Best of the Web Today - May 24, 2006
By JAMES TARANTO
Paying Tribute to Liberal Virtue
"The American Civil Liberties Union is weighing new standards that would discourage its board members from publicly criticizing the organization's policies and internal administration," reports the New York Times:
"Where an individual director disagrees with a board position on matters of civil liberties policy, the director should refrain from publicly highlighting the fact of such disagreement," the committee that compiled the standards wrote in its proposals.
"Directors should remember that there is always a material prospect that public airing of the disagreement will affect the A.C.L.U. adversely in terms of public support and fund-raising," the proposals state.
Given the organization's longtime commitment to defending free speech, some former board members were shocked by the proposals.
No kidding! The ACLU champions "whistleblowers" who reveal national-security secrets, but there are limits. When free speech threatens ACLU fund-raising efforts, why that just goes too far.
Amusingly, the Times couldn't find anyone who would speak in defense of the proposed policy. This is as close as anyone would come:
Anthony D. Romero, the A.C.L.U.'s executive director, said that he had not yet read the proposals and that it would be premature to discuss them before the board reviews them at its June meeting. . . .
Lawrence A. Hamermesh, chairman of the committee, which was formed to define rights and responsibilities of board members, also said it was too early to discuss the proposals, as did Alison Steiner, a committee member who filed a dissent against some recommendations. . . .
Susan Herman, a Brooklyn Law School professor who serves on the board, said board members and others were jumping to conclusions.
"No one is arguing that board members have no right to disagree or express their own point of view," Ms. Herman said. "Many of us simply think that in exercising that right, board members should also consider their fiduciary duty to the A.C.L.U. and its process ideals."
On a different subject but a similar theme, check out this passage from a Times report on Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's commencement address at Boston College, which prompted some hippies to protest:
The campus African-American, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American organization sent a letter to the administration asking that it "stop touting Secretary Rice's race and gender [sic] as justification for her invitation."
Of course, if the members of the campus African-American, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American organization didn't want to go to a school with a commitment to diversity, they should have thought of that before enrolling at BC. (Hat tip: Tom Maguire.)
Hypocrisy, La Rochefoucauld observed, is the tribute that vice pays to virtue. The left loves to point out instances in which conservative moralists fail to abide by their ideals. This, however, is a human failing, not a left- or right-wing one.
Hillary's Score
That's "score" as in 20--the number of people who showed up in Nashville for "the national kickoff for Hillarynow.com, a grass-roots group pushing to draft the New York senator and former first lady to run for president in 2008," according to the Tennessean.
The paper reports that the rally "drew critics of President Bush, nonpartisan voters looking for a strong leader, and people who want to elect a female president." The motives of the other 14 attendees are unknown. (Hat tip: GOP and the City.)
Mrs. Clinton herself, the New York Post reports, was in Washington:
In a surprise move yesterday, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton called for "most of the country" to return to a speed limit of 55 mph in an effort to slash fuel consumption.
"The 55-mile speed limit really does lower gas usage. And wherever it can be required, and the people will accept it, we ought to do it," Clinton said at the National Press Club.
This really makes us wonder about her political acumen. The 55 mph speed limit is such an unpopular policy that people attribute it to Jimmy Carter (it actually originated in the Nixon administration). It was relaxed in 1987, then abolished in 1995 as part of a transportation bill the senator's husband signed. The National Motorists Association notes that 49 of the 50 states now have top speed limits of at least 65.
Only Hawaii stuck with the dreaded double-nickel on its interstates--which explains why it takes forever to drive to the next state.
Buh-Bayh, Moderation
The nomination of Gen. Michael Hayden to be CIA director was supposed to run into trouble, but in the end the Senate Intelligence Committee approved him by a vote of 12-3. The dissenters: Democrats Evan Bayh of Indiana, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin and Ron Wyden of Oregon.
Bayh and Feingold have both made noises about running for president in 2008, and while Feingold has always tilted left, Bayh used to be considered a moderate. This is further evidence that every Democrat in the field is trying to position himself as the left-wing alternative to Hillary Clinton. Watch for John Kerry*, and maybe even Joe Biden and Barack Obama, to vote against Hayden when his confirmation reaches the Senate floor.
* At least he served in Vietnam, unlike Evan Bayh and Russ Feingold!
Above the Law?
"House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) told President Bush yesterday that he is concerned the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) raid on Rep. William Jefferson's (D-La.) congressional office over the weekend was a direct violation of the Constitution," reports the Hill:
Jefferson is being investigated to see if he influenced legislation in exchange for a number of elaborate, illegal payment schemes, including a single cash payment of $100,000, most of which was discovered in his freezer during a later raid of his home.
Calling the Saturday-night raid an "invasion of the legislative branch," House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) predicted the case would eventually be resolved in the Supreme Court and hinted that Congress would take further action. The majority leader said Hastert would take the lead on the issue because he is the chief constitutional officer in the House.
"I am sure there will be a lot more said about this," Boehner said.
National Review's Byron York concedes that the raid "raises serious separation of powers issues" but reports that the Justice Department has taken "extraordinary care . . . to address those issues." First, investigators tried but failed to get Jefferson to turn over the evidence they needed. Then, the raid, according to the warrant authorizing it, was "conducted by special agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation who have had no substantive role in the investigation" in order to prevent any "politically sensitive" information from being disclosed.
In any case, Hastert and Boehner's objections are bound to rub many Republican constitutents the wrong way. After all, the first plank of the Contract With America was a promise to "require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress." Something like this makes it harder to argue that the GOP deserves to maintain its majority.
Don't Worry, Mr. Gore, He's Dead
"Ex-VP Hopeful Bentsen Dead"--headline, New York Post, May 24
You Don't Say
"Hicks Could Factor Big in Alabama Primary"--headline, Hotline blog, May 23
Recycled Arguments
A rather inspiring story appeared in the Times of London the other day:
In A city still emerging from the floods of Hurricane Katrina, a ship has begun to rise from the ashes of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Bringing together America's two great calamities of the 21st century, the USS New York is being built in New Orleans with 24 tonnes of steel taken from the collapsed World Trade Centre.
There is no shortage of scrap metal in New Orleans these days, but the girders taken from Ground Zero have been treated with a reverence usually accorded to religious relics. After a brief ceremony in 2003, about seven tonnes of steel were melted down and poured into a cast to make the bow section of the ship's hull.
Some shipworkers say the hairs stood up on the backs of their necks the first time they touched it. Others have postponed their retirement so they can be part of the project.
But not everyone finds this inspiring. One Martin Samuel, commenting in the Times, is appalled:
In this way, the 2,800 souls that perished as an indirect result of an interventionist foreign policy that achieved the exact opposite of its stated aims can be honoured by a vessel built to ensure that this flawed cycle of violence continues. The USS New York will carry 360 soldiers and 700 combat-ready Marines. It puts to sea with the motto: "Never forget." Except they do. They always do. . . .
In essence what is being commemorated here is failure; the failure of American foreign policy to protect fully the interests of its citizens or make their world a safer place. America came under attack because the actions of successive governments have made it the enemy to large swaths of humanity. Anti-Americanism is growing alarmingly because, since September 11, the world's most powerful nation has continued to alienate and divide even its allies. While not excusing wicked acts committed by terrorists, it would be foolish to view the behaviour of terrorists as motiveless.
What "actions" of the U.S. government does Samuel think caused (even if they didn't exactly justify) the 9/11 attacks? Here are the only ones he cites:
The respected columnist Roger Cohen, writing in The New York Times, identified just 14 years since 1945 when America had not been at war, in some form or other, either metaphorical (the Cold War, the War on Terror) or literal (Korea, Vietnam, Iraq). Some might think the two states do not compare. Then again, some of us have never tried to form a left-wing government in Chile, appeared before the Senate Permanent Investigations Sub-Committee led by Senator Joe McCarthy or been instructed to form a naked pyramid by a gap-toothed cracker with a semi-automatic weapon and a weird girlfriend.
That's right. Samuel is suggesting that the 9/11 attacks was part of a "cycle of violence" to which America's contributions were (1) a coup in Chile in 1973, (2) Sen. McCarthy's mistreatment of American communists in the early 1950s, and (3) the abuses at Abu Ghraib, which had not yet happened. Imagine what he might say if he were willing to make excuses for our enemies.
Weasel Watch
"German public opinion believes a 'clash of civilizations' is under way between Christians and Muslims that will lead to further domestic and international conflict, a report commissioned by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung finds," reports the Jerusalem Post:
Germany is in the midst of "a conflict spiral," researchers from the Allensbach Institute for Public Opinion Research reported last week. "Conceptions of Islam were already negative" but have hardened "noticeably in recent times," the survey's authors Elisabeth Noelle and Thomas Petersen reported.
"Germans are increasingly of the opinion that a lasting, peaceful coexistence with the Islamic world will not be possible," Noelle and Petersen concluded. . . .
While two-thirds of the survey participants said they blamed religious fanatics, not Islam, for the conflict with the West, 40% of the participants said they would favor curtailing Germany's constitutionally guaranteed right of freedom of religion in order to safeguard national security.
Asked if there should be a ban on the building of mosques in Germany as long as Saudi Arabia and other Islamic states banned church construction, 56% agreed, the survey found.
We keep hearing warnings about threats to democracy and civil liberties here in America. Twenty years from now, it may turn out that Western Europe, not the U.S., has turned in an authoritarian direction.
It's Very Light
"U.S. Army Weighs Blimp Fleet for Iraq"--headline, WorldTribune.com, May 23
What Would We Touch or Feed Without Experts?
"Don't Touch or Feed Gators, Experts Say"--headline, Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, Miss.), May 24
The World's Smallest Violin
"Pressures Greater for Juilliard Graduates"--headline, Associated Press, May 23
Otter, Otter Everywhere
"Penguins, Otters Returning to New Orleans"--headline, Associated Press, May 23
"Otter Wins Idaho Gubernatorial Primary"--headline, Associated Press, May 24
Wouldn't an Alligator Bag Be Nicer?
"U.S. Man Seeks $1.6 Mln in Dead Dog Suit"--headline, Reuters, May 23
At Night, He Can Be Positively Deadly
"Danger Can Lurk in Morning O.J."--headline, HealthDayNews, May 24
'$20, Same as in Town'
"Bible Student Charged in Phone Sex Case"--headline, Associated Press, May 23
Thanks for the Tip!--LXXV
"Health Tip: Keep Your Arteries Healthy"--headline, HealthDayNews, May 23
Bottom Stories of the Day
o "US 'Obsession' With Force Slammed by Top Cannes Director"--headline, Agence France-Presse, May 23
o "Woman Allegedly Hits Two With Raid Can"--headline, Associated Press, May 23
o "Prince Ignores Scientists' Attack on Homeopathy"--headline, Daily Telegraph (London), May 24
o "ABC News Experiment Ends With Return to Solo Anchor"--headline, Washington Post, May 24
Blaming the Messenger
A "mercury scare . . . has closed an elementary school, and also temporarily shut down a UNC-Chapel Hill library," reports WRAL-TV in Raleigh, N.C. Why is mercury scary? Here's the explanation:
Mercury is highly toxic in vapor form and slightly toxic in liquid form. Touching, ingesting or inhaling can contaminate a person. The element can cause brain and liver damage and can be very harmful to a developing fetus.
In that case, let's keep mercury safe, legal and rare! |
