair to call this guy a sniper is that a sniper is a label connoting a very high level of skill and expertise. This guy hasn't shot from as great a distance as professional snipers and therefore he hasn't earned the designation. I can see their point even if I don't find it particularly persuasive. Still this was my favorite email in this regard: Snipers can be good or bad, that's not the issue. The problem is in confering upon this guy a title which can only come with hard work and exhibited skill. He just hasn't earned it. If he were leaving a poorly-written synopsis of the days top news stories at the scene of each crime, the media would not dub this killer "The Journalist". I have to confess that while I don't want anyone murdered, I do live the idea of CNN running round-the-clock coverage of their search for "The Journalist." Posted 2:41 PM | | ||||||||||||||||||||
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