If you’re going to participate in yet another round of Middle East “peace talks,” you should at least talk sense. And the Israeli foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, talked some sense. On her way to the United States, she told reporters that the Arab world “should stop sitting on the fence.” (You may find an article here.) She continued, “There isn’t a single Palestinian who can reach agreement without Arab support.”

This is a simple and obvious truth, but no less important to state for that. And here is the most simple and obvious truth of all: Arabs can have peace with Israel anytime they want — as long as they agree to let Israel live. That has been true since 1948. And it almost surely will always be true. At two junctures, Egypt and Jordan decided to take advantage. Will anyone else?

“The Middle East is complicated,” we’re told, and assured, and admonished. Yes and no. Parts of it are almost embarrassingly straightforward.

In a recent column, I criticized the overuse of the groundhog movie, to describe something that happens over and over: “It’s like Groundhog Day,” we say. Well, the Arab-Israeli conflict, I have found, over the decades, is like Groundhog Day indeed. The headlines hardly budge. Does the movie have a happy ending? I saw it in the theater, long ago, and can’t quite remember.

‐Fred Thompson’s supporters have maintained that he is Reaganesque; others aren’t so sure. Well, his tax plan is certainly Reaganesque: He proposes two flat rates, 10 percent and 25 percent (although citizens could stay in our current system, if they so chose). (For a news story, go here.) Asked whether his plan would starve the government of funds, Thompson replied, “We’ve known for years, anytime we have lowered taxes, and anytime we’ve lowered tax rates, we’ve seen growth in the economy.”

There’s a supply-sider. Nice going, Fred.

‐Rudy Giuliani was picking at Mitt Romney (as is a candidate’s right, and duty, you might say). In the midst of this picking, he said that Romney “had one of the weaker records of any governor on economics.” (For a story, go here.)

Really? Any governor? Even the socialists? There is hardly a human being alive — Republican or Democrat, Giuliani-supporting or non-Giuliani-supporting — who believes what Rudy said. It is possible to run for president without saying patently absurd things. It really is — these guys should try it.

‐Over Thanksgiving, the Democrats played a game in the Senate, whereby they kept President Bush from making recess appointments. (For details, consult this article.) Jim Webb, the new senator from Virginia, was one of the Democrats playing the game. “I’d much rather be doing this than allow the president to skirt the confirmation process in the Senate,” he said. “This is an exercise in protecting the Constitution and our constitutional process.”

Of course, recess appointments are squarely part of the Constitution, and the “constitutional process.” You know what’s worse than a senator’s saying stupid things? A senator’s saying stupid things that he knows to be stupid. And Jim Webb, I would have thought, is anything but.

‐Would like to share something funny with you — but not funny ha-ha, really. Was covering a concert of the New York Philharmonic over the weekend. And there were these program notes for Glazunov’s Violin Concerto (and the other works being performed, of course). Glazunov was a Russian composer who lived from 1865 to 1936. Of his time as director of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, the program notes had this to say: “He would prove to be a gifted and hard-working administrator, raising the conservatory’s academic standards, founding its student orchestra, and even helping the establishment weather the new demands of Soviet society following the October Revolution of 1918.”

Forget the slip on the year. How about “weather the new demands of Soviet society”! Is that the loveliest and most gingerly phrase you have ever heard in your life? Try “weather the new demands of German society following . . .”

Ah, never mind.

‐Sorry, can’t quite get over it. Weather the new demands of Soviet society. Like, “Do as we say, or we kill you — and your wife, and your children, and your parents, and your grandparents, and your friends. And your little dog, too.”

‐On the subject of music: Have a review, from the New York Sun. It deals with Thomas Adès, the English composer-pianist, in a recital.

‐In monumental news: New York City is gearing toward an FDR monument (which you can read about here). My question: Will they show him in a wheelchair, as the federal government insisted (or someone insisted)? Or will they show him as he projected himself to the world, for all those brave years?

‐Gonna throw an ad at you. Please skip over if you’ve read, or even if you haven’t:

#JAYBOOK#

‐In a column some weeks ago, I related what some readers have told me about reading NRO at work — particularly when the workplace is not exactly conservative-friendly. Some people position their screen so that it won’t be seen by anyone else, and so they won’t be caught unawares. Others rather rejoice in displaying NRO — in flaunting their reading habit.

Well, when I mentioned this, a good many (more) NRO readers weighed in. And I’d like to give you a sampling of mail.

Mr. Nordlinger,
I must admit that I generally read, with the door closed, NRO early in the morning before “the others” arrive, and later, at lunch, my favorites who appear at Townhall.com. I do know our Big Brother is recording every website visited and every keystroke made, including these. But I fear not the liberal extremists, and keep, just for fun — fully in view — a copy of Ann Coulter’s How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must).

There’s a man who’s secure in his workplace! Have another letter, from a lady with a fine sense of humor:

Jay:
I am an NRO addict, and I pull it up every day at work when I’m in between tasks and sometimes during my lunch hour. Recently, I was reading on NRO about Justice Clarence Thomas’s book, and my boss walked up behind me, saw his picture on the screen, and commented, “Clarence Thomas: the dumbest Supreme Court justice ever.” I said, “No, he isn’t.” He said, “Yes, he is.” I said, “No, he isn’t.” He began walking away, saying, “Yes, he is.” I said, “No. He. Is. Not.”
I got the last word in, and won the argument. I have three brothers, and the last word rules.

The following is sort of interesting:

To openly read NRO at work or not? Betcha a cup of mud that the likelihood of keeping NRO up on a screen is directly linked to the organization’s for-profit or not-for-profit status. Manufacturers (especially non-union) that need to compete in the marketplace could care less what you read — as long as you deliver. Was that a trick question?

Another one:

I work at a newspaper, and I’m ashamed to say I often hide the NRO articles I read by clicking on the print version. That makes it look like I’m reading a Word or Quark document.

Hey, whatever it takes.

This letter, I just adored:

I am a public-high-school history teacher. I usually have NRO on the screen during the day, but it is buried under four or five other windows. Colleagues don’t usually come into my classroom, but a student might complain to his Bush-hating parents if he saw me reading something right-of-center. I am new to this school, so need to lie low until I’m granted a continuing contract. (Like college tenure.) Then I’ll be a little safer against the PC hordes.
I suspect the teacher next door to me of being a right-wing wacko like myself, but I can’t remember the codeword for, “I think Western civilization is a fine thing and we should save it, how ’bout you?”

Aren’t those last lines fabulous? I wish he had been my high-school history teacher. (Actually, I had a glorious one — really lucked out.)

Another:

I flaunt my reading of NRO. If they don’t like it, too bad. They always say, “How can you read that ignorant garbage?” I respond with, “The same way you read your ‘garbage.’ Like it’s the Gospel. Oh, and by the way, if you preach tolerance and diversity so much, why are you so hateful toward differing opinions? You’d fit in great in Cuba.”
That usually shuts ’em up.

The letter is signed, “From the ‘enlightened,’ ‘progressive’ flagship known as Madison, Wis. . . .”

Another:

Hello Jay!
I usually have NRO on one of my screens — I work with two — in full view of whoever might walk by. No one has ever said anything to me about it. But I did overhear a conversation between two co-workers about me, and they didn’t know I heard them. It went: “ . . . he’s a Republican and a Catholic — they’re the worst!”
It made me smile. If that’s the “worst” they can say about me, I’m doing well!

What a beautiful spirit that fellow has.

Another report:

Mr. Nordlinger:
I am a conservative white male public-school teacher, who works in the inner city. I use NRO in my classes. However, to get away with this, I have to keep my liberal bona fides in order. To wit:
1. I belong to the NAACP. I do this for political protection. It trumps the “You’re a racist” card, and provides a ticket out of cultural-diversity training. All for $30 a year! And I get to mess with their online surveys. That alone is worth the 30 bucks.
2. I am a member of the teachers’ union for the lawyer services only. Say I were to walk into the boys’ bathroom and catch a kid with a joint. When I got him to the office, the kid would state that I’d pulled out my privates for him to view. No one — repeat, no one — would be interested in the boy’s smoking pot. Belonging to the union saves having to come up with a $2,500 retainer for a private attorney, and thousands more in legal fees.
On the other hand, I would never, under any circumstances, go into a boys’ bathroom, not if they were assembling AK47s for an imminent revolution aimed at selling 6th graders into bondage.
And, as a bonus, I get to mess with my union’s online surveys.
Gotta tell you this, too: I turn the classroom TV to Fox News whenever there’s a natural or political crisis in the world. My deep liberal cover provides protection.
Please please don’t Plame me, à la Armitage, as I’m almost ready to retire. My deep cover has worked for almost 30 years, and I’d like to keep it that way. I don’t need to go to reeducation and social-justice classes at this stage of the game.

Isn’t that marvelous — kind of sad-marvelous?

Here’s a happy one:

I get a huge kick out of having NRO up at work. I’m an instructor of government at a small southern university. I share a communal office with eight or nine other professors. My computer is quite visible, and I don’t mind. Mine is not a tenure-track position — I am here on a one-year appointment — so I don’t worry about tenure or even having a job here beyond this year. I already know there are no openings.
That being said, I wouldn’t care even if it were a tenure-track position. Even in the South, this department is quite liberal, but no one has given me flak for being conservative. [Amazing.] I don’t flaunt it or hang Reagan calendars above my desk, but it’s not a secret. I’ve had several students thank me for providing balance in class.
I’m also fortunate to work under a department head who I think is probably pretty conservative as well, at least on some issues: He fishes, hunts, and packs heat (not on campus, of course) and appears disgusted with some of the loonies among the government profs.

Very good!

And to serve as our finale — a fellow with a commercial mind:

Hello, Jay:
I realize there are some who fear being seen reading NRO at work. But there are others of us in search of semi-subtle ways to thumb our noses at the Left, especially at work. I would happily read NRO and dare someone to give me grief for it, but I don’t like reading non-work-related stuff on the boss’s time.
How about creating and selling an NRO screensaver? You guys could sell it to us fanatics on the cheap and get free advertising, while we fanatics could make a statement without reading at work.

Whether you are reading secretly or brazenly or somewhere in between — thanks, and have a great day.