Best of the Web Today - December 8, 2005
By JAMES TARANTO
The Antimilitary Party
"Speeches by President Bush in recent weeks before military audiences about the Iraq war debate have raised questions about partisan issues being brought up in front of U.S. Armed Forces," Fox News reports:
While polls may show Bush lagging in popular approval, the U.S. military views the commander in chief warmly, and he shows a likewise appreciation. . . .
"This is a very bad sign," said retired Marine Gen. Joseph Hoar, who led Central Command in the early 1990s and is an administration critic. "This is the sort of thing that you find in other countries where the military and political, certain political parties are aligned."
Reader Evan Slatis writes: "I wholeheartedly agree with the general. Perhaps if the Democrats had more to say than the military is broken, a bunch of failures destined to lose, and terrorizing Iraqis, they might be more inclined not to be aligned with only one political party."
It also might help if the Dems didn't try to disfranchise servicemen and wage war on military recruitment and ROTC, if they nominated someone who didn't rise to fame by slandering veterans, and if those of them who have military experience refrained from invoking their own service in opportunistic attempts to silence political disagreement.
We're not holding our breath, though.
Dems Give Up on the House
Sen. Jon Corzine of New Jersey was elected governor last month, which puts him in the unusual position of getting to appoint his own successor. Among sitting governors, only Alaska's Frank Murkowski has chosen his Senate successor. Unlike Murkowski, who replaced himself with his own daughter (who went on to win election last year), Corzine is reaching beyond his family and is expected to tap Rep. Robert Menendez.
The Almanac of American Politics (link requires subscription) notes that Menendez considered a run for the seat in 2000, when Corzine won it instead:
One reason Menendez decided not to run for the Senate in 2000 is that Minority Leader Dick Gephardt urged him to stay in the House, arguing that as a leader of a Democratic majority he could be more important than a junior senator. . . .
Menendez continued to be active in the House. In October 2004 he announced he would be running for majority whip if Democrats regained a majority in the House. After the election he appointed a Democratic Task Force on Faith and Values in Politics. But he also clearly hankered to run for the Senate. In December 2004, after Corzine announced he would run for governor and before Acting Governor Richard Codey took himself out of the race, Menendez made it known that, if Corzine were elected, he would run for the Senate even if Corzine named someone else to the seat.
So it sounds as though the Democrats--or at least this Democrat--have given up on winning back the House. Menendez's arrival in the Senate won't change that body's political complexion much; his voting record is roughly as liberal as Corzine's. But he will have to run for a full term next year, and victory isn't assured: as RedState.org notes, a September poll had him running behind Tom Kean Jr., son of the former Republican governor, 43% to 34%.
On the other hand, a poll last month had Menendez with a slight lead over Kean, 41% to 39%, and the Democrat will now have the advantage of incumbency--not to mention the advantage of running as a Democrat in a state that hasn't elected a Republican to the Senate since 1972.
'Amost Indistinguishable'
This passage, from an Associated Press dispatch on the "torture" debate, exemplifies the kind of deliberately fuzzy thinking in which terrorist sob sisters like to engage:
Human rights organizations and critics in Europe have said that the administration's prior statements that standards overseas were different created a loophole for treatment almost indistinguishable from torture.
"Almost indistinguishable" is a weaselly way of saying distinguishable.
Reuters Not So Sure?
"Historians say six million Jews were killed in the Nazi Holocaust."--Reuters,
That Is a Bummer!
"WMD Only a Matter of Time: Downer"--headline, Australian Broadcast Corp. Web site, Dec. 8
Shut Up, They Explained
"Conservative columnist Ann Coulter gave up trying to finish a speech at the University of Connecticut on Wednesday night when boos and jeers from the audience became overwhelming," the Associated Press reports:
Coulter's appearance prompted protests from several groups, including Students Against Hate and the Puerto Rican/Latin American Cultural Center. They criticized her for spreading a message of hate and intolerance.
Nearly 100 students gathered inside the Student Union for a rally against Coulter. About a half-dozen people held protest signs outside the auditorium. . . .
Last April, the president of the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota denounced a speech on the campus by Coulter, calling it hateful. In October 2004, University of Arizona police arrested two men who ran on stage and threw custard pies at Coulter; one of the pies glanced off her shoulder. . . .
Eric Knudsen, a 19-year-old sophomore journalism and social welfare major at UConn, didn't attend the speech.
"We encourage diverse opinion at UConn, but this is blatant hate speech," said Knudsen, head of Students Against Hate.
In case you don't speak Liberalese, here's Knudsen's comment translated into English: We encourage diverse opinion at UConn, as long as it is exactly the same as our own opinion. And by the way, what the heck is a "social welfare major"?
Killer Trees
Don't say President Reagan didn't warn you. "In the effort to slow earth's rising temperatures, even a well-intentioned proposal could backfire," the New York Times reports:
One suggestion has been to grow more trees, which absorb carbon dioxide, the gas blamed for trapping heat. More trees mean more carbon dioxide removed from the air.
New computer simulations, however, indicate that establishing new forests across North America could provide a cooling effect for a few decades to a century, but that after that, they would lead to more warming.
Of course, since "global warming" causes cooler temperatures as well as warmer ones, it's hard to know if the trees would be contributing to global warming or countering it if they made things warmer.
London's Sunday Times, meanwhile, reports that "British scientists are fighting climate change by reducing the harmful greenhouse gases produced by flatulent cows." Which makes us wonder if "global warming" was invented by some prankster who wanted to see how many newspapers he could get to publish articles containing the hilarious phrase flatulent cows.
(Hat tip: Blogger Tom Elia.)
What Would Experts Do Without Experts?
"Experts Hire Expert to Help With Nevada Highway Study"--headline, Pahrump Valley Times, Dec. 7
What Would Passengers Do Without Airport Officials?
"Airport Officials Remind Passengers to Keep Guns at Home"--headline, WWL-TV Web site (New Orleans), Dec. 8
Thanks for the Tip!--XXIV
"Health Tip: Don't Dive Into Disaster"--headline, HealthDayNews, Dec. 8
That's Great News, Dude
"Dog Genome May Also Offer Insight Into His Pal, Man"--headline, Seattle Times, Dec. 8
If It Were Up to the U.N., We'd All Be in Diapers Until Age 33
"World May Miss Child Development Goals by 30 Yrs: UN"--headline, Reuters, Dec. 8
Are They Sure She Wasn't Just French?
"In an unusual case of mistaken identity, a woman who thought a block of white cheese was cocaine is charged with trying to hire a hit man to rob and kill four men."--Associated Press, Dec. 6
Bottom Story of the Holiday Season
"Box Hits Child as Toy Store Shelf Falls: Girl uninjured. Toys 'R' Us store in Whitehall Twp. remains open as staff cordon off area with carts."--headline and subheadline, Express-Times (Easton, Pa.), Dec. 1
The Long and Winding Road
Growing up, we never paid that much attention to John Lennon; our taste ran more to the Stones than to the Beatles. But an insightful essay by a blogger called "The Solid Surfer" caught our attention:
Lennon detested hypocrisy and always remained on the search for the "next big thing." Given this, I doubt he would have stagnated politically like so many of his leftwing brethren; rather, I believe he would have reversed course entirely a la Michael Medved, David Horowitz, and other liberals-turned-conservatives. . . .
Clearly, Lennon was no career leftwing activist; rather, it was a particular phase in his highly varied and fascinating life, and as he grew older, he certainly appeared to grow more conservative in his cultural and family outlook. At the same time, he always railed against establishment stagnancy, and today, it is the Democrats, particularly those on the far left, who have largely assumed this characteristic. I believe John would have continued these personal trends, and were he alive today, would with sharp moral clarity support America's efforts to achieve freedom around the world. Assuming he would have obtained U.S. citizenship (he was on track, having been granted permanent residency status), I feel he would have become a card-carrying Republican and voted for President Bush in the 2004 election.
Sad to say, Lennon was murdered 25 years ago today, so he didn't have a chance to complete the journey. |
