Best of the Web Today - December 20, 2005
By JAMES TARANTO
Till Thursday
We're traveling tomorrow and thus won't be writing a column. Back Thursday.
Crush This Union
We won't be traveling today, because of "a blatantly illegal act of economic sabotage by a union so selfish that it is willing to destroy one of the most important business weeks in the city in a last-ditch attempt to preserve privileges that most private sector employees can only dream of--like the ability to retire at age 55 with a full pension, or the ability to not to contribute at all to health insurance costs," as the New York Sun aptly describes it.
On calling the illegal strike, Roger Toussaint, the French-sounding boss of the Transport Workers Union, declared, "This is a fight over dignity and respect on the job, a concept that is very alien to the M.T.A. [Metropolitan Transportation Authority]. Transit workers are tired of being underappreciated and disrespected." Well, we're unfailingly polite to bus drivers and subway conductors, but somehow we don't think that's what Toussaint has in mind. "Respect" is a euphemism for "greed."
The Sun offers some good advice to state officials:
If the MTA moves even a scintilla toward the union's negotiating position as the result of this strike, it would reward the union's illegal behavior and send to the dozens of other unions who do business with the state, the city, and the public authorities a message of appeasement--that if you want a better contract, go on strike, even if it is against the law. . . . The right move for the MTA now--the only move, if it is going to avoid a strike every time a contract is up for renegotiation--is to take an extremely hard line with the Transport Workers Union Local 100. As a first step, the MTA could refuse to negotiate with this union until the workers are back on the job. If that fails, the authority can begin hiring and training permanent replacement workers. The strikers mustn't be permitted to escape the full penalties of the Taylor Law, which include docking workers' pay and jailing the union leaders.
Over the long run, Sun columnist John Avlon notes, many of these scofflaw workers could be replaced by machines:
Already, trains in Paris, Cairo, and Calcutta operate with computerized or automated systems. In Paris, the Meteor Project was launched in 1998, with an automatic piloting system that controls the train line's traffic, regulates speed, manages alarm devices, and allows for traffic of automatic and traditional conductor trains on the same line. There have been no serious accidents reported since this system deployed in the late 1990s, and more than a billion people have been transported. Computers make the trains run on time and they don't threaten to walk off the job. All of us are replaceable, but some are more quickly replaceable than others.
New York's Gov. George Pataki, though not seeking re-election next year, is said to be eyeing a presidential run in 2008. As John Fund notes in today's Political Diary (subscribe here):
The rest of the country will be watching to see whether Mr. Pataki has the nerve to face down a rebel union that is sowing havoc in the country's financial nerve center. In 1981 a determined President Ronald Reagan stood up to the striking air traffic controllers union and set the tone for the remainder of his presidency. The governor could do worse than to read up on that history.
If you live in "the rest of the country," count yourself lucky, for you almost certainly have a car. Spiking gas prices may be an annoyance, but at least you know you can always get where you want to go.
Juvenile Journalism
Color us embarrassed by the conduct of our fellow journalists in the kerfuffle over "domestic spying"--i.e., the National Security Agency's wiretaps of people with links to al Qaeda. The only reason anyone is complaining about this is that there hasn't been a major terrorist attack since 9/11. That is to say, the administration's success (or luck) in terror-prevention has made it possible to be complacent. Someone with a mature sense of perspective would keep this in mind in evaluating reports about the tactics the government has used against the enemy.
Instead we get drivel like this, from Newsweek's Jonathan Alter:
I learned this week that on December 6, [President] Bush summoned [New York] Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger and executive editor Bill Keller to the Oval Office in a futile attempt to talk them out of running the story. The Times will not comment on the meeting, but one can only imagine the president's desperation.
The problem was not that the disclosures would compromise national security, as Bush claimed at his press conference. His comparison to the damaging pre-9/11 revelation of Osama bin Laden's use of a satellite phone, which caused bin Laden to change tactics, is fallacious; any Americans with ties to Muslim extremists--in fact, all American Muslims, period--have long since suspected that the U.S. government might be listening in to their conversations. . . .
No, Bush was desperate to keep the Times from running this important story--which the paper had already inexplicably held for a year--because he knew that it would reveal him as a law-breaker.
How does Alter know this? He says the Times won't comment on the meeting, so he must've interviewed the president, right? Not likely. For that matter, how does Alter know what "all American Muslims" suspect? Has he interviewed every last one of them? No, as Alter acknowledges, "one can only imagine." Why Alter thinks anyone should take his lurid imaginings seriously is anyone's guess.
Wile (D.) Coyote
RealClearPolitics' John McIntyre develops the rope-a-dope theme we touched on yesterday--that is, the self-destructiveness of Democrats' efforts to undermine American national security:
Not recognizing the political ground had shifted beneath their feet, Democrats continued to press forward with their offensive against the President. They've now foolishly climbed out on a limb that Rove and Bush have the real potential to chop off. One would think that after the political miscalculations the Democrats made during the 2002 and 2004 campaigns they would not make the same mistake a third time, but it is beginning to look a lot like Charlie Brown and the football again.
First, the Democrats still do not grasp that foreign affairs and national security issues are their vulnerabilities, not their strengths. All of the drumbeat about Iraq, spying, and torture that the left thinks is so damaging to the White House are actually positives for the President and Republicans. Apparently, Democrats still have not fully grasped that the public has profound and long-standing concerns about their ability to defend the nation. As long as national security related issues are front page news, the Democrats are operating at a structural political disadvantage. Perhaps the intensity of their left wing base and the overwhelmingly liberal press corps produces a disorientation among Democratic politicians and prevents a more realistic analysis of where the country's true pulse lies on these issues.
With their publicly defeatist language, John Murtha, Nancy Pelosi and Howard Dean reinforce these "soft on security" steroretypes [sic], a weakness that more sober-minded Democrats have been trying to mitigate since the late 60's and 70's. . . .
One of the major problems working against Democrats is many on their side appear to be rooting for failure in Iraq and publicly ridicule the idea that we actually might win. When this impression is put in context of the debate over eavesdropping or the Patriot Act, Democrats run the significant risk of being perceived to be more concerned with the enemy's rights than protecting ordinary Americans. This is a loser for Democrats.
Blogger John Hinderaker likened the Dems to Wile E. Coyote, the hapless vulpine Looney Tune whose elaborate schemes to catch the Road Runner always blow up in his face. As the Looney Tunes Web site notes, "Wile E.'s ineptitude, possibly a by-product of his distracted obsession with catching Road Runner, is compounded only by the Acme company's products--which may work for other customers, but seem never to work for Wile E., who repeatedly risks life and limb counting on their effectiveness."
Hinderaker's observation brought a fascinating response from reader Stephen Fossati:
For the better part of ten years I had the privilege of working closely with Wile's creator Chuck Jones and in fact produced and co-wrote Chuck's final Roadrunner cartoon in 1994, so I would humbly offer that I am a fair authority on said erstwhile coyote.
Having spoken with Chuck about Wile more times than I can count, I can say with great conviction that your suggestion that the Murtha, Dean, Kerry, Boxer et al, position with regards to the GWOT and the war in Iraq, is appropriately analogous to Wile and to his inumerable [sic], ill-considered and near fatally-flawed plans to catch the Roadrunner--a good many of which resulted in him falling off of a cliff.
Chuck defined Wile in the words of George Santayana who said: "A fanatic is one who redoubles his effort when he has forgotten his aim." Assuming that the Dems' aims are to regain control of the House, the Senate and the White House and based upon their seemingly fevered attempts to discredit President Bush by mis-representing the success of the war, advocating for our withdrawal/surrender, and purposefully undermining our efforts/abilities to wage war on an enemy unlike any we have faced before, I think it's fair to say that the Democrats clearly meet Santayana's definition of a fanatic. And since it is Santayana's definition of a fanatic with which Wile's own creator described him, I would conclude that your comparison of our luckless, over-zealous and too-clever-by-half coyote to the leaders of the Democratic party, is not only correct but painfully (for the Dems), astute.
Hinderaker adds: "Remember how Wile viewed even his misadventures as evidence of his superior intellect?" He reproduces a picture of the not-so-wily Wile E. holding a sign identifying himself as a GENIUS. It reminds us of a DemocraticUnderground post we quoted in 2003:
I would dare to assume that most of us here are in the upper 1%-20% of the population intelligence-wise. We must come to the realization that the majority of the population is in the lower 80% to 99% percent of the bell-curve. WE are not the norm. The Republicans understand that the average American is not very bright. They cater and pander to the masses. The Democratic Party tries to appeal to the population about "issues" that these people just don't understand.
As we noted then, these guys think it an impressive act of cognition to "come to the realization" that the majority of Americans are below the 80th percentile. We like the way that rolls out: Wile (D.) Coyote, Super Genius!
Weasel Watch
"Germany has quietly released a Hizbollah member jailed for life for the murder of a U.S. Navy diver, apparently disregarding Washington's wish to extradite him, diplomats and German officials said on Tuesday," Reuters reports from Berlin:
"He served his term," Eva Schmierer, a spokeswoman for Germany's justice ministry, told a news conference.
Sources in Berlin and Beirut said earlier that Mohammad Ali Hammadi, convicted of killing Navy diver Robert Dean Stethem in Beirut during the 1985 hijacking of a TWA flight and sentenced to life in prison, was flown back to Lebanon last week.
If he was sentenced to life in prison, how can be released after having "served his term," unless he is in a box? This is one reason we have nothing but contempt for European elites' opposition to the death penalty. At least when someone is executed, he really has served his term.
An Anti-Israel Israeli
Ha'aretz reports on a speech in Lebanon by an Arab rabble-rouser named Azmi Bishara:
Bishara, addressing an Arab audience in Lebanon late last week, asserted that Arabs were the original residents of the land and urged Israelis to leave and "take their democracy" with them.
"Israel is the 20th century's greatest robbery, carried out in broad daylight. I will never recognize Zionism even if all Arabs do. I will never concede Palestine. The battle is still long," Bishara stated at a Lebanese book fair in Beirut.
The Lebanese audience received Bishara's comments warmly. "Return Palestine to us and take your democracy with you. We Arabs are not interested in it," the [Bishara] stated.
It's a pretty standard Jew-hating rant, except for one thing: Bishara is himself Israeli, and indeed is a member of the Knesset, Israel's parliament.
Don't You Want Me, Baby?
"More American women are having babies they didn't want, a survey indicates, but federal researchers say they don't know if that means attitudes about abortion are changing," reports the Associated Press:
Among the questions: "Right before you became pregnant, did you yourself want to have a baby at any time in the future?"
If they said no, the pregnancy was defined as "unwanted." Pregnancies that occurred sooner than the woman wanted were instead classified as "mistimed," said Anjani Chandra, lead author of the federal study.
What if the mother didn't want to have sex with the father until after he kissed her for the first time? If they are happily married, can she nonetheless sue him for sexual harassment for making an "unwanted advance"?
Of course not. That would be silly. No more silly, though, than the survey's assumption that becoming pregnant has no effect on a woman's attitude about having children.
The Stork Perhaps?
"Unwanted Births Up; Reasons Unclear"--headline, Salt Lake Tribune, Dec. 20
Liberals Say the Darnedest Things
The other night Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" aired an interview between host Steve Colbert and Rep. Major Owens of New York. It included this exchange, which begins at 5:05 in the video linked above, about Owens's proposal to raise the minimum wage:
Colbert: Why don't we just lengthen the mandatory work day? That way, people make more money, and businesses get more work. Let's call it a win-win.
Owens: You lengthen the work day so that people would be working longer hours?
Colbert: Well, they'll get more money that way--
Owens: --and you get more money that way--
Colbert: --and businesses get more productivity.
Owens: I don't buy that. You know we still-- Businesses would be more profitable if they went back to slavery.
Colbert: I disagree with you there. I just don't think that's--I don't think that's worth it.
Owens: They would not be more profitable if they went back to slavery?
Colbert: No, I just don't think it's worth it.
Owens: Worth going back to slavery?
Colbert: I mean, there's too many downsides to that.
Owens: Slavery?
Colbert: Yeah, that's where you and I differ.
Owens: You could work people the way slave masters worked them, from sunup to sundown.
Colbert: That's a fairly shocking suggestion you just made.
Owens: If maximizing profits is your goal, that's where you end up.
Colbert: Right. That's all I'm saying--just make people work longer and don't pay them any more.
Owens: Well, my answer was to make you beware of where that line of reasoning takes you.
Colbert: I just think it could be misinterpreted.
Sound familiar? Owens has just done exactly what Bill Bennett did a few months ago--namely, offer an outrageous hypothetical as a reductio ad absurdum to discredit a problematic argument. Will left-wing moralists kick up a kerfuffle the way they did with Bennett? We're not betting on it.
Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi had this to say yesterday about the Republican budget resolution:
"Mr. Speaker, as we leave for this Christmas recess, let us say, 'God bless you' to the American people by voting against this Republican budget and statement of injustice and immorality, and let us not let the special interest goose get fat at the expense of America's children.
"The gentleman from Washington [state], Mr. McDermott, quoted the prophet Isaiah. And as the bible [sic] teaches us, to minister to the needs of God's creation is an act of worship, to ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us. Let us vote no on this budget as an act of worship and for America's children."
When a conservative politician cites the Bible in support of his views on, say, abortion or homosexuality, people like Pelosi get their backs up about the mingling of church and state. We guess Pelosi's defense here is that she's insincere, as evidenced by the referece in her press release to the pointedly uncapitalized "bible."
Homelessness Rediscovery Watch
"If George W. Bush becomes president, the armies of the homeless, hundreds of thousands strong, will once again be used to illustrate the opposition's arguments about welfare, the economy, and taxation."--Mark Helprin, Oct. 31, 2000
"The ideologues over at Fox News have decided that to save Christmas, we've got to insist that stores advertise 'Christmas sales,' not holiday sales, and that cards wish people a 'merry Christmas,' not a happy holiday. Behind their moralizing, these folks are trying to use Christmas for petty political purposes. But that's not what the Christmas story is about either. It's about a couple--Mary and Joseph--forced by an oppressive government to leave their home to travel far to be counted in the census. They were homeless in a strange land."--Jesse Jackson, Dec. 20, 2005
Thanks for the Tip!--XXVII
"Health Tip: Go for a Sleigh Ride"--headline, HealthDayNews, Dec. 20
What Would We Do Without Experts?
"Experts Warn Against Letting Space Heaters Lead to Fires"--headline, Radio Iowa Web site, Dec. 17
What Would We Do Without Scientists?
"Scientists Find Sand on Seafloor"--headline, News.com.au, Dec. 20
What Would Chimps Fool Without Experts?
"Chimp's Painting Fools Experts"--headline, News.com.au, Dec. 19
Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading!
A shocking report from the Associated Press:
Barbie, beware. The iconic plastic doll is often mutilated at the hands of young girls, according to research published Monday by British academics. "The girls we spoke to see Barbie torture as a legitimate play activity, and see the torture as a 'cool' activity," said Agnes Nairn, one of the University of Bath researchers. "The types of mutilation are varied and creative, and range from removing the hair to decapitation, burning, breaking and even microwaving."
We're sure John McCain is hard at work finding a legislative solution to this outrage. We need to send "a message to the world that the United States is not like the terrorists," that we are "a nation that upholds values and standards of behavior and treatment." If Barbie isn't saved, the terrorists will have won!
We were going to make fun of Andrew Sullivan too, but his "guest blogger" beat us to it. Even AndrewSullivan.com no longer takes Sullivan seriously! |
