Best of the Web Today - November 21, 2006
By JAMES TARANTO
Dem Agenda: Draft Gays
Some members of the new Democratic majority are laboring hard to live up to the stereotype of their party as unserious about national security. One of them is Rep. Charles Rangel of New York, chairman-designate of the House Ways and Means Committee, who has revived the idea of military conscription "as a way to deter politicians from launching wars," according to the Associated Press:
"There's no question in my mind that this president and this administration would never have invaded Iraq, especially on the flimsy evidence that was presented to the Congress, if indeed we had a draft, and members of Congress and the administration thought that their kids from their communities would be placed in harm's way," Rangel said.
Where exactly does Rangel think the volunteer military finds its recruits? Further, where does he get the idea that "kids" are placed in harm's way? The volunteer military is made up of adults, and presumably draftees would be adults as well. But it seems no one would have to join the military anyway, under Rangel's plan:
He said having a draft would not necessarily mean everyone called to duty would have to serve. Instead, "young people (would) commit themselves to a couple of years in service to this great republic, whether it's our seaports, our airports, in schools, in hospitals," with a promise of educational benefits at the end of service.
So what Rangel is really proposing is conscripting young adults into civilian government service. This would seem to run counter to the interest of public-sector unions, an important Democratic constituency, which perhaps is why other members of Rangel's party aren't rushing to embrace the idea, as Reuters reports:
A reinstatement of the military draft, being pushed by a senior Democrat, will not be slated for consideration in the House of Representatives, the chamber's newly elected top leaders said on Monday.
"We did not include that" in legislative plans for early next year, said Democratic Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, who will be House majority leader when the new Congress convenes in January under Democratic control for the first time in 12 years. . . .
Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California told reporters on Monday that she does not support reinstating the draft, which was suspended in 1973 near the end of the Vietnam War and replaced by the all-volunteer army. . . .
Pelosi said Rangel was trying to underscore that the U.S. war effort should be a "shared sacrifice" and his legislation was "a way to make that point."
Indeed, it has long been clear that Rangel's daft draft idea, which he's been pushing since at least 2002, is more a piece of performance art than a serious proposal. In 2004, as we noted, House Republicans put it up for a vote, and Rangel voted against it! The Rangel proposal went down 402-2, with the only "ayes" coming from Pelosi pet John "Okinawa" Murtha and Fortney Hillman Stark Jr.
Meanwhile, a pair of Massachusetts Democrats are tackling another pressing national-security issue, reports the Boston Globe:
Representative Martin T. Meehan, a Lowell Democrat, said he plans to hold congressional hearings early next year of the House Armed Services Subcommittee [on oversight], which he is likely to chair, on a bill that would allow homosexuals to serve in the armed forces. . . .
Meehan's proposed change was backed yesterday by Representative Barney Frank, a Newton Democrat who is openly gay.
It seems unlikely that Meehan will succeed in changing the law; the Globe says Rep. Ike Skelton, who will be chairman of the Armed Services Committee, supports "don't ask, don't tell." The likely result, as when Bill Clinton made this his first priority on taking office 14 years ago, is to suggest that Democrats are less interested in national security than in esoteric ideas of equality.
Don't Ask, Don't Tell
"Gender-Bending Boy Fruit Flies Fight Like Girls"--headline, Reuters, Nov. 19
The World's Smallest Violin
"A 59-year-old Guantanamo Bay detainee has refused to have a required heart procedure at the U.S. military base in Cuba, one of his attorneys said Sunday," the Associated Press reports:
Saifullah A. Paracha, a Pakistani multimillionaire, will not agree to have a cardiac catheterization done at the base because he thinks its medical facilities and backups are inadequate, said Zachary Katznelson of the London-based human rights group Reprieve.
"This is a completely new procedure for Guantanamo. Mr. Paracha very well might need open heart surgery, and that has never been done before at Guantanamo," Katznelson said.
Paracha, who is accused of laundering money for al-Qaida and plotting to smuggle explosives into the United States, already has had one heart attack while in U.S. custody and has recently suffered chest pains, according to his lawyers. . . .
Paracha's family has urged Pakistan's government to seek his return home for medical treatment.
The poor terrorist has to get a lawyer to keep those monsters at Guantanamo from performing life-saving surgery on him. You see why people keep comparing Guantanamo to Nazi Germany. The parallels are eerie.
Goodbye Columbus
The Discover America Partnership, a new advocacy group for the tourism trade, has a new survey out that finds "rude immigration officials and visa delays keep millions of foreign visitors away from the United States, hurt the country's already battered image, and cost the U.S. billions of dollars in lost revenue," Reuters reports:
"Between 2000 and 2006, the number of overseas visitors, excluding those from Mexico and Canada, has declined by 17 percent," said Geoff Freeman, executive director of the Discover America Partnership, "and business travel in that period has dropped 10 percent." . . .
"The problem is that since September 11, this country has viewed visitors more as a threat than an opportunity," Freeman said. "The entry process has created a climate of fear and frustration that is keeping foreign visitors away."
The Reuters dispatch doesn't explain this last comment, but we seem to recall that something bad happen on Sept. 11 a few years back. And although it was a long time ago and our memory is fuzzy (especially this early in the morning), we could've sworn that foreign visitors were somehow involved.
Freeman might want to investigate this angle, lest he be accused of just bashing America.
The Save-Saddam Lobby
"Saddam Hussein's trial in the killings of nearly 150 Shiite Muslim villagers in 1982 was 'fundamentally unfair,' and the death sentence he received earlier this month was 'indefensible,' a leading human rights group said," the Associated Press reports:
In a 97-page review of the trial, Human Rights Watch said Hussein's trial "was marred by so many procedural and substantive flaws that the verdict is unsound."
It called on the Iraqi tribunal to overturn the verdict and its sentence of death by hanging for Hussein, who was ousted by a U.S. invasion in 2003. . . .
The report accuses Iraqi leaders, including Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, of declaring Saddam guilty before the trial and said criticism of the original presiding judge in the case "created an enormous sense of pressure" on members of the Iraqi High Tribunal that heard the case.
We've read enough about Saddam's rule in Iraq that even if the trial was procedurally imperfect, we're satisfied that he's guilty. You'd think Human Rights Watch, which styles itself a human-rights group, would have amassed such evidence itself.
McCain: More Troops Need to Die for a Failed Policy
"McCain Says U.S. Troops Dying for 'Failed Policy' in Iraq"--headline, Bloomberg, Nov. 19
"McCain Says More Troops Needed in Iraq"--headline, Associated Press, Nov. 19
Nice Economy You've Got There. Be a Shame if Anything Were to Happen to It.
Rep. Barney Frank has priorities in the new Congress other than gays in the military, the Boston Globe reports:
Frank has proposed in a series of meetings with business groups a "grand bargain" with corporate America: Democrats would agree to reduce regulations and support free-trade deals in exchange for businesses agreeing to greater wage increases and job benefits for workers. . . .
Frank proposes that if businesses support a minimum wage increase and provide protection for workers adversely affected by trade treaties, Democrats would be more willing to ease regulations and approve free-trade deals. Frank also would support changes to immigration rules favored by businesses, and noted that allowing more immigrants would put needed funds into the Social Security system.
Frank casts his proposal as a way for capitalists to quell some of the populist fervor that was expressed in last week's election, when many Democrats vowed to crack down on companies moving jobs overseas.
In the private sector, this is known as a "protection racket."
The Gift That Keeps On Giving
"Kerry: Botched Joke Won't Affect 2008," reads the Associated Press headline. Well, we've been saying for years that John Kerry* wouldn't affect 2008, but it turns out that's not what the AP means:
Kerry insisted on Sunday his "botched joke" about President Bush's Iraq policy would not undermine a possible White House campaign in 2008.
"Not in the least," Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee in said when asked if the furor over his comment had caused him to reconsider a 2008 race. "The parlor game of who's up, who's down, today or tomorrow, if I listened to that stuff, I would never have won the nomination."
Kerry remains the only person in America who think he will be a presidential candidate in 2008. He does, however, have this inadvertant insight:
Kerry said Sunday he had made the decision to keep a low profile after the White House attacked the joke as insulting to U.S. troops and several Democrats called the comment a needless distraction before the pivotal congressional elections.
"Since we had very close races, I made the decision to make certain that I didn't distract. The results speak for themselves," he said.
Indeed they do. And think how well the Democrats would have done if Kerry had kept a low profile two years earlier.
* Back by popular demand: The haughty, French-looking Massachusetts Democrat, who by the way served 120 days in Vietnam and promised 660 days ago to release his military records.
Now There's a Shocker--I
"Mitt Romney Tops 2008 Poll in Utah"--headline, NewsMax.com, Nov. 19
Now There's a Shocker--II
"Bush's Nominees for Judgeships to Be Conservative"--headline, Washington Times, Nov. 18
Homer Nods
In an item Friday (since corrected) we noted that a Superior man had been charged with "having sex" with a dead deer. We erroneously referred to the defendant as a "Minnesota man." But Superior is in Wisconsin. Our apologizes to readers in Minnesota, and especially in Wisconsin.
What Would We Do Without Scientists?
"Scientists Find Genetic Differences Between Humans, Chimps"--headline, Daily Californian (University of California, Berkeley), Nov. 17
What Would We Do Without Fire Officials?
"Fire Officials Warn Deep-Fried Turkey Can Be Delicious, but Dangerous"--headline, Associated Press, Nov. 18
More Often Than Once?
"Elderly Dying From Falls More Often"--headline, Associated Press, Nov. 16
Stop Scaring the Industrial Average!
"Dow Eeks Out Another Record Close in Spite of Weak Housing Data"--headline, Associated Press, Nov. 17
France May Finally Get a Leader
"Frenchwoman May Be First to Lead France"--headline, Associated Press, Nov. 17
That's a Lot of Dead Yachts
"Woman Convicted of 2 Counts of Murder in 2004 Yacht Killings"--headline, Daily Breeze (Torrance, Calif.), Nov. 18
Bottom Stories of the Day
o "Canadian Retailers Divided Over O.J. Simpson Book"--headline, CBC.ca, Nov. 17
o "West Richland Bond Fan Has Been Grabbing Up All Things 007 for 25 Years"--headline, Tri-City Herald (Kennewick, Wash.), Nov. 17
o "Pedestrian and Driver Get Into a Parking Tiff at Bayshore"--headline, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Nov. 18
o "Hans Blix to Serve on Ski Ethics Panel"--headline, Associated Press, Nov. 20
Cookie Monster
"Cookies mailed to the U.S. Supreme Court last year contained enough rat poison to kill all nine justices, retired member Sandra Day O'Connor said at a conference," CNN reports:
Barbara Joan March, a 60-year-old Connecticut woman, was sentenced last month to 15 years in prison. She sent 14 threatening letters in April 2005--each with a baked good or piece of candy laced with rat poison--to a variety of federal officials: the nine Supreme Court justices; FBI Director Robert Mueller; his deputy; the chief of naval operations; the Air Force chief of staff and the chief of staff of the Army.
OK, Supreme Court justices are really smart, so they can figure this out on their own, but in case you're not, here's a word of advice: If someone you don't know sends you cookies, don't eat them. Especially if they're accompanied by a threatening letter. |
